Laptop recommendations

[nofearfactor]

Check with OSA member Cougar.

(Tapatalk)- on the road.

 

[NikatKimber]

If you buy a nicer mid-level computer, you should be able to stay at or under budget and last at least 2-3 years.

My personal laptop I've had since 2011 I think (yep, just checked), I paid $600 for it, and other than needing a new battery, still runs fine.

My wife bought a close-to-cutting-edge convertible laptop (touch flip screen), with i7, 1TB hdd, and 8gb ram in late 2014 for $900, and I saw the same thing for sale recently refurbished for $750. It still runs great. Only wish it had a SSD.

My advice, find something with at least an i5, 8gb ram, and make sure the processor is no more than 1 gen old; ie, if they are on i5-6xxx, it means 6th gen, so make sure to get at least an i5-5xxx processor. My other recommendation is make sure it is at least full HD (1920x1080). That is my biggest regret buying my laptop, is the low res screen vs FullHD. And it's also something you can't upgrade later. You can still add/change HDD/SSD and RAM on many Windows boxes. Although some of the ultra books you can't now.

All that said, I'm considering a Mac for my next laptop purchase. To that end, I'm considering buying a new battery and SSD for my personal laptop, and continuing to run it until I can buy a Mac.

One last thought, beyond CPU, screen, and RAM, I'd look at build quality most before any other feature. All of my laptops have broken physically before they've given up electronically.

 

[Fredkrueger100]

Get a Mac. Windows sucks.

Truest statement ever made. If you buy a Windows computer be ready to drop endless amounts of money into it just to keep it running good. They are just too vulnerable. A Mac is completely designed by Apple. The hardware and the software. Just like the iPhone and iPad. They are more expensive but for good reason.

 

[cue_ball]

I appreciate the input.

I had a MacBook Pro for over a year at work. It was partitioned with Windows on one side and that's what I used for work. The keyboard obviously sucked for that since it was meant to drive IOS. I've stumbled around in IOS before and didn't really care for it. It was very cumbersome and folder structures, icons, etc. gave me fits. I've been using Windows since...well, there was Windows. I'm not in a huge hurry to drop that kind of coin to buy something I'll have to take some after work adult education class to learn how to use efficiently.

I can afford more computer than what I posted, I just didn't think it would take more to get what I need. Again, I've been out of this game for a minute. I spent about $1200 on an HP that was supposed to be the best thing ever for video and photo editing for a family and came with a full license of Office, etc. The screen died in two years. I spent over a month reading online reviews and test driving different machines before buying that one. If I can get a computer for $500-750 that's obsolete/giving up the ghost after two years, and does what I want it to do, then I'm money ahead on that kind of program.

Frankly, going into countless computer/electronics stores and comparison shopping the web sounds eerily familiar to shopping for a car (which is just a step above getting continually monkey stomped in the nuts on my "least favorite things to do" list). It's got to be done, I'm just not looking forward to it. I was really hoping that someone in that industry could make some recommendations. Looks like it's time to gird up and go take my punishment.

I went through similar experience trying to use a Mac - too many old habits from 20+ years using Windows.

I've bought/sold half a dozen Windows laptops (including Dell XPS and Lenovo Yoga Pro) in the last year and finally settled on HP Spectre. The build quality is superb - not what I expected due to previous HP experiences. Found 13" with 256gb SSD and 8gb RAM for $800 at Best Buy back in early January. Just my .02 worth.