I have decided to bite the bullet, mortgage the ranch, do whatever and buy a laptop. That seems the only way I can continue to blog.
Maclin marveled, when I posted that I was taking a hiatus, that I had been able to post as much as I had, what with my work schedule, family size, and iconography habit. The answer is simple: I am up earlier and to bed later than anyone else in the family. I prefer to write in the morning, before work, but as I have lost access to the computers at the college, which enabled this, I am left with whatever time I can grab at the public libraries.
Hence, the need for a laptop.
But I am at a loss; I am woefully ignorant about technology. So: can anyone recommend a laptop, factoring in affordability, dependability, durability, and ease of use?
Thanks; your expertise is valued.
The best combination of low price, lightness, silence, stability and lack of technical trouble, adequate speed, absence of corporate bullying and viral threats, arrived at over more than five years of experimentation and used as my main portable machine: Asus netbook (eg X101CH) with a solid state drive and a light Ubuntu Linux distro such as Lubuntu. Linux is not so difficult to get used to. If you can find a friendly geek who can do the install for you and give you a bit of initial coaching, you should be fine. These can also be found pre-installed with Linux, which makes it cheaper (no Microsoft license to pay for) and removes the aforementioned geeky process. If interested, I can give you more specific details. Ben
I’ve really enjoyed using HP Pavillions for the last 6 years, and the fact that the original is still going strong as my only ‘personal’ computer after I upgraded for a bigger and faster ‘business’ computer makes me feel good about the $550 I’ve spent on it. Whatever you’re looking at, check reviews though because just like with cars some good companies put out lemons. I’ve found CNET to be the most useful place to find expert and customer reviews on tech.
I suggest you check out Best Buy and Sears. Both stores have dozens of laptops under $400. Go look at them. See what size screen is good for you and what feels comfortable. If you’re not going to use it for computer games (I loves resource management games, won’t touch the violent stuff), you don’t need a lot of memory, RAM or video or even hard drives. You might also check out Consumer Digest’s little book that lists their best buys; some of that may be online. I bought my current laptop in 2009; it’s an HP Pavilion with an extra large screen and high RAM/video as I do play computer games on it. While it needs a new battery,it still works fine. Personally, I’d stay away from Windows 8, as I’ve heard bad things about it (I still use VISTA). I have zero knowledge of Macs, so I can’t help with that. Good luck hunting. :-)
I second the Best Buy suggestion. I got a Dell there for under 300. Added in the year of geek squad support and the Microsoft Office 365 I got out of there for under $500. What do you do on the computer? If all you’re looking for is a computer that will allow you to blog, don’t spend a ton of money. My brother has a Toshiba and he’s very happy with it. I’ve heard good things about Asus.
As for Windows 8, I’m getting used to it. It’s not as overwhelming as it seemed when I first got it.
It really seems to be something of a crap shoot. One of my children has had terrible experiences with Dell. But I’ve used two Dell laptops over the course of 10+ years at work and they worked fine for years. The current one is now over 5 years old, and it gets used a minimum of 8 hours a day five days a week. We gave my daughter an HP Pavilion for high school graduation in 2006, and it did pretty well for four years of not-especially-gentle college life, at which time it developed video problems. As a college graduation present we decided to spend a little more and buy a brand with possibly the best reputation in the business, Lenovo. Seemed like a great machine. Had a 12-month warranty. At 13 months the video went out, which could only be fixed by replacing the main board which would cost almost as much as a new machine from another company. It is now serving as a desktop machine for me, with an external monitor. I found a guy who could replace the screen on the HP and have been using it for a couple of years now (when I want to sit somewhere besides at my desk). My wife has a Sony which is great as far as comfort, solid build, good screen and keyboard are concerned, but they’re expensive.
So…I tend to agree with the advice to go to Best Buy and get something fairly inexpensive. I think that’s what I’ll do next time. I’m sure Ben is right about Linux in principle, but I’m afraid the fact that it’s not as widely used would end up being a problem for you.
I’m tempted to give you this HP. It does work, and if money is really really tight for you it would buy you some time. It’s underpowered for anything but web browsing and light tasks like word processing, but it’s fine for those. Open Office is installed on it so you wouldn’t need to buy any software. You would just have to assume that if it stopped working you would scrap it and buy another. Email me if you’re interested. I don’t really need it, it’s just an occasional luxury to be able to sit on the couch and work (or play). But I don’t want to give you something that would just end up being a headache.
Hi
I think that before recommending anything, it is important to understand the audience and its purpose.
Second, it is important to understand the expected time of use ; a laptop for one year ? For 3 years ? For 5 years ?
Third, it is important to understand the constraints ; in this particular case, for example, $$ seem to be a constraint.
So, assuming a reasonable non-expensive day-to-day good-enough laptop, I would suggest …
From a brand perspective, my first choice would be Dell, and my second choice would be HP.
From a memory (RAM) perspective, there are 2 main types: machines with up-to 8 GB and (newer) machines with a “chassis” that can handle more than 8GB
I would suggest machines that are able to hold up-to 8 GB, with the 8 GB installed.
From a CPU, there are 2 main types of CPU: 32-bit and 64-bit CPU
I would suggest 64-bit CPU, with at least 4 cores (internal CPUs within physical CPU)
From an OS, from a commercial perspective, for non-tech users, there is either Apple or Windows ; Ubuntu (a Linux) flavour sequiturs a little bit more of dedication
Hard dish ? For common users, any commercial size bigger than 500 GB will be good enough
From a size perspective 15 inch laptop, the most popular, is IMHO TOO large !, and NOT too portable
The best size is 14 inches … Portable enough and large enough
13 inches is TOO small and 11 inches is tiny
From a season when to buy .. Back to school offers good prices
Please also know that we are in a transition epoch and this is the first year when tablets sold more than laptops
Hope that this provides some perspective
I would avoid some of the suggestions above as they require you to become somewhat tech savvy. Personally, I’ve owned quite a few laptops by Dell, HP, and ASUS. I would strongly recommend an ASUS. They tend to run cooler than many of the other brands, also rerouting the heat away from underneath your hands. The fans aren’t noisy. Something like this model, on sale for Labor Day at $300 should be good, provided that you don’t need it for any heavy lifting (graphics processing, games, video editing, etc.).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834231075
It will come with what we call bloatware, i.e. programs that you won’t need that sit around using system resources. But unless you buy a Mac (2-3x the cost for the equivalent hardware) or opt for an operating system that is Linux based (which would require you to get used to it), any laptop you buy will have this problem.
Before purchasing, you should also try a few out somewhere as size does matter. The bigger the screen, the easier it is to enlarge things and the larger the keyboard. This can be easier on those with poor eyesight or large hands, but keep in mind that it does increase the cost.
Here are also a few tips while using a laptop:
1) Try to keep it level. The hard drive has spinning disks. They will last longer if you keep it flat while in use.
2) Do not block the exhaust duct. This is easier to do than you realize with a laptop.
3) Hard drives have a much higher rate of failure after three years. Back up your material to an external hard drive or to a site on the internet.
4) If you don’t like the touch pad, purchase a cheap wireless mouse.
5) Computers can be sensitive to power surges. Get yourself a good surge protector. They can be small and portable if you want to charge in other places than in your own home.
6) Avoid using it at late hours. The light that laptop screens emit can hamper restful sleep.
If you are using this pretty much just to go online, you could also just get a chromebook (Acer, Samsung, etc.). $250 or less.
Another suggestion that has worked for me: go to Best Buy or Staples and ask if they have any returns on sale. I got an HP Pavilion laptop for my husband for $240 because it had been opened. Seriously. No one used it or did anything to it. They opened the box and then decided to buy something else. I got an iPad for my daughter that way too, as well as a camera. It couldn’t hurt to look, and since you live in an urban area there are probably a few stores you could try like this. You have to go in and ask, though. Hope you find what you need and that this idea helps your family budget, as it has helped mine.
My husband and I have had great luck buying used or refurbished laptops on amazon. Check out the seller ratings and ratings for that particular type of computer first though!
I recently went from a $2000 MacBook to a $250 Chromebook and I couldn’t be happier.
Thanks to all for the input; I really only use computers for blogging and browsing the internet; not at all into games. As a former pinball addict in the 70s, I know I am prone to time-wasting mechanical crap and never want to fall into that again. I will weigh the choices.
If all you want is a computer to get you on the internet, then imo anything more than $400 or $500 would probably be a waste of money.
Actually, as I had not one but two offers of a free laptop (one in the email) I find the decision not too difficult, though I will accept the other one, not Maclin’s, as Maclin has been too generous through the years; he has been a good friend.
That’s good news, because I really started asking myself whether it would have been doing you much of a favor to give you this one, when I started thinking about its flaky little problems that I’m used to but might drive someone else crazy.
One point we’ve forgotten about is that having a computer requires an Internet connection, be it DSL, broadband or dialup (which is incredibly slow), which comes with a monthly fee. Don’t forget to factor that in, though usually it’s not very expensive. I’ve never tried one of those Internet links provided by cafes or whatever, so I can’t tell you how much that costs. Everytime I stayed in a hotel that had Internet in the rooms charged a fee that I wouldn’t pay.