Laptop shopping
July 26, 2015 8:10 AM Subscribe
What's the decent, cheap laptop to buy these days? I asked the same question 3 years ago, and got good suggestions. I'll buy something this week, or today, if there's a good buy.
You know, surfing the web, watching a few Youtube videos, nothing fancy, no gaming or graphics or such. A full-sized keyboard and reasonably-sized screen is more important than compactness or battery life. What's a good deal right now?
You know, surfing the web, watching a few Youtube videos, nothing fancy, no gaming or graphics or such. A full-sized keyboard and reasonably-sized screen is more important than compactness or battery life. What's a good deal right now?
The Dell Ultrabooks in recent years have been good quality for low cost. If you get it with Linux, you save on an OS license. If I were shopping for a cheap laptop that's probably what I'd get. That or the System76 ultrabook.
posted by deathpanels at 8:38 AM on July 26, 2015
posted by deathpanels at 8:38 AM on July 26, 2015
I recently (2 weeks ago) bought a new laptop after my 4 year old ThinkPad T410 died. I went off of the wirecutter article on "Best Windows Laptop" and got the slightly budget Asus Zenbook UX305 for $700. I've been extremely happy with it. It's much lighter than my old laptop but still has a good size keyboard and screen. Windows 8.1 is bonkers, but not much to do about that other than install Linux. I really trust wirecutter reviews on pretty much everything I buy. They have another article on budget laptops as well: Best Budget Laptop
posted by permiechickie at 8:58 AM on July 26, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by permiechickie at 8:58 AM on July 26, 2015 [4 favorites]
What Permiechickie said. Thewirecutter.com is among my first stops when I'm considering a tech purchase.
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 9:12 AM on July 26, 2015
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 9:12 AM on July 26, 2015
Don't forget that the Windows 10 launch is starting this week, so things in Windows world might be a little weird for awhile. It looks like laptops won't hit stores until a week or two after.
On the positive side, if you decide you hate Windows 8, you don't have to hate it for very long.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 9:26 AM on July 26, 2015
On the positive side, if you decide you hate Windows 8, you don't have to hate it for very long.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 9:26 AM on July 26, 2015
Best answer: If you know you won't be doing any heavy lifting with the laptop such as graphics processing or gaming, maybe a Chromebook?
posted by wym at 10:49 AM on July 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by wym at 10:49 AM on July 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Dell xps13 refurbished for like $500-700. Just the basic one.
Look on slickdeals, they're constantly popping up cheap.
Hits all the "solid laptop that will last years and keep performing well" bullet points. SSD, solid build quality with lots of metal, decent specs even on the base model, at least a full HD screen, well reviewed with no glaring flaws(good cooling, good keyboard, solid battery, etc).
I don't know of anyone disliking them. It basically hits all the high points of the 13in MacBook Pro with a slightly less dense screen(on the more basic model) and a bit more thickness, at least perceptibly... For like half to 2/3rds the price, even comparing refurb to refurb.
Nicer screen than the 13in MacBook Air, too. By quite a bit. And it's cheaper than most "ultrabooks". You also get a full meat CPU, not a low power ultrabook-specific one. It makes a difference, trust me.
posted by emptythought at 11:28 AM on July 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
Look on slickdeals, they're constantly popping up cheap.
Hits all the "solid laptop that will last years and keep performing well" bullet points. SSD, solid build quality with lots of metal, decent specs even on the base model, at least a full HD screen, well reviewed with no glaring flaws(good cooling, good keyboard, solid battery, etc).
I don't know of anyone disliking them. It basically hits all the high points of the 13in MacBook Pro with a slightly less dense screen(on the more basic model) and a bit more thickness, at least perceptibly... For like half to 2/3rds the price, even comparing refurb to refurb.
Nicer screen than the 13in MacBook Air, too. By quite a bit. And it's cheaper than most "ultrabooks". You also get a full meat CPU, not a low power ultrabook-specific one. It makes a difference, trust me.
posted by emptythought at 11:28 AM on July 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
There are cheaper versions of that XPS 13 out there, but they only have 4GB of RAM, as opposed to the 8GB on the model tested by Wirecutter. Can a person survive on 4GB these days, doing basic tasks (no graphics editing)?
posted by univac at 12:13 PM on July 26, 2015
posted by univac at 12:13 PM on July 26, 2015
Regarding Lenovo, they've been relatively humbled by the Superfish incident and now bundle far less crapware than the vast majority of manufacturers these days. So, I'd say a Lenovo, especially a used/refurbished ThinkPad, (which was never affected by SuperFish in the first place) can still be a solid recommendation. I don't have specific models in mind, but it shouldn't be hard to find a relatively inexpensive used/refurb ThinkPad that fits your needs. Certainly, you should be able to find larger screen sizes and they'll almost certainly have a better keyboard than the Dell XPS13.
Also, if you're worried about the Windows 10 thing, pretty much any Windows laptop you buy today can be upgraded to Windows 10 for free. Even if you buy a used laptop with Windows 7 on it. So don't worry about that.
posted by Aleyn at 2:01 PM on July 26, 2015
Also, if you're worried about the Windows 10 thing, pretty much any Windows laptop you buy today can be upgraded to Windows 10 for free. Even if you buy a used laptop with Windows 7 on it. So don't worry about that.
posted by Aleyn at 2:01 PM on July 26, 2015
Best answer: What do you want it to do? If it's just surfing and web apps, seriously consider a Chromebook. If you need Windows, then there are suitable ultrabooks or go bigger if you want.
posted by kschang at 12:22 AM on July 27, 2015
posted by kschang at 12:22 AM on July 27, 2015
Best answer: There are cheaper versions of that XPS 13 out there, but they only have 4GB of RAM, as opposed to the 8GB on the model tested by Wirecutter. Can a person survive on 4GB these days, doing basic tasks (no graphics editing)?
An SSD and an overall otherwise strong system is infinitely more important than 8gb of ram.
In fact, i use a 2gb system for work with an SSD, and it beats out the(in every way, benchmark wise, more powerful) 8gb of ram Super Beefy workstations we use for other tasks in general speed. We're probably going to put SSDs in those workstations entirely because of my cheap ass SSD-rigged workstation.
But yea, overall, 4gb is enough. The really fast SSD those provide is way more important, as is the general specs of it.
posted by emptythought at 3:12 AM on July 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
An SSD and an overall otherwise strong system is infinitely more important than 8gb of ram.
In fact, i use a 2gb system for work with an SSD, and it beats out the(in every way, benchmark wise, more powerful) 8gb of ram Super Beefy workstations we use for other tasks in general speed. We're probably going to put SSDs in those workstations entirely because of my cheap ass SSD-rigged workstation.
But yea, overall, 4gb is enough. The really fast SSD those provide is way more important, as is the general specs of it.
posted by emptythought at 3:12 AM on July 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Yeah, if you're confident in the boundaries you've laid out, Chromebooks are probably a good way to go: http://www.techradar.com/us/news/mobile-computing/laptops/best-chromebooks-top-5-chromebooks-in-the-us-1233696
Onlyconnect loves her 2015 XPS 13, but that's a different animal. More expensive, for reasons that don't help much with the use cases you identified.
Warning, I have personal experience with the XPS 13, but not Chromebooks.
posted by NortonDC at 7:29 PM on July 27, 2015
Onlyconnect loves her 2015 XPS 13, but that's a different animal. More expensive, for reasons that don't help much with the use cases you identified.
Warning, I have personal experience with the XPS 13, but not Chromebooks.
posted by NortonDC at 7:29 PM on July 27, 2015
Relevant: Acer Announces Ultra Low Cost Cloudbooks With Windows 10 Home
posted by NortonDC at 6:36 PM on August 4, 2015
posted by NortonDC at 6:36 PM on August 4, 2015
Response by poster: I went to Microcenter over the weekend to play with chromebooks, and didn't think any of them had particularly good keyboards, which, in a way, was freeing. Just ordered a Toshiba CB35-B3330 via Amazon. I'll let you know how it works out.
posted by MrMoonPie at 11:29 AM on August 10, 2015
posted by MrMoonPie at 11:29 AM on August 10, 2015
Response by poster: Got the chromebook, and it's fine. I'm not amazed or blown away or anything, but I also paid $230 total, so I'm satisfied. Still haven't figured out printing, but it looks doable. Thanks for the help, all.
posted by MrMoonPie at 9:16 AM on August 18, 2015
posted by MrMoonPie at 9:16 AM on August 18, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by leotrotsky at 8:35 AM on July 26, 2015