I'm looking for laptop computer suggestions......

[Upthevibe]

I've had a Dell for about two years and it hasn't held up very well. But in fairness to the computer, I've done some traveling for work and it's probably been through more than is normal. I'm on my computer a lot....for work and for fun. I'm on a little bit of a budget but I want something that has a good reputation. I'm probably not being specific enough but does anyone have any input? Thank You, DU'ers!

[redstatebluegirl]

1. I am not a techie, but I bought a Surface Pro and hate it.

It has been in the shop 4 times. Now they tell me the keyboard cannot be fixed so it needs to be replaced it is 2 years old. My Dell lasted for 10 years.

[LuvLoogie]

2. What's your budget? What are the specs including operating

System of the laptop you currently have? When you say has not held up, do you mean physically? Could you be helped with reinstalling the OS and a RAM upgrade. A two-year-old laptop should still be serviceable.

[MichMan]

3. I have a Lenovo that I am very happy with

[TEB]

5. That's what we got our boys

Lenovo

[blm]

8. My daughter absolutely loves her Lenovo

2 years now without an issue.

[Upthevibe]

11. Do Lenovos tend to be pricey?

I think the highest I could go is $800.....

[TexasBushwhacker]

4. Is your Dell an Inspirion?

Those are really intended for home use. The Latitude models are their business class laptop and are far sturdier. They are expensive, so I buy refurbished ones. I just got my second one. My first, that I bought refurbished in 2011, still works but runs Windows XP, so I really couldn't load current software on it.

[Hoyt]

6. I've had good luck with refurbished Lattitudes too. Good prices.

[TexasBushwhacker]

9. Yup. Real workhorses n/t

[Upthevibe]

10. Where might one go about getting a refurbished Dell Inspirion?

I need something that takes Office 2016...I think I have Windows 10....

[Hoyt]

12. I got mine at Micro Center. I've seen them on Amazon too.

[TexasBushwhacker]

18. I got mine at MicroCenter

And they offer extended warranties for a reasonable price.

[Submariner]

7. When buying electronics I always check out CNET

Try these:

https://www.cnet.com/topics/laptops/best-laptops/

[lastlib]

14. I use that site as well. Good resource! n/t

[hunter]

13. I have a very inexpensive Chromebook for travel...

... which I use a lot at home too. It regularly exceeds the promised eight hour battery life. I can sit down anywhere and mess around on DU or watch Netflix.

I used to travel with expensive laptops and I hated that. I'm just too prone to losing things, leaving them out to be stolen, having them crushed in luggage, etc.. I don't suffer that anxiety with the Chromebook. If something bad happens to the Chromebook it wont make a huge hole in my budget. Nothing's happened to it yet, aside from the letters wearing off the usual keys. I'm a touch-typist, so that's not an issue.

About a year ago I got a Lenovo laptop running Windows 10 which seems a solid enough machine. I generally won't use Windows unless someone is paying me. I tried to tolerate Windows, I really did, but a couple of weeks ago I got irritated and installed Linux on it. I can still boot to Windows if I madly push F12 on startup, but I'd rather not. And even though the machine now runs Linux, I'd still rather travel with the Chromebook.

My desktop machine, with its too-large-for-laptop monitors, runs Linux too. It's an older machine that I diverted from the e-waste bin. I added a few dollars worth of memory to it and it does everything I ask of it without any fuss.

[woodsprite]

15. Just bought a Dell Ispiron 2-in-1 from Best Buy

They had a better price than Dell, even with our work discount ($300 less). It was $1300 w/ 0% interest for 12 mo. It has 16GB memory, 2GB Nvideo Gforce video card, 512GB SSD. I got the 17.3", so it was bigger than I would have liked, but thought it would work best for doing web development (opening 2 windows side by side).

[bitterross]

16. I work as a Tier 2 IT Tech.

I work at a managed service provider so I deal with this all day. Here's my opinion.

Dell is your best bet. Reliable, easy to service and upgrade the drivers/BIOS when necessary. We put Dell in first and only pick the others if the customer insists. If I were going to buy a Windows laptop it would be a Dell. I would look at the refurbed Lattitudes and Inspirons.

Lenovo is not bad.

AVOID HP at all costs.

DO NOT BUY A CHROMEBOOK. These are great if you only want to surf the web and read e-mail. They will not run all software packages.

[hunter]

21. I do a lot of writing on my Chromebook. Maybe most of it.

But if you live in a Microsoft environment -- games, Microsoft Office, Adobe software packages, etc., then no, it's not for you.

Chromebook word processing, spreadsheet, and photo viewing apps are adequate to my needs. My desktop machine with the large monitors is where I do the heavier lifting, mostly with pandoc, LibreOffice, GIMP, and audacity.

Photo-realistic shoot-em-up games don't interest me, and I'm not doing video editing on my laptop.

I agree, avoid HP. My kids had trouble with them in college.

My Lenovo laptop seems well put together, but it turned out I just don't use it much. The desktop/Chromebook combo works for me.

My wife and kids all have expensive laptops, but my wife and one of my kids use their much less expensive Android tablets as their primary computers outside of work. My wife bought her laptop so she could do some work at home, but she rarely does.

[OnDoutside]

17. It's no use to you in the USA but I buy my laptop from

a UK company called pcspecialists.co.uk where you can build what suits your requirements. It might worth checking to find a similar US one.

I would recommend that you get a laptop with a solid state drive (ssd) and a bigger ordinary drive too. Your operating system will boot up from the ssd and quickly.

[SKKY]

19. Is there any specific software you must have for work...

Last edited Mon Oct 15, 2018, 12:05 AM - Edit history (1)

...if not, then i highly recommend giving a Chromebook a shot. Here is what I would do, make a list of your "must haves". Then, check in the Google Play Store and see if they, or their equivalent are available. If they are, I suggest going with a Chromebook. If not, then you're probably stuck with Windows. In that case, I'm typing this on an HP Pavilion dv9000 that I bought in 2006 that is still chugging right along, so I would lean HP. But, as an IT in the DoD for the past 25+ years, I've worked with both Dell and HP. To me, honestly, it's 6 of one and a half-dozen of the other. I am however a big fan of SSD drives, so whichever direction you chose, that is where you will get the biggest bang for your performance buck. Good luck.

[Totally Tunsie]

20. Loving my Dell Inspiron 1500 series.

It was so easy to set up and is so reliable and uncomplicated. Have had zero issues, which makes me a happy camper indeed. (On a minor, shallow note, the backlit keyboard is fabulous. I could never go back to an unlit one again.)