I am looking for a new computer. The old one is getting very sluggish and keeps hanging up.
It’s gotta be Windows since I am not about to learn a new OS. I don’t play games or store movies on it, so there are no unusual requirements for speed or storage. It will be used as a desktop so battery capacity is unimportant. Are solid state drives now large enough for ordinary users? I got one several years ago and kept bumping against capacity even with my modest needs. I think it was 128 gig. My current computer is a Lenovo and I guess I was reasonably happy with it. I had a bad experience with Dell, so I don’t want that. I used to keep up with the state of computing, but I no longer do, which is why I am asking.
SSDs will improve your user experience more than just about anything else. Especially if you don’t game. Getting really cheap too. TheAdata 1TB SSD I put in this computer a little while ago, cost about $125 or so and got great reviews. Jump up to Samsung, and pay around 195 for the same amount of space. I’m 99 percent sure you won’t have an M2 slot on your mobo, but there are plenty of SATA SSDs.
Have a platter drive or array of same if you need a gargantuan space for movies, music, photos, and other media.
I almost wonder if you could keep your current system chugging along by simply putting a larger SSD in it? You probably want to upgrade the OS, if you aren’t running 10 already. More RAM might not be a bad idea either if its a bottleneck for you, and I suspect it might be.
EDIT: Oh, and I see you’re asking about laptops. I’m not sure what the latest and greatest is brandwise there.
I always recommend TigerDirect refurbs. There’s a decent deal now, HP Elitebook 840 G3, i5, 16GB DDR4, 512GB ssd, 14", Win10 Pro for $500. Item 41901817. I’d also keep an eye on slickdeals.net for bargains.
Don’t even think about getting anything other than a solid state drive.
This isn’t totally clear in the OP. There’s a comment about disregarding battery life but that’s all.
Slickdeals is great for this sort of thing. Good aggregator. I get leery about refurbished laptops and tablets for some reason. Probably nothing. EDIT: What’s the service policy/warranty like on one of those?
Hari, if you’re planning on using it as a pure desktop, why not get a desktop? Freedom to potentially carry the computer with you on trips, different rooms, to work?
I ask because you likely can get a lot more computer for the money with a pure desktop. Many of them are much smaller than the big tower cases we grew up with.
Why a laptop? Because it has to fit on the tray attached to my easy chair, which is my office. I really want a new one and I guess an SSD of at least 512Gb will do. I have a tablet for trips. If I ever take any again. I’ve already canceled two trips. In fact, I should be in Barbados right now.
{{Sigh}}. You really make me feel old, Grey Ghost!
Waddya mean, “the tower cases we grew up with”? Those were new, fancy things that only came on the market after I graduated from university! The end of punch cards!
Wireless keyboard & mouse, big-ass TV which can handily do double duty as a monitor now,: you can now compute throughout the living room. Heck, get two, and do the multiple monitor thing. World is your oyster.
Tablets satisfy the laptop niche for me now. Especially with a separate keyboard.