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Which laptop would you buy?


Kirk W

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It is time to upgrade my laptop computer and I'm curious what brand and model laptop you would get and why? At one time I was very current on the latest and greatest but over the years of retirement I have stopped reading most of the tech magazines and sites so................ I really don't need or want the computer that is right on the bleeding edge, since I am no longer into that but really just want one that is reliable and will be useful for a reasonably long period versus the cost of buying it. I'd pay more if I knew that it would do the job for me for a longer period. Your thoughts? :D

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

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Since i converted to Apple in January 2014 after 30+ years in the PC world, I would purchase a refurbished Apple from the online Apple Store. If it a PC laptop, check out Woot.com. They have really inexpensive PC laptops almost every day. It a one day deal.

2019 Jayco 5th Wheel 28.5RSTS  2017 Ford F250 Super Duty 6.2L

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We've been using Dell Inspiron's for years. We have one now that's 6 years old and all we've done is replaced the battery. My Wife got a new one a year ago and the cooling fan failed. Dell overnighted a box to us at no charge, paid to ship back to them and then back to us again. Whole process including the repair took 8 days.. The rest of our laptops have been trouble free.

 

Dave

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I quit buying new laptops, not any reason to spend that kind of money for what you get. NewEgg and Amazon (and many others) offer Microsoft certified refurbished systems that do have a lot of bang for the buck, my current Lenovo t410 was just under $200 and it does everything I need without leaving a $700 hole in my wallet.

 

Lenovo, Dell and HP are my usual brands but with all the turmoil and customer service issues at Dell lately I've been going HP and Lenovo for both used and new systems with much less frustration.

 

I've also found it easier to get an HP or Lenovo without Windows saving another $100+ on new systems, used most everything comes with a Win 7 disk of some flavor as it is so cheap there is no reason not to include it. A limited selection of Dells come without Windows too but it takes some looking to find them and configurations are limited.

First rule of computer consulting:

Sell a customer a Linux computer and you'll eat for a day.

Sell a customer a Windows computer and you'll eat for a lifetime.

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I don't believe in purchasing too far down the food chain. A higher end model will give better performance for a longer period with the new "stuff" that comes out.

 

My last one is a refurbished Toshiba from Amazon. It has done very well. https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_21?url=search-alias%3Dcomputers&field-keywords=toshiba+refurbished+laptop&sprefix=%22toshiba%2Brefurbished%22%2Caps%2C306&rh=n%3A541966%2Ck%3Atoshiba+refurbished+laptop

 

Newt

2012 HitchHiker Discover America 345 LKSB

2009 Dodge/Cummins

 

LIVINGSTON TX

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Harley-Dave, on 03 Oct 2016 - 09:47 AM, said:

We've been using Dell Inspiron's for years. We have one now that's 6 years old and all we've done is replaced the battery. My Wife got a new one a year ago and the cooling fan failed. Dell overnighted a box to us at no charge, paid to ship back to them and then back to us again. Whole process including the repair took 8 days.. The rest of our laptops have been trouble free.

 

Dave

And you felt comfortable sending your LT to them for repairs. I would not do that as we have financial info on ours. Matter of fact, several years ago, we had the camera quit on a 2-3 month old new Asus LT and they wanted it sent back for repair. I said no way and they responded that this was how it had to be. Didn't happen. My latest fiasco is a Dell Inspiron 17 with numerous issues.

Quality has gone dooooooowwwwwn. :(

2010 Newmar Dutch Aire 4304-Spartan Chassis-Cummins ISL 425hp-2013 Chevrolet Equinox AWD Towed-SKP# 120487-FMCA #402879-

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Too far down the food-chain is an issue but there are a lot of good i3 and i5 laptops out there 2 -3 years old. I can replace one of them with another refurb three times for what a new one would cost.

 

I bought our last new laptop with the cheapest possible hard drive, pulled it cloned it to a much better drive and stored the original away in case we had warranty issues. It was an i17 Dell from before the recent Dell issues and the wife is never giving it up until it dies completely. Worst case pull your drive, save your data, wipe the drive and send it back empty.

First rule of computer consulting:

Sell a customer a Linux computer and you'll eat for a day.

Sell a customer a Windows computer and you'll eat for a lifetime.

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My next computer I think I would look at an Apple or a surface pro. I dont use my computer much any more as most of my browsing and games are done on Ipad.

<p>....JIM and LINDA......2001 American Eagle 40 '.towing a GMC Sierra 1500 4X4 with RZR in the rear. 1999 JEEP Cherokee that we tow as well.

IT IS A CONTENTED MAN WHO CAN APPRECIATE THE SCENERY ALONG A DETOUR.

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Hate to admit it but I really, really like how the macbook pro rarely ever freezes compared to my old PC and tends to load way quicker.

 

I was a windows pc user through and through, nothing wrong with my Crackberry, (if it ain't broke I'm not one to change it) and never dreamed I'd become an apple user. A client that worked for apple, sent me his old iPhone5 (still got it), got macbook pro for me and a smaller version for student daughter at the time, plus a nest for her thermostat and then she with a new iPhone6 and so on. Whilst I have pained but persisted the learning of Numbers, Pages etc and do like notes and iMessage, I still so very much miss Excel spreadsheets, Publisher and Word MS Office software. I know I can get a version for Mac as daughter has a complimentary one on hers from the University but am just determined to keep using what's come with this mac. As I said lots I love about it, but software wise prefer MS Office for the most part.

 

I'm about as least techy a person you can likely get Kirk (I still haven't uploaded one app on my iPhone yet LOL), but have to admit I do like the Mac overall now I've got used to a lot of it. Love that my iMessages go on my laptop and phone for a continuous record versus text messages just on phone in the past.

 

Just my 2 cents FWIW.

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Well, as everyone knows, it will be a new Mac laptop for us when we do upgrade, probably next year. Figure 4-6 years between upgrades. Since we've had a Mac since 1984, I see no reason to change now. Plus everything synchs so nicely from iPhone and iPad to the Mac.

Barb & Dave O'Keeffe
2002 Alpine 36 MDDS (Figment II), 2018 Ford C-Max HYBRID
Blog: http://www.barbanddave.net
SPK# 90761 FMCA #F337834

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well i been fixing pc's for 20 yrs. best one's are HP/Dell. You pay a little mroe. but they last a little more. But getting a refurb is almost like buying a rental car. There are plenty of them that were hardly used an then one's that were totally abused. Like one said plenty of I3/I5's. Acer/Asus are at bottom of food chain. seems alot of them have low quality hardware.

2000 Itasca Horizon DP (Got Total During Irma). 

Vice President of Charlotte County Defenders LE MC

http://charlotte.defenderslemc.com/

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It all depends how much you will use it, what you need for storage and Ram, As for me I'm as cheap as you can get! :P:P I bought a new Gateway in June of 2013. It a NE 522 and had 4 GB Ram W/500 GB HD. It crashed about a year back and I now have 8 GB Ram and 1 TB HD. Upgraded to the WIN/10 Version 1607 just about a month ago. :):) Believe I paid about $319.00 + Tax., May have $400.00 in it with the updated Hardware. Oh' forgot to mention my Android Smartphone; $59.00 and my RCA 10.1' Tablet; 2 GB Ram and 16 GB SSD. :D:D

 

If I had my choice, just like some others I'd be driving a Dually Diesel four door Pickup, instead of a 2000 Ranger Standard cab with 175,000 miles. So just maybe an Apple would be in my eye!! :rolleyes::rolleyes: And an Ipad and Iphone! :):)

:) Living Life One Day At A Time!

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NewEgg has a 14 inch Lenovo T-410, i5 2.4 GHz, 4 GB RAM, 250 GB HD, a DVD ROM and Win 7 Professional for $170 this morning.

 

They have a similar Dell E5420 for about the same price, I'd not hesitate to buy a 2 year old Dell but on a new one read the recent reviews and decide for yourself.

 

You can buy something like that pretty often compared to a shiny new system and the i5 is going to be plenty of power for most folks. I have an i3 desktop system that is more than enough for e-mail and web surfing and for most stuff I can't tell it from my otherwise similar i5.

First rule of computer consulting:

Sell a customer a Linux computer and you'll eat for a day.

Sell a customer a Windows computer and you'll eat for a lifetime.

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I needed new about a year ago. MS-7 wasn't going to be supported. I worry about the new kid MS10 as I want tested. So I found Levono would load MS-7-pro. That will be supported for a few more years, while MS gets the bugs out of 10. I got the ThinkPad with a solid state hard drive and have been good with every thing but Norton. I also like Office 365.

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I have plenty of laptops right now. But I always look at the ones in stores, including Costco. I knew that any PC bought at Costco automatically had a two year warranty. (This also applies to TVs and major appliances). I just learned that if you use the Costco Visa, the warranty extends out to four years total. Costco and Costco.com have a nice selection of laptops, starting at about $350.

2004 40' Newmar Dutch Star DP towing an AWD 2020 Ford Escape Hybrid, Fulltimer July 2003 to October 2018, Parttimer now.
Travels through much of 2013 - http://www.sacnoth.com - Bill, Diane and Evita (the cat)
 

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My wife and I had three pairs of HPs while we full timed. Five of the six had some issues with overheating and had thermal shut downs. My wife's last one was in for warranty repair four times. During that time the fan was replaced and the mother board was replaced. It still over heated. The fourth time I took it in Best Buy gave up and gave me a new laptop of similar cost. I talked with the techs about which brands has the fewest problems and ended up with an Asus. So far (14 months) it has worked fine.

Clay(WA5NMR), Lee(Wife), Katie & Kelli (cats)
Full timed for eleven years in our 2004 Winnebago Sightseer 35N Workhorse chassis. Snowbirds for 1 year. Now settled down in western CO.
Honda Accord toad.

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I use an Lenovo. Works flawlessly. Just wished it had a rear camera also. Have to copy statements and info for employers on line now. Place behind screen and paste. Kinda difficult with a camera facing screen, blocks screen.

2003 Teton Grand Freedom towed with 2006 Freightliner Century 120 across the beautiful USA welding pipe.https://photos.app.goo.gl/O32ZjgzSzgK7LAyt1

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Does anyone use a MS Surface? I have a son who thinks that this is what I should buy.

 

We both tried the Apple route and while I really like it's ability to share with an I-phone, the lack of software has pretty much pushed me back to the Microsoft world, despite my distaste for the attitude they display....... I really don't want or need the latest, cutting edge technology any longer. I just want a reasonably priced laptop to do the things that I already do, like edit pictures, create documents and such as that.

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Does anyone use a MS Surface? I have a son who thinks that this is what I should buy.

 

We both tried the Apple route and while I really like it's ability to share with an I-phone, the lack of software has pretty much pushed me back to the Microsoft world, despite my distaste for the attitude they display....... I really don't want or need the latest, cutting edge technology any longer. I just want a reasonably priced laptop to do the things that I already do, like edit pictures, create documents and such as that.

 

What software do you find lacking on the Apple? There is certainly plenty of applications for "creating documents and editing photos" that run on Mac OSX.

---ron

Ron Engelsman

http://www.mytripjournal.com/our_odyssey

Full-Timing since mid 2007

23' Komfort TT

2004 Chevy Avalanche 4x4 8.1L

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