Laptop for the wife

[stplayahtn]

So my wife wants a new laptop, and she has some very set in stone ideas about what that should be.

She is very against the idea of cloud storage (I know, I know), and she wants it to "just be faster."

I have some specs I'm looking for, and a question about storage. I want an SSD for speed, but also need a good amount of storage for music, pics, etc. I'm wondering if a small profile usb 3 flash drive could serve that purpose rather than the expense of an ssd+hdd?

The specs I need:

15" screen
touch screen
SSD
8gb ram
decent processor for tons of tabs, skype, itunes, etc all at once. Browser gaming at the most.

Thanks for any help.

 

[atljsf]

well, no mac for her, then

is there any budget?

touch screen and 15" screen, that means a expensive and heavy laptop on most cases

something like this?

http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/productdetails/inspiron-15-5547-laptop

perhaps a gaming laptop with a touch screen?

 

[velo3100]

So my wife wants a new laptop, and she has some very set in stone ideas about what that should be.

She is very against the idea of cloud storage (I know, I know), and she wants it to "just be faster."

I have some specs I'm looking for, and a question about storage. I want an SSD for speed, but also need a good amount of storage for music, pics, etc. I'm wondering if a small profile usb 3 flash drive could serve that purpose rather than the expense of an ssd+hdd?

The specs I need:

15" screen
touch screen
SSD
8gb ram
decent processor for tons of tabs, skype, itunes, etc all at once. Browser gaming at the most.

Thanks for any help.

I will need a budget and the websites you use to buy laptops from?

 

[orlbuckeye]

Well SSD's are not that expensive anymore and the advantage of SSD of a flash drive is boot times. I would look at Newegg. A flash drive or external drive would be good to store the music files since she doesn't like the cloud.

 

[Johnson Mike]

If you can spend around $700 then here is the best laptop meeting your requirements -

Lenovo Yoga 710

Specifications -

7th Generation Intel Core i5-7200U mobile processor.
14 inches Full HD (1920 x 1080) touchscreen; Intel Iris Graphics 620
360° flip-and-fold design; USB 3.0; USB 2.0
No DVD/CD drive; Windows 10; 4-cell lithium-polymer battery; Silver
Bluetooth, Built-in media reader, wireless-AC

Price - $674.99

It is a touchscreen convertible with 14" display. I hope that 1 inch won't make much difference.

Here's the link to that laptop. Check it out on Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-80V4000GUS-14-Inch-Touch-Screen-i5-7200U/dp/B01M8HMGLD/

 

[atljsf]

that one could let you play some games but not demanding ones, that is a dual core cpu and no independent gpu, still a decent tablet/laptop

 

[Seaweed Monster]

What budget are we playing with stplay?

 

[stplayahtn]

Sorry for not responding. Work takes from home and internet for several days at a time. Trying to stay at or under $700. Gaming won't be a thing for her beyond facebook. Ever since I got her the Pixel phone, she has been comparing her laptop's speed and "snappiness" to it.

So I'm looking for a touch laptop that will provide quick app launching, multiple tabs with no problem, itunes, skype, etc up at the same time and stay fast.

My conundrum has been storage. I know I need an SSD for that snappy experience, but she has a ton of music and pictures she wants to access at any given time, so an external is pretty much out. SD cards from my understanding are very slow, and will degrade if used a lot. So I'm thinking about a large flash drive, maybe. Sigh.

 

[GreyCatz]

Sorry for not responding. Work takes from home and internet for several days at a time. Trying to stay at or under $700. Gaming won't be a thing for her beyond facebook. Ever since I got her the Pixel phone, she has been comparing her laptop's speed and "snappiness" to it.

So I'm looking for a touch laptop that will provide quick app launching, multiple tabs with no problem, itunes, skype, etc up at the same time and stay fast.

My conundrum has been storage. I know I need an SSD for that snappy experience, but she has a ton of music and pictures she wants to access at any given time, so an external is pretty much out. SD cards from my understanding are very slow, and will degrade if used a lot. So I'm thinking about a large flash drive, maybe. Sigh.

Finding a laptop that can match the speed of current smartphones is a tall order, especially at around $700. And 256GBs of SSD storage seems to be the cut-off point between affordable and very-expensive-indeed.

The Lenovo Yoga linked by Mike Johnson above seems perfect - provided your wife can refrain from storing tons of AAA game titles on the SSD. Try to convince her only to store music files on the hard drive and use some cloud-based storage for pictures (OneDrive, DropBox or Google).

Cheers,
GreyCatz.

 

[stplayahtn]

What about something like this? There are a lot of these manufacturer refurbished at under $600.

Dell Inspiron 15 7000
15.6" 4k touch screen
I7 6500u
8gb ram
256gb ssd
Integrated graphics

http://www.ebay.com/itm/222350954276

Anyone have any thoughts? Can't find a lot of reviews.

 

[GreyCatz]

What about something like this? There are a lot of these manufacturer refurbished at under $600.

Dell Inspiron 15 7000
15.6" 4k touch screen
I7 6500u
8gb ram
256gb ssd
Integrated graphics

http://www.ebay.com/itm/222350954276

Anyone have any thoughts? Can't find a lot of reviews.

If your wife is OK with used/refurbished machines, then this Dell certainly looks attractive. But according to Techarp's test (April 2016):
http://www.techarp.com/articles/dell-inspiron-15-7000-7568-2-in-1-laptop/

...it weighs 4.8lbs and battery life was tested at 4-6 hours. For reference, the Yoga 710 linked earlier weighs 3.4lbs and battery life has been tested at 8:55 hours by Laptopmag (August 2016):
http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/lenova-yoga-710

Both devices use a 256GB SSD, although the Dell tested by Techarp used a 500GB mechanical HDD at 5400rpm, and the Dell is fitted with a 4K UHD display, while the Yoga offers a 2K FHD panel (IPS according to Lenovo's web page).

While I fully understand that a $100 difference is a relevant consideration, I still believe the Yoga 710 is the preferable option: The extra $100 will provide an extra 2-3 hours of up-time, less weight and the added enjoyment that always comes with a brand-new device. The 4K display in the Dell is the main reason behind the modest battery life (and some of the extra weight) so your wife will have to decide which is more important.

Cheers,
GreyCatz.