Advice wanted about suitable laptops

Dorico
61

Oof. This is on an ASUS Vivobook, less than 2 years old, which cost £1200 new, has an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor - which is still supposed to be one of the best.

Is it any wonder I’m thinking of a new laptop?

2026-06-13 18:50:19.115 [info] notifyPostCommandExecute: Edit.ToggleLayoutCondensing?Set=true (7567 ms)
2026-06-13 18:50:24.962 [info] Executing command: Edit.ToggleLayoutCondensing?Set=false
2026-06-13 18:50:31.549 [info] notifyPostCommandExecute: Edit.ToggleLayoutCondensing?Set=false (6587 ms)
2026-06-13 18:50:35.644 [info] Executing command: Edit.ToggleLayoutCondensing?Set=true
2026-06-13 18:50:43.054 [info] notifyPostCommandExecute: Edit.ToggleLayoutCondensing?Set=true (7410 ms)
2026-06-13 18:50:46.678 [info] Executing command: Edit.ToggleLayoutCondensing?Set=false
2026-06-13 18:50:53.196 [info] notifyPostCommandExecute: Edit.ToggleLayoutCondensing?Set=false (6518 ms)
2026-06-13 18:50:57.568 [info] Executing command: Edit.ToggleLayoutCondensing?Set=true
2026-06-13 18:51:01.776 [info] ping response received in ipc://Dorico6CEA713F2199544A28436A300B18E4AA8: from silk service
2026-06-13 18:51:05.558 [info] notifyPostCommandExecute: Edit.ToggleLayoutCondensing?Set=true (7989 ms)
2026-06-13 18:51:09.796 [info] Executing command: Edit.ToggleLayoutCondensing?Set=false
2026-06-13 18:51:16.768 [info] notifyPostCommandExecute: Edit.ToggleLayoutCondensing?Set=false (6971 ms)

62

Yeah. I had a custom build with a Ryzen something something X something, supposedly one of the fastest at the time. My base-spec Mac Mini, which I bought a year later, absolutely crushed it in these tests.

63

I’m trying to eke out a few more months from it by uninstalling all of the bloat like OneDrive, Internet Edgesplorer, all the ASUS bloat, the huge advert for Office which I neither need nor want etc. Boy oh boy, is the operating system whining. ARE YOU SURE? REALLY, REALLY SURE? WE’LL BE BETTER WE PROMISE…

64

For another data point, I just borrowed my wife’s MacBook Air, M2, 16GB 2022 to run the condensing test:

Image 6-13-26 at 2.22 PM
Image 6-13-26 at 2.22 PM342×214 5.23 KB

Image 6-13-26 at 2.21 PM
Image 6-13-26 at 2.21 PM1484×244 50.5 KB

That’s still really impressive for an older model!

65

Sorry, I meant that throttling would not be a problem on the MacBook Air.

66

This is what I just got with my current Intel rig…

2026-06-15 08:22:51.570 [info] notifyPostCommandExecute: Edit.ToggleLayoutCondensing?Set=true (426 ms)
2026-06-15 08:22:53.451 [info] notifyPostCommandExecute: Edit.ToggleLayoutCondensing?Set=false (477 ms)
2026-06-15 08:22:55.238 [info] notifyPostCommandExecute: Edit.ToggleLayoutCondensing?Set=true (508 ms)

That can’t be right, can it?

UPDATE!

Lol… after I actually added the notes:

2026-06-15 08:20:09.587 [info] notifyPostCommandExecute: Edit.ToggleLayoutCondensing?Set=false (2123 ms)
2026-06-15 08:20:14.616 [info] notifyPostCommandExecute: Edit.ToggleLayoutCondensing?Set=true (2831 ms)
2026-06-15 08:20:19.303 [info] notifyPostCommandExecute: Edit.ToggleLayoutCondensing?Set=false (2051 ms)
2026-06-15 08:20:25.014 [info] notifyPostCommandExecute: Edit.ToggleLayoutCondensing?Set=true (2797 ms)
2026-06-15 08:20:51.423 [info] Posting command (requested): File.AutoSave
2026-06-15 08:20:51.423 [info] Executing command: File.AutoSave

Still pretty good for Intel

67

I guess it should be whole notes in all the 1000 bars.

Jesper

68

No, just the first bar is how I had been doing it.

69

Ah, OK, then the result is strange.

Jesper

Edit: updated results seem more reasonable.

70

I just went “oh, sod having savings” and blew 3 grand on a MacBook M5 Pro with 48Gb ram…

71

Yay! Savings are there to be spent on something!

My 16" M1 Pro with 32GB RAM and 1 TB storage cost £2999 in 2021, and it’s still going strong.

72

You can get a laptop cooling stand with built-in fan that blows cold air at the bottom of the laptop. Also, elevate the laptop.

73

I have a couple. Better than nothing, but they don’t work very well in general.

74

3 weeks in, and I regret NOTHING. Oh. My. Goodness. I could have had this experience YEARS ago…