Not bothering with this. You’re seeking an argument that isn’t there.
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No, I don’t have an issue with you, just the biased no to laptops brand of authoritative advice you keep giving when some or at least one is perfectly fine.
So the question is, what makes a laptop perfectly fine for Zwift? It is a genuine question.
my acer swift (amd ryzen 5500u) would probably run it fine though i wouldn’t spend 300 quid on a laptop just to run zwift, but it’s a good laptop for general use. they have an intel equivalent that i would probably have bought if i was going to use it for zwift. you will probably want to also invest in a telescope to see the screen from more than 3ft away since it’s 13.5in
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Laptops have genuine other uses, so lets pretend for a moment that there is a tv or monitor in the house with HDMI and we’re buying a new or recent used laptop and decent Zwift performance is only one the requirements.
it’s hard to recommend a laptop for performance without knowing the exact GPU and whether zwift has whitelisted it as being able to run anything higher than basic, even though a lot of modern budget onboard GPUs are capable of handling it.so a recommendation would have to be a gaming laptop with a tried and tested GPU, and those usually are expensive
like mine could probably run pretty much most games decently, but it might only have access to the Basic graphics profile on zwift. i haven’t tested it
edit: on the other hand, it’s very easy to recommend a PC. i have one that i only use for zwift, it doesn’t get used for anything else. i bought an office refurb with an i5-4xxx and plugged a 1050ti in it for a total cost of £170 during peak gpu shortage, no prior PC building skill required. it runs zwift at 50-60fps on ultra
edit 2: just tested my laptop, it only has access to 1080P and the textures look like ■■■■, i’m pretty sure it could handle a nicer graphics profile if it was an option. nice fps though
For what it is worth, i use a £42 mini PC i picked up from ebay, added a £20 SSD, run it on an old 24 inch TV use an elite Zumo that i picked up for about £350 3 years ago (i wouldn’t recommend the trainer unless you have your own power meter) use bluetooth to connect, sometimes ant+ and is works perfectly fine.
FPS isn’t good, Graphics aren’t the highest level but for my needs it all works great.
But i have also used various laptops, other PCs, many android phones and tablets and to be honest all of them owrk about as well as each other.
Flagged for trying to avoid a tedious argument, nice.
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That’s really weird, to be honest you acted very well given the clear provocation
This isn’t bias, unless you think favoring good price/performance and serviceability is “bias”. When the budget is moderate, assembling a PC is the best option if Zwift is the primary use case. For buyers who don’t care about getting the best video quality and don’t mind running Zwift on a platform that is second class in terms of Zwift’s development priority, then Apple TV is a good option too. I run Zwift on a laptop (which cost far more than the OP’s entire budget) and I get a lot of use out of it, so it’s the right choice for me. It’s not an ideal Zwift platform, but that’s OK.
Somehow this discussion became a tower computer vs. anything else conversation. I’m really just wondering what is stable, and works well enough for most everyone, etc. Moreso, what is NOT broken and what should be avoided. Maybe it helps to start listing equipment, OSs and whatnot to definitely avoid? Which trainers consistently have pairing or ERG or whatnot issues? I guess a start can be found in the “Known Issues” forum, especially the sticky posts?
To be honest most stuff will run it fine
Avoid having to use companion app as a Bluetooth bridge.
Direct drive controllable trainers are generally better. Maybe wait to check reviews of the zwift hub of you aren’t in a hurry.
If you don’t have a bike you can leave on the trainer (I have an old frame with no brakes and dodgy front wheel that lives on the trainer) maybe steal some budget for that much more convenient.
Please keep this topic on point.
Just list pro’s and cons.
Personally I think a Windows 10 I3 4th gen fast CPU 3ghz + desktop with a gtx960 and 27" screen mounted within arms reach is the best option.
But I have a dedicated space. And I stream most of my rides and we talk on discord, I also have my own music on my PC.
But that is what I see as a very good and functional start.
Aside from mechanical hard drives and to a lesser extent weak/older integrated graphics, I’m not sure there’s much that you should definitely avoid. For example with PCs, Windows 10 works perfectly but is the oldest OS Zwift supports anyway. Everything else is a variation on ideal, depending on your budget and expectations. There’s the older 4th gen Apple TVs I suppose, you should probably avoid those. Again though it’s not really for reliability reasons as far as I’m aware, just that it runs the game quite poorly by comparison to 5th/6th gen.
With trainers just watch/read reviews from GPLama and DCR Rainmaker. They may not say what you should buy (same principle applies about your circumstances), but they certainly say what to avoid.
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It’s not just the trainers inherent problems, but its integration with Zwift. Known issues, reading today, would imply to me to stay away from Wahoo, Wattbikes, ATv, Diretos, iOs, and Windows 10. Is this spot on, or not?
Who is not ‘in the news’?
Not spot on at all, given that rules out thousands of combinations of setup. 
There are many quirks, but this is Zwift. It’s always been the same.
diretos have a lot of little quirks about them that piss me off but they are very well built and serviceable, i’ve never heard of an electrical failure on one so you could use one without it failing irreparably for a very long time
absolutely stay away from wahoo, they have really good customer service for a reason and the reason is because they get a lot of practise because their ■■■■ keeps breaking. if i was going to buy a trainer right now it would be a saris h3, they are going super cheap and are apparently very reliable
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I understand what you’re saying, but to rule out 1000s of possible iterative possibilities from 10s of thousands is ok. I’ll start with my own personal but unfounded (directly with experience that is) direction:
- ATV stinks for Zwift. No idea if it’s Apple constantly switching their software or Zwift can’t test properly to make sure stuff will integrate, work or display correctly.
- Wahoo seems to always have a new issue doing what it’s supposed to.
- Diretos recently with a number of issues. I’m currently running a first Gen Direto… and I think it’s starting to wear out and get a bit wonky… hence asking around on preferred ideal setups for future.
- Some issues with some Intel processors
Maybe the question is what is Zwift’s first test platform setup where every idea and new function/feature is tested first? Ie. when they launch something, it worked in their testing. So what is everything tested on?
Your mistake there is assuming they test anything… 
But anyway, it’s originally a PC game, is developed on PC and Ultra profile is the game with everything enabled (or rather, nothing disabled). I’d probably argue it’s the purest form of Zwift because as I understand it every other platform and profile is adjusted/adapted from that - some sideways, most downwards. That’s absolutely not to say PC is the ‘best’ when it comes to reliability though, that still depends on your hardware, setup, wireless environment and so on.
I’m not really sure that there’s a single answer to your question to be honest. I’d consider my setup to be pretty ‘bulletproof’, I use a Neo 2T which is a very highly regarded trainer and generally I think it’s great. However it’s my second Neo and sixth Tacx trainer after all the others were/went faulty. So would I recommend buying Tacx over say Wahoo?
…dunno.
It was flagged for being victimy. I don’t have an issue with you and there is nothing personal but you assume that anyway. It is not constructive to be dismissive and I have only challenged you to think in broader terms.
All the information I managed to get when I bought mine for was nvidia preferred over ATI for opengl implementation (I think I have that right) and the 10/11 generation graphics bug. There is precious little else except the opposition to a laptop and for the rest I was guessing and bought best I could find within the allocated budget. Price was about the same as the build you posted further up the thread.
I am asking again to keep to the topic!
If this keeps happening I will close the thread.