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2011-09-25 12:48 PM

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Elite
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Subject: What do we need in a laptop?
We're starting to look at new laptops but don't really know where to begin. The only thing I know for sure is that we want a PC. What I don't know is what we need for things like memory, speed, etc. It is a home computer used mostly for Internet and family pictures. We also do some word processing and a few spreadsheets. My kids like to play some games, but not any with serious graphics or anything like that. We also like to downlaod music and let the kids watch movies once in a while. Any help would be so appreciated- I'm going to start scanning the Sunday ads tonight.


2011-09-25 4:43 PM
in reply to: #3699501

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Elite
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Subject: RE: What do we need in a laptop?

For example - would this be OK?  And do I need to buy Microsoft Office to get Excel?  See - I'm serious when I say I don't know what I'm doing when it comes to computers!

 

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Toshiba+-+Satellite+Laptop+/+Intel&%23174%3B+Core&%23153%3B+i3+Processor+/+15.6%22+Display+-+Platinum/2809538.p?id=1218353393861&skuId=2809538&slref=10&slloc=01

2011-09-25 4:55 PM
in reply to: #3699501

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Expert
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Subject: RE: What do we need in a laptop?

The link would be a good option, but I have a few suggestions for longevity in the laptop.

- I like Intel processors, i5 or greater, because then you get the "boost" software

- I would strongly encourage a 64 bit operating system (I believe window's 7 ONLY comes in 64 bit, so no major concerns there)

- 4 gigs of memory is pretty standard and will EASILY fulfill all your needs

- I would not be concerned with the SIZE of the hard drive, but more the speed.  I encourage people to go with at least a 7200 rpm hard drive, as it will give you faster write speed and read speed.  If you worry about the size, get an external for pictures (usually a good idea if you have lots of pictures, good idea to back them up)

- You could certainly look at a blu-ray player for the disk drive, if you have blue ray movies you may want to watch, but a writer is not really necessary unless you are making hi-def home movies.  Otherwise a standard DVD/DVD RW drive will do.

and a few more things to consider:

- Play with the keyboard, make sure you like it, sometimes they will be resized depending on the screen size

- if you plan on actually traveling, consider the battery life and the screen/laptop size.  15.6 is the largest you will really want to go if you want to actually travel with it.

- If it will more than likely stay in one location 99.9999% of the time, think of maybe getting a 17+ inch screen.

Hope this helps!



Edited by menglo 2011-09-25 4:57 PM
2011-09-25 5:11 PM
in reply to: #3699501

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Master
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Subject: RE: What do we need in a laptop?
Agreed on the above. Yes on Office, if you want Excel and Word, although I believe they are available separately. If cost is a determining factor (and when isn't it?), you might want to think about either Google Docs or Open Office, which are free.
2011-09-25 5:32 PM
in reply to: #3699501

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Master
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Subject: RE: What do we need in a laptop?

First I will never buy a Toshiba anything do to them selling information to the Soviets that made my life much harder.   But aside from tha it looks good the I# may be a bit weak have you looked at this one.

I like the AMD processors the rest is just like what you are looking at and 50 bucks less.

 

2011-09-25 5:35 PM
in reply to: #3699501

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Champion
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Subject: RE: What do we need in a laptop?
Absoluley NO to office! Download Open Office from www.openoffice.org. It has all the features of office, can save in native .doc, .xls format and is 100% free. It even includes powerpoint and access clones. The icons and menus are a wee bit different, but you'll figure that out in 2 seconds.

HP has neen advertizing a sweet i5 laptop w/ Dr. Dre sound system and well feautred for $650 lately. If I were in the market, I'd certainly check it out. Our daughter got a less featured HP laptop for Christmas and it's been terrific.


2011-09-25 6:19 PM
in reply to: #3699690

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Subject: RE: What do we need in a laptop?

With Open Office any Macros that were created in an Excel sheet will be deleted when you save.

2011-09-25 6:46 PM
in reply to: #3699501

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Elite
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Subject: RE: What do we need in a laptop?
Thank you!  I'm going to look some more tomorrow.  I am leary of HP's because we've had trouble with 2 HP laptops and 2 HP printers.
2011-09-26 6:10 AM
in reply to: #3699751

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Champion
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Subject: RE: What do we need in a laptop?

MomX3 - 2011-09-25 7:46 PM Thank you!  I'm going to look some more tomorrow.  I am leary of HP's because we've had trouble with 2 HP laptops and 2 HP printers.

HP is garbage.  Hate their products.  I jut threw a working HP printer in the garbage at work because their drivers are so poorly written it would unload about once a month.

A few corrections/additions: 

Windows 7 comes in both 32 and 64 bit flavors.

4GB of RAM is *probably* OK but if you go with a 64 bit OS you have the potential to access much more (192GB I believe on Win 7 Pro).  RAM is so cheap right now buy the LOWEST amount you can and then pick up 8GB from a place like crucial.com (I just picked up 32GB of RAM for my work machine for the price I paid for 8GB just a year or so ago)

I disagree on the size not being important.  Media is getting large these days (a typical movie is 600MB-1GB in size).  While speed is very important (go with the 7200RPM or better yet SSD drive) you want a min of 80-100GB of space on the drive.  And that's a BARE minimum.



Edited by TriRSquared 2011-09-26 6:11 AM
2011-09-26 6:42 AM
in reply to: #3699501

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Champion
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Subject: RE: What do we need in a laptop?

One feature I REALLY like about my laptop (and I'm not sure how common this is now as I bought it about 3 years ago which makes it positively ancient by today's standards), but it has a plug for an HDMI cable which means that I can also run it through the TV for things like showing pictures or watching TV shows and movies. 

2011-09-26 6:49 AM
in reply to: #3699501

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Champion
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Subject: RE: What do we need in a laptop?
I always tell everyone who asks me to purchase the most amount of RAM you can afford.


2011-09-26 7:53 AM
in reply to: #3700055

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Champion
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Subject: RE: What do we need in a laptop?

ironannekidd - 2011-09-26 7:49 AM I always tell everyone who asks me to purchase the most amount of RAM you can afford.

Agreed but you can do it MUCH cheaper after the fact through 3rd party vendors.  It's usually VERY simple to change it out.

2011-09-26 8:20 AM
in reply to: #3699501

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Pro
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Subject: RE: What do we need in a laptop?
I just went through this myself.... We needed a laptop for basic home use, word processing, homework, email and internet, nothing too demanding. After doing a bit of research, this was what I decided I wanted to look for:

processor: intel i5, faster than the i3, not quite as fast as the i7, but from what I read, the extra speed of the i7 was not something we would need for our use, and probably not worth the additional cost.

hard drive speed: I looked for 5400 minimum

RAM: 6 GB or more, the more the better

I decided I wanted a larger screen size, so went with a 17" screen since this will mainly be for home use. If you want something a little more portable, smaller screen size might be better.

I decided that for my use, a DVD drive was fine, I didn't think we needed a blu ray disc drive.


This was the laptop I finally settled on: Lenovo G770 This is the 17" model of this computer, it's also available in smaller screen size. On the linked page, I went with the one in the center, which has:

i5 processor
8GB RAM
750 GB 5400 hard drive

Pretty good specs for the price.... Just be aware, shipping from the Lenovo direct site can be on the slow side, it took close to a month for the computer to reach my door, so it may not be the place to shop if you want it sooner than that. I'm very happy with it now that it's here, though!

2011-09-26 9:02 AM
in reply to: #3699751

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Champion
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Subject: RE: What do we need in a laptop?
MomX3 - 2011-09-25 7:46 PM

Thank you!  I'm going to look some more tomorrow.  I am leary of HP's because we've had trouble with 2 HP laptops and 2 HP printers.


Fair enough. I have had only good luck with HP, so often reccomend them.

I am also a Dell user (have 3 currently), but they tend to be expensive feature for feature. My personal laptop is now 7+ years old and runs perfectly well, albeit slower than my brand new desktop. That Lenovo posted looks like a nice computer if it's priced right.
2011-09-26 9:27 AM
in reply to: #3700043

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Elite
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Subject: RE: What do we need in a laptop?
TriRSquared - 2011-09-26 5:10 AM

MomX3 - 2011-09-25 7:46 PM Thank you!  I'm going to look some more tomorrow.  I am leary of HP's because we've had trouble with 2 HP laptops and 2 HP printers.

4GB of RAM is *probably* OK but if you go with a 64 bit OS you have the potential to access much more (192GB I believe on Win 7 Pro).  RAM is so cheap right now buy the LOWEST amount you can and then pick up 8GB from a place like crucial.com (I just picked up 32GB of RAM for my work machine for the price I paid for 8GB just a year or so ago)

And to piggy back on this.... make sure you can actually upgrade the memory. I got a good deal on a Sony, but it only had 1G of memeory. The rest was good and Win7 was not out yet... no big deal I'll just get more RAM later... WRONG... it was a funky mother board and 1G was all it could do. Basically made it a paper weight in 6 months.

I realize that probably isn't the case now with i5 and 7s and WIN7 supporting much more memory... but you have to be careful with any PC purchase with stupid proprietary crap not allowing you to upgrade anything. Pretty common with low end stuff Toshiba, HP, Acer.. and ya Sony.

And last... you don't get an option for more memory... you just get the option of buying a more powerful computer... processor, HD.. ect. So if you do see a good computer with good specs other than memory, then ya that's not a deal breaker. Just buy more memory third party which is much cheaper than buying a more powerful platform... just make sure you can actually upgrade.

2011-09-26 9:36 AM
in reply to: #3699501

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Pro
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Subject: RE: What do we need in a laptop?

For laptop's I personally recommend going with a business laptop over a consumer laptop.  The business ones seem to be made of much better quality components because they're expected to be running all day every day in the office.  In simple terms, they just last longer.

I own a business and we only buy Dell's.  Lenovo (formerly IBM) would be my second choice.

I'd say minimum of 4G of RAM, but recommend 8G.  The hard drive size isn't really an issue unless your storing a ton of video.  Most PC's never use more than 100GB of disk space.

The number one cause of slowness on a PC/Laptop is not having enough memory (RAM) so if you're bouncing between a few different models go with the one that has the 8 GB of RAM.

Also, if your looking to save some money and get the most bang for your buck go look at the Dell outlet store.  Click on the "Dell Outlet New" checkbox when your searching through their laptop and it will list all brand new laptops that were ordered and never shipped, or shipped and returned unopened.

http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineSales/Online/InventorySearch.aspx?c=us&cs=28&l=en&s=dfb&brandid=2801&fid=7891

They also have coupons out all the time.  They just had a 20% off coupon for any business laptop that expired on 9/15.

I just did a quick search and found this one (brand new, unopened) for $769.  If you wait for the 20% off coupon to come back it would be $615.

       Latitude E6520

  • Processor: Intel Dual Core i5-2520M, 2.50GHz, 1066MHz 3M L2 Cache
  • Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate
  • Latitude E6520
  • 320 GB SATA II Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
  • 4 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz (1 DIMMs)
  • 8X DVD +/- RW Drive
  • Intel HD Graphics 3000

 



2011-09-26 9:42 AM
in reply to: #3700043

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Elite
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Subject: RE: What do we need in a laptop?
TriRSquared - 2011-09-26 7:10 AM

4GB of RAM is *probably* OK but if you go with a 64 bit OS you have the potential to access much more (192GB I believe on Win 7 Pro).  RAM is so cheap right now buy the LOWEST amount you can and then pick up 8GB from a place like crucial.com (I just picked up 32GB of RAM for my work machine for the price I paid for 8GB just a year or so ago)

 

See, this is where I start to get confused.  I would have no idea how to buy RAM or what to do with it! 

 

I like the Lenovo models as well.  I think I would only want the 15 inch screen because we do sometimes take the laptop on road trips or on the plane for the kids - the smaller laptop is probably easier for them to hold.  So I guess the best choice would be the one that says 8GB/750GB 5400.  We don't have a blue ray player at home so I don't think we need it on the computer either.  $650 seems like a good price for all of that.

2011-09-26 9:59 AM
in reply to: #3699501

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Subject: RE: What do we need in a laptop?

 

Look into Asus laptops. Friend of mine runs his own computer repair business, ASUS is what he buys and recommends. I have had two now and never had a single problem.

Toshiba always had battery issues and ate 3 different hard drives.

Dell, worked for a while, had battery issues and boot up issues within a year or two.

HP, total crap IMO. My sister and mom made the mistake of buying HP, they both regret it. Also my dad bought HP for his business and very much so regretted it. Slow comps filled with crap software from HP that is hard to get rid of.

I was told that ASUS, like Apple, makes its own components so you get a better quality piece. Dell grabs pieces from all over and just puts them together. I haven't checked into the truth of this statement, but I can say I have never had a problem with an ASUS computer. Check out newegg.com for good prices.

 

2011-09-26 10:16 AM
in reply to: #3700267

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Master
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Subject: RE: What do we need in a laptop?
MomX3 - 2011-09-26 9:42 AM

I like the Lenovo models as well.  I think I would only want the 15 inch screen because we do sometimes take the laptop on road trips or on the plane for the kids - the smaller laptop is probably easier for them to hold.  So I guess the best choice would be the one that says 8GB/750GB 5400.  We don't have a blue ray player at home so I don't think we need it on the computer either.  $650 seems like a good price for all of that.



We ended up with a 17 inch screen for the home laptop. It rarely travels, because we also ended up with a mini/netbook that we use for that. You might want to consider two devices, one for home, one for travel. And if I had to do it again, I'd probably look at tablets for the travel device. But they were just becoming available when we made the switch, so it wasn't really an option.

Just another option or two to think about, IMO.
2011-09-26 10:16 AM
in reply to: #3700300

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Elite
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Subject: RE: What do we need in a laptop?
Aarondb4 - 2011-09-26 8:59 AM

 

Look into Asus laptops. Friend of mine runs his own computer repair business, ASUS is what he buys and recommends. I have had two now and never had a single problem.

Toshiba always had battery issues and ate 3 different hard drives.

Dell, worked for a while, had battery issues and boot up issues within a year or two.

HP, total crap IMO. My sister and mom made the mistake of buying HP, they both regret it. Also my dad bought HP for his business and very much so regretted it. Slow comps filled with crap software from HP that is hard to get rid of.

I was told that ASUS, like Apple, makes its own components so you get a better quality piece. Dell grabs pieces from all over and just puts them together. I haven't checked into the truth of this statement, but I can say I have never had a problem with an ASUS computer. Check out newegg.com for good prices.

 

I'll second that. Asus makes mother boards and some other stuff. Pretty high quality, big hit with gamers. I got a desktop that I love. It was generally stripped down, lots of power for good price... best of all it didn't have all the BS bloat ware... but even that is changing with Asus too. Just looked at laptops. In the market myself and will probably get another Asus.

2011-09-29 1:34 PM
in reply to: #3699501

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Elite
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Subject: RE: What do we need in a laptop?

Just got the new laptop.  I had a hard time deciding between the ASUS and the Lenovo - both had great reviews here and i PC World magazine.  I went to Best Buy and liked the feel of the Lenovo keyboard better (still so different from my old one though - especially because it has the number pad.)  

I got the Lenovo V570.  The older model had a little smaller hard drive and was on sale $30 less, but I would have had to drive 35 minutes with two cranky kids to get it.  This one has a bigger hard drive and they had it in stock - that was worth the $30 to me!

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Lenovo+-+IdeaPad+Laptop+/+Intel%26%23174;+Core%26%23153;+i5+Processor+/+15.6%22+Display+/+6GB+Memory+/+750GB+Hard+Drive+-+Silver+Gray/3504409.p?id=1218406955839&skuId=3504409

 

Thanks for all your help - I learned a lot about computers. 



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