Laptops

[Myshkin]

I am looking into buying a new laptop. I am not looking for one with a lot of unnecessary features. All I am after is basics (for writing and printing papers, etc.), internet capability, cd-rom game download availability. Lowest possible cost is primary, but in consideration of brand quality; I'm looking for something reliable but not necessarily a long-term investment. Would prefer a traditional keyboard rather than "touchpad"(?).

I am not a 'techno-geek', so I am a bit in the dark here. I would appreciate suggestions from those here who know all about this stuff.

Thanks!

 

[fredtgreco]

Allan,

I have been very happy with the Lenovo brand lately. My son and wife have IdeaPads (middle of the line, sub $500) and I have a ThinkPad (business model). All have worked well, and the parts appear to be holding up well. We got my son's IdeaPad from the Lenovo Outlet, and got a very good deal on it - around $600 for an i7 with a 640GB 7200rpm HD, dedicated Graphics card.

My advice is to buy a good brand computer with decent processor (i3, i5 or i7 will do for what you want); then get the lowest HD size and RAM you can and manually upgrade. You can get 16GB or RAM for under $50 now (probably $30), and a Samsung 256GB SSD for $175 or so (if you only need 128GB, you can get one for about $75). The extra RAM and SSD will make the computer much faster and last longer (in terms of usability) than anything else.

Here for example is an IdeaPad "scratch and dent" for $362. It has a reasonable i3 processor (not fabulous, but will do about all you need), 6GB of RAM that you could easily upgrade for $20-40 (third party like newegg.com) and a 15/6" screen:

http://outlet.lenovo.com/SEUILibrar....detail?GroupID=445&Code=2151XC1#.UN9Vmm8bDng

 

[jambo]

You get what you pay for. Having said that a cheap laptop would be more than adequate for what you outline. A new laptop would come with sufficient memory, wifi card and all would have a CD drive.

You would need the likes of Microsoft Word for writing anything and f you don't already have a printer you would need to buy one of these too. Some printers are cheap but the ink is expensive. In fact sometimes it has been cheaper to buy a new printer rather than ink for the old one.

Probably the January sales would be the best place to look. Don't know about US prices but £200+ would get you a decent laptop and anything upwards of £30 for a printer.

 

[C. M. Sheffield]

I have been considering the Google Chromebook. They have two models, one $200 and another at $250. They are billed as simple and easy machines. But I know nothing about how good they are or weather they are worth the money.

Perhaps one of you has had some experience with them and would care to comment.

 

[Covenant Joel]

We just got my dad a Lenovo as Fred suggested. We got an Ideapad for $280 from Best Buy, and it seems to be pretty good for the price.

 

[Tirian]

Get a refurbished MacBook - circa 12 months old. I buy them for my kids and they come with everything they need for schooling, gaming, internet, movie making and they cost as little as $AUD400.

The best thing about them apart from taking 0.5 seconds to be ready when you open the laptop - THEY DON'T HAVE THAT ABOMINATION OF AN O/S CALLED Windows (whatever)!!!!

God bless,
Matt

 

[Tirian]

I try to convince my pre-mill Dispensational friends that if they are right, in the Revelation of Christ to John, when he talks about the time that we see the desolation of the abomination standing in the temple (run to the hills), that it must be some dude holding a Dell with Windows 7 installed.

 

[Myshkin]

Thanks for all the responses.

I was leaning towards Dell, but now Lenovo IdeaPad(never heard of them before) is looking like my best option.

A few more questions:
1. I am learning that all the features I don't want or need (things I can do with a phone or TV, etc.) seem to be standard on all laptops. So is the price differential primarily due to processor and memory features?

2. Are there options other than Windows and Internet Explorer? I keep hearing complaints about Windows. I have never had any problems on my desktop computers with Windows (other than with the 98 or 2000 version, but that was also on a Compaq).

3. Is Wal-Mart a reliable store for laptops?

 

[Edward]

1. I am learning that all the features I don't want or need (things I can do with a phone or TV, etc.) seem to be standard on all laptops. So is the price differential primarily due to processor and memory features?

Those, and battery. There is a big difference on how long one will run between plug ins.

2. Are there options other than Windows

There may be some Android machines out there now, and there are a few cheap ones running some flavor of Linux, but generally they will be Windows if they aren't Apple.

and Internet Explorer?

First thing I do is download Firefox and add privacy and safety plug ins. If you don't care about privacy, you can go with Google Chrome as a browser. SeaMonkey (the old Mozilla package) has some additional features that are useful if you want to make quick HTML edits to web pages.

3. Is Wal-Mart a reliable store for laptops?

I got a good deal on an Acer there one time, but it's had some reliability issues.

 

[Jeff Burns]

I wouldn't make a cd-rom drive a deal breaker. You can get a samsung external drive for $35 on Amazon. Just plug in the USB port and you're good to go.

I would disagree with Fred about getting the lowest ram and storage you can and upgrade cheaply on your own. If you're computer savvy, sure, go for it. But you're asking if there are alternatives to windows and internet explorer, so I'm going to take a wild guess that you're probably not ready to go pulling apart your motherboard and adding 3rd party memory...

Lenovo is a great brand. I give it a hearty 3rd.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

I agree with Fred, you can't beat the build quality of a Lenovo. A good analogy is that, if Mac is a Ferrari then a Lenovo is a battle tank. The T series Thinkpads are incredibly modular and last forever. I've been using my T400 for four years and, with a few upgrades, it's faster than my newer work laptop.

 

[Myshkin]

Thanks everyone. Very helpful.

Recommendations here and elsewhere have led me to Lenovo. I think the Ferrari vs. tank analogy sealed the deal.

 

[Edward]

The T series Thinkpads are incredibly modular and last forever.

I read today that Lenovo was getting ready to split off the Think operations from the rest of their lines, treating Think as a premium product, and the the rest of their lines as commodities. We use Thinkpads at work, and failures are rare. Some of the machines log a lot of miles.

 

[fredtgreco]

I agree with Fred, you can't beat the build quality of a Lenovo. A good analogy is that, if Mac is a Ferrari then a Lenovo is a battle tank. The T series Thinkpads are incredibly modular and last forever. I've been using my T400 for four years and, with a few upgrades, it's faster than my newer work laptop.

[video=youtube;mersM1P7R5c]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mersM1P7R5c[/video]

 

[daniel.vos]

I'm pretty happy with my Asus laptop so far.

 

[hammondjones]

All I am after is basics (for writing and printing papers, etc.), internet capability, cd-rom game download availability. Lowest possible cost is primary, but in consideration of brand quality; I'm looking for something reliable but not necessarily a long-term investment.

I'll go ahead and put in a vote for Chromebook ($200) or a laptop running Ubuntu, both of which should both be pretty reliable, though they would take some getting used to..

If you'd rather stick with Windows and you want to save money, don't buy Office. There are several free options (OpenOffice is one) that would probably serve you just as well. (and you could always pay for Office later if you wanted to).

 

[Scottish Lass]

Like Mr. Vos, I'm very happy with my netbook from Asus. I spilled about a tablespoon of chocolate milk (including heavy cream and Carnation Instant Breakfast) on it a few months ago, and it's still going strong. It's several years old, but the quality of Asus is still rated highly.