Fielding Inexpensive Windows Laptop Suggestions

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ZackF

Puritan Board Professor
My HP Pavilion G4 that I bought in 2012 is about to croak on me. Last one I've bought was my wife's in 2014 and so I've been out of the market for awhile. Mine has been old faithful to say the least. In the next month I'll be buying a replacement. The primary use is for email, internet use, skyping, and the occasional movie. I do not need a powerhouse but I'll use it until it dies like I do most expensive things.

I'd like it:

11-14 inches
Windows
SS or HD is fine. At least 64GB if SS/flash
Don't want to spend over $500.
I would like to get at least 3 years out of it.

Open to ideas.
 
Thinkpads/Ideapads are great (especially the keyboard, if you do a lot of writing!), although there are complaints about the screens not being so great for movies (maybe hooking it up to an external monitor may help). Maybe try looking at some other Lenovo lines (the Yoga is probably too expensive, but it looks like the sort of thing that will do what you want).

Some more modern Dells are good.

The Acer Aspire line can be pretty budget friendly; not sure how durable they are, so look at reviews.

Since it sounds like you are mostly using it for internet stuff, maybe consider a Chromebook (although not technically Windows)?
 
I bought my daughter one last fall for college. You should be able to find a decent machine at that price point. Only reason we went slightly over is that I wanted to get her one you could use as a touchscreen tablet, as well.

You want at least enough power so that you can watch your movies.

In the Intel family, avoid the Atom, Pentium and Celeron chips. An i5 would probably be fine for your use, but look for the midrange U rather than the Y series. Anything more that that would be overkill for your stated purposes. (I think the AMD Ryzen 5 is the equivalent. Avoid anything AMD non-Ryzen at this point).

Not a whole lot out there these days with a DVD drive. You'll either need to stream or look at an external DVD unless you limit your choices. External, of course would need to be budgeted in to your calculations.

Avoid Lenovo at this point - the Chinese have gotten caught too many times pre-loading them with malware. If you look at the old threads, I was always recommending Lenovo in olden times.
 
B&H has recently had a sale on a 15.6" Lenovo Ideapad 330 for $399.
(wouldn't you know, sale ends tomorrow)

(then he notices Edward's closing comment)
 
Avoid Lenovo at this point - the Chinese have gotten caught too many times pre-loading them with malware. If you look at the old threads, I was always recommending Lenovo in olden times.

I wondered. Our work laptops are Lenovo. We were killed by breeches this past winter and spring. I've been spared so far.

For movies I meant streaming. Don't need an optical drive.
 
Microsoft is releasing a 400.00 surface.
Apple claims the Ipad pro can replace a PC. For your needs it can. A bit pricey but you can purchase with Verizon for about 36 a month.
 
Microsoft is releasing a 400.00 surface.
Apple claims the Ipad pro can replace a PC. For your needs it can. A bit pricey but you can purchase with Verizon for about 36 a month.

I'm looking into the Surface Go. Released to today if I remember right. Not really interested in Ipad Pro. I've thought about one but by the time you get one with decent memory and a keyboard you've nearly doubled what I'd like to spend.
 
Zack,
Samsung is set to release their new tablet S4 for around 650.00 and rumor is will be a productive tablet. At least for what you need, not sure if office 365 can run on it.
The surface may be your better option.
 
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