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- Please no inappropriate usernames (remember that there may be youngsters in the room)
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- 3/17/19 UPDATE -- We've updated the permissions for our "Football" and "Commit to the G" recruiting message boards. We aim to be the best free board out there and that has not changed. We do now ask that all of you good people register as a member of our forum in order to see the sugar that is falling from our skies, so to speak.
Any computer experts here... need a new laptop
I'm fixing to buy a new laptop and figured I'd ask the forum if anyone is a tech expert and might have some recommendations around $500-600. Just basic internet stuff, word processing and maybe some spreadsheets. Thanks.
Comments
Are you comfortable with a Chromebook? It isn't Windows so if you play games this wont work but you didn't mention that. If you are just browsing the web and creating a few documents they will work just fine. Generally cheaper and more secure than a Windows box.
I prefer a Windows. I had a Chromebook at a previous job that the Air Force issued me. It was OK, but had to get a new one almost every year.
I just went through this issue and made a mistake that I'm in the process of fixing. Here's the scenario:
I've owned a large format iMac for probably 13 years. Because the hardware is so old it's incompatible with the latest OS upgrades. I looked at the latest Apple desktop and decided to go with a Macbook Air, because like you I don't do any heavy lifting, mostly internet with some Word & Excel. I decided to go frugal this time and get the cheapest Macbook Air they had. By the time I transferred all my files from the old computer I was virtually out of memory. I couldn't download MS 365, that's how little memory was leftover, even after I backed up and deleted all my music files. Apple just announced the Macbook Pro 14" with the M5 processor. I said, "To heck with this, I'll be chasing memory issues from now until forever." So I'm taking delivery of the new Macbook Pro 14" with the M5 this week. Sure it's more expensive, but I'm buying into the future and that's simply the price of admission these days. Don't skimp!
Totally agree with the "Don't Skimp". Every time I upgrade I always get way more than I would currently need. By the time I'm ready for a new unit I've usually maxed out what I had. Don't know if this year will be different, but with the holidays just around the corner there should be some deals coming up.
What's your level of need for the seller to also service your machine?
My wife has a MacBook. Can't stand that thing.
0%. Was planning to buy it on Amazon.
i know you said no to the Chromebook but I'd recommend looking again. $600 buys a solid Chromebook that'll last longer than a $600 Windows machine. I've used Chromebook for personal exclusively for around 10 years. It is hard to beat.
I ask because I have purchased my last 3 or 4 personal laptops and my business ones from Costco because I do not need on-site service very much, if at all and I am comfortable with simple hardware upgrades/expansion and software installations and I have a third party IT service for my business machine needs. Costco has a 90-day return policy and adds an extra year of warranty and has a good concierge service if you do need to send the machine in for warranty work. I had to use that a couple of years and they interacted with the manufacturer and got it all handled for me at no costs and relatively quickly.
I really don't like all the cloud storage stuff with Chromebooks. I'm old school and don't trust the cloud.
I'm probably going to get a Dell Inspiron. Shopping for a laptop online makes my head hurt. The Inspiron seems to be on most "best laptop" lists that I find. Just need to get one and be done and not worry about it. Anything I get will be better than the 5 year old laptop I have now.
I am highly susceptible to the analysis paralysis of online research and shopping, as well and I can't tell you how often I get a wild hair to buy a new gadget, spend the time to research features, specs, prices, etc, and then never even bother to pull the trigger. I think the research is more satisfying for me sometimes than actually getting the new things.
Interestingly, I have found that by doing lots of reading and evaluation then letting myself cool down from an impulse buy, I have often found some good buys later on because I could make a quick decision on something on clearance or display models since I already had the reference material in my head. Of course that requires me to be on the lookout before I actually need the thing.😁
Let us know what you decide on, I have used Thinkpads so long I have no idea of what is actually what anymore.
Yep. On a side note, I used to teach a class on military planning for AFSOC. One of the key points of the class is that the process of planning is more valuable than the plan itself because the plan will always fall apart (no plan survives first contact), but the learning and knowledge that what gleaned during the planning process makes it easier to make quick decisions when the original plan inevitably fails.
ask free Grok for best laptops under $600