What to buy in a new PC Laptop?
May 31, 2015 4:22 PM
My neighbor's very old computer just died. He wants to know what to buy now. I don't know much at all about PCs since I've been using OS X for a few years. Maybe you can help him make a decision.
He uses his computer for Gmail, Netflix, iTunes, and web browsing, nothing more than this. He wants a good-sized display and reasonable price. What should he buy and where should he buy it? This is a smallish town and we have a Staples and Walmart. These may not be the place to shop. Thanks for the help
He uses his computer for Gmail, Netflix, iTunes, and web browsing, nothing more than this. He wants a good-sized display and reasonable price. What should he buy and where should he buy it? This is a smallish town and we have a Staples and Walmart. These may not be the place to shop. Thanks for the help
Staples sells decent laptops and has a fair number of options. Its a decent choice if you don't want to order online. Don't buy the cheapest thing they have, but a decent lower end model should do everything they need. Something in the $400-$600 range will likely meet their needs. Below that you may see some quality and performance issues.
Be aware of the difference between a laptop and a tablet. The tablet version of Windows is normally very limited in what you can install so it might not be a good choice.
posted by nalyd at 5:38 PM on May 31, 2015
Be aware of the difference between a laptop and a tablet. The tablet version of Windows is normally very limited in what you can install so it might not be a good choice.
posted by nalyd at 5:38 PM on May 31, 2015
The Surface Pro tablet can run just about anything a Windows laptop can run.
posted by rfs at 5:59 PM on May 31, 2015
posted by rfs at 5:59 PM on May 31, 2015
For people who don't geek out over specs and whatnot, I'd advise going to a physical store (Walmart and Staples are fine places to start; Staples is probably better) and actually trying them out. Any hardware that you get is going to be just fine for his uses, so don't get caught up in gigabytes of this and megahertz of that. He should pay attention to two things only: What does it cost, and how does it feel?
Pay attention to things like how the keyboard feels, whether it's comfortable to type on, how the display looks, is the color correct, is the trackpad in the way, will you accidentally hit the power button, does it -- I dunno -- get fingerprints all over it which is something he just can't stand? Hands-on will also demystify laptop versus tablet versus hybrid.
Point is, it's kind of like buying a car. All of them will get you there, but some will be a provide a more enjoyable experience than others. Obviously cost is the other thing to measure against.
(Source: Many computer purchases for family, all of which went great when they could feel and touch and understand what they were getting, and all of which went poorly when bought sight-unseen.)
posted by Dilligas at 7:07 PM on May 31, 2015
Pay attention to things like how the keyboard feels, whether it's comfortable to type on, how the display looks, is the color correct, is the trackpad in the way, will you accidentally hit the power button, does it -- I dunno -- get fingerprints all over it which is something he just can't stand? Hands-on will also demystify laptop versus tablet versus hybrid.
Point is, it's kind of like buying a car. All of them will get you there, but some will be a provide a more enjoyable experience than others. Obviously cost is the other thing to measure against.
(Source: Many computer purchases for family, all of which went great when they could feel and touch and understand what they were getting, and all of which went poorly when bought sight-unseen.)
posted by Dilligas at 7:07 PM on May 31, 2015
My mom is a similar kind of user, and she bought a Lenovo a couple of weeks ago after her 10-year-old Dell laptop died. I think she paid in the $500-$600 range and she's really pleased with the faster processing speeds, storage, etc.
Make sure he's prepared for how different the user interface is for Windows 8. In my mom's case, I haven't been able to be much help on that (we have Macs and a newish laptop that a friend retrofitted with 7 for us) and it's actually been great - forced her to figure things out herself with tutorial videos and the like rather than calling me for tech support.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 7:08 PM on May 31, 2015
Make sure he's prepared for how different the user interface is for Windows 8. In my mom's case, I haven't been able to be much help on that (we have Macs and a newish laptop that a friend retrofitted with 7 for us) and it's actually been great - forced her to figure things out herself with tutorial videos and the like rather than calling me for tech support.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 7:08 PM on May 31, 2015
I'm pretty thrilled by my Acer C720 Chromebook with an upgraded SSD running Ubuntu with the codestarter install script. Total cost: $260 (the chromebooks are often on sale on amazon).
Might be a bit more involved than some people want to do but I just thought I would put this out there as an extreme low end high effort option.
posted by srboisvert at 7:37 PM on May 31, 2015
Might be a bit more involved than some people want to do but I just thought I would put this out there as an extreme low end high effort option.
posted by srboisvert at 7:37 PM on May 31, 2015
Just to clarify something: These days, unless you're doing really hardcore computing (CAD, hardcore 3D animation rendering, things like that), you're better off getting a notebook computer instead of a tower.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 8:58 PM on May 31, 2015
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 8:58 PM on May 31, 2015
I'd suggest determining his price list, then picking something off of this list from Ars Technica. Those are all decent choices from what I can tell.
If he wants to go cheaper and doesn't care about running windows particularly, Chromebooks are much simpler to manage.
posted by bonehead at 8:51 AM on June 1, 2015
If he wants to go cheaper and doesn't care about running windows particularly, Chromebooks are much simpler to manage.
posted by bonehead at 8:51 AM on June 1, 2015
Getting a Chromebook or not might come down to how strongly he feels about iTunes.
posted by bonehead at 8:52 AM on June 1, 2015
posted by bonehead at 8:52 AM on June 1, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
I like laptop options found on newegg.com. I tend to have a bias towards laptops from ASUS largely because I've never had problems with them and their customer service is pretty good. He doesn't need a dedicated graphics card, something with Intel HD graphics should run netflix fine.
This might be a good option if you're going non chrome book
Also possible is a Google Chromebook; it may have been a good option for less than $550 (14" and 15" screens are available) if he's willing to get away from windows, usually will have internet access, and have a simplified interface (netflix, gmail, web browsing are exactly what Chromebooks are for) although iTunes won't be available and will require that he migrate his iTunes music over to Google Play.
posted by Karaage at 4:38 PM on May 31, 2015