Another Laptop Selection Help Needed Thread

Don't think I'd let cashback dictate which laptop (or more specifically where) I purchased personally, but ultimately you do what you feel you need to. My gut take is that you'd likely be able to spend that money at Costco either way... but maybe not.

If you had to pick from those 4, probably would lean toward the HP Pavilion x360... but I'd be hesitant.

The Flex 6 14 probably the second choice from the list.

If you're looking at 2 in 1's (at least 3 of those appear to be) and you are willing to go up to 700ish, I would probably take a look at the Lenovo Yoga 730... MSRP is higher, but has been able to be had for just under 700 several times recently. I've been looking into this one for my wife. These seem to have better build quality than the Flex units FWIW.

I'm sure others have some thoughts as well, but that's probably where I'd lean with your parameters at least.

The Flex 5, no question, for $599. I know she's not gaming, but the discrete graphics (GeForce)are important. Essentially, when you have discrete (separate) graphics like this, it frees up the real CPU (Core i5) *and* it frees up the system RAM from being shared. Note that it says "2GB MX130 graphics." This means there's actually 10GB of RAM in the laptop, but 2GB is dedicated to any graphics work.

The screen is bigger too; you didn't mention how many conferences she goes to a year, so I'm deprioritizing portability.

I realize she's not gaming with it, but to spend an extra $20 to free up the proc and system RAM to do everything but the graphics is a no brainer.

And for the sake of all that's holy, make sure she uses a password vault (LastPass) and doesn't share passwords between apps. I cringe that the passwords for Payroll etc., are probably the same as her Pinterest password.

And make sure she encrypts the drive. You'll have to upgrade from Win10 Home to Pro to use Bitlocker, but it's a business expense and a small price to pay in order not to have to buy identity theft insurance for employees when she gets drunk at the conference bar and gets it stolen

I used the Yoga mentioned above(720) for over a year and had no complaints about build or quality. I switched to an Ideapad for the discrete graphics and love it.

Also agreed, don't let 2% of cashback dictate where you get your tech.

I'm guessing she's self-employed? If so, how is she storing/archiving her data?

Does she do work with CD's/DVD's/Blu-Rays? I ask because if she does she'll probably need an external player (most laptops are no longer coming with internal players).