Question Recommendations for a general use laptop ?

[dragonfly22588]

I'm trying to help my mother buy a laptop. She mainly just uses it for word processing, Internet browsing, and probably watching some videos on it. I do want to get a touchscreen feature one and possibly one of those where the screen can bend behind the keyboard. All things being equal she'd also like one that "looks" nice if possible, although I know this has no functional impact on the use, this would be of some benefit to her eyes as this is a gift.

1. What is your budget?
Under $1000

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
16"

3. What screen resolution do you want?
Don't know but nothing high end is necessary.

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
It will be her only "computer" but it won't be moved around a lot at all.

5. How much battery life do you need?
No preference.

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)?
No

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Internet browsing, videos

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
At least 512 GB SSD

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
Amazon, big box store site preferably

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
5+ years

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
None

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.
HP has a good track record from products I've purchased but not to brand conscious.

13. What country do you live in?
US
14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
I am still looking for a laptop that is a good value, reliable, that will last minimum of 5 years but closer to 10.

 

[dragonfly22588]

I still need a recommendation please.

 

[Lafong]

I'd try to buy at some location where she can actually try it out to get the feel of the keyboard and evaluate the screen. Costco? Best Buy?

But I don't know how particular she is.

Not sure I'd place much faith in highly specific recommendations due to their anecdotal nature and the fact that you can simply have bad luck on any specific example of a "good laptop"....or PC for that matter.

Internet browsing and viewing videos doesn't take much CPU horsepower, but I'd at least take a look at the benchmarks for any specific CPU choice to ensure you aren't getting a very weak CPU. The i3, i5, i7 Intel thing doesn't tell you much.

Lenovo is often mentioned, but I have no personal experience with them.

Try to avoid:

Windows Pro; you may be forced to accept it. You may be forced to take Windows 11 also, no problem with that.

Spinning hard drives.

RAM; no reason for her to have more than 16 gb, but you may be forced to 32 at some ridiculous increase in price.

For 1000 dollars, I'd think you can do quite well. Maybe for much less. Hard to evaluate how much better off you'd be at 1000 rather than 700. You'd like to think that 300 dollar difference will buy you some longevity and reliability, but I'd be suspicious of that.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I do believe that this Lenovo for $400 should be more than enough for your mother's needs:
Lenovo Laptop IdeaPad 1 15ALC7
CPU: Ryzen 5 5500U
GPU: Radeon RX Vega 7 IGP
RAM: 8GB DDR4-3200
SSD: 512GB
Display: 15.6" 1080p
OS: Windows 11 Home

You can't go wrong with that for $400 and it will do everything that she wants it to. I know this for a fact because my own craptop only has a Ryzen 5 3500U and it's more than fast enough for everything I use it for. I have a hard time believing that your mothers use-case would exceed mine because I do things like file transfers and file compression with it along with using it as a media centre. The only thing that I did was increase the RAM to 16GB because of the number of Firefox tabs that I sometimes have open at a time. I'd be willing to bet that 8GB is all that your mother would ever use and $400 is a great price for a craptop.

I hope this helps! 😉👍

 

[Eximo]

Touchscreen $500-550

ASUS Vivobook 15.6” Touch PC Laptop, Intel Core i7-1255U, 16GB, 512GB, Win 11 Home, F1502ZA-WH74 - Walmart.com

Arrives by Mon, Dec 4 Buy ASUS Vivobook 15.6” Touch PC Laptop, Intel Core i7-1255U, 16GB, 512GB, Win 11 Home, F1502ZA-WH74 at Walmart.com

www.walmart.com

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-15-6-touch-screen-full-hd-laptop-intel-core-i7-16gb-memory-512gb-ssd-natural-silver/6550427.p?acampID=0&ar=1826554036986008996&cmp=RMX&irclickid=3hkVtmyF3xyPRc1Sv0SfdRQlUkFXLZQWiTlg3E0&irgwc=1&loc=Howl+Technologies%2C+Inc.&mpid=376373&nrtv_cid=a794f0cbcc64e4e285407be7d33949c647e12857e3c305e0419a8b4bfba08679&ref=198&skuId=6550427&utm_source=narrativ

Touchscreen convertible $550 :

HP ENVY x360 Convertible 15.6" FDH Touch Laptop, AMD Ryzen 5, 12GB, 256GB, Windows 11, 15-ey1077wm - Walmart.com

Arrives by Fri, Dec 1 Buy HP ENVY x360 Convertible 15.6" FDH Touch Laptop, AMD Ryzen 5, 12GB, 256GB, Windows 11, 15-ey1077wm at Walmart.com

www.walmart.com

Ludicrous $750: i5-12500H+ RTX4060

HP Victus 15.6" FHD 144Hz Gaming Laptop, Intel i5-12500H, RTX 4060, 16GB DDR4, 512GB SSD, Win 11 - Walmart.com

Arrives by Fri, Dec 1 Buy HP Victus 15.6" FHD 144Hz Gaming Laptop, Intel i5-12500H, RTX 4060, 16GB DDR4, 512GB SSD, Win 11 at Walmart.com

www.walmart.com

 

[punkncat]

I just ordered this refurb for my mother.

https://www.newegg.com/silver-acer-a315-24pt-r90z-everyday-value/p/1TS-000X-05MV2?Item=9SIACA1K0E9370

It is WAY under your budget but seems to cover the things you want for it (just shy of screen size). It arrived quickly and doesn't have a scratch on it. The only thing missing is the plastic peel sheet.