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Wife needs a new laptop
Won't do much gaming; if any at all. Mostly for word processing. We are willing to use open office so we don't have a need for MS office, but if it was included it would be a plus.
She would like a 15-17 inch laptop. Touch screen is not necessary. She would probably prefer windows 7; not a must though.
Only need about .5-1TB. 8GB RAM. don't need a dedicated video card. Probably prefer a SSD.
I don't have a price in mind. I would like a device that will last ~4 years though.
Any ideas on good places to buy or laptops would be greatly appreciated.
Lastly, I can wait a few months to buy if it makes sense. I probably won't be buying in the next week.
She would like a 15-17 inch laptop. Touch screen is not necessary. She would probably prefer windows 7; not a must though.
Only need about .5-1TB. 8GB RAM. don't need a dedicated video card. Probably prefer a SSD.
I don't have a price in mind. I would like a device that will last ~4 years though.
Any ideas on good places to buy or laptops would be greatly appreciated.
Lastly, I can wait a few months to buy if it makes sense. I probably won't be buying in the next week.
“It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money - that's all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot - it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better.”
--John Ruskin
--John Ruskin
Comments
But for specs purposes you can see it isn't a bad machine. I use it when we travel and when I am playing video games on my desktop I am able to look info up on my current gaming session. It originally came with Windows 7, as a test and so I could get used to Windows 10 I installed it on the laptop first.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834101294
Shop around on Newegg, they might surprise you on a really nice machine at a good price.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
I don't really have a price in mind. I just don't see that much of a difference between 400 and 700 bucks.
I just want stability, reliability, and a fair price for the hardware/software.
I would really like one without bloatware, but I don't know if that is even possible anymore.
--John Ruskin
Generic laptops that don't need to do something extraordinary (like gaming or CAD) are commodity now.
I'm a long time Macbook Pro user here (they are expensive, but I think there are a lot of advantages that make it worth while), but I have to admit, I'm eyeballing a MS Surface for my next laptop.
--Custom Rig: Pyraxis---
NZXT Phantom 410 Case
Intel Core i5-4690 Processor - Quad Core, 6MB Smart Cache, 3.5GHz
Asus Sabertooth Z87 Motherboard
Asus GeForce GTX 760 Video Card - 2GB GDDR5, PCI-Express 3.0
Kingston HyperX Fury Blue 16GB
If it is the latter then you could consider
- an NUC solution - which would provide for much greater choices when it comes to monitors and keyboards as well.
- an all-in-one solution
Obviously if it has to be a laptop for all sorts of reasons then it has to be a laptop just ignore (although an NUC itself is portable but a monitors not so much).Honestly, barring one not having an SSD over the other, they won't run that much differently. More expensive doesn't mean faster anymore.
I did just buy a few $300 laptops for work. I needed something cheap that I could send with guys out in the field, and if they destroy it, oh well.
The overall build quality is probably the first thing you notice. The $300 laptops are just cheapo plastic, very flimsy, and the cases bow a good deal under even slight pressure. Even little things, like the mechanism that holds the clamshell together - on a cheap laptop feel ... cheap, for lack of a better word.
Trackpads and keyboards - I can't stand the trackpads at all, and the keyboards are mushy and have a lot of flex.
Screen - the LCD screens are 15", and 1080HD, but look washed out and are obviously not as high a quality as I've seen in more expensive laptops.
Ports - honestly, it seems the less expensive options have more ports. But they are the basic variety - you get a VGA, DVI and HDMI port, a bunch of USB 2.0s, but nothing high speed (no thunderbolt, no USB 3.1, no DisplayPort, etc). It's almost like they just add ports in so they can put more bulletpoints on the boxes, but if you need 'em, you need 'em.
Weight - more expensive units tend to put a much larger emphasis on size (thickness) and weight. That isn't to say you can't find a small or light cheap laptop (chromebook comes to mind), but more expensive units tend to be a bit lighter, and if you are actually carrying it around all day, that does make somewhat of a difference.
Battery Life - not sure, haven't really tested this one out in too much detail.
Warranty/Support - this goes more company to company rather than $ to $$$, although some of the more "premier" lines at the big online brands will come with better support coverage by default (in home/in office, vs mail in, for example).
I'm not saying buy a cheap, or expensive, laptop. Just giving you some things to look for, and ultimately you (and your wife) make the decision on what you find necessary or not.
Acer Aspire E5 $569.99
ASUS X556UQ $699.99
--John Ruskin
--John Ruskin