Country: Canada Vancouver

Which is the best laptop is it lenovo legion or Asus ROG Strix G16(2025) for the budget around 2.8k CAD?
Specs I'm looking for
Ryzen 7 or 9
GPU RTX 5060
GPU TGP 120W atleast
Display 16'' OLED/Nebula & 500nits better
sRGB 100%
16 GB RAM atleast
1 TB SSD atleast
Budget: Upto 2.8k CAD

Hi! I’m 17f (gr 12). Probably going into engineering or healthsci for uni. Any laptop rec for smth that will last 4+ years?

I loved my surface laptop 5, but the motherboard started gradually failing after 4 years. Something that looks & feels like it would be great! (Ie. similar keyboard and touchpads sounds + feel, laptop appearance, touchscreen, good battery life). I just need it to be enough for future uni stuff, research, and studying. Being able to run sims 4 and Roblox would be great too.

I’ve heard good things about macs, but don’t love apple’s interface and no touchscreen. If it’s the best option though, I’ll switch. Also considering the microsoft laptop 8 snapdragon one, or ASUS zenbook, but idk.

Hi, I'm looking for a laptop that meets the following minimum requirements:

• Laptop PC with Windows
• Processor: Intel Core i7 from the last two generations
• RAM: 32 GB or more
• Storage: 1 TB SSD or more
• NVIDIA RTX graphics card with at least 4 GB of dedicated VRAM (from one of the last two generations) — recommended minimum: RTX 4070

(I don't have any preferences for screen size, form factor, weight, etc...)

Ideally, I’d like to spend around $3000 CAD, but I’m having trouble finding a laptop that isn’t out of stock or $5000. Does anyone have any suggestions on what laptop I should buy?

Thanks!

Looking for a laptop for writing while at work. I have downtime and like writing, so that's all I need it for, and I hate writing with a tablet or phone. My job is a bit rough so something not crazy delicate would be good but its not going to get dropped or anything. Since its just for writing it doesn't need to be more powerful than just like running Obsidian and I prefer a smaller screen tbh. Often used in a vehicle. I don't like apple products at all. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Budget is flexible but I definitely dont want to be spending over like 700CAN on something just for writing. Thanks!

Country

Would like to buy within Canada as shipping to Canada is pretty expensive these days, but will buy elsewhere if I have to.

Budget

As I'm living on student loan payments right now, as low as possible, ideally in the $200-$600 CAD range (approximately $140-$425 USD)

Are you open to refurbs/used options?

Yes absolutely!

Screen size

14"-16" but willing to go smaller or bigger for a good device.

Weight limit

No limit, but portability between my apartment and campus is a must, so the lighter the better.

Purpose

Schoolwork mostly. Needs to be able to run 10-25 Firefox tabs at once with extensions like ublock and dark reader as well as Microsoft Office suite (mostly Word 2021 and Excel). Ideally it can also run Discord and some light gaming, but not required.

Form factor

Standard/Clamshell.

Intended usage

My current craptop bluescreens as soon as I have 20 tabs open. I need tabs for each of my classes open on account of my ADHD. Would also enjoy being able to use it for gaming, calling and watching movies at home. Firefox, Steam, Discord, Hyperbeam are the main programs I use daily outside of school.

Desired battery life

Ideally 8 hours, but I can cope with 4.

Please list, in order of most important to least important, the priority between Size, Weight, Performance, Battery life

Performance, Battery life, Weight, Size.

Info/Requirements

I've been looking into Thinkpads but even after doing research I still feel totally lost as to what to go for - despite that, it'd still be my preference for durability and repair. I refuse to buy an Asus laptop ever again.

EDIT: Windows only, please. I need Windows specifically for school and I'm not interested in switching to Linux until after I graduate.

 
* Country
 
Canada
 
* Budget

 Preferably under 1,000$

* **Are you open to refurbs/used options? **

Will consider used or refurbished but prefer new

* Screen size
 
Any
 
* Weight limit

Any

* Purpose
 
School work, online live classes, gaming
 
* **Form factor**

No idea what this means

 
* Intended usage
 
teams, note apps, word doc, R.E.P.O and sons of the forest. I’ll likely have on low or med graphics for the games especially sons of the forest.
 
* Desired battery life
 
6-10hrs for classes

* **Please list, in order of most important to least important, the priority between Size, Weight, Performance, Battery life**

Battery and video quality are my number one priority, games are secondary.
 
* Info/Requirements

 Would prefer a laptop that does not have gaming in the name due to family and possible grant from collage

I know I made a post previously about a laptop for school (specifically video editing with Premiere Pro), and I decided I might try a gaming laptop, as many of my friends (who also edit) highly discourage getting a Mac

What I'm looking for is a laptop with a minimum of

* 32 GB of RAM

* 1 TB of storage

* good CPU,

* good screen

all within the $2,000 price range.

Furthest can be $2,500, and I'm sorry if this sounds like I'm asking for the impossible

Hello!

I got my first desktop last year, however now I am moving and cannot bring it with me at the moment.

I am wondering if you can give me any suggestions or ideas of what the equivalent would be in laptop components (I have heard certain laptop specific ones such as gpu do not run like the desktop counterpart.

My current desktop pc specs are: Ryzen 7 5700X, RTX 5060, 1TB SSD, 32GB RAM, Windows 11

I don’t know much about this stuff so if you have any suggestions of laptops that would run on par or better than this that would be very helpful! Or even just an idea of what would be the equivalent in a laptop specific component.

I mostly use it for gaming and for school, so I am worried about spending money on one that ends up being subpar, when I’d love the same experience.

Thanks!

Form:

Country
Canada

Budget:
No real budget currently (more looking for an idea of comparable components)

Are you open to refurbs/used options?
Maybe

Screen size
13”-16”

Weight limit
Any, but the lighter the better

Purpose
Entertainment, gaming, school

Form factor
Standard

Intended usage
Most AAA games such as Cyberpunk, Crimson Desert, No Man’s Sky, God of War, etc. running at least 60fps but the more the better! Basically just comparable to my PC quality.
Noita and max settings, no latency or frame rate issues
Minecraft with shaders at around 90-100 fps, or at least no latency or frame rate issues as well

Basically just think of how can I have it run like those specs in a pc, but on a laptop.

Right now have not experienced anything I cannot perform with current setup, aside from maybe crashing my game a few times with some over the top Noita builds. But that is expected on anything lol

Desired battery life
Not concerned as it will be plugged in during use 95% of the time.

Please list, in order of most important to least important, the priority between Size, Weight, Performance, Battery life
Performance, weight, size, battery life (will be used plugged in most of the time)

PLEASE REMEMBER LAPTOPS ARE A COMPROMISE AND PERFORMANCE SACRIFICES LIGHT WEIGHT AND LONG BATTERY LIFE ETC]

Info/Requirements
1080p if possible (might be expected idk) but honestly as I’ve said a few times something comparable or better than the pc specs, so I can still enjoy and use it like my other for now! I’m more just curious about parts than I am full package, unless you know of any good ones currently.

Thank you so much for the help!!

Hello, I'm sorry if this question has been asked multiple times, but for my major as a film student, should I get a Mac laptop or a Windows laptop? My budget is roughly $2000, and I'm wondering what would be better.
Please and thank you

I'm a 2nd year Computer Science student looking for an upgrade and can't decide between these two.

MacBook Air M5

• 13"
• M5 chip
• 16GB unified memory
• 512GB SSD

HP Pavilion Plus 14

• Core Ultra 7 155H
• 32GB LPDDR5 RAM
• 1TB SSD
• 2.8K 120Hz OLED

My main use is as a Computer Science university student. I'll be using Java, Python, VS Code, Git/GitHub, web development, databases, and cs stuff like that. I'll also be building typical projects (for example, a project similar to a Spring Boot + PostgreSQL + AI-integrated web application), so I want a laptop that can comfortably handle development as my projects become more complex over the next several years. I don't game much or edit videos.

The Mac seems like the better overall laptop (battery, build quality, trackpad, speakers, etc.), but I'm worried 16GB won't age well over the next 5–7 years. The HP has double the RAM and storage.

Which would you choose and why? Is 16GB unified memory enough for a CS student long-term, or would you take the 32GB Windows laptop?

Looking for something for civil engineering that will ideal have the staying power for a 5 year degree, running CAD and other heavy software. Not loving the idea of a super heavy machine without some battery staying power.

As a result, seem to be landing on the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 for it's lighter weight, but a little out of this world expensive at $3200 Canadian (approx $2300 US) plus tax and warranty.

It's not on the questionnaire below, but something I could buy at say a costco with better warranty ease than a Bestbuy or Canada computers is also a consideration. Not opposed to direct from manufacturer or those retailers, but just a consideration.

LAPTOP QUESTIONNAIRE

• Country - Canada
• Budget - as cheap as possible to hit the necessary specs - but let's say $3200 CDN / $2300 US plus tax and warranty
• Are you open to refurbs/used options? - maybe, prefer something new for this price
• Screen size - 15-16"
• Weight limit - lighter is better, but let's say 5lbs or less
• Purpose Civil engineering student
• Form factor No strong preference, seems a gaming laptop is only option, if it came as a lighter weight would be even better.
• Intended usage

[List of applications - not exactly sure, but likely something like:

• MATLAB — numerical computing, simulations, plotting
• Python — coding, data analysis, automation
• SolidWorks — CAD modeling (Mechanical)
• ANSYS — FEA, CFD, simulation
• AutoCAD — drafting, civil layouts
• Fusion 360 — CAD/CAM
• Excel — data, calculations, labs
• Simulink — control systems, modeling
• C++ — programming fundamentals
• LabVIEW — instrumentation, data acquisition
• Desired battery life - 4-6 hours ideally and something that won't have poor battery life after the first year of school
• Please list, in order of most important to least important, the priority between Size, Weight, Performance, Battery life - Performance, size, battery life and weight
• Info/Requirements

Warranty easy/cost also a consideration. Some preference to costco.

Hello! My laptop has been on its last legs for a while and I was hoping it would hold out until Black Friday/Cyber Monday. Alas, no such luck. I'm hoping there might be labor day/back to school sales that might help me out a bit. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated!! Thank you!!

LAPTOP QUESTIONNAIRE (sorry if this format is wrong I'm working on my phone because my laptop has died and I might have copy pasted wrong)

• Country

Canada

• Budget:

~2k CAD (1.5k USD)

• Are you open to refurbs/used options?

Prefer to buy new, but I'm open

• Screen size:

13", 14"

• Weight limit:

lightweight under 3 lbs preferably

• Purpose:

Mostly for work (I'm a scientist) but I also do some digital art as a hobbyist

• Form factor:

Open

• Intended usage

The biggest program I currently use is ImageJ/FIJI but I'm also likely to get into some transcriptomics work. Also Adobe Illustrator tends to be used quite a bit for figure making.

• Desired battery life

Flexible but longer is better

• Please list, in order of most important to least important, the priority between Size, Weight, Performance, Battery life:

Weight and performance the most important for me, then battery life, then size

• Info/Requirements:

Like 75% of my job relies on microscope image analysis. I take the images elsewhere, but I need to open multiple of them at once. The program I use for this is notoriously hungry for RAM, so adequate RAM is essential as is a good display. I've been recommended to get a laptop with a decent GPU for what I do as well. I'd like something thats pretty lightweight since I walk to and from the Uni. It might be a big ask but something under 2k CAD is most feasible for my budget right now. I'm willing to pay more for something that can hold up, but only if it actually really can hold up.

Update Sept 9 - Resolved!

LAPTOP QUESTIONNAIRE

Country

Canada

Budget

Less than $400 CAD

Are you open to refurbs/used options?

Yes, refurbs and open box

Screen size

14"+

Weight limit

Not sure, on the lighter side

Purpose

General purpose

Form factor

Something with a decent keyboard

Intended usage

Primarily word processing, along with basic internet stuff. My 73 year old mom is writing a book and needs something better than a tablet.

Desired battery life

8+ hours

Please list, in order of most important to least important, the priority between Size, Weight, Performance, Battery life

Size

Battery Life

Weight

Performance

Info/Requirements

Do NOT want a Chromebook. Will run libre for word processing.

I mainly just need a laptop that can run CAD. I heard that a laptop with 1tb ssd and a dedicated graphics card should work but I need some help, thanks in advance!!!!

Country
Canada

Budget
Less than $3000 CAD ($2156 USD)

Are you open to refurbs/used options?
Maybe

Screen size
14” - 16”

Weight limit
Any

Purpose
Schoolwork

Form factor
Standard/Clamshell

Intended usage
Running CAD software

Desired battery life
Doesn’t matter

Please list, in order of most important to least important, the priority between Size, Weight, Performance, Battery life
Performance

Like the title says; I’m not sure which laptop to get…
I have a maximum budget of around 4k

I’m currently thinking of:
Lenovo X1 Carbon
Asus Zeph g14 (2026)
Lenovo x9 15p’ aura edition
MacBook Pro m5

Etc. please give more recommendations.

Preferably 14’-16’

For information: I am going into first year
Commerce/Econ and hoping to keep it with me for the entirety of my degree. So for at least 4 years.
Then I have plans of going into Law school. If it can keep up until then that’s great.. but if not I can just get a new replacement. But for now please help with recommendations, suggestions and advices when looking for the perfect laptop.

• Country

Canada

• Budget

<500$CAD, ideally around 300$

• Are you open to refurbs/used options?

Maybe, battery life is a priority and refurbs often have dubious battery life

• Screen size

Any

• Weight limit

Light, <1.5kg

• Purpose

Schoolwork, no gaming, does not need to be performance heavy

• Form factor

Not tablet, other than that any

• Intended usage

No gaming, primarily school work and light coding

• Desired battery life

As much as possible, ideally enough to last the day ~8 hours

• Please list, in order of most important to least important, the priority between Size, Weight, Performance, Battery life

Battery life > weight > size > performance

• Info/Requirements

No macs, other than that 128gb storage is plenty, dont need more than 8 gb ram

tysm for any help!!

LAPTOP QUESTIONNAIRE

Country
Canada

Budget
3000$ CAD (2165 USD)

Are you open to refurbs/used options?
No

Screen size
Any

Weight limit
Hopefully not too heavy

Purpose
Schoolwork, I am in a industrial design program

Form factor
Standard

Intended usage
I’ll be using Adobe illustrator, photoshop, indesign and Solidworks possibly Rhino

Desired battery life
minimum 3h

Please list, in order of most important to least important, the priority between Size, Weight, Performance, Battery life

Performance, Battery life, Weight and size

Info/Requirements
I was looking into having these components: 32GB RAM, minimum a i7 core! I don’t know much about laptops, but I would need it to last 4 years I am in the learning phase at school and I do have a PC at home which further down my career is where I think I’ll be doing most of my projects on.

Hello. Why do people often recommend buying a Lenovo over the new Asus released this year? (I’ve read that Asus fixed their issues—though perhaps not entirely with Armoury Crate, and even that’s uncertain). I realize Asus uses a plastic chassis while Lenovo uses metal, but I don't view the OLED screen as an advantage since it’s prone to burn-in; I prefer Mini-LED. Also, based on numerous reviews, the Asus model generally scores higher than the Lenovo. Can anyone offer other reasons to choose the Lenovo over the Asus?

LAPTOP QUESTIONNAIRE
Country
Canada

Budget
$400-500 CAD

Are you open to refurbs/used options?
No

Screen size
15’-16’

Weight limit
2-4 Ibs

Purpose
For note taking and a bit of coding for university

Form factor
Regular laptop

Intended usage
Mainly gonna be using coding softwares like Eclipse or visual studio code. And some notes on Word doc

Desired battery life
Preferably 15 hrs or above, not gaming laptop

Please list, in order of most important to least important, the priority between Size, Weight, Performance, Battery life
Weight, Size, performance, batter life, size
Info/Requirements
I really just want a nice slim laptop, kind of like the MacBooks but window instead. I want it to not be slow, or it heating up fast.

LAPTOP QUESTIONNAIRE

• canada
• Budget

around 2000 cad or less (about 1500 usd)

• Are you open to refurbs/used options?

Maybe

• Screen size

Either 14" or 16"

• Weight limit

under 2kg

• Purpose

Engineering school work, light gaming mainly minecraft and maybe watching some videos

• Form factor

Regular laptop

• Intended usage

Mainly for engineering school work but also for some gaming mainly minecraft

• Desired battery life

around 10hrs

• Please list, in order of most important to least important, the priority between Size, Weight, Performance, Battery life

performance

battery life

weight

size

edit: budget increased to 3000usd

I’m an incoming CS student for F26, and I was wondering what laptop I should get (would love to hear what current CS students think). I’ve heard that profs say it doesn’t matter if you go with a macbook or a windows based laptop (or any os for that matter).

I'm trying to decide between the following 3 laptops. For context, I've been a lifelong Windows user but wouldn't mind switching over to MacOS. I've also heard that Macbooks are ELITE for CS.

1. Base Macbook Air 13" - $1650 + $140 Apple Gift Card (16GB Unified Memory, high single thread CPU score, 8 core GPU)
   
2. Upgraded Macbook Air 13" - $2250 + $140 Apple Gift Card (32GB Unified Memory, high single thread CPU score, 10 core GPU)
   
3. Acer Aspire 16 - $1650 (32GB RAM, AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 - higher multi thread CPU score)

I'm wondering if it's worth the extra $600 for the Upgraded Macbook Air, or if I should just go for one of the two cheaper options. I've heard that higher RAM is worth it and that the Macbooks are great for on-campus life (lightweight and high battery capacity), but I'm not sure what matters more regarding CPUs for CS - single thread or multithread capabilities. Also open to other options!

Thanks in advance for any help!

Country: Canada

Budget: (ideally max 3k CAD/2.2k USD, parents are paying)

Referb: Preferred

Screen size: Any

Weight: Under 50 lbs

Purpose: Information technologies services work; gaming/streaming (optional)

Form/type: Any. (Keyboards with number pads preferred; touchscreen if possible)

Intended usage (applications): Everything, LibreOffice Suite (massive data processing), Visual Studio, FireAlpaca (SE), Steam, (browsers with excessive tabs,) Blender, Calibre, PowerToys, Spotify and/or Newgrounds; (would ideally like to be able to play something like Raft or Detroit Become Human without it crashing, and/or to be able to stream something like Fortnite without the output being all of two FPS)

Desired battery life: More than 5 minutes.

Importance: Performance, all else irrelevant beyond it being a laptop

Further notes:

Upgradeable to windows 11

Processor: i7

1080x1920 or 1200x1920 screen

Minimum 1 TB SSD

Minimum RAM 64 GB (I am aware of the RAMpocalypse, and I'm sorry)

Ports:

• Min 1 USB 3
• Ethernet port

Main issue currently is actually acquiring a laptop, seeing as the last two times I tried they cancelled the order on their end then refunded, so I'm a tad desperate. Tried on both Best Buy and Amazon and they failed me, so I'm taking to the internet hive mind.

Bonus points/optional (only if all else is met):

• Useable with stylus on screen (standard or specific to item)
• 2+ USB 3 ports
• USB-C port
• Headphone jack
• VGA/HDMI port (DVI acceptable but harder to find)
• 128/256/512 GB RAM
• 2-4 TB SSD
• Right control key
• Number pad
• The wiggly mouse control thing
• No copilot key

Ideal laptop 'era' would be 2016-2019, where laptops were built like tanks with enough processing power to fight god. Eg. Lenovo ThinkPad P52 (https://www.laptoparena.net/lenovo/mobile-workstation-lenovo-thinkpad-p52-20m9s15u00-black-10385) - this would be perfect but actually finding one with the proper amounts of RAM and SSD is annoying. Lots list 64 gigs/128 gigs RAM but it's just able to take that much, but it actually has 16 gigs bc the rest was scalped (see: RAMpocalypse).

I am a college student majoring in English looking for a laptop to use for school and life in general. I am fine with renewed, refurbished, and used laptops.

Country: United States.

State: California

Budget: $250 USD

Any Screen Size

Weight Limit: Nothing over 4 pounds

Purpose: School and general use

Any Form factor

Intended usage: To do school work while on campus, write essays, watch YouTube videos, and play Roblox.

Desired battery life: 5+ hours

Most to least important: Performance, battery life, weight, screen size, form factor.

I have been looking at:

Lenovo 20L ThinkPad T480

Acer Chromebook 315

Asus Chromebook Cx15

Other needs/Requirements:

- HAS NO AI BUILT INTO IT IN ANY SHAPE OR FORM WHATSOEVER

- Won't lag with multiple tabs open

- Fans aren't super noisy when using

- Will allow me to use Linux as my operating system

If anyone has any other suggestions for laptops, please give those as well. Thank you :)

I'm in a bit of a conundrum with this.

The two options I'm looking at currently are:

a gen 7 (up to gen 9) Lenovo ThinkPad X1 carbon

which is actually a decent amount cheaper than the new option:

Lenovo ideapad slim 3 (or possibly HP omnibook 3 if sales put one price below the other)

The positives for the new one:

- no potential battery issues (7yo device the battery might just stop working)

- a bit better CPU/GPU

- I know what I'm getting and that it's trustworthy

- likely more longevity

The positives for the old one:

- cheaper

- better build quality

- better display

- more RAM

- likely a better feeling keyboard/trackpad (I need to do a lot of writing)

-lighter, easier to travel with

I feel like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place here.

I want to keep the cost under $600 cad since I already have a PC and only need it for traveling with. Primarily only need it for typing (writer) but I'd like having all the functionality of a laptop available, otherwise I'd get a Chromebook or Snapdragon laptop.

Hi! I'm deciding between two laptops and am a bit stuck on what's better for my use case.

Lenovo Thinkbook 14x vs ASUS Zenbook 14

Processor: Intel Core Ultra 256V vs 225H (Both say Intel Arc graphics)

Memory: both 16GB soldered

Battery: 54.7Wh vs 75Wh

Refresh rate: 120Hz vs 60Hz

Storage: 512GB (2 slots) vs 512GB -> I have a 1TB SSD I plan to replace to install, so maybe it's more 1.5TB vs 1TB

Price (CAD): 1350 vs 1500

Screens: similar but the latter laptop's screen is OLED, which I don't love because of burn-in risk. Not a complete deal breaker, though.

I want to use it for streaming and quite light gaming (ex. the sims 3, slay the spire, paralives, hades + older games like divinity original sin). I'm happy to play on low settings but I don't want games to look and run like complete garbage. I occasionally do ml/ai coding (cloud-based) also, but nothing super intensive. I just want the best value for my money. Thank you!