Laptop recommendations

clones_jer

Well-Known Member
Apr 16, 2006
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Need a laptop for personal use:
- basic office stuff, Excel and some minor database work
- Internet browsing
- streaming the occasional basketball game

Don't need gaming or premium sound or anything fancy. Just want reliability, security & average speed.

Any recommendations?
 
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Need a laptop for personal use:
- basic office stuff, Excel and some minor database work
- Internet browsing
- streaming the occasional basketball game

Don't need gaming or premium sound or anything fancy. Just want reliability, security & average speed.

Any recommendations?
Apple 2022 MacBook Air Laptop with M2 chip: Built for Apple Intelligence, 13.6-inch Liquid Retina Display, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD Storage, Backlit Keyboard, 1080p FaceTime HD Camera; Midnight
https://a.co/d/j3Zf6q7
 
Check out the Lenovo ThinkPads. Im a Mac guy these days but my son got the ThinkPad T14 laptop and I've been impressed with it. Depends on your budget I suppose.
 
I know you don't want apple, but neither did I until I got one. the M2 chip needs no fan, battery lasts orders of magnitude longer than anything I've had with windows. This includes some high end Dell work laptops.

There is a learning curve and some frustrations if you're used to windows, but I say they are minor in comparison to the benefits.
 
For what you are going to use it for HP may be a good place to shop. I've used Lenovo and Dell as well over the years or supported for work and all 3 brands have their pros and cons but for the most part are pretty similar. Lenovo is more of a business class brand and Dell seems to not be as competitively priced as they used to be. I bought a 15" HP a few years ago and been pretty happy with it.
 
Agree with above posters about the Apple suggestions. My M2 MacBook Pro runs perfectly and integrates well with my iPad Air. My tasks mainly include basic spreadsheets and web browsing so I don’t have high CPU/GPU needs. One thing to consider is PC gaming, Mac’s don’t do that very well.
 
I know you don't want apple, but neither did I until I got one. the M2 chip needs no fan, battery lasts orders of magnitude longer than anything I've had with windows. This includes some high end Dell work laptops.

There is a learning curve and some frustrations if you're used to windows, but I say they are minor in comparison to the benefits.
I find the Mac OS way more intuitive than any Windows product. But that's just me, who grew up using the first iteration of Mac, the Apple, in the workplace and have only forayed into Windows twice, once with my first home computer and once when they switched to Windows (Dell, I think it was) at work. The learning curve with windows was way steeper than anything I did on a Mac.
 
Need a laptop for personal use:
- basic office stuff, Excel and some minor database work
- Internet browsing
- streaming the occasional basketball game

Don't need gaming or premium sound or anything fancy. Just want reliability, security & average speed.

Any recommendations?
I have an 8 year old HP Spectre with Ubuntu loaded. works like brand new, and does everything I need. i suggest to everyone that the try installing Ubuntu before buying a new laptop.
 
I'm partial to Asus laptops. Had 3 over the last 15 years and they have all been rock solid, and they have good value from a spec to price ratio.
I'll have to check those out. I'm getting ready to buy in the next year or sooner, I think, also.

My 13.25 HP has been just OK, but I'm running it on fumes, several things are wrong now and it's got a broken hinge (poor design back in 2017) and I can't close it, have it bolstered in the open position. I know, I know, just get a new one? I'm cheap. Ha.

I bought my son a 15.6 Acer Aspire in Aug 2017, and his is still going strong and perfect. He loves it! I will probably get a 15.6 Acer Aspire or similar also, due to his raving endorsement.
 
What do folks think about Windows 11? I didn't particularly like what I read about it when it came out. But I don't really know and haven't heard much more on it for a couple of years.

Will they be coming out with a Windows 12 soon, if people don't like W11? Or maybe it's just time for a newer version soon? And mind you, I'm not sure if people like, or don't like, Windows 11. It may be great for all I know.

But, all (or most of) the new laptops bought now have Windows 11. I think I might just prefer what I have now, Windows 10.

Can you order laptops with W10? I would imagine, yes to that question, but it would be harder to get, and might come at a premium?
 
Any significant difference in say an I5 processor and a Ryzen 7? Performance-wise or just personal preference?
 
Hold off until Black Friday if you can. Order from HP or Dell directly and they usually have good deals on ones you can customize. I tend to avoid the box stores as they typically have flashy specs in the processor and memory that people look at but go cheap elsewhere like video cards.

Be mindful for the USB ports. With docks being more common and useful, having a USB capable of using them is important (to me anyways).
 

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