New Laptop, $1,200 Budget. What would you buy and why.

[Zemedici]

Still rocking my mid 2010 Macbook Pro. Ive only upgraded the HDD to a SSD, maxed out the ram, and replaced the battery. Still does everything I need it to and looks good while doing it. Plus the lid hinge is as tight as the day I bought it. The screen on my work Dell Latitude is all floppy from normal use.

Find yourself a used MBP, id advise not getting the mid-2010 since the Intel HD graphics has issues with the newer OSX versions which forces me to use the integrated graphics only. But for browsing the web and what-not, it works just fine.

Gotta say, I wasn't a believer in Macs until my girl got me mine. My god does it seem to put my windows to shame. Never slows down, no wear, extremely fast, etc. Does everything I could ask it to do, except run Windows programs

 

[03cobra#694]

Are you looking for a gaming setup or just basic web browsing, moderating, media, etc.., If the later is what you are doing, your budget cold be much lower IMO.

No gaming at all, and I agree. It could be much lower. I just want something fast.

 

[2000GTSTANG]

Gotta say, I wasn't a believer in Macs until my girl got me mine. My god does it seem to put my windows to shame. Never slows down, no wear, extremely fast, etc. Does everything I could ask it to do, except run Windows programs

You can run Windows on it for that rare program you want to use.

 

[tistan]

I've been following this thread because I am also about to get a new laptop. Would a 4k screen do the same or better as the retina screen on the macs?
https://www.cnet.com/how-to/what-is-a-retina-display-macbook-apple/

 

[AustinSN]

Picked up a MBP a couple years ago that was a factory refurb and while I liked it at first, I've slowly started to adore it. I think this is the first laptop I've ever actually liked.

But with that said, since you don't want Apple, I would maybe go with Dell. I say that because it's the only non-apple laptop I've ever used that didn't have overheating issues. I ordered a new one for my mom a few weeks ago and was blown away at how slow it was. I think they come loaded with bloatware and if I sat down for a few hours I could get it to run better. I know my old room mate does that with all of the computers he buys to get them to run faster.

If you weren't buying from Bestbuy I was going to suggest a custom build, my IT guy built our work computers (desktop though) and they are solid as hell with 0 bloatware. There is a huge difference between the stuff you buy in store vs the custom builds with specs that make sense for what you need.