Question Recommendation for mid-level laptop

[sped800]

I copied questions from another post. Hope this is helpful. My spouse wants to replace her old desktop with a laptop. She's not a gamer, just something that runs well.
We purchased a Dell Inspiron 3785 with Ryzen 5 and 8 gb ram, but it runs so slow I think we'll have to return it. With no user applications running, memory usage is 50-70%. The Windows 10 setup was a nightmare, maybe something went wrong.

1. What is your budget?
Prefer under $1000

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
17"

3. What screen resolution do you want?
1600 good enouch

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Desktop replacement

5. How much battery life do you need?
Usually plugged in. Anything reasonable.

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop?
No

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
MS Office, iTunes, browser. She likes to leave a lot of apps open, which is why I went for the Ryzen.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
At least 1 TB (ssd preferred)

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
n/a

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
As long as possible

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
Just DVD, CD.

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.
This is the main reason I'm asking for advice. I am looking for quality components. I have a Dell laptop at work and it's fine, but the one we just purchased performs very poorly. You can't choose brand or model like you can with a custom desktop.

13. What country do you live in?
USA (Texas)

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
I strongly prefer not to pay for a sound card or a video card, because the onboard devices seem very adequate. Thanks for any help; hope my post is clear enough.

 

[LordVile]

I copied questions from another post. Hope this is helpful. My spouse wants to replace her old desktop with a laptop. She's not a gamer, just something that runs well.
We purchased a Dell Inspiron 3785 with Ryzen 5 and 8 gb ram, but it runs so slow I think we'll have to return it. With no user applications running, memory usage is 50-70%. The Windows 10 setup was a nightmare, maybe something went wrong.

1. What is your budget?
Prefer under $1000

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
17"

3. What screen resolution do you want?
1600 good enouch

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Desktop replacement

5. How much battery life do you need?
Usually plugged in. Anything reasonable.

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop?
No

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
MS Office, iTunes, browser. She likes to leave a lot of apps open, which is why I went for the Ryzen.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
At least 1 TB (ssd preferred)

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
n/a

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
As long as possible

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
Just DVD, CD.

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.
This is the main reason I'm asking for advice. I am looking for quality components. I have a Dell laptop at work and it's fine, but the one we just purchased performs very poorly. You can't choose brand or model like you can with a custom desktop.

13. What country do you live in?
USA (Texas)

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
I strongly prefer not to pay for a sound card or a video card, because the onboard devices seem very adequate. Thanks for any help; hope my post is clear enough.

Are you considering used?

 

[lga1156_ftw]

Have you considered clean installing windows 10? This is most likely software issue. Too much bloatware combined with an issue can cause this.

Clean install means making "installation usb" with another computer and downloading windows 10 file from theyre site. You can use the same key again to activate, it usually activates on its own.

 

[tworley4125]

Have you considered clean installing windows 10? This is most likely software issue. Too much bloatware combined with an issue can cause this.

Clean install means making "installation usb" with another computer and downloading windows 10 file from theyre site. You can use the same key again to activate, it usually activates on its own.

I would tend to agree with this. If the system is running 50% or better memory at idle, then you've got a lot of background programs running. All laptop manufacturers add their own programs to their computers and that will slow it down a lot (Dell has historically been one of the worse at this).

You might also consider adding more memory to the computer. Even without the added bloatware, Windows 10 still eats up a good chuck of memory all by itself. Personally I usually shoot for no less that 10-12 gigs minimum.