Computer specs question for laptop *Answered*

[WoodysGirl]

My laptop breathed it's last breath yesterday. I had it repaired last year knowing I needed to replace it. So I got a question about specs for my replacement.

I'm not looking for a high end model right now. I'm looking to grab something off the shelf in the $400-$500 range during my lunch hour.

Brands
I'm a bit of a brand snob and tend to stick to what I know. HP or Dell. Is Toshiba worth considering? I have two Toshiba TVs that I love, but I'm afraid of their 'puters.

Processor
AMD or Intel?

My last puter was AMD and the overheating of the processor is what killed it. Turns out that's a known issue for that model that I was unaware of.

Memory
All the brands seem to offer 4GB - 6GB memory

Windows 8
I've only used Win7. I'm extremely unfamilar with Win8, so this is where I need the most info. I prefer the classic look, so tips to revert to that will be appreciated.

Example models at Office Depot --> http://officedepot.shoplocal.com/Of...onCode=OfficeDepot-150118&PromotionViewMode=1

 

[Eric_Boyer]

I like Lenovo and Toshiba. If you have the budget, MSI is my favorite.

both AMD and Intel have improved on the heat generation, and both make good and bad processors. When it comes to technology, cost really does tell the tale.

Regarding memory, I would make sure you can at-least upgrade to 8 gb.

If you are going to run microsoft O/S, few pc's ship with Windows 7, so limiting yourself to that usually means you are removing about 99% of options. Windows 10 is coming soon, and Windows 7 users will like it. And it will be a free upgrade

Lastly, If you can afford it, a solid state drive is really, really nice!

edit to add, this will allow you to tolerate windows 8
http://www.classicshell.net/

 

[kapolani]

I always recommend people opt for an SSD drive if they can.

Biggest bang for buck for "speeding up" your experience.

I like Lenovo as well.

It is a little jarring going from XP/7 to 8/8.1, but I got used to it after a while.

I'm more of an Apple fan, but need to use windows for work purposes.

To reiterate - at least 8 gb of RAM and get an SSD drive as big as you can afford.

 

[iceberg]

WG:
Brands
I'm a bit of a brand snob and tend to stick to what I know. HP or Dell. Is Toshiba worth considering? I have two Toshiba TVs that I love, but I'm afraid of their 'puters.

iceberg
brands are that way for a reason and I'd listen to what you're thinking. the thing to consider is in this thread you'll find people who swear by HP and cuss out Dell (raises hand) and someone else will come along from their experiences and flip it around or bring in another brand, hating them both. so you'll get advice across the board on what brand to get, but as long as you do stick with one of the "brand" names, I believe you'll be fine. i'll offer up a few surprise links here shortly. never been a Toshiba fan, but the few I have, well they've been tanks. not that sexy but work.

WG:
Processor
AMD or Intel?
My last puter was AMD and the overheating of the processor is what killed it. Turns out that's a known issue for that model that I was unaware of.

iceberg:
overheating isn't usually a processor issue, it's a cooling issue. the fan either wasn't strong enough, improper circulation (bad design, dust bunny farm) so either processor will do the job, especially if you're not into something of a "powerhouse". take it for what you will but in any computer I've ever built for myself or bought, I've used AMD. had intel a few times and they're fine. just cost a bit more and you're not going to notice the performance unless you stick it up to a diagnostics machine and pull fractions of micro-seconds go to YAY! in superiority.

WG: Memory
All the brands seem to offer 4GB - 6GB memory

ice:
this is fine for a general laptop. but I'd worry about more RAM in the machine or find out what the max ram is for that machine. if max is 4gig, I'd walk away. 4 gig may be fine to start but in a few years if you're planning on keeping this for the long haul, you will likely want to upgrade to 8gig, so make sure expandability is an option in what you get.

WG: Windows 8
I've only used Win7. I'm extremely unfamilar with Win8, so this is where I need the most info. I prefer the classic look, so tips to revert to that will be appreciated.[/quote]

ice:
I hate windows 8 with the white hot passion of a thousand dying suns all crying out in agony at watching kevin Costner movies until a billion years later when you finally finish dying and have every line he ever said memorized for your trip to the afterlife.

it's like the partridge family bus driver got drunk and crashed into the Hollywood squares studios and what was left, they made Windows 8 out of. now to be fair, you can get programs to make 8 look like 7, and if you go 8.1, I believe there are options to tone down the tiles. but if you don't want a touch screen laptop, then win8 is pretty pointless on it. if you do want touch screen, look at a tablet like surface. pretty big adjustment to go from laptop to tablet for every day use, but it can be done if you want it to be. again, this is touch screen based, so if that's not a factor and you just want a new version of what you had, bye bye tablet.

some to consider:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA4P01ZS4323
not a huge dell fan, but a good deal on this one.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834231816
bigger screen but size, weight concern.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA27Z2GN5653
regular screen.

anyway - i'll keep an eye on this or feel free to PM me if you have any ?'s but a lot of great people in here I'm sure will chime in.

 

[WoodysGirl]

Thank you guys! I think based on what all of what you're saying is that I need to focus on the expandable memory. If I can't upgrade it later, then it's not worth buying.

I'll stick with HP or Dell and stay away from Toshiba laptops. For now, just go with what I know. BTW, I've got a Lenovo for work, as well. I've found them to be extremely bulky, but they're functional, so I'm not opposed to one of those, as well.

Windows 8 is gonna be a booger no matter what I buy, so I might as well get the touch screen laptop. Does anyone have a touch screen laptop? And what's the value in it from a laptop perspective?

Oh and when I say I'm going to buy something off the shelf, that's a literal statement. I'm in the middle of a project and I need a laptop ASAP. I'm going to have to take the old laptop somewhere and have them pull all my data off the HD. A dead computer is never convenient, but this is especially inconvenient. smh

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

My laptop breathed it's last breath yesterday. I had it repaired last year knowing I needed to replace it. So I got a question about specs for my replacement.

I'm not looking for a high end model right now. I'm looking to grab something off the shelf in the $400-$500 range during my lunch hour.

Brands
I'm a bit of a brand snob and tend to stick to what I know. HP or Dell. Is Toshiba worth considering? I have two Toshiba TVs that I love, but I'm afraid of their 'puters.

Processor
AMD or Intel?

My last puter was AMD and the overheating of the processor is what killed it. Turns out that's a known issue for that model that I was unaware of.

Memory
All the brands seem to offer 4GB - 6GB memory

Windows 8
I've only used Win7. I'm extremely unfamilar with Win8, so this is where I need the most info. I prefer the classic look, so tips to revert to that will be appreciated.

Example models at Office Depot --> http://officedepot.shoplocal.com/Of...onCode=OfficeDepot-150118&PromotionViewMode=1

My best advice.

Pick a familiar name brand. Any one.
Intel i3 processor min (i5 if comparable)
4gb min

The above will keep you at or below $500


This will get you closer to $1000
Try and get ssd drive as opposed to HD. (This is the only area that you want to spend more on)



Everything is comparable nowadays... Differences are negligible.


As far as windows 8... You can download an app that will give you back your "start menu" and run it very close to windows 7. That's what I do on one of my laptops.

 

[WoodysGirl]

Ok, guys, so you've all lost me a bit with the SSD acronym. I assumed you were talking about memory. Are you talking hard drive space?

I haven't bought a computer in 5 years. That's positively stone age in the tech world. lol

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

Ok, guys, so you've all lost me a bit with the SSD acronym. I assumed you were talking about memory. Are you talking hard drive space?

I haven't bought a computer in 5 years. That's positively stone age in the tech world. lol

Ssd is simply a digital drive as opposed to a mechanical drive.

Analogy

HDD - hard disk drive is akin to record playing with the needle(mechanical, slow, you can hear them churn retrieving information off drive)

SSD - solid state drive. Is akin to your ipod playing music sorta (digital is faster for starting up and retrieving everything as you tax your co outer to get it)

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Ok, guys, so you've all lost me a bit with the SSD acronym. I assumed you were talking about memory. Are you talking hard drive space?

I haven't bought a computer in 5 years. That's positively stone age in the tech world. lol

Solid State drive.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

I would be ok with an old sata hard drive if the price was much cheaper....but that is just me. I think I would rather put the money into a better CPU or more memory.

Of course I am thinking more for a desktop vs a laptop and frankly have not viewed the market much from either in the last year so maybe the other's advice is better concerning lap tops.

I know the wife got a decent lap top a couple of years ago and although we still mostly use our tablets and phones...When I do use it, it runs pretty darn good.

 

[WoodysGirl]

Ssd is simply a digital drive as opposed to a mechanical drive.

Analogy

HDD - hard disk drive is akin to record playing with the needle(mechanical, slow, you can hear them churn retrieving information off drive)

SSD - solid state drive. Is akin to your ipod playing music sorta (digital is faster for starting up and retrieving everything as you tax your co outer to get it)

That makes sense. So far, I haven't seen any SSD in my price range, so I may have to go the HD route for now.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

I would be ok with an old sata hard drive if the price was much cheaper....but that is just me. I think I would rather put the money into a better CPU or more memory.

Of course I am thinking more for a desktop vs a laptop and frankly have not viewed the market much from either in the last year so maybe the other's advice is better concerning lap tops.

I know the wife got a decent lap top a couple of years ago and although we still mostly use our tablets and phones...When I do use it, it runs pretty darn good.

That is somewhat backwards.

Besides if you are getting it with a ssd then the CPU and ram are typically more than enough.

 

[WoodysGirl]

I would be ok with an old sata hard drive if the price was much cheaper....but that is just me. I think I would rather put the money into a better CPU or more memory.

Of course I am thinking more for a desktop vs a laptop and frankly have not viewed the market much from either in the last year so maybe the other's advice is better concerning lap tops.

I know the wife got a decent lap top a couple of years ago and although we still mostly use our tablets and phones...When I do use it, it runs pretty darn good.

That's probably the route I'm going to have to go. I can't afford a monster machine with the best specs right now. Function over fancy is the name of the game.

 

[kapolani]

Sorry. Yes. SSD is solid state drive.

No moving parts and almost instantaneous data access.

It makes the computer seem much faster than it really is.

I wouldn't worry too much about expandable memory. I wouldn't settle for anything less than 8 gbs nowadays. I wouldn't worry too much about CPU as well. That being said, don't buy something with 4 year old hardware.

You should be able to find one with a bit of looking for a sale that has an SSD and the config you want They have gone down some since.

Depending on what you will be using your machine for you could get away with a 128 gb one. They are pretty cheap now. Then carry a 1 TB external drive for extra storage.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Dell and HP are okay, Toshiba are mostly used in the corporate world. The financial world uses them and I've bought them (LifeBooks) because of that. That said, I hate them. I think you are better off with a Dell or HP. My personal laptop is a Samsung and it kicks all kinds of ***, but it was expensive as hell because it's a 15" and only 3.5lbs. You pay for lightweight with laptops.

Intel vs AMD. On the desktop I go with AMD as bang for the buck they are better and I like their CPU / Fan mounting better than Intel on the desktop. For a laptop, Intel all the way. They give off less heat (and better performance) and you don't want a hot laptop.

8GB of memory should be your minimum. Buy for a couple of years down the road, not for *today*. If you can get 16GB (which you don't need today) for a little bit more. Go for it. 3-5 years down the road, you won't be hurting for memory.

Windows 10 is coming out and I'm guessing by Microsoft's history it will be better than Windows 8. Go with Windows 7 64bit and don't look back.

SSD drives will help your system boot incredible fast, but you will do it at the expensive of hard drive space. If you don't have lots of music and images (use lots of space) then go SSD for performance reasons. If you need space, you can go standard SATA. Or of course, you can always go with a hybrid drive that is a mix of SATA and SSD combined.

 

[WoodysGirl]

So I ended up picking out this one. It'll serve my purposes until I can get the monster laptop. Win 8, Intel, 4GB ram, 500GB hd --->> http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/480493/Lenovo-Flex-2-15-Dual-Mode/

Lenovo® Flex 2 (15) Dual-Mode Laptop Computer With 15.6" Touch-Screen Display & 4th Gen Intel® Core™ i3 Processor, 59425111

 

[iceberg]

Ive heard mixed reviews on this style of laptop but if I ever buy one again id look hard at it. Good choice.

 

[Tabascocat]

So I ended up picking out this one. It'll serve my purposes until I can get the monster laptop. Win 8, Intel, 4GB ram, 500GB hd --->> http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/480493/Lenovo-Flex-2-15-Dual-Mode/

Lenovo® Flex 2 (15) Dual-Mode Laptop Computer With 15.6" Touch-Screen Display & 4th Gen Intel® Core™ i3 Processor, 59425111

I have a similar one for road trips, vacations, etc. It is a bit slow when viewing pages with a lot of images and tends to get stuck but not a bad laptop. I am still trying to figure out this Windows 8 stuff

 

[WoodysGirl]

Ive heard mixed reviews on this style of laptop but if I ever buy one again id look hard at it. Good choice.

I've had two Lenovos for work, so I was familiar with it. It's not slick-looking or anything, but I've never had any issues with it. Overall it had what I needed to get me back up and running.

 

[WoodysGirl]

I have a similar one for road trips, vacations, etc. It is a bit slow when viewing pages with a lot of images and tends to get stuck but not a bad laptop. I am still trying to figure out this Windows 8 stuff

That's a good tidbit to know. Knowing me, I wouldn't even notice the slow pages. As long as it's not dial-up slow, it's all unnoticeable to me. lol

I'm not afraid of Windows 8, but I really hate that I'm going to have to be patient during the setup because of my learning curve.