The Right Laptop

[ccsimpson]

Hate to give up my Toshiba after 5 years, but it is starting to give me problems. It is windows 7 and time to go to Windows 10. Sales clerk at Staples told us that Toshiba and Acer are trying to get out of the computer business. I this true?? A 17" screen Toshiba is hard to find and has to be ordered. Stores, except Wal-Mart, don't have Acers. So looked at HP Pavilion. What is your opinion of HP? Should I try and find another Toshiba? No, won't deal with Best Buy and hate to order thru Amazon. Help would be appreciated.

Carol

[TheDuke]

Do a search for 'toshiba getting out of PC' and you will get the info youu want. I'm

I bought toshiba in Nov. and really like it. I Dont use the mfg to replace things except during warranty which Toshiba will honor.

I dont feel that any one mfg is any better than another. Every one has people that say "I wouldn't buy from them".

[RV_]

I don't do laptops any more instead we use Hybrid tablets for mobile, the Surface 3 Pro and the Venue 11 Pro. But none of them have 17" screens. I have always preferred Toshibas because they were easier for me to work on.

 

Carol I agree with Duke and also you have to remember that not too long ago HP was going to get out of building computers too. LCD laptop screens are hard to use in sunlight. When we were fulltimers I always went inside to surf and do email. We eventually went with a mid size tower desktop and it serves us great. We just put the monitor on the bed when traveling.

 

You might want to consider a new All In One like this one: http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-24-3455-aio/pd?oc=fdcworc2406s&model_id=inspiron-24-3455-aio

 

Here's one on eBay that I really would like if I did not already have its big brother, the XPS One 2720. It has a battery so can be taken around the rig but it is only good for about 3-4 hours, like a stock laptop. Touch and the works. It is discontinued but new so full year warranty. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-XPS-18-18-4-Portable-Touch-Screen-All-In-One-i5-8GB-1TB-HDD-Win-8-1-/111982414344?hash=item1a12ac0a08:g:pyEAAOSwtO5XIvO7

 

There are a lot of options today in form factors that suit the space an RV has available to use.

 

Here's a new Toshiba 17.3" for sale now: http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Toshiba-Satellite-17-3-Laptop-Intel-Core-i3-750GB-6GB-Win10-Black-Notebook/291765763813?_trksid=p2045573.c100034.m2102&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D36972%26meid%3D8ca7b84187a04a63b02023f6a1e9f72a%26pid%3D100034%26rk%3D7%26rkt%3D8%26sd%3D191230184298

[skp51443]

Dell.com has a nice assortment of Inspiron 17" 5000 systems. I'd personally make sure I got an Intel 6th generation CPU of the options offered there. An i5 is probably plenty fast for your needs and will be a bit cheaper and easier on your battery as well as cooler in your lap but an i7 will be faster. The Inspiron line has a good reputation and we have several here and with family members.

 

http://www.dell.com/us/p/laptops?~ck=mn#!facets=133614~0~4774322,226291~0~16387360,226291~0~16387359,226291~0~16845440,55846~0~14833549&p=1

 

As always with Dell sign up for their junk mail and wait for a sale, use the links in it to go to the Dell site and it can save you a third of the list price.

 

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These don't offer a solid state (flash) drive which I really like but it is usually simple to remove the original drive and put in a flash replacement. You can get an external case for the original drive and use it for additional storage backups if you want to.

[RV_]

Yep Stan, and today I saw the first top manufacturer to offer a had TB SSD for just $107.89 today only here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/SanDisk-Ultra-II-2-5-480GB-SATA-III-Internal-Solid-State-Drive-SSD-SDSSDHII-4-/291286882137?hash=item43d20d1759:g:cAYAAOSwfcVUEz-o

 

I bought two SSDs , 256GB for my two laptops I am selling for $79.00 a few months ago. But then you have to consider the cost added to the new laptop price.

 

Carol if you do go laptop, go all the way, don't just switch to SSD which is half of what I have done since 2011 when I experimented with Windows 8 previews, as well as seeing what a Crucial M4 128GB SSD and upping the RAM from 4 to 8GB did. It was unbelievable in speed and booting. Don't forget the RAM and the SSD.

[RV_]

I just saw this Mushkin 480GB well rated by 47 reviewers SSD for sale on Newegg for $97.99 with Promo code ESCEJGK25 here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226792&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=IGNEFL052716&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL052716-_-EMC-052716-Index-_-InternalSSDs-_-20226792-S4A1B

 

I actually like Adata and Mushkin for SD cards, but have not tried their SSDs. I have tried the Team Dark SSD and it is a great performer in one of the laptops about to go.

[skp51443]

When buying an SSD something to look at is the transfer speed and operations per second. The brand of drive isn't the key here but the internal controller and flash chip array is, that can be a big difference. Another factor is the drive size, that goes back to the controller and flash array design, a smaller drive may have half the speed of a larger drive at a not very big price difference so beware low performance units, particularly ones under 120 GB.

 

Here is a multi-drive selection page for Samsung 850 EVO SSDs, you can pick from 120 GB to 2 TB, the EVO line is designed for Windows and laptops:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16820147371

[RV_]

It isn't just brand as this $64.99 240GB Mushkin SSD beats the specs of a little more expensive Samsung Evo SSD. Click on specs for both and reviews for both.

 

$64.99 MUshing 240GB SSD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226791&ignorebbr=1

 

$88.30 SAMSUNG 850 EVO 2.5" 250GB SATA III 3-D: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16820147372

 

I bought the same Samsung EVO 3D when it was $79.99 and it works exceptionally well, much much faster than the Hard drive it had in it, despite the Samsung not having the best specs.

 

For those who want to try this it is a np risk upgrade because you keep your old hard drive after cloning it and swapping the newly cloned SSD with it. Then you can just pop it in once in a while, or re-clone the Hard drive from the SSD now in your laptop or other computer, so you always have a working drive with all your data and programs on it. That is the no risk way to upgrade.

 

To be totally safe always do exact clones of all partitions so you retain your recovery drive to be able to do factory restores at any time you need to. I see SSDs getting as cheap as Hard drives are today. And using a USB 3.0 external drive dock allows use of old hard drives as extended storage.