[Amien]

Originally Posted by longhorn

I was hoping to get something from the 4000 series, guess its not available at that budget.

This is correct. Here are your options at 60k:-

MSI Modern 14 B4MW-238IN - 6-core 4500U, large SSD, has upgradable RAM despite the compact chassis.

Thinkpad E15 20RDS18B00 - Full-size display/keyboard, HDD+SSD.

Thinkpads become your default choice if durability/longevity is of prime importance. Those carry a premium and therefore the processor spec. will be lower. That said, pretty much anything you buy will be a huge upgrade from your 2nd gen. i3.

[antz.bin]

Originally Posted by longhorn

Also, could you suggest something in the 60k range, just in case I decide to increase the budget. Isn't the Ryzen 3500 a bit old now. I was hoping to get something from the 4000 series, guess its not available at that budget.

Originally Posted by AnInternetUser

Thanks a lot for highlighting some of the differences! I'd only seen the benchmarks between the two so a real-world review is certainly helpful.

Because I need to buy two devices, I have the option of deferring the purchase of a higher-end laptop and opt for a more budget one (close to the 40k mark). I did come across a few i5 1135G7 ones for that much. Can't expect the build quality & display to be anywhere near the more premium offerings but I guess it'll do the job. Plus they'll probably have the option of expandable RAM. This will buy me enough time to optimistically wait for a more no-compromises/fewer compromises AMD laptop.

Any thoughts on going with this approach?

The MSI Modern 14 with 4500u and RAM upgradeable to 64GB seems to be a really good option right now. Its selling for Rs.51,990. Check it out here.

The display also seems to be better on this one than my Vivobook but the compromises seems to be
1. the speakers
2. no Wifi 6.
3. No Fingerprint Scanner

Pick your poison #DYOR.

[diyguy]

Need help choosing a GPU based laptop for my daughter studying architecture. I had purchased a HP Envy x360 i7 16gb 256SSD for her in 2018 but her CAD rendering seems to be taking a very long time. I plan to sell this and get her a GTX based laptop and need advise on a model that can render in a few minutes rather than hours. If travel were open i can probably source a RTX based laptop from the US but they are too expensive here in India. I am thinking a budget of max 1L for this.
I saw a few models but need to be sure it will do her rendering job.
https://www.amazon.in/dp/B08VSYYPJ2
https://www.amazon.in/dp/B08LD521V7

[Jaguar]

Looks like there is a 30% reduction in the cost of laptop spares. During the initial lockdown, I had got a quote of 13k for replacing the battery and adding 8GB RAM for my Dell Inspiron 15 7000. But somehow I got busy and didn't go ahead with the purchase. Called Dell again last month and the price had come down to 9k change. Moreover, instead of the 8GB, I was offered 16GB for the same price. Placed the order and within a week, the technician was at my place for the replacement.

[Amien]

Originally Posted by diyguy

Need help choosing a GPU based laptop for my daughter studying architecture.

The HP Omen 15-15-EN0002AX is by far the best option in this range. Its 1660Ti GPU, apart from being much more powerful than 1650 options, also has 6GB of VRAM and Turing's NVENC encoder, which should make short work of CAD and GPU-accelerated video compression. The 4600H strikes a great balance between performance and efficiency, leaving plenty of power budget for the GPU. This is my primary recommendation.

If you're sure that the workload will skew towards CPU compute rather than GPU, the Lenovo Legion 5 82B500BMIN is a 4800H+1650Ti alternative.

Both these laptops have best-in-class build, cooling and finishing kit. Both come with upgradable memory/storage.

[diyguy]

Originally Posted by Amien

Both these laptops have best-in-class build, cooling and finishing kit. Both come with upgradable memory/storage.

Edit: i had linked the ryzens in my earlier post but have been rethinking on the AMDs.
Thanks much for sharing your expertise Amien. I have read your recommendations on AMD and how the 11th gen of Intel is catching up with them but my experience in the past with an opteron based custom built with a GPU has been very bad. I would prefer Intel just so that i dont have to troubleshoot for my daughter all the time. I noticed now the prices of laptops went up on Amazon and will wait for them to go down again but this one below is still unchanged amongst a few others.
https://www.amazon.in/dp/B08BR8TLYR

Does this config seem ok? I also am thinking of the below if i can get a deal

https://www.amazon.in/dp/B08H8QK9RY

https://dl.flipkart.com/dl/asus-rog-...m7eac04fb87bcf

https://dl.flipkart.com/dl/dell-g3-c...m14cb4b658649f

[Gurgaon_lyon]

Hi all, I'm trying to transfer data from a Lenovo to hp laptop (both windows 10 Pro) using a WD Elemant external HDD. But lost my way because of wd software changes etc. anyone else can guide me an easier way?? I'm fairly technical but a bit out of synch..

[Amien]

Originally Posted by diyguy

Edit: i had linked the ryzens in my earlier post but have been rethinking on the AMDs.

You should know that modern AMD processors are built on the most advanced fabrication node, at the most advanced foundry in the world. The same place that fabricates Apple's silicon. There are currently no issues with AMD hardware on either commercial or mainstream applications. There's no additional troubleshooting required anywhere. Microsoft and many other large X86 backers have switched their server platforms to AMD's EPYC platform, which means continued support. A lot(almost everything) has changed since the Opteron days.

There's nothing fundamentally wrong with the options you've linked (apart from the Dell's G-series which has thermal issues) but do understand that none of them come close to the overall quality of the Legion or the Omen and that you're still paying more. The Intel parts also run hotter and use more power. Ultimately a decision only you can make.

[joslicx]

Originally Posted by Amien

You should know that modern AMD processors are built on the most advanced fabrication node, at the most advanced foundry in the world. The same place that fabricates Apple's silicon. .

Slight correction needed here that right now the most advanced TSMC tech is exclusively reserved for Apple. All their 5nm capacity was used by Apple. Even Nvidia didn't get it and their latest GPUs were manufactured on Samsung 8nm. Looks like Apple has some kind of a special deal with tsmc in place ( they funded their advanced euv machines?)

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by Gurgaon_lyon

Hi all, I'm trying to transfer data from a Lenovo to hp laptop (both windows 10 Pro) using a WD Elemant external HDD. But lost my way because of wd software changes etc. anyone else can guide me an easier way?? I'm fairly technical but a bit out of synch..

Use the external HDD as a disk drive - copy the data directory by directory. If the data in each directory is large (> 2GB) then it is best to copy each sub directory.

After each copy check the number of file, both in the source and target directory.

I have been copying data for more than two decades and as long as you check the target drive for the number of files copied, very little can go wrong.

As a further precaution, do a disk check for faulty sectors after copying.

[mvadg]

Originally Posted by Gurgaon_lyon

Hi all, I'm trying to transfer data from a Lenovo to hp laptop (both windows 10 Pro) using a WD Elemant external HDD. But lost my way because of wd software changes etc. anyone else can guide me an easier way?? I'm fairly technical but a bit out of synch..

Do a disk clone using something like Easeus. I usually clone partition by partition. There have been instances where this has saved me - you can even boot (might not work perfectly, but everything you had in the old drive is there on the external clone) from the cloned partition and run your old software, passwords and all, intact. Deleting temp directories before you clone will save some space.

[Amien]

Originally Posted by joslicx

Slight correction needed here that right now the most advanced TSMC tech is exclusively reserved for Apple. All their 5nm capacity was used by Apple. Even Nvidia didn't get it and their latest GPUs were manufactured on Samsung 8nm. Looks like Apple has some kind of a special deal with tsmc in place ( they funded their advanced euv machines?)

That's not HPC, or atleast not directly comparable to the complexity of X86 designs. Look at the difference in transister count for something like an Nvidia GPU versus the M1. Nvidia went with Samsung as it likely got a better deal. That 8nm node isn't really fit for GPUs and it shows. In any case it's a better comparision to the M1 as it was optimized for ARM /low-power designs.

TSMC N7 is still the best HPC node in the world. Apple has more money than God so it is not surprising for them to get priority access to N5. There's a ton of work required before it is suitable for something like a Ryzen refresh anyway.

[joslicx]

Originally Posted by Amien

TSMC N7 is still the best HPC node in the world.

It is not so simplistic really.

For example, here is a wonderful video comparing AMD 7nm and Intel 14nm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kQUXpZpLXI

This is quite a fascinating video with lot of interesting insights. They compared the two under an electron microscope. Furthermore, theres no standard reference to compare these technologies. These numbers now mean nothing. Even transistor packing may not tell you much as different parts of chip will have different densities and it all depends on what a particular design may prioritize.

In terms of performance, yes multi-core AMD is the king but single core Intel 10nm rules. From a tech perspective, to me it says Intel's inherent transistor tech is probably superior. Intel has many reasons to be still on 14nm, that node makes them lot of money. The products are not bad as they are still largely quite competitive with competition (evident from their all time record sales). Their CFO last year came and asserted that no other node is ever going to make as much money for them as 14nm did!

[Amien]

Originally Posted by joslicx

In terms of performance, yes multi-core AMD is the king but single core Intel 10nm rules. From a tech perspective, to me it says Intel's inherent transistor tech is probably superior. Intel has many reasons to be still on 14nm, that node makes them lot of money. The products are not bad as they are still largely quite competitive with competition (evident from their all time record sales). Their CFO last year came and asserted that no other node is ever going to make as much money for them as 14nm did!

Your first paragraph is making the same points I am so no arguments there. When we're talking about the best process, we are going to average across all the possible metrics. Do that and you end up with N7. Isolating one metric is stupid; as derbaur himself states.

The 2nd paragraph makes some degree of sense if you were talking about Intel's 10nm SF. Saying that their 14nm tech is 'probably superior' is just ridiculous. You don't have to guess or look under a microscope, the evidence to the contrary is already out there. Sales figures are not evidence for process superiority. I can assure you that Intel is not stuck on 14nm by choice. Have you looked at Ryzen 5000's single-thread performance? That's still on N7 BTW.

This is exactly the sort of spin-doctory that allowed them to milk the same node for 5+ years. Unless you own Intel stock, why would you care about how much money Intel makes? I just want them to up the competiton so that we get better prices.

[diyguy]

Originally Posted by Amien

You should know that modern AMD processors are built on the most advanced fabrication node, at the most advanced foundry in the world.

Hello Amien, i am leaning towards two models from HP. The intel based one is cheaper and has a better graphics card and display specifications i think. Can you kindly weigh in, am going to visit a few stores as well.
15-EK0019TX - 114K
https://www.flipkart.com/hp-omen-cor...m2ec9187cb69f8

15-EN0023DX -121K
https://www.flipkart.com/hp-omen-15-...m4c16328a87123

This asus seems to be good too

Asus ROG Strix G15 Core i7 - 94k
https://www.flipkart.com/asus-rog-st...m7eac04fb87bcf