What are the best WFH laptops, or laptops you hate and would avoid at all costs?
Contract company has me on a loaner Lenovo think pad that doesn’t work well. The performance suffers when im both on virtual desktop and zoom, so I have to use an iPad to zoom otherwise my audio cracks out. I’ll be buying a new laptop soon and need ideas. Ideally around or under $1,500 - I do get some reimbursement so money isn’t a deciding factor.

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First priority is to see about what software you depend on everyday and what operating system it seems to be best optimized for.

All things being equal:
I NEVER buy apple products with my own money because I believe they’re overpriced, but when my company pays for it I lean that way. The build quality is pretty fantastic and the new M2 MacBook Pro is a great performer. Just expect to pay a crap ton for peripherals and adapters

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I think the problem is likely the remote in setup over your laptop. Citrix like solutions always suck

MacBook Pro or Air M2. This is the way.

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This is what Wirecutter is for

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-laptops/

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Once you go Mac, you never go back 😏

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MacBook Pro 100% - I refuse to use anything else. It just works, always. Which is something I can’t say about any of the Dell, Lenovo, or HP work laptops I’ve had in the past. When my computer just works it’s one less thing I have to think about, one less frustration to deal with.

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For context my personal computer is a 2012 MacBook Pro and it still works well with Photoshop and Lightroom with very large file sizes. While I definitely need a new one (it’s slow to boot up) it has not introduced a blocker for me. So I think the 8 core would be fine unless your editing 8k video

I have an HP for work and I don’t love it. Have had Dells; don’t love them. I love my Lenovo that I bought for my side hustle and I love the Lenovos we used to be issued for work. Workhorses.

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I will say that when I bought my personal Lenovo, I called their small business sales lines and the rep was really great at listening to what I did, what I needed, what all the terminology really meant, and helping me choose the right model. (I used to be good at that stuff but years of corporate IT hand holding made me dumb.)

I love my Lenovo . I wished the screen would be bigger for WFH though

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Answer is, and has been for a long time: current MacBook or Dell XPS13. Look for slightly used ones if you want the best deal. Get 16GB of Ram, 512GB hard drive, and you'll be set for a long time with either platform.

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For the Apple fans here: I was one and 2 of my previous laptops did great. Now I’m having one of only 2yo where the keyboard has an issue (short circuit so one key/letter keeps “pressing”). Just went to the Apple store and they told me it was $500 to replace

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Yep had that same issue with my old MacBook! I was able to use an external keyboard though because it had a regular USB port. I don’t think the new ones have them now…

Steam Deck for Linux/Window dual boot.. 😉

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Have a Lenovo P1 as a personal. It’s better than any laptop I’ve received from work

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Mac. Run zoom, virtual work environment and other apps in background no issues.

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Thank you! I’m at jpm as well, so looking to use the reimbursement to cover some of the costs when I convert to full time. Good to know their virtual machine and zoom work well together. Are you using a second screen? I don’t see any USB ports on the macs, so how does that work?

I got a MacBook Air from work and hate that I can only have one external monitor

Another vote for the MacBook Pro M2. Breezes through most things.

I saw that Best Buy had a 13.5" Surface Laptop on their Deal of the Day today (August 17) for $699. It was bare minimum stuff, so not sure if there is still a deal for larger RAM/storage options.

Are you stuck on a laptop? If you are just using it on a desk you can do a lot better with a NUC/mini PC. Beelink makes a full line of excellent minis that you can mount on the back of a monitor. Toss in a wireless keyboard/mouse combination and you have a clutter free work area.

Also - DO NOT MIX WORK AND PERSONAL! You can do an entire NUC setup for less than $700 including a really nice monitor. Unless you are getting crap pay, $700 is nothing compared to getting fired. I have seen people lose 6 figure jobs because they didnt understand screen sharing. Another was screen sharing and went to open a file in "downloads". Guess what else was in downloads with large icons making it easy to see? Keep your personal stuff (you know what Im talking about) on your personal computer and do your work stuff on a designated WORK ONLY computer. If you are using a VPN to log into company assets and happen to use Chrome, your company is getting a look at your search history unless you have disable prefetch. Oh and it doesnt even have to be NSFW stuff. I ahve seen people terminated because they stupidly emailed their resume to a competitor from their current work email. Are you kidding me?

Seriously, dont mix work and personal computers. Ever.

Ugh. That sucks. Laptop keyboards are the worst and the screens are tiny. Seems seriously suspicious that they are insisting on laptops. Probably some misplaced "no gaming!" stupidity.

Good luck.

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