- Dec 19, 2009
- 78
- 4
- 18,535
I posted most of this a couple of years ago, then ran across a decent older Dell for $20. So I grabbed it. Then tipped it over last summer on vacation and damaged the screen. Anyway, I got my $20 out of it and need to buy a new one. Even just brands to get/avoid would be useful.
1. What is your budget?
Modest, I'd like to keep it under $500. Not a hard cap, but modest.
2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
No bigger than 14".
3. What screen resolution do you want?
Better than 600x800? Not a critical issue.
4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Definitely portable.
5. How much battery life do you need?
I suspect anything modern would be ok. More than a couple of hours?
6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
Does Freecell count? Not a gamer.
7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Mostly internet, photo editing, light photo editing, light Office suite work.
8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
1T would be really nice, 500G would be doable. More than the 128G I sometimes see listed. Plugging in a spinning drive to go with a SSD would be ok if it was an option, I see they sometimes are. SSDs are nice the way they boot up though..
9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
Probably Amazon like everything else these days, but anyplace that's reputable.
10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
At least 5 years and hopefully 10. Light use so it would be low mileage so to speak.
11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
I would really like an Optical drive, but as they're becoming like the Dinosaurs I've accepted that I might need an external drive. Mostly just for installing software.
12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
Not crazy about Dell since the last one I bought was Dell and an absolute turkey, although partly it was just Win 10. Don't like HP since Carly laid off a bunch of my friends years ago moving production, but oddly not management, to third world countries. And HP showing who they are in their recent bricking of printers in an attempt to prevent 3rd party ink use. Both are preferences, but not absolutes. I've heard good things about Lenovos
13. What country do you live in?
USA
14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
Summary. I need a "Toyota Camry" computer. Not a Rolls Royce, but not a Yugo. Nothing fancy, not an enthusiast machine, just something that turns on and works the same regardless if I last used it yesterday or 6 months ago and doesn't make me hate it. Like my old Toshiba used to do before it needed a walker to get around.
I'd prefer new, but used isn't out of the question as it will see very light use.
Edit, forgot to add it needs to be a Windows machine, a Chromebook won't do what I need it to.
1. What is your budget?
Modest, I'd like to keep it under $500. Not a hard cap, but modest.
2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
No bigger than 14".
3. What screen resolution do you want?
Better than 600x800? Not a critical issue.
4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Definitely portable.
5. How much battery life do you need?
I suspect anything modern would be ok. More than a couple of hours?
6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
Does Freecell count? Not a gamer.
7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Mostly internet, photo editing, light photo editing, light Office suite work.
8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
1T would be really nice, 500G would be doable. More than the 128G I sometimes see listed. Plugging in a spinning drive to go with a SSD would be ok if it was an option, I see they sometimes are. SSDs are nice the way they boot up though..
9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
Probably Amazon like everything else these days, but anyplace that's reputable.
10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
At least 5 years and hopefully 10. Light use so it would be low mileage so to speak.
11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
I would really like an Optical drive, but as they're becoming like the Dinosaurs I've accepted that I might need an external drive. Mostly just for installing software.
12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
Not crazy about Dell since the last one I bought was Dell and an absolute turkey, although partly it was just Win 10. Don't like HP since Carly laid off a bunch of my friends years ago moving production, but oddly not management, to third world countries. And HP showing who they are in their recent bricking of printers in an attempt to prevent 3rd party ink use. Both are preferences, but not absolutes. I've heard good things about Lenovos
13. What country do you live in?
USA
14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
Summary. I need a "Toyota Camry" computer. Not a Rolls Royce, but not a Yugo. Nothing fancy, not an enthusiast machine, just something that turns on and works the same regardless if I last used it yesterday or 6 months ago and doesn't make me hate it. Like my old Toshiba used to do before it needed a walker to get around.
I'd prefer new, but used isn't out of the question as it will see very light use.
Edit, forgot to add it needs to be a Windows machine, a Chromebook won't do what I need it to.
Last edited:
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