[NFBCS] Laptop Recommendations

Wed Oct 8 14:55:18 UTC 2025

At work for our AT users we recommend thinkpads for sure.  The corporate targeted units [not consumer] all have far more ability to replace and swap out items and parts are generally available for 5 years.
The framework laptops are louder than some others but are fantastic machines.

-----Original Message-----
From: NFBCS <nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Brian Shell via NFBCS
Sent: October 8, 2025 9:33 AM
To: NFB in Computer Science Mailing List <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Brian Shell <shellbr at runbox.com>
Subject: Re: [NFBCS] Laptop Recommendations

No monitor would be neat!  It just sucks down battery power on my laptop since you can’t really turn it off.

> On Oct 8, 2025, at 12:45 AM, Elijah Massey via NFBCS <nfbcs at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> I think it would be a good idea to consider the Framework laptops, because when you have hardware problems you can likely fix them by replacing parts. You can even upgrade the motherboard and CPU without buying a new laptop if you want to upgrade the hardware; the processor cannot be separated from the motherboard but everything else can be replaced and the motherboard can be swapped. You can get Intel or AMD processors up to the most powerful laptop models, and up to the maximum amount of RAM the motherboard can hold. Also, if you don't need a screen, when the Optima comes out next year you could transition to that possibly reusing a lot of parts since its based on the Framework, and get something more portable but just as powerful. When I look up what the battery life is, people get widely varying results, but mostly people seem to say it lasts at least 6 or 8 hours.
> 
> Also, I know you mentioned you need an X86 processor, but for others reading this I would also recommend looking at the MacBook Pro, which is based on Apple Silicon (which uses the ARM archetecture). It gets up to 24 hours of battery life, probably more than any X86 laptop, and the M4 Max is significantly more powerful than the Intel Core I9-13900K, the most powerful Intel desktop processor, in both single-core and multi-core benchmarks according to Geekbench. You can run Windows and Linux in virtual machines using VmWare Fusion or UTM, and MacOS and Windows both have good built-in X86 emulators that can run most X86 applications well, and there are a few high performance X86 emulators for Linux as well.
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>> On Oct 7, 2025, at 15:41, Michael Forzano via NFBCS <nfbcs at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> Hi All,
>> 
>> I've been using HP Elitebook 840 laptops for work for years, and have had to replace one on average once a year due to various hardware failures (USB C ports, headphone jack, and keyboard were the most recent). I have the opportunity to purchase something different and wanted to ask for recommendations from fellow blind developers. I feel like I've heard good things generally about ThinkPads so was primarily looking at those though i'm open to other suggestions. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon seems to have good reviews across the board, but I'm concerned it won't be powerful enough for developer use cases. I use VSCode primarily and typically have up to 2 or 3 workspaces open at once, and I tend to have a lot of browser tabs open at any given time. Good battery life is important to me (at least 4 hours with practical usage). I also took a look into the T14S (Intel version as an Intel processor is a requirement for me) and the reviews from PCMag etc. were mixed.
>> 
>> Does anyone have personal experience with these, or other premium laptops in a similar class that they can share?
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> Mike
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