laptop reccomendation

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  • sksshooter

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    For those who are tech savvy, i'm looking for recommendations for a new laptop for home use. Our main uses include word applications, web surfing and for my wife to use for her vinyl cutter. No gaming needs and to date, we have not used one for streaming but that would not be unheard of. Looking for something windows based, not interested in any apple or chrome books. And of course would like to no break the bank for such basic needs.

    thanks
     

    DAVE_M

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    https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-15-...optane-natural-silver/6356443.p?skuId=6356443

    For general home use an intel i5 and 12GB of memory is more than enough. You can opt for a similar laptop with a solid state drive if you prefer that. You're not going to get anything amazing at the price point, but it will do more than you will use it for. Shop around if you want, but it's not a terrible price for grabbing something off the shelf.
     

    AustinBR

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    For those who are tech savvy, i'm looking for recommendations for a new laptop for home use. Our main uses include word applications, web surfing and for my wife to use for her vinyl cutter. No gaming needs and to date, we have not used one for streaming but that would not be unheard of. Looking for something windows based, not interested in any apple or chrome books. And of course would like to no break the bank for such basic needs.

    thanks

    What price range are you looking at?

    What size screen do you want?

    Is weight a consideration? Ultralight laptops generally raise the cost.
     

    Bangswitch

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    I used to think Lenovo was an excellent priced option compared to the quality and equipment you get, but then we had a Lenovo server that was 8 months old bomb. Shortly after the server fragged out we had a computer the same age start having major firmware problems.

    One thing to keep in mind your old computer is probably or up until recently was working for you and I would wager the cheapest new computer is more equipped. So look out for the up-sell.
     

    Blackhawk

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    twinin

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    The last seven computers I've purchased for friends and family have been Dell E6420 refurbished computers from NewEgg. Typical is this E6420 with i5 processor @ 2.5 GHz, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD, and Windows 10 for $264. They are real workhorses and really look good, not what you would think for a refurb. Or you could spend thousands for a new one.

    https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E168342...e6420&cm_re=dell_e6420-_-34-296-646-_-Product

    Not to hijack, but do you know of anything similar like this in a desktop?
     

    hoggin357

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    https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-15-...optane-natural-silver/6356443.p?skuId=6356443


    I would suggest not buying anything HP.They have been out of biz for over 5 years.
    They are just using old parts and whatever they can find to get the old junk gone.
    A china company named testsui or something like that own 51%.

    How I know,,I spent 4600 on 2 laptops and one of them croaked after 2 months.
    Called HP,they said no warranty considering it was old parts. So now I'm stuck with
    a 2800 laptop that has a black screen.Oh they did say I could pay $280 a year for
    support or a $59 fee per hour to help me.I told them to %$&^^&^%%^
     

    sksshooter

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    Seems like some solid suggestions here. Austin i was hoping to try and keep it at 500 or less but am willing to bump it some for the right features. Weight isnt a huge concern. Im currently using a 7 or 8 year old 17" toshiba. It and the last toshiba held up well but this one is just dated and doesnt run windows 10 very efficiently.
     

    Blackhawk

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    Not to hijack, but do you know of anything similar like this in a desktop?

    I haven't used a desktop in over 15 years so have no recent input, HOWEVER I use a laptop every day (and everyone else around me does too) with two external 24" monitors and an external keyboard and mouse. The laptop sits over to the side in a docking station with the lid closed but it is acting like a desktop.
     

    shrxfn

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    If you are looking for a desktop you can check out NewEgg.com they have refurbed and new desktops. Also you can check the Dell website they have a way you can search their refurb stuff on there.

    Also don't discount AMD chips the new Ryzen chips are nice and are usually cheaper than comparable Intel chip systems.
     

    GunRelated

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    Bumping this thread because I am looking for a laptop for my daughter's "virtual schooling". Not sending her to school to deal with the ridiculous covid rules.
    Anyhow, similar to the OP, looking to spend around $500 but not opposed to spending more or less. The laptop will mostly be used for online schooling but may also be used for streaming.
    I don't mind the idea of a refurb either and if the Dell that was posted earlier in the thread is still a viable option that would be fine. If there is a better refurb option now, point me in the right direction.
    Thanks
     

    twinin

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    Bumping this thread because I am looking for a laptop for my daughter's "virtual schooling". Not sending her to school to deal with the ridiculous covid rules.
    Anyhow, similar to the OP, looking to spend around $500 but not opposed to spending more or less. The laptop will mostly be used for online schooling but may also be used for streaming.
    I don't mind the idea of a refurb either and if the Dell that was posted earlier in the thread is still a viable option that would be fine. If there is a better refurb option now, point me in the right direction.
    Thanks

    I the virtual schooling is using Google Classroom, a Chromebook would be a good choice and under budget
     

    GunRelated

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    I the virtual schooling is using Google Classroom, a Chromebook would be a good choice and under budget
    Did you mean "if"? I'm asking because I am not sure if that is the case or not. Never thought to ask.
     

    GunRelated

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    Yeah, sorry typo. Chromebook are good because they are inexpensive, have good battery life, and the simple operating software.
    X4, thanks for the bringing that up. I need to ask that question. Seems like that would be ideal, to get a chromebook strictly for that and a laptop for other use if I need it.
     

    Bosco

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    The latest AMD processors are giving Intel a real run for their money. I spent a bit of time back in February comparing two identical laptops side by side. One had an Intel i7-1065G7 and the other had an AMD Ryzen 7 3780U but everything else was the exact same in them. The AMD left me very impressed. The only place I saw any real benefits for the Intel were in extremely CPU intensive benchmarks (such as simulating a 4k video render which your daughter will likely not be doing). AMD just released their new 4000 series CPU in March and it's even faster. You will save quite a bit by going with AMD over Intel.

    I have tested all of the major brands and have had their enterprise laptops side by side. Toshiba and HP have proven time and time again to be unmatched when compared against Dell, Lenovo, Acer, Asus, etc for business use. I have to assume their consumer division puts as much R&D into their products as well. I would always recommend going with enterprise grade if you can afford it though b/c I feel they spend the extra money on making sure it can handle the constant use a business puts it through.

    The HP Probook is the cheapest enterprise grade laptop you can go with but it's a bit out of your price range. The bare minimum build is $600 but that is with the Ryzen 3 4300U / 4GB RAM / 500 GB spindle drive. You'd want at least 8GB (preferably 16GB) of RAM and a 128GB or 256GB SSD. You can always upgrade it later but you're still looking at an additional $150-$200 cost for those components.

    You can go to https://slickdeals.net/laptop-deals/ and browse through the laptop deals. You might find something that matches the specs and brand to something you're comfortable with. I personally would not go with a Chromebook as those are very limited and don't run Windows. So if your daughter needs any custom software installed for classwork and it's not available in the Chrome store, you're out of luck.

    The specs can be confusing but know that the CPU is the major part you need to worry about. Everything is designed around the system board and CPU and it's not really something you can upgrade. If you buy an older CPU it will be cheaper but chances are it will use slower RAM and you would be stuck on that generation RAM. I would suggest sticking with a CPU released within the past year and a half. AMD and Intel typically label their CPU's 3, 5, 7, and 9. 3 being the least powerful and 9 being the most powerful. Your daughter should be fine on a 3 but if you find a good deal the 5 might be worth upgrading to.

    You can tell how old the CPU is by it's model number. I'm not 100% familiar with AMD naming schemes but I know Intel goes by generations. They start the model with the generation number and that will tell you how old it is. For instance you can look at the naming schemes below.

    AMD Ryzen 3 3xxx (2019 CPU)
    AMD Ryzen 3 4xxx (2020 CPU)
    Intel i3 9xxx (Early 2019 CPU)
    Intel i3 10xxx (Late 2019 CPU)

    I would suggest going here to compare CPU's against each other https://www.cpubenchmark.net/laptop.html. I would stay away from anything Intel labeled Celeron or Atom and anything AMD labeled Athlon. Stick to Intel Core i3 or i5 or Amd Ryzen 3 or 5. You don't want to go super cheap on the CPU or it will be miserable to use the laptop.

    There are some good looking deals on slick deals right now. For instance this one looks pretty good. It's a Lenovo IdeaPad 5 with an Intel 10th generation i5 CPU (i5-1035G1), 8GB of RAM, and a 512GB nVME SSD. The only downside is the RAM is soldered to the board so you cannot upgrade it but I highly doubt your daughter would need more than that for school work. $430 is a great price for it too.

    Sorry for the wall of text. Feel free to shoot me a PM with whatever you are seriously considering and I'll give you my opinion of it.
     
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