Can someone recommend a laptop?

[1bad04cobra]

Looking to get my wife a new laptop but have no idea what's good these days. She basically prints coupons, Web searches, prints and my kids sometimes do school projects. Nothing to extensive. Hope someone can lead me in the right direction

 

[rotor_powerd]

I've been deploying a lot of Lenovo Yoga's as well as Microsoft Surfaces and really like both. The Yoga is a more traditional laptop, I'd point you in that direction.

 

[newbie1276]

I use a Lenovo ThinkPad for work. No complaints yet . this one has been around for 2 years

 

[cpotts13]

I have had awesome luck with Toshiba. My first laptop lasted me 6 years and was still faster than newer HP's. Of course your mileage may very depending on specs..

If you are techy I would highly recommend custom ordering one from Toshiba, you can pick and choose what parts you want and dont want.
Their pre-made choices are nice as well..

As for specifications: Almost always Intel brand processors are superior to AMD. For a mid range laptop look for a Intel i5 or i7 processor. 8+ gb of ram and a 1080 resolution.

 

[lobra97]

used Macbook pro weeeee
that's what i did.

 

[wreckit]

I have had numerous laptops. The ones I will only recommend are Dell, Lenovo, and Alienware (primarily for gaming and multimedia).
Make sure the processor is i5 or better.
You pay for what you get.
Hp sucks, apple is limited on what you can do.

 

[RedRocketMike]

Low end Lenovo.

 

[CobraBob]

I've had my MacBook Pro Retina (13") for a couple of years now. Love it! The display (I wanted magazine quality text) is the best I've seen. Very solid. Use it every day.

 

[badcobra]

Laptops change/update so often, just establish a budget first and then go shopping either online or in person. The thing that matters most to me are that it has a solid state hard drive. Secondly, the fastest processor and most amount of RAM for the money.

 

[VaporGT]

Buy a new MacBook every five years. So far they haven't let me down. As a matter of fact, my brother still uses the one I bought in 2006.

 

[1bad04cobra]

Thanks guys. Looking at a Dell right now. Never looked at Mac but I'll investigate

 

[getTwisted]

It you want something family friendly just stick with a windows machine. I'm on a Mac Book Pro rich now, getting ready to go back to windows. Mac Books are nice but they are pricey and fixing issues is more advanced than on a windows machine.

 

[FORDSVTPARTS]

I just picked up an Asus X555LA.

http://www.newlaptopspecs.com/asus-x555la-hi71105l-great-performance-affordable-review/

Can't beat it for the price if you don't need or want something with a touch screen.

 

[Steve@TF]

if you have another computer that can act as a "computer" i would highly recommend a chromebook. im on my 2nd one and i love it. super fast, doesnt heat up, instant on like an ipad. super super long battery life. no virus worries.

but i also have a desk top for the things this Chromebook cant do. which isnt a lot

 

[Steve1578]

I've had multiple macs, I'm a big fan of apple product quality, but for what you need it for and amount it seems you'll use it, the price wouldn't justify it for you IMO. Also, your kids are probably learning how to operate computers on a windows OS in school, so getting a mac would mean they'd have to learn the shortcuts in that OS, which might make it more difficult for them to do their projects at first.

I think Lenovo is a great computer. Their price can be mid-range up to pretty expensive, depending on your configuration. Don't let a salesman talk you into top of the line graphics cards and sh*t like that, but I do suggest getting an i7 processor. It'll be relevant longer and it's worth the extra cost imo. If you don't use the computer much, you at least want it to be fast and capable when you do.

 

[CobraBob]

There are a lot of budget laptops available. Just be sure that your wife will be happy with the screen display. Most lower end laptops have dimmer displays with lesser text crispness. This is a primary reason why I chose my MacBook Pro Retina laptop. The display is sharp and bright (with crisp text) which is very easy on the eyes. But for occasional use as you described, she will likely be fine with a budget laptop. Consider going to your local Best Buy or Costco Warehouse to try out a few candidates. This way you'll know what you're actually getting before you buy.

 

[venom_inc]

Like someone else said, get the i5 processor or better. Make sure you have 8gb of RAM. You probably will never fill up 500gb of HDD space so that doesn't really matter. And make sure it's running Windows 10. You should be able to find all this within a $700 budget, maybe a bit more if you want a nicer screen.

 

[L8APEX]

I've been deploying a lot of Lenovo Yoga's as well as Microsoft Surfaces and really like both. The Yoga is a more traditional laptop, I'd point you in that direction.

I've pushed out about a half dozen Yoga's of various types, from the 11s to the Pro's over the past few years, I've heard nothing but praise.
The Yoga's were the pioneer of the reversible laptop/tablet, every manufacturer has now has copied that simple yet elegant design.
I was so impressed I ordered a Yoga 2 pro with the haswell i7, 512ssd, and the 2 channel Intel b/g/n wireless card, (most of the the off the shelf models don't typically offer the dual channel card).
It came with 8.1 and now has 10 pro but it has been flawless. My only complaint is the resolution of the screen 3200x1800 and windows scaling doesn't work well with Adobe products (I'm running CS6, hopefully it's been addressed in newer releases). It's sad, I have to lower the resolution in order to use photoshop because the menus and tools are smaller than the mouse pointer.

 

[djhtech]

Lenovo Yoga or MacBook Air

 

[barlow03]

The Acer Aspire E 15 E5-573G-52G3 is a decent option. Probably the best in your budget