A lawyer needs computer advice!

[falafel]

I would never consider it a full replacement for Excel, but it is very powerful. The best feature is that multiple people can edit at the same time. You can also create a link to a google sheet from Excel if you need to use the sheet data in Excel for some reason. Just click Refresh whenever you need it to pull down the latest version of the google sheet data. So you can get the best of both worlds.

It does 99% of what I need it to do. Just let me rotate the damn text!

[Copelius]

Wasn't sure where to put this, but I am a lawyer and I do need advice. My personal laptop bought in 2018 has been drafted to be the firm computer by default. It seems to be handling things ok, but the fan has started going on far more often than I recall it doing in the past. I run Adobe CC and MS Office as well as two different chromes with multiple tabs at once on 4 different screens.

I keep everything on the cloud through my MS 365 One Drive account, so I am not worried about data loss. But I am concerned about it keeling over in the middle of drafting or printing a plan for clients who may be coming in with no time to look at other options. Is it time to bite the bullet and get the firm a new laptop? Current specs are i5 8250 CPU 1.6-1.8 GHz, 16GB RAM. If so, what should I look at so I don't have to think about this for at least 5 years, maybe more?

[BigFatMeanie]

Because you already have an Intel-based laptop I'm assuming you don't want to go Apple, so this is written from the Windows/Intel/AMD perspective.

Some general thoughts:

• Windows can run on ARM hardware but there aren't a ton of ARM-based Windows laptops out there on the market at the moment so you'll generally stick with Intel or AMD.
• Laptops are always a tradeoff on multiple things: battery life, weight, compute power - they all come at the expense of each other. The kind of specs you want depend on what your usage really looks like. If you constantly tote the thing around everywhere and truly want all the portability of a laptop all the time then you probably value battery life and lower weight over more compute power. If you don't haul it around every where but treat more like a more-portable desktop then maybe you don't care as much about heavier weight and longer battery life and would rather have more computing power.
• If you hook the laptop up to a big high resolution monitor then you probably want to worry some about the graphics card, but even then you probably don't need to worry about it too much and can go with CPU-supported graphics. If you usually just work on the laptop and don't hook it up to a big monitor then the CPU-supported graphics are probably all you need (although you're running Adobe CC which makes me wonder what you're needing that for - see below).
• Laptops that do get moved around a lot tend to have a shorter life than those that remain in place more. Thus, one strategy is to treat them as more "disposable" and go cheaper on specs because you know you'll be upgrading in just 2 or 3 years rather than in 5+ years.
• Adobe CC's monitoring and license control application is notoriously hoggy and resource intensive - that's independent of the actual Adobe applications such as Photoshop or Illustrator or whatever. There are various settings you can tweak to try and reduce its CPU consumption but it can be a frustrating exercise. Your current specs are pretty under-powered for CC. For example, 1.5GHz is the minimum recommended processor speed for Acrobat Pro. If you're running stuff like Photoshop or Illustrator then you're going need even more.

Decide whether you want to go cheaper and more frequent or whether you want to go more expensive and less frequent, and whether you value battery life over horsepower.

If you're going to go more expensive and less frequent, and you value horsepower over battery, then get an Intel Core i7 processor or the AMD equivalent Ryzen 7 series. These will be in the $900 - $1800 range. If you really want to get spendy you can go into the Core i9 or the Ryzen 9 lines but these will be in the $2000 - $3000+ range. If you're going to go less expensive with potentially more frequent replacements, then stick with Core i5 or the AMD Ryzen 5 series which will be in the $700 to $1200 range. If you really cheap out you can get super-cheapo laptops well below $700 but they will be using either outdated i5 processors or even cheaper Celerons so I would personally stay away from them.

When it comes down to Intel vs. AMD there really isn't that big of a decision point. They constantly leap frog each other in specs and performance and both are well-supported by the major vendors so you really can't go wrong with either. Anyone that comes down super-strongly on the processor (i.e. "OMG! NEVER buy AMD!" or "Intel suxxxx bro!") is just a fanboi.

Your main non-Apple vendors of business-grade laptops are going to be:
Lenovo
HP
Dell

I believe all of them offer both AMD and Intel based laptops in the three price ranges (e.g. core i5 vs. core i7 vs. core i9).

Secondary vendors would be
Acer
Asus
potentially Microsoft Surface or Google Chromebook as well.

I tend to avoid the flip-screen, 2-in-1 type of stuff, as well as gaming laptops, but I'm old school and grumpy.

Now is actually a pretty decent time to buy a laptop as there are still holiday sales and stuff going on. So, get yourself a spreadsheet and start shopping around online and writing down the specs so you can compare and find what you like at the best price points, which is the most fun part about shopping for laptops.

[Pelado]

Wasn't sure where to put this, but I am a lawyer and I do need advice. My personal laptop bought in 2018 has been drafted to be the firm computer by default. It seems to be handling things ok, but the fan has started going on far more often than I recall it doing in the past. I run Adobe CC and MS Office as well as two different chromes with multiple tabs at once on 4 different screens.

I keep everything on the cloud through my MS 365 One Drive account, so I am not worried about data loss. But I am concerned about it keeling over in the middle of drafting or printing a plan for clients who may be coming in with no time to look at other options. Is it time to bite the bullet and get the firm a new laptop? Current specs are i5 8250 CPU 1.6-1.8 GHz, 16GB RAM. If so, what should I look at so I don't have to think about this for at least 5 years, maybe more?

I'm not an expert, but I wouldn't think that those apps would be particularly demanding on your workstation.

Do you need a replacement to be a laptop, or are you pretty much doing everything in the office? I used to use a laptop but it was pretty much always plugged in to the docking station in the office, connected to better monitors, keyboard, mouse, etc. Now I just use a desktop with a dual monitor setup. I have a nearly identical setup in our home office that I use to remote into my office computer when needed.

Whether you go with a laptop or a desktop solution, I think you should be looking at the business grade hardware. It tends to be more stable and durable, though it is also typically more expensive than the consumer grade crap.

Edit: looks like BFM covered everything better and quicker than I did.

[BigFatMeanie]

Also, there is one alternative to the main vendors that you might want to consider (and which I will almost certainly choose for my next laptop purchase):

https://frame.work/

In the era of proprietary stuff that can't be repaired and is designed to go to the landfill after a few years, the Framework laptop is designed to be easily upgradeable and self-repairable. You can build it yourself or you can get it pre-built. I've been following the company when they first started and people doubted they could compete and be successful but they've been doing well and are surviving and thriving.

There stuff is a bit more pricey than the major vendors but if you want to future proof are comfortable doing your own upgrades (they have excellent guides/instructions) then it's a great way to go. For example, you could keep the case, screen, etc. and just upgrade the main board with a better processor in the future instead of buying a whole new laptop.

[Copelius]

Thanks for all the input. I use the laptop mostly as a desktop, but I want the portability to be able to work from wherever. For example, my brother is working with his HR to offer my services to his work at a bulk benefits arrangement down in AZ where I am also licensed. Then there is also the choir travel. But I am not all that concerned about battery life. Looks like I have some work cut out for me over the next couple weeks when not many people are looking to set up estate plans.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Wasn't sure where to put this, but I am a lawyer and I do need advice. My personal laptop bought in 2018 has been drafted to be the firm computer by default. It seems to be handling things ok, but the fan has started going on far more often than I recall it doing in the past. I run Adobe CC and MS Office as well as two different chromes with multiple tabs at once on 4 different screens.

I keep everything on the cloud through my MS 365 One Drive account, so I am not worried about data loss. But I am concerned about it keeling over in the middle of drafting or printing a plan for clients who may be coming in with no time to look at other options. Is it time to bite the bullet and get the firm a new laptop? Current specs are i5 8250 CPU 1.6-1.8 GHz, 16GB RAM. If so, what should I look at so I don't have to think about this for at least 5 years, maybe more?

Trust me on this one: get yourself a MacBook Air. They are cheap, reliable, easy to use, and work amazingly well. Not to mention they are super light and have a ridiculously long battery life.

[Copelius]

Trust me on this one: get yourself a MacBook Air. They are cheap, reliable, easy to use, and work amazingly well. Not to mention they are super light and have a ridiculously long battery life.

That would mean going contrary to all that I hold dear. How's that for drama. Actually, I just have never used a mac before and don't really want to have to deal with that learning curve at the same time as I am dealing with all my other learning curves.

[Jeff Lebowski]

That would mean going contrary to all that I hold dear. How's that for drama. Actually, I just have never used a mac before and don't really want to have to deal with that learning curve at the same time as I am dealing with all my other learning curves.

It is a simpler, safer, and lower maintenance OS. It is nothing to be afraid of.

[Northwestcoug]

My kids' MacBooks have lasted longer than any of the PCs. Not just the durability but OS issues have been basically nil.

The initial higher cost is an investment of lack of future headaches.

[Pelado]

I bought a Lenovo laptop (with a touchscreen) for my wife a little over 5 years ago and it's had no issues that I'm aware of.

[BigFatMeanie]

We go through thousands of MacBook Pros and Windows laptops (mostly the Lenovo X1 Carbons) at work every year. I will see peoples' sample sizes of onesie-twosie and raise you a sample size of thirty thousand.

MacBooks have failures at the same rate of the Windows based laptops and it's largely dependent on use case (i.e. how hard the user is on the laptop). MacBook Pros are particularly prone to bad batteries in the third year and their keyboards wear out at an annoyingly high rate as well. The "better" operating system is in the eye of the beholder. It is true that there are more attacks in the wild that target Windows-based platforms but the vast majority of hacks/compromises come because of stupid user behavior - not because of vulnerabilities exploited in the OS while the computer was just sitting there minding its own business. Stupid user behavior happens pretty equally on both platforms.

My advice: Go with what you like, are comfortable with, and what works best with your ecosystem.

[Jeff Lebowski]

For the record, I use both platforms every day.

[Clark Addison]

My last two laptops have been Lenovos (a Yoga and a ThinkPad), and I've liked them both a lot. I've stuck with PCs because that's what I have always used at work, but I've considered getting a Mac for my next one. When my kids graduate high school, one of the things we get them is a laptop for college, and all of them have wanted a Mac. The three that have graduated have made it through their college life and beyond with theirs, having no serious troubles. We got a MacBook Air for my daughter who is a Freshman this year, and I really liked it, for the limited amount of time I spent on it.

[Bo Diddley]

I've never used mac but my brother the computer professor told me years ago that Mac had a more stable os. Windows seems more stable these days than it used to be.