Oh No Another "What Laptop Should I Buy for These Snowflakes?" Ask
December 18, 2023 1:35 PM Subscribe
I see these questions all the time but I wanted to ask a delimited version: What laptop at this link should I buy?
My entire purpose is to surf the web and use MS Excel for files in the 50kb to 75kb range.
I want to have (1) an experience that is fast, where (2) the screen is like 15+ inches, (3) where I have a reasonably good battery, and (4) where the computer is refurbished rather than new. Sleek and slim is nice, but so is bulletproof, and I know these are often mutually exclusive. I'd take either.
Computers aren't important to me and I'm just trying to reliably work in spreadsheets without squinting all day and slamming my mouse on the table yelling the f word to make the computer to go faster.
My entire purpose is to surf the web and use MS Excel for files in the 50kb to 75kb range.
I want to have (1) an experience that is fast, where (2) the screen is like 15+ inches, (3) where I have a reasonably good battery, and (4) where the computer is refurbished rather than new. Sleek and slim is nice, but so is bulletproof, and I know these are often mutually exclusive. I'd take either.
Computers aren't important to me and I'm just trying to reliably work in spreadsheets without squinting all day and slamming my mouse on the table yelling the f word to make the computer to go faster.
Computers aren't important to me and I'm just trying to reliably work in spreadsheets without squinting all day and slamming my mouse on the table yelling the f word to make the computer to go faster.
Nonsense, computers are vital to you. You care a lot, this experience with a computer matters. I hope you find a machine that doesn't bring you out in rage, I really think you are worth caring about so that you look into the details of this to avoid this toll of personal annoyance. You deserve good tools to do good work.
These laptops look like Vimes Boot Theory of Socioeconomic Unfairness: 250kb of spreadsheet should not be a pain to work with, so other compromises have been made to cause your rage-inducing experience. I expect that they'll be okay until the disk storage is full with many apps running in the background. They will need attention to keep them operating well and you can spend the $500 every 18 months to keep on top. Alternatively, a laptop three or more times the cost won't be troubled in the same way for 3 or so years.
posted by k3ninho at 4:15 PM on December 18, 2023 [1 favorite]
Nonsense, computers are vital to you. You care a lot, this experience with a computer matters. I hope you find a machine that doesn't bring you out in rage, I really think you are worth caring about so that you look into the details of this to avoid this toll of personal annoyance. You deserve good tools to do good work.
These laptops look like Vimes Boot Theory of Socioeconomic Unfairness: 250kb of spreadsheet should not be a pain to work with, so other compromises have been made to cause your rage-inducing experience. I expect that they'll be okay until the disk storage is full with many apps running in the background. They will need attention to keep them operating well and you can spend the $500 every 18 months to keep on top. Alternatively, a laptop three or more times the cost won't be troubled in the same way for 3 or so years.
posted by k3ninho at 4:15 PM on December 18, 2023 [1 favorite]
"I want to have (1) an experience that is fast, where (2) the screen is like 15+ inches, (3) where I have a reasonably good battery, and (4) where the computer is refurbished rather than new. Sleek and slim is nice, but so is bulletproof, and I know these are often mutually exclusive. I'd take either."
You want a Dell XPS 15.
It is smaller than most 15" laptops. Worst case, you go for 17". Depending on what can you afford, I would recommend 1TB of SSD and 32 GB of RAM, but this may be already an overkill for you.
Big question, what screen? FHD+, OLED or UHD? This question can not be reasonably answered, it is really a question of taste. OLED and FHD+ won't have touch. I went for an FHD+. This is non-reflective and gives you the best battery live and might actually be the cheapest option.
I also was looking at this one that did not get sold, but I decided against OLED. Processor is overrated (i7 vs i9) and likely you won't need a RTX graphic card.
posted by maloqueiro at 4:19 PM on December 18, 2023
You want a Dell XPS 15.
It is smaller than most 15" laptops. Worst case, you go for 17". Depending on what can you afford, I would recommend 1TB of SSD and 32 GB of RAM, but this may be already an overkill for you.
Big question, what screen? FHD+, OLED or UHD? This question can not be reasonably answered, it is really a question of taste. OLED and FHD+ won't have touch. I went for an FHD+. This is non-reflective and gives you the best battery live and might actually be the cheapest option.
I also was looking at this one that did not get sold, but I decided against OLED. Processor is overrated (i7 vs i9) and likely you won't need a RTX graphic card.
posted by maloqueiro at 4:19 PM on December 18, 2023
32gb of memory is way overkill, good lord. As is any kind of graphics card, they are for games.
I would recommend this Surface: I had one for work and they're really good
posted by Sebmojo at 4:43 PM on December 18, 2023
I would recommend this Surface: I had one for work and they're really good
posted by Sebmojo at 4:43 PM on December 18, 2023
Another vote for the Surface Laptop 4: I've been using one for the past year for both work and play and it's excellent. Aside from all the debatable minutiae, the screen has a 3:2 aspect ratio, which I personally much prefer to the more common, narrower 16:9 screens.
posted by 4th Matryoshka Doll at 8:23 PM on December 18, 2023
posted by 4th Matryoshka Doll at 8:23 PM on December 18, 2023
Sebmojo: 32gb of memory is way overkill
You say overkill, I say ready for future challenges.
posted by k3ninho at 1:44 AM on December 19, 2023
You say overkill, I say ready for future challenges.
posted by k3ninho at 1:44 AM on December 19, 2023
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But I would ask a couple of questions and raise one caveat.
1) What is a "reasonably good battery"?
2) What computer are you using now that's making you slam your mouse on the table yelling at it to go faster?
Caveat:
I've heard more and more people lately warn of being scammed by NewEgg. Their customer service has gone way downhill over the last few years - the last time I ordered from them, I got sent the wrong item, they replaced the wrong item with the same wrong item, and I finally just had to cancel my order and order from someplace else.
Maybe try the Lenovo refurbished outlet?
posted by Jeanne at 1:44 PM on December 18, 2023 [2 favorites]