Will a laptop last longer with a more advanced graphics card or a less advanced one?

Hello,

I am in the market for a new laptop and trying to understand how things work so that I can evaluate the different models and configurations available.

I am not a gamer but I want a machine with a refresh rate of at least 120hz, and an i7 11th gen or Ryzen 7 5th gen H processor. I also plan to buy something with a 16:10 aspect ratio and don't want a Mac.

I want the laptop to last for 8 years.

I don't need crazy graphics performance, but it seems anything that meets my other requirements is going to have a 30 series graphics card.

Is this good or would an earlier graphics card actually work better for my needs? And is it just me or is there a conspiracy in which suppliers, in order to sell more units, make impossibly thin and light laptops that inevitably burn out in a couple years when bulkier models with better cooling could last much longer?

Thanks for any insight!!

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

 

What are your workflows? Anything can last 8 years. That doesn't mean it won't be obsolete for what you may need it for in 6 months.

What is your budget? How firm are you on this? Is it an arbitrary budget, or does it consider the current environment of artificially inflated prices?

What kind of RAM capacity will your workflows benefit from (today and in the future)? 32GB should be the minimum to consider today. 64GB is my 'entry level' for a machine/platform I want to use for more than 18 months +.

The same goes for storage. Do you need more than 1TB? Maybe not. Do you want more than a single 2TB drive today? Yes. OP'ing a drive by 33% will make it last longer, while putting less wear and tear on it, and give you a consistently faster experience too, overall. That second and third drive can be your 'onboard' backup and/or your Scratch disk/Temp file storage too, making the system even more fluid, responsive and reliable too. (When the heavily used Scratch/Temp disk goes belly up (and it will), simply replace it and continue working).

If your workflows don't need a GPU, specifically, buy the machine without one. Those platforms always last longer, give better battery life, are lighter, run cooler and you save money buying it too (or, let you buy more RAM and storage, today.

A current ThinkPad is what I would suggest (but no 120Hz monitors on them, yet). The Surface Pro 8 and/or the Surface Laptop Studio may also be a consideration (with better aspect ratio screens too).

The reason for the specific suggestions above? Their improved cooling for 2021 (at least some form of vapor-chamber cooling). Depending on the model you choose, of course.

 

Based on the CPU choices you're probably going to end up with an RTX in it. As Tiller pointed out this will run hotter and shorten the duration of life 12th gen chips are right around the corner as well and will be a significant boost in bandwidth to the drive/ram. If this is an immediate need then go with what's out right now. If you can wait it will be future proofed a bit longer. Budget is key in finding the right fit for speed and performance. If you're just surfing the web and working some docs you likely don't need a high end machine. If you're working on CPU intensive data though it makes more sense to go above average. If you want all our performance then finding a machine that has 2-3 M2 slots + 2-4 RAM slots would be ideal.

Personally I try to keep things under $1K and build onto it with upgrades. I picked up a 9th gen for $740 shipped and decked it out with dual NVME drives, boosted the WIFI to 6E AX210, dropped in 32GB I'd ram, and swapped the screen for 4K. All you need is a good foundation to build upon to get something that performs well.

 

It depends what you're using the laptop for, Besides gaming what other tasks you going to be doing? Dedicated GPUs do more than just gaming and its needed if you going to do 3d productivity tasks. Also you would need a good CPU is you're doing CPU intensive tasks. 8 years is a stretch for any laptop no matter how powerful it is. TBH its kinda hard make a suggestion for you but i would say go with a non gaming laptop like a Lenovo Thinkpad, HP ENVY, and etc. Some of them do offer Ryzen H CPUs and Intel's i7 11th Gen CPUs.

 

That is an interesting comment about storage. What does OP stand for?
So having a larger SSD will increase speed and decrease temperature, and you think I should get something with like 2 TB SSD storage and 32 GB RAM to ensure longevity/ low heat?

On workflows, I will be browsing the web a lot, watching videos, some Excel, and probably some music recording/ arranging. I don't need gaming-quality graphics for anything I do, I just want something that will scroll smoothly throughout its lifespan and I got enough of a raise recently that I'd rather make sure I have this than save a couple hundred bucks.

Thanks for your help, I hadn't heard that before about the storage, if you know of any articles on it I would definitely be interested.

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over provisioning

It won't affect heat as NVME drives run hotter anyway. It will allow the drive to function better performance wise with the additional space by not having to find open space to write to.

Any decent laptop should do this. It doesn't need to be a 3080 as most of the time you'll be using the iGPU anyway unless you set the specific apps to use the dGPU by default.

 

To answer the question! With a Less advanced card. LESS HEAT!
Check the Publishers requirements for the Programs you will be running.
32gb RAM for any Business application.
500gb OS drive minimum.NO RAID!

 

this is a double edge sword. it all depends on what you're going to be using it for.