Should I buy a new laptop for an upcoming IBD stint?

I read through some of the forums regarding buying a new laptop, but a lot of new technology has come into play since then, thus the comments I've seen so far need a little updating. I was hoping I could get some more fresh advice.

I currently have one of the first versions of the 11" MacBook Air, and it blows. There is no chance of running parallels on this in order to get the windows functionality, and I have been constantly carrying around an external hard drive because of the limited space.

In my upcoming role the analysts are going to have desktops, and loaners for when traveling, plus we have tokens to remote log in to our desktops from other computers. I really like mac for everything not related to using the Office programs, and the interconnectivity with my iPhone (especially with OS X Yosemite coming out soon) is a huge plus.

Given the above, I've considered two options and would like some input on them:

1) Get a 13" MBP with retina display (2.6GHz dual core i5 processor, 16GB RAM, 256GB Flash storage) with parallel desktops, and, to solve the keyboard issue (i.e. using excel + ppt on a mac keyboard is out of the question for me), buy a separate keyboard to use when running windows.

This option may get annoying with the extra hardware, or maybe with an elevated laptop stand it wont really matter. If it's really bad I can also get a display to basically 'dock' my mac for when working from home. Probably looking at around $2,000 for this option.

2) Buy a Lenovo T440s (4th gen intel core i7 (4MB Cache, up to 3.3GHz), 12GB memory, 256GB SSD) and continue using my MacBook Air with the external hard drive. Stands at around $1,500 for this one.

If it helps, I am not a gamer, nor do I work extensively with graphic design. I do work with audio recording and editing occasionally.

Thanks for your help!

 

So you want to get another Mac, run windows, buy a windows keyboard just to be able to use Microsoft office? Why not just get the Lenovo for cheaper and not have to worry about installing windows and getting an additional keyboard? That way you have a Mac running OS and a Windows machine running Windows. A machine running its intended software is always better that cross running software. Also you can get a laptop for far less than $1,500.

 
Best Response

I'm in a similar position and came down to 3 options:

  • Macbook 15" w/ graphics
  • Dell M6800 (look it up, absolute animal, NVIDIA K5100M support? Jesus lol)
  • Lenovo W540

I'm going for the Lenovo as is for a few reasons:

  • Build quality comparable to the Mac (and better in some ways)
  • Expandability (higher hardware capacity and ability to upgrade in the future)
  • No software issues (Bootcamp versions are run by Apple, and you don't know when they'll stop supporting your machine, which happened to me recently)
  • Slim design relative to the amount of performance you get
  • Wide component support (LTE SIM support, PCIe, eSATA, 2 hard drive bays, +docking station for HDMI)
  • Battery + Screen both on par with the Mac

This is mostly true for the 440 as well (save some of the hardware specs and component support). I'd been a staunch Apple supporter for a long time but have come to realize that what you buy from Apple is a lifestyle product; if you have shit to do and work to get done, get a computer meant for that.

in it 2 win it
 

most banks have a way for you to remotely login and do work from home. take advantage of a student discount while you are still a student. that being said, a lot of banks give laptops to bankers or lend them out for roadshows.

 
johnwate:
The laptops banks lend you will probably firewalled, which means they can monitor all your Internet-related activities.
Firewalled means they can stop you from doing certain things on your laptop. It doesn't necessarily mean they can monitor what you are doing. They would have to install monitoring software/hardware for that.
 

I don't understand why you wouldn't get your own laptop. I didn't even know banks lent out laptops. At the banks I know, analysts work on desktops. But again, work computers are both firewalled and monitored. So personal e-mail, facebook, and a number of other sites aren't accessible. I would get my own.

 

if you use the laptop for work (which you probably will end up doing at least a little of) you may be able to depreciate the cost of the laptop over its useful life and take a tax break.

 

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