It seems like I've found the AMD laptop that can slap the arse off a MacBook Air...

"Wheelerguy" (wheelerguy) 08/10/2020 at 06:55 • Filed to: laptops, Laptoplopnik

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Do I trade the eye candy for raw APU power? Is that worth the risk?

…and it seems like it has the chops to repeatedly dunk on the A1932 for a comparable price.

One big drawback, however, is the display, which is just 260 nits and not as colour-accurate as the Retina display. Then again, it’s not like I game a lot or even edit photos that heavily, so it may be worth the risk. On the other hand, I like my screens bright and poppy because I watch video in fullscreen and enjoy my photos in the full format I upload on.

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Still, it does make for quite a compelling comparison, right? Though the thing is, stock is a bit dodgy even for the Acer, much less for competitors of this laptop. But what is that Acer’s competition?

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > Wheelerguy 08/10/2020 at 07:05

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doesnt damn near every non apple product out perform an apple at a similar price?

apples are seriously pricey for what you get performance wise

facw > Wheelerguy 08/10/2020 at 07:11

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Does look reasonably compelling. Acer’s website does mention two display options (though their specs are only for the FHD one?):

with a 13.5” 3:2 ratio 2256x1504 IPS VertiView Display or the vivid colors of a 14” 16:9 FHD IPS display.

That’s still lower res than the Air, and who knows about brightness, but it’s at least getting more in the same ballpark.

Tapas > Wheelerguy 08/10/2020 at 07:12

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Apple is the the Parsh if the computer world.

Overpriced but refined.

That also means you can al ways find better bang for your buck elsewhere .

Wheelerguy > facw 08/10/2020 at 07:20

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The spec on the site does say 14-inch so yeah, I get the “blah” IPS display.

Wheelerguy > Tapas 08/10/2020 at 07:32

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Thing is that before my MacBook boot-looped from under me, it was smoother, faster and more beautiful than the desktop I have (not hard to do considering the PC is powered by a Celeron). There’s a definite experience advantage to macOS that I wish Win10 had (Linux might get much closer, though), but the Air won’t ever survive my workload (document writing, poster layouting, UHD video viewing , small LEGO renders) and frequency of use. Plus, battery life on the Acer is 6 to 7 hrs, equal to what I get from the Air at regular chat, so it really is a bit of a pickle.

Wheelerguy > farscythe - makin da cawfee! 08/10/2020 at 07:34

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That’s why I’m here looking for a better Win/AMD clamshell.

SiennaMan > farscythe - makin da cawfee! 08/10/2020 at 07:36

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 Exactly.   With apple you're paying a premium for quality displays (hopefully,  do they sell non-retina displays?) and tight software integration.  You're never going to see software compatibility issues between their os and hardware.  

CalzoneGolem > Wheelerguy 08/10/2020 at 08:02

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Sounds like you need a hackintosh

facw > farscythe - makin da cawfee! 08/10/2020 at 08:02

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The Air isn’t usually that bad if you are comparing to other ultraportables with high-res screens. It’s going to be cheaper than a a Dell XPS13 or Lenovo X1 Carbon for example. Granted those might be more fairly compared against the 13" Ma cbook Pro, but there’s a bit of a gap where you can’t find “consumer” level products with high DPI screens combined with light-weight. Dell, Lenovo, and ASUS don’t have comparable consumer-level offerings ( at the moment anyway), and even if you could find something like this Acer with the higher-end screen option, it’s still a bit worse than what you’d get from Apple, and the price wouldn’t be that much better.

JMordu becoming “savethemilanos” > Wheelerguy 08/10/2020 at 09:34

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Another thing to note is that a new MacBook would of course come with MacOS Catalina, and therefore no 32bit app support. Meaning if you use Lego Digital Designer for your Lego renders, it won’t work as there is no 64bit version of that software for MacOS. I keep an old Mac around for older OS versions, but that’s not practical for everyone 

404 - User No Longer Available > Tapas 08/10/2020 at 10:28

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Overpriced but refined. 

...yeah, maybe like Nick Murray’s Porsche .

We have a fleet of Macbook Pros all with broken keyboards, and we’re so busy that we can’t even warranty them . I’m lucky because from day 1 I’ve been using my own mechanical keyboard since I hate typing on that damn butterfly keyboard or whatever they’re called. And don’t get me started on all the workarounds I need to do on Mac OS X to my tools working, just because they’re different and do things their way. Who hardcodes Python libraries? 

Tapas > Wheelerguy 08/10/2020 at 10:29

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I see what you mean.

If you are still inclined to get an Apple, see Apple refurbished Macbook Pros - Apple sells them on their website with the same warranty as a new computer. Or check out backmarket.com.

But even with refurb pricing, chances are you’ll be able to find a cheaper PC counterpart lol

Tapas > CalzoneGolem 08/10/2020 at 10:31

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People still do those? I want one!

Shoop > Wheelerguy 08/10/2020 at 10:34

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I have a msi gs75, it wipes the floor with most desktops too

CalzoneGolem > Tapas 08/10/2020 at 10:37

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I briefly considered it for my daughter but I figured it would be easier for others to help her in college if she had a legit Mac. If you do some googling there seems to be an active community.  

Grindintosecond > Wheelerguy 08/10/2020 at 11:41

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Im a big keyboard guy. It has to do more than web search entry. Can I write for 3 hours and not hate it? Then I likes and unfortunately most keyboards have suck chicklet keys. Apples butterfly is horrible and even improved lately, is still horrible. I’m waiting for the 4700/4800u chips in a good   chassis. Lenovos x1 carbon is great but the parts combo isn’t. So I wait.

The drive to thin killed good writer notebooks. I'll just wait.

Wheelerguy > JMordu becoming “savethemilanos” 08/10/2020 at 11:42

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Fortunately I do use the newer Stud.io program from Bricklink, which is more robust, comes with updated parts and has choices between its native ren derer or V-Ray, but LDD is the program I’m better-versed in moving around in. Stud.io did run on my  A1932 but just dies if I go over 100 elements in the viewport. THAT’s how bad the wretched thing was.

Wheelerguy > Grindintosecond 08/10/2020 at 12:07

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That’s my biggest problem. I have the patience to wait until Zen 2 and Zen 3 are in ALL THE COMPUTING THINGS and I won’t have to worry about being gimped on features, I/O and threads or APU talent in a system with an overall experience rated A BNQ. B ut I gotta have a laptop before September or my operations will be even more crippled than it is now.

We only one PC in the house and my brother’s classes have begun, with class times that overlap mine. Worse, PC bangs here are closed for the foreseeable month or two, and I can’t go outside because of my congenital heart ailment. I desperately need a laptop (not now, but quite soon) , but I want one that would egg me on to do more work than have something that’s as anemic at its core (heh) as I am. Anything over Php100k is too much for me, my brother and my parents , which makes this group tantalizing — they do seem like double the laptop for the asking price.

The HP Omen is the one I gravitate to — it’s the least “GAMER” but still has a webcam and enough GPU for me to run all of Trackmania 2, with mods . But at 15k u nd er 100, it makes little fiscal sense to choose that over the Swift 3 (which I reckon can run at least one Trackmania 2 title decently while still letting me write a script) and save the money for tuition or my surgery three years later.

So I’m left with a dilemma: buy the Acer now and risk feeling like a downgrade even if I got the APU I wanted, or go higher up the stack and turn 33k to dust in the process. Ugh. Emerging markets:  not even once.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Wheelerguy 08/10/2020 at 12:18

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I don’t know what Lenovo availability is like in PH but I highly recommend something in the Thinkpad X series if you’re looking for a high-performing ultraportable.

Wheelerguy > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 08/10/2020 at 12:37

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Looking at the aggregator and eliminating everything that doesn’t have 8GB memory minimum and 1TB of flash storage...

...huh.

Textured Soy Protein > Wheelerguy 08/10/2020 at 13:47

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What you said about the screen is always the challenge with PC laptops. I have a 6 year old MBP 13 that’s still chugging along, even can do basic 4k video editing in iMovie but chugs along when rendering. But the screen is solid for my photo & video editing. I have a nice color-accurate 25" 1440p HDR monitor that I dock to but I need a laptop’s screen to be good too. I’m not attached to Mac OS. I do prefer it over Windows but I use Windows on my work machine all the time and it’s fine. The issue with Windows laptops is you can easily hit all the specs you want for cheaper than Apple but it takes a lot of poring over reviews to make sure you can find one that has a properly good display.