You need a good display, good performance and optional dGPU. There's only 1 good model that meets your requirements in that price range:

Lenovo Ideapad 320s 14 - 8250U+920MX D5, need RAM and SSD upgrade, 52Wh battery, IPS (not sure)

There are more options if you can up budget to 3.5k.

Wow why is it such low price? Even with discount the AW13 is still more expensive than this price. Good laptop, just need some undervolting and maybe repaste due to small chassis.

Vostro 5471 has a poor TN panel and needs RAM+SSD upgrade. Inspiron 7460 has outdated CPU and needs RAM upgrade. Also 1 year warranty. Dell consumer Inspiron line (besides Inspiron Gaming) isn't worth it, higher price without gaining anything. There are better options at similar/lower price.

OK from what I know Dell Malaysia don't provide OLED option for AW13, respect

I've tried before. I didn't mention MX150, just saying 'optional GPU'. Still a good display is nice to have IMO, there's a huge difference between a poor TN vs entry level IPS.

IPS panel in 7577 looks fine for me. Asus has some GL models with good IPS at that price range but they have mediocre cooling. HP Omen 15 (2017) also. From what I know the AW15 regular IPS panel has bleed issues.

Brightstar has it at RM2473 at Lazada and Lelong. Make sure you buy the 14 inch model not 13 inch. Free DOS not available I think.

Based on N850HP6. Runs very hot even after repaste, not recommended.

Budget is a bit low. Acer Aspire 5 should be OK. You can check my review in LTT forums.

This post has been edited by ZM Fong: Apr 17 2018, 09:43 AM

Usage? Do you need dGPU?

Tbh, your budget is a bit low for your requirements. Consider bumping up to 3k-3.5k for best performance. I would suggest Acer Spin 5 13, one of the good budget laptops you can buy. 8250U, 8GB RAM (not upgradable, common in 13 inch), 256GB SSD, good touchscreen 13 inch IPS panel. Good battery life and good build quality, portable too. Comes with 2 in 1 form factor too. Keep in mind that it needs undervolting for better CPU performance. The old Spin 5 is awful but the new model has improved in many aspects. I suggest buying from Brightstar.

If you can't bump the budget anymore, go for Ideapad 320s 14 with 8250U+920MX, however you need to manually upgrade RAM and SSD. Good build quality and battery life, portable. From what I know it uses IPS panel but I'm not 100% sure, try it out in stores.

This post has been edited by ZM Fong: Apr 18 2018, 06:44 PM

No brand is 'reliable'. In fact no one can guarantee reliability, it depends on luck. Take a look at Thinkpad E480 with 8250U, no dGPU, comes with 3 year warranty.

This post has been edited by ZM Fong: Apr 18 2018, 07:52 PM

HP Pavilion laptops generally have mediocre build quality and battery life. That model doesn't have IPS panel too. For that budget, consider Acer Aspire 5 15 (i7 model with IPS and SSD, needs RAM upgrade).

8GB RAM is needed. No need PCIe SSD, a good SATA SSD will do just fine. What's the battery capacity? 30Wh or 52Wh?

This post has been edited by ZM Fong: Apr 19 2018, 10:18 AM

Very common in KBL-R laptops with single heatpipe. Aspire 5 also like this. Undervolting should solve the problem. Better than silent fans and let the inner components burn.

Neither options are good. For this budget you have to sacrifice performance.

AMD last gen APU performs badly and runs hot as well as the new RX GPUs. Aspire 5 has OKish cooling so putting these together will be a disaster. Also TN panel.

Aspire E14 has 768p TN panel, small battery, mediocre cooling and reliability concerns (internal design hasn't change for years). Putting a DVD drive inside such form factor isn't a great idea (too many sacrifices), also loud noise under load.

4GB RAM and HDD will struggle in Windows 10. Especially HDD.

What's your usage?

E14=E5-476G. My review is Aspire 5. UHD 620 can run some light games. What games do you play? Always look for reviews (accurate tests like NBC not the ones in LaptopMag) to know the battery life of a specific model.

You need to bump up your budget if you want a good laptop with dGPU.

This post has been edited by ZM Fong: Apr 19 2018, 04:09 PM

I'm busy now, check my whitelist in my signature below. Look for NBC reviews for info about RAM upgrade.

Did you read through all the content? You should get something from the 'outdated/mediocre CPU performance' section.