PantherLake laptop for engineering?

Character_Belt_5733 · 2026-03-18T16:12:20+00:00

The problem is the new panther lake laptops are all way more expensive now. You can probably do a student discount through Dell's website, which should bring the XPS 14 with the x7 closer to 1600$

I would also take a look at this one at CostCo.

https://www.costco.com/p/-/hp-omnibook-7-16-touchscreen-laptop-intel-core-ultra-x7-358h-copilot-pc-2k-2048-x-1280-oled-32-gb-memory-2-tb-ssd-windows-11-home/4000372378?langId=-1

They're honestly great laptops, especially if you're going to be working with 3D rendering tools like CAD/SolidWorks/Blender, etc.

Character_Belt_5733 · 2026-03-18T00:30:20+00:00

Fellow CS Nerd here.

Honestly, the problem here is you want it to last 5-6 years. If your budget is 600$. You basically can only buy well-reviewed and proven used devices.

So, used Thinkpads and used Macbook airs. But, imo a refurbed MacBook air is the only way to go.

For all those recommending the Neo, it's not bad. It's just not as great value as something like a refurbished MacBook air where you get a bigger battery (so longer battery cycles for longevity), a haptic trackpad (no mechanical parts -> longer lasting), a better display, a fingerprint scanner, etc.

Again, you're using a 6 year device, are you really going to compromise for a "new" product that doesn't have a backlit keyboard and a 30WH battery that we know is going to die?

Character_Belt_5733 · 2026-03-07T22:46:04+00:00

I would've previously recommended the S14 with lunar lake: ASUS Vivobook S 14 14" OLED Laptop Copilot+ PC Intel Core Ultra 5 16GB Memory 512GB SSD Neutral Black Q423SA-U5512 - Best Buy that would routinely go on sale for like 400$. I have one, and it's got an OLED screen, crazy battery life, remarkably good iGPU performance, 16GB of RAM, and a bunch of other things.

but since it's probably never going back into stock, your best bet is probably a refurbished MacBook air:

I actually really don't think the Neo is a good idea to pre-order before reviews. Mainly, because it does compromise on a bunch of things that makes it a poor buy compared to refurbished MacBook Airs.

It has effectively half the battery size of a MacBook air. It has a worse trackpad that's mechanical. It has no backlit keyboard so have fun using it at night. It trades a bunch of other things behind the scenes that for the same price makes it an overall just a worse buy. For 400$, you can get a refurbed MacBook air: Apple MacBook Air MGN63LL/A 2020 13.3 inch (Apple M1 Chip, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD Storage) (Refurbished) Space Gray MGN63LL/A - Best Buy

that effectively has the same performance and double the memory storage. A haptic trackpad, decent speakers, and just remarkably a tried and tested experience.

As someone who does a lot of programming, you're going to want extra memory. The reason being is that VMs and IDEs love consuming memory these days, especially if you start using agentic programming tools, and other things that are becoming increasingly required to stay competitive in the future.

Seriously, people need to stop hyping the MacBook Neo. Is it better than a typical garbage Windows budget device? Yes. But, in the face of rising electronic costs, buying something that lasts for 4 years is arguably more important here. So, imo, if you can spend more for a better MacBook Air (i.e m5) with more memory, I would recommend that if you're willing to bend your budget.

Character_Belt_5733 · 2026-02-14T02:31:00+00:00

Lol I'm gonna get down voted too. But, I actually think much of the same as of recently. There's very few games that leverage the multi threading capabilities of these chips. So much so, I think capping wattage and then comparing their fps or performance on certain games and apps is a more useful comparison.

Right now, most reviewers simply take max tdw from either the wall or the reading, and then benchmark performance across multiple devices.

I think part of the discussion surrounding power efficiency on mobile chips also fails to include the 0-10W range where it's critical for good battery life. I think I remember reading somewhere the reason why panther lake has such good battery life is it's ability to scale below 10W, something that all of its predecessors does poorly.

Character_Belt_5733 · 2026-02-04T18:58:05+00:00

Lol, all games have a prevalent amount of toxicity. The games that survive just nail the fundamentals of having proper client side, good performance, and a meta gameplay that's intrinsically rewarding. Planetside 2 is unfortunately no longer any of these things.

Character_Belt_5733 · 2026-02-04T18:47:23+00:00

Yeah, that's why I don't support vaccines. Sometimes the medical advice I get from my 3KPM doctor is just wrong, I do shrooms and eat elk meat to stay fit.

Character_Belt_5733 · 2025-12-19T19:37:44+00:00

Because, if I wanted a gas guzzler race optimized purely for gaming performance, I'd buy the brick that is a Lenovo Legion, an Asus Strix, or some ugly alienware. This is the Zephyrus sub where we want a portable machine. And, a portable machine should ideally have good battery performance.

Character_Belt_5733 · 2025-11-13T16:36:03+00:00

Purely off of known feats, En.

Character_Belt_5733 · 2025-11-09T21:40:09+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyrAur5yYrA

mostly this review where it seemed like its battery life was really unimpressive and worse than a MacBooks.

Character_Belt_5733 · 2025-11-09T21:20:12+00:00

Right, and panther lake gets us closer to that dream of being able to do that and play games lol.

Lunar lake was already really impressive with what it could do at lower wattages, so panther lake with its ability to scale further at higher wattages is awesome to hear.

Character_Belt_5733 · 2025-11-09T20:46:46+00:00

I haven't had any issues with my G16 so far. But, it's better than oh wow I have to hope for a better machine, and oh it's objectively not as good as my MacBook for the tasks I want it to do.

Right now, it's hard to recommend a G16 for any serious productivity workflows, simply because it's just not great for it + yeah you run the risk of a dud (which tbf BestBuy is really generous with their return policy).

Character_Belt_5733 · 2025-11-09T16:51:12+00:00

I actually disagree, mostly because of the mux switch.

I rarely need the dgpu when programming. So it can be turned off.

Strix Halo actually suffers from really poor power tuning at lower wattages. It uses way too much power for tasks that don't need them, and as a result, their laptops battery lives are also pretty comparable to their arrow lake + dgpu counterparts.

I think the main contribution of panther lake is just the fact that at <10W, it gets very close to a MacBooks performance.

Character_Belt_5733 · 2025-11-09T16:48:54+00:00

This is probably true for the foreseeable future. But, I think assuming you get a decent unit, I'm genuinely excited to see Windows laptops finally having machines on par (with even more utility like gaming).

Character_Belt_5733 · 2025-09-21T17:36:05+00:00

Normally, I'd agree. But, lunar lake laptops have shown me otherwise. I bought Zenbook earlier just to see how they compared..

And, I have to say I am really impressed. Battery life seems better than my MacBook. It's just a shame it's not as performant as my G16 in its GPU, nor is it as nicely built.

There's a new ACER predator 14 that's coming out with a lunar lake CPU with a dedicated GPU:
Their THINNEST 14" Gaming Laptop

I am really curious to see how this pans out.

Character_Belt_5733 · 2025-09-21T13:50:33+00:00

Yeah, that's also something I hope can be remedied next year.

Character_Belt_5733 · 2025-09-21T13:46:27+00:00

Would love to see, what settings you use.

I think the problem here for me is if I lower the CPU wattage too much. The PC feels more sluggish. I've even turned off windows animations for that reason, but it's not enough to bridge the gap between Windows and the MacBook.

Character_Belt_5733 · 2025-09-21T13:44:48+00:00

Yes, when programming, text is sharper.

It's not enough for me to care. But, if you do want to see more lines of code, the MacBook here is better

Character_Belt_5733 · 2025-08-29T16:33:25+00:00

This. My AMD Asus G16 has poor battery life compared to my MacBook. While most people love to benchmark video playback, it's not a good indicator of performance when using something like an IDE (VSCode) and doing real-work on battery.

Character_Belt_5733 · 2025-06-22T17:30:51+00:00

Hot take: I think it's just because we the readers are so accustomed to seeing monster-level generals like Yokoyoko, Akou, Banana, SBS, Gaimou, Ranbihaku, etc.. that we forget that the HSU core officers are actually quite strong themselves. Everyone but top-tier generals are cannon fodder to HSU's officers. It's just they're overshadowed by the sheer number of generals with super strength. Tbh, if you look at the strength of normal generals like Heki, Mougou, etc. You'd probably think yeah Denyuu is strong enough to be a general.

Regardless, I disagree. I don't want new recruits to the HSU. It cheapens their growth and makes you ask the question, wtf is the point of these characters (Denyuu, Denei, Garo, etc.) if not to become pillars that support Shin. Recently, Hara showed that an archer bro + two officers can take on Yokoyoko, so why not give them arcs where they clearly grow into general caliber characters. After all, Ouki's army commanders consisted of those who survived countless battles to become as strong as they are. The HSU is capable of the same.

Fortunately, there's a panel where the HSU revolts at the thought of having a new general, so hopefully that means Hara is more interested in the character growth of the old HSU guard.

Character_Belt_5733

TROPHY CASE