At home laptop recomendations

batmantech · January 18, 2017

Looking to update at home personal laptop. You guys have tech knowledge about pc's. So I thought I would ask.

Where do you purchase yours? (amazon-Microsoft-best buy-?) (this would replace an old 2004 dell that still works) My wife and I both have had multiple laptops but these were all purchased by employers.

This would be personal use, couple kids in house, not a game playing machine. Just homework-video play-family pictures etc..

Any suggestions or thoughts would be appreciated.

lmorris · January 18, 2017

If you are not in need of a DVD drive, you should look into a Chromebook. Inexpensive and versatile. Here in Alberta the students use Google classroom, in class and at home. Check out Costco too, if you are a member. You shouldn't have to pay more than $500 for what you say you will use it for.

Fredsvt · January 19, 2017

I have been buying Dell scratch and dent new ones from their outlet.

My current laptop, Dell 17R N7110, core i5, 1tb hard drive, 8 gb ram, 64 bit win 10, dvd drive, full hd graphics 17.1" screen, all the wireless, bluetooth, etc. Cost 499, has a tiny chip in the lower cover on the right side. Comes with same warranty as a new one.

My work laptop is a smaller 15" screen, 9 years old, recently put a new 500 gb hd, 4 gb ram with windows 10 64 bit, best thing I ever did to that one. Only has a core 2 duo processor, but it works very well.

Bruce Amacker · January 19, 2017

I'd suggest a solid state drive and as much RAM as you can get. My last Lenovo I bought off of Ebay new in the box.

:grin:

jimmy57 · January 19, 2017

I agree BIG time on RAM and SSD. I had to replace the drive on an ASUS touchscreen windows 10 laptop due to it being handled roughly (by me, already replaced the screen due to being dropped) and went with an SSD. It is another machine entirely. Not only does the start up time after all the apps(programs) were loaded stay at less than 40 seconds, but so many things go faster that I never thought hard drive had any bearing on. I bought a Sandisk 480 GB.

You may find it much cheaper to get a lesser unit and upgrade the drive afterwards. The PC makers tend to put upgraded everything into units that get SSD and make them $500 more when the price difference for the drive is $40-60.

forddieseldoctor · January 20, 2017

You may find it much cheaper to get a lesser unit and upgrade the drive afterwards. The PC makers tend to put upgraded everything into units that get SSD and make them $500 more when the price difference for the drive is $40-60.

Especially with ram.

I'm a huge fan of Lenovo's. I have had a few Dell's and I have come to think they are the biggest piles of crap. Every one of them eats batteries like it's going out of style.

My Lenovo is 3 years old and everything is still going strong including the original battery.

lmorris · January 20, 2017

You could always see if you can go through your employer, maybe get a discount.

As far as RAM goes, anything worth buying, even for a non-gaming laptop, will have at least 8GB. My home PC from Costco has 12GB and it was under $500.

Lenovo is a very good brand, and they have awesome tech support.