Electronics

What's the best laptop with an easily-removable hard drive?

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System76 Oryx Pro vs Lenovo Thinkpad T480s vs Acer Chromebook 15 CB5-571-C09S

 vs Asus ROG GL752VW-DH71 vs Acer Swift 3 SF314-51-39NE vs Lenovo Thinkpad T470s vs Dell Inspiron 15 Gaming Series

Specs

Weight

Dependent on display size 15″: 4.37 lbs (1.98 kg) 17″: 6.61 lbs (2.99 kg) Base weight. Varies on configuration

Storage

Dependent on display size 15″: 1× M.2, 1× 2.5″ 7mm height drive. Up to 5 TB total 17″: 2× M.2, 1× 2.5″ 7mm height drive. Up to 6 TB total

OS

Pop!_OS 18.04 LTS (64-bit) or Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (64-bit)

Processor

8th Gen Intel® Core i7-8750H, 2.2 up to 4.1 GHz – 9 MB cache – 6 cores – 12 threads

Dimensions

Dependent on display size 15″: 14.96″ × 9.92″ × 0.73″ (37.99 × 25.19 × 1.85 cm) 17″: 16.48″ × 11.30″ × 0.98″ (41.86 × 28.70 × 2.49 cm)

Display

15.6″ or 17.3″ 1920×1080 144 Hz refresh rate or 3840×2160 4K HiDPI, Matte Finish

Battery

Dependent on Display 15″: Embedded 4 Cells Polymer battery pack– 55Wh 17″: Embedded 4 cells Polymer battery pack 66Wh

Memory

Up to 32 GB dual-channel DDR4 @ 2666 MHz

Audio

Stereo Speakers, Stereo Mic, Headphone Jack, Mic Jack, S/PDIF

Graphics

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 or 1070

Security

Disabled ME, Kensington® Lock

Camera

1080p HD Webcam

Networking

Gigabit Ethernet, Intel® Wireless-AC WiFi, Bluetooth

Input

Multitouch Touchpad, Multi-Color Backlit Chicklet Keyboard

Charger

Dependent on graphics and display size 15″: 150 Watts, AC-in 100–240V, 50–60Hz 17″ + 1060 GPU: 200 Watts, AC-in 100~240V, 50~60Hz 17″ + 1070 GPU: 230 Watts, AC-in 100~240V, 50~60Hz

Video Ports

1× HDMI output port (with HDCP), 2× DisplayPort 1.3

Expansion

Dependent on display size 15″: 2× USB 3.1 Type-C, 3× USB 3.1 Type-A, SD Card Reader 17″: 1× USB 3.1 Type-C with Thunderbolt 3, 2× USB 3.1 Type-A, 2× USB 3.0, SD Card Reader

RAM

-

Size

-

Battery Life

-

Hard Drive

-

Screen

-

CPU

-

GPU

-

Screen size

-

Ports

-

Screen resolution

-

3DMark FireStrike Score

-

Weight

-

Storage

-

OS

-

Processor

-

Dimensions

-

Display

-

Battery

-

Memory

-

Audio

-

Graphics

-

Security

-

Camera

-

Networking

-

Input

-

Charger

-

Video Ports

-

Expansion

-

RAM

-

Size

-

Battery Life

-

Hard Drive

-

Screen

-

CPU

-

GPU

-

Screen size

-

Ports

-

Screen resolution

-

3DMark FireStrike Score

-

Weight

5 lbs

Storage

-

OS

64 bit

Processor

2.2 GHz Intel Core i5-5200U

Dimensions

-

Display

-

Battery

-

Memory

-

Audio

-

Graphics

-

Security

-

Camera

-

Networking

-

Input

-

Charger

-

Video Ports

-

Expansion

-

RAM

4 GB RAM

Size

15.1 x 9.7 x 1 inches

Battery Life

Up to 9 Hours

Hard Drive

32 GB SSD

Screen

15.6 Inch 1920 x 1080

CPU

-

GPU

-

Screen size

-

Ports

-

Screen resolution

-

3DMark FireStrike Score

-

Weight

-

Storage

-

OS

-

Processor

-

Dimensions

-

Display

-

Battery

-

Memory

-

Audio

-

Graphics

-

Security

-

Camera

-

Networking

-

Input

-

Charger

-

Video Ports

-

Expansion

-

RAM

-

Size

-

Battery Life

-

Hard Drive

-

Screen

-

CPU

-

GPU

-

Screen size

-

Ports

-

Screen resolution

-

3DMark FireStrike Score

-

Weight

3.36 lbs

Storage

128GB SSD

OS

-

Processor

-

Dimensions

-

Display

-

Battery

-

Memory

-

Audio

-

Graphics

-

Security

-

Camera

-

Networking

-

Input

-

Charger

-

Video Ports

-

Expansion

-

RAM

4GB

Size

-

Battery Life

-

Hard Drive

-

Screen

-

CPU

7th gen i3

GPU

Embedded

Screen size

14''

Ports

2x USB 3.0 slots, 1x USB 3.1 Type-C gen 1, HDMI

Screen resolution

1080p

3DMark FireStrike Score

-

Weight

2.9 lbs/1.364 kg

Storage

1TB SSD

OS

-

Processor

-

Dimensions

-

Display

-

Battery

-

Memory

-

Audio

-

Graphics

-

Security

-

Camera

-

Networking

-

Input

-

Charger

-

Video Ports

-

Expansion

-

RAM

8GB-24GB

Size

-

Battery Life

-

Hard Drive

-

Screen

-

CPU

Intel Core i7-6600U 6th Gen

GPU

Intel 520 HD Graphics

Screen size

14inch

Ports

3xUSB-A, 1xUSB-C, HDMI, Ethernet

Screen resolution

1080p

3DMark FireStrike Score

1078

Weight

-

Storage

-

OS

-

Processor

-

Dimensions

-

Display

-

Battery

-

Memory

-

Audio

-

Graphics

-

Security

-

Camera

-

Networking

-

Input

-

Charger

-

Video Ports

-

Expansion

-

RAM

-

Size

-

Battery Life

-

Hard Drive

-

Screen

-

CPU

-

GPU

-

Screen size

-

Ports

-

Screen resolution

-

3DMark FireStrike Score

-

Pros + Cons

Pro
 Solid build quality

Even though Chromebooks are known to be cheap, the build quality of the Acer Chromebook 15 is solid.
Comment

Pro
 Good keyboard and trackpad

The keys on the keyboard feel responsive for chiclet keys and the trackpad is very large and precise.
Comment

Pro
 Good battery life

The Swift 3 can get a good 10 hours of use (sometimes even more) with simple tasks such as web browsing or watching videos. This is true for both the models with i3 and i5 CPUs.
Comment

Pro
 Good performance for the price

The Swift 3 performs quite well for the price and laptop class it belongs to. Everyday tasks are handled without problem, multitasking is not a problem neither, and it can also play some lightweight games (DoTA, LoL, Team Fortress 2) at decent framerates as well as some more demanding software such as Photoshop and Mathlab without overheating the hardware or lagging.
Comment

Pro
 Upgradeable storage

Unfortunately the CPU and RAM are soldered on the motherboard so they can't be upgraded, however the storage is not and can be easily swapped and upgraded if one needs to do so.
Comment

Pro
 Great trackpad

The trackpad is a bit larger than average and feels great to the touch, albeit a bit rougher than most trackpads out there. It performs really well with standard swipes, taps, and gestures and has no stuttering or jumpiness.
Comment

Pro
 Great build quality

For an entry model, the Acer Swift 3 has great build quality. The chassis is solid and there's absolutely no bending in either the chassis or the hood. The outer case is built from aluminum and the inner chassis is made of plastic.
Comment

Pro
 Portable

The Swift 3 is a pretty light and compact laptop. It weight around 3.35 lbs and is 0.7″ thick. The screen size is 14" which is well within the small category as far as laptop screens go.
Comment

Pro
 Decent keyboard

The keys have a slightly concave shape and a soft finishing which makes them feel great to touch and they also provide pretty good feedback.
Comment

Con
 Fairly noisy

The Acer Swift 3 has two small fans which sit on the CPU and GPU. Unfortunately they are rather agressive and start spinning even at low temperatures. Even something as simple as opening a browser will prompt both fans to start spinning quite fast. If you also keep in mind that both these fans have a fairly high pitched hum, then it's soon clear that this laptop is not the quietest on the market.
Comment

Con
 Comes with some bloatware

The Swift 3 comes with some bloatware out of the box which may influence performance, especially if you are using a model with 4GB RAM.
Comment

Pro
 Decent screen

The 15" screen is a 1080p matte (anti-glare) display which provides a good gaming experience on a budget. It doesn't get super bright, but doesn't commit any crimes either.
Comment

Pro
 User-accessible upgrades

The hard drive is easy to remove and replace. The bottom slot has just one screw and plastic clips in the way between you and the hard drive. You also have access to the RAM (default is 1x8GB stick) as well as an open M.2 slot for an SSD (in the base model)
Comment

Pro
 Good performance

The GTX 960M and i5-6300HQ paired with 8GB of RAM and provides good enough CPU performance, as well as amazing graphics performance for the price. In PCMark 7, it scored 4184, and in 3DMark Fire Strike it scored 2048. For games, Batman: Arkham Origins on high quality ran an average 70FPS, and on Bioshock Infinite on ultra settings averaged 43FPS. The demanding Meter Last Night on very high scored only 18FPS.
Comment

Con
 Mediocre build

The body is all plastic - there's no metal to be found. The plastic isn't even one single piece - there's a separate rougher section surrounding the keyboard. The screen flexes and bounces (important if considering a more expensive touchscreen model). Dell cut corners on the build for sure.
Comment

Con
 Slow hard drive speeds

The default hard drive only runs at 5400RPM which is very slow. Faster hard drives run at 7200RPM and noticeably reduce load times, or even better: use an SSD.
Comment

Con
 Poor keyboard quality

The keyboard feels mushy, with very small travel. There is quite a bit of flex in parts of the keyboard. While this makes for a quiet typing experience, it feels bland to type on.
Comment
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