What do I look for? I'd like something powerful enough to run games, just in case I'm away from my console, but it'll mostly be used for work. Ideally I'd like it to be durable, because I'll probably have to take it on flights when Covid eventually burns out.
What's the lesser of two evils with Intel and AMD? One is run by a woman, the other talks about the future belonging to women.
I suppose I could buy used and negate that issue.
What's a good brand to get? I always had Lenovo before, except for a Surface Laptop that barely lasted a year.
I have an Asus gaming laptop that's about 4 years old, and it's probably the flimsiest laptop I've ever had. Bunch of the bottom screws stripped, and chunks of plastic regularly break off the case.
I had the laptop it replaced for 8 years, so it's not like I abuse my computers. But it'll be a miracle if this thing survives another year. Which is sad because performance-wise it's pretty solid.
Do you lug it around a lot? I'm on my third Asus and I've never had that problem, but I do tend to just leave it on my desk and not carry it around anywhere and I don't travel like I used to.
The one I have now is 3 years in, and works just as well as the day I got it.
No I rarely do any traveling with it. Most of the time I'm just carrying it up and down the stairs at my house.
There's your problem.
If that's a daily occurrence, the thing is going to break. Laptops made in the last 10 years are just junk. Leave it sitting on a desk and it'll be fine; treat it like a portable device and you're going to have a piece of broken garbage in a couple of years.
My work laptop is about the same age and put up with the same abuse, including me throwing it in my carry-on and slogging it around the airport and in planes multiple times per year. The only damage it suffered was a dead pixel on the screen.