Budget up to $2100 including licences peripherals extended warranty etc
Basic office usage- excel, PowerPoint, some cloud software (eg gsuite, quickbooks)
Will ideally be connected to dual monitors for 90% of the time but would like portability where possible.
Thinking 13” screen so it’s not too heavy
Am I stuck walking into jbhifi/HN et al and picking something off the shelf? Would love any direction and recommendations please.
sydney
Basic office usage- excel, PowerPoint, some cloud software (eg gsuite, quickbooks)
$2100 is a lot of money to spend for only basic office usage.
it's a work computer and that was the budget i was given
Yeah you're kinda screwed since it's so late.
Is it your $2100 or work money? i.e - can you spend all of it or would you prefer not to?
I refuse to buy from HN so I'd personally go with the Samsung Galaxy Book S since it looks quite interesting. The only downside is you'd need to buy the USB-C adapter to be able to plug in other devices, but since you mention it will be plugged into screens anyway I assume you have a hub of some sort which would provide that.
Other than that there's the Surface Pro X, but you might only get 128GB storage in your budget.
Or the 2019 Macbook Air, but then you'll have to 1) use iOS and 2) have to use non-windows applications.
work but i'd prefer not to spend it all if i don't have to.
will need to buy the hub/dock (and a mouse/keyboard combo etc)
i struggle with excel on a mac so leaning towards a windows system (don't really understand parallels OS thing)
Surface Pro 7 i5 256GB.
Go for a Surface Laptop - the i5/256gb model will do you perfectly, and you'll have enough to get the official dock as well which will make dual screens etc easy. Looks good, nice and light, bigger screen than the Surface Pros and thinner than the Surface Books.
Either the 2 or 3, they're both really good - https://www.harveynorman.com.au/microsoft-surface-laptop-2-i… is on sale at the minute (note - haven't checked prices elsewhere).
Thanks - I like the idea of a laptop rather than a 2 in 1.
Looks like the base level 3 is the same price as the 2 so that would be the go?
or get a Surface Book, a few of the managers have them where i work and they are really good, have the usability, functionality and build quality of a laptop, but also is a 2 in 1
I'd say the mid level 2 would be better than the base 3.
Ive got a mid spec 2, it gets an absolute workout and has never let me down. Great battery life, great screen, solid and good looking build quality
By lunchtime tomorrow?
It may be the case where you unfortunately have to go into a store and just buy what's available. Even if you do find the ideal laptop or one is agreed as best for you in this forum, if it's a high demand one then it is possible that you won't be able to find stock or have it by tomorrow.
Hopefully you can get an idea of the model etc, and if not available, then hopefully another variant that's not too far off.
What did you get?
Surface laptop 3. All good so far!
You went be disappointed - they're fantastic.
Where are you?