What type of laptop do you recommend

[LWCount]

Right now I'm using an Aspire One Netbook upgraded to 2G. Bought a cheap cig lighter plugin for the aux battery. I think it uses 10W or so, not bad.

But I need more power for some things so I've been looking into Asus notebooks. Something in-between a ultrabook and i3. I really like win 7 but win 8 I like as much as horrible Vista, mostly because I don't plan on using the touch screen. I'm old fashioned I like the keyboard and the mouse.

 

[Free Range Human]

I've had a lower-end Asus for several years and it's doing just great. Have had to replace the keyboard twice but that's a cheap, easy fix you can do yourself.

I would advise staying away from an HP unless it's one of their very expensive ones. I've had two of their entry-level ones and those are pieces of crap. They run very hot (always need a notebook cooler for them) and something always goes wrong with them within the first year; usually the screen.

 

[Unchained]

Like some others here, I have an Acer Aspire One netbook ($200.00) and love it for web surfing, forums, email and streaming movies. 'Baby' is far less powerful than my full sized laptop (Big Brother), but also sips electricity by comparison and is small enough to take anywhere.

FRH- Big Brother is an HP that I paid $500 and change for over 6 years ago. Other than the fact that I burned out the DVD drive (my fault, trust me) it's still going. It does run hot, but that was easily addressed, so I can't really call it a piece of crap.

Oh phones, I have a cheapie Verizon 'dumb phone' for texting and occasional calls. $15 for the phone (with $10 in airtime included), and about $10 a month for access. I text as often as I want and make/receive calls 2-3 days a month. It's no Smartphone, but it's hella cheap!

 

[Sameer]

I am with you. I don't think a person has to spend a lot of money on a laptop. For people like me who prefer a laptop over a tablet even new they are very reasonable. The market for laptop has dropped due to the popularity of tablets. Personally a laptop works perfect for me. For a great connection I pay Virgin Mobile $25 bucks a month, I had their $50 buck a month plan but never got close to the gig limit so dropped that plan. I don't stream movies, but stream a lot of music. Virgin Mobile uses Sprint Networks so it works just fine for me.

 

[offroad]

recommend VAN-TRAMP combination.

1) Smart cellphone at $100
2) Tablet (IPAD at $250 used ipad 2 with shared cellphone data plan).
3) Full laptop with as much processing power as possible and a large hard drive.

also get an external wifi router, which can connect a USB large drive. Its good to have a way to plug into a network (if given that option) and create your own wifi hotspot.

if any of the three break, you still have th eother two while the one is getting repaired. you can do skype phone calls on any tablet of laptop. its all adaptable.

 

[Sameer]

I wish I knew more than I do about tablets....actually I know nothing about tablets. Although I love my 'cheap' laptop it would be good to have a backup. I like that idea!

 

[LWCount]

I wish I knew more than I do about tablets....actually I know nothing about tablets. Although I love my 'cheap' laptop it would be good to have a backup. I like that idea!

I know very little about tablets. Would also like to know more about them. A lot of great info here.

Someone mentioned HP earlier. I bought one their system once and never again. Needed a power switch and they charged me for an entire front panel. After a blackout occurred and took out the power supply and the motherboard I just threw it away. The same thing with iomega, I have a long memory. I do like their printers.

 

[caseyc]

Regarding tablets, there are mainly 4 types of operating systems.

Apple's iOS operating system (eg: iPad full size and mini size)

Google's Android operating system (eg: tablets by Samsung, Asus, Lenovo, Motorola, many others)

Windows operating system (eg: tablets by Microsoft and many other makers)

Windows RT operating system (eg: tablets by Microsoft and some others)

Out of the above 4 operating systems, Windows "RT" is a complete joke. Don't even bother with it in my opinion. Apple's iPad is the most popular followed by Android tablets. Windows tablets are useful for people who need to run Windows based programs.

 

[Van-Tramp]

One very important thing to know about tablets; most require a computer to load anything onto it.

Want your pictures, music, videos on your tab? You have to send them via your computer. Most have no way to directly add files (no USB). Miscrosoft has the Surface tablets which do have a USB port (so you can transfer those files) but are quite expensive. But, the sad thing is that the majority of tablets are just hi-tech paper weights unless you also have a computer.

Some might argue that tablets (Kindle, Nook, iPad) are great for reading books, but they truthfully are not. Screens get glare or dirty, batteries (enough said), not ergonomic to hold, etc. I love reading, but hated reading on the Kindle my son loaned me. I much prefer to have a paper-book in hand then an electronic device.

If you are allowed only one single device, a budget laptop is cheaper, easier, and will do more (including books). A Surface tablet would be on my list if it came with a keyboard in it's high-price, but it does not.

 

[caseyc]

If allowed only 1 device, I would choose a hybrid laptop running Windows 8.1 with Classic Shell installed to restore Windows 7 functionality but keeping the touch screen feature.

 

[Unchained]

Some might argue that tablets (Kindle, Nook, iPad) are great for reading books, but they truthfully are not. Screens get glare or dirty, batteries (enough said), not ergonomic to hold, etc. I love reading, but hated reading on the Kindle my son loaned me. I much prefer to have a paper-book in hand then an electronic device.

I have a very basic Nook ($40- no backlight, no color, no movie streaming) and batteries are the reason why. The thing can go for weeks between charges, depending on use. I have no problem holding it and prefer it to a real book when I take it to a restaurant to read while I eat. While I prefer real books most of the time, it isn't practical for me to keep copies of all of my 'must haves' in paperback. The Nook can take a micro SD, so no worries on ever running out of room.
*shrug* Different strokes and all that.

 

[offroad]

Old tech tablets used to require docking. Latest software uses the cloud. Have 50gb on BOX.com now so effectively infinite room. Have not docked in a year.

 

[caseyc]

All my Android and Windows tablets have a USB port for transferring files, a micro SD card slot to hold a SanDisk Ultra 64gb card for music, videos and files, and even an HDMI port to mirror to a large TV screen for watching movies etc. The reason I don't have an iPad or iPhone is because the Apple devices don't have any of these outlets to accept external accessories.

 

[Unchained]

If allowed only 1 device

If you were only allowed 1 device, casey, I think your head would explode.

My bottom of the barrel Nook also has a USB port and Micro SD slot.

 

[caseyc]

Yes, my head would explode having to compromise for only 1 device, haha. I wish my current inventory of tablets were designed for USB 3.0 transfer speed, but alas they are only USB 2.0 speed. That's why I like my laptops better cuz of the built in USB 3.0 port, etc.

 

[offroad]

Was thinking what do we need large storage for. Personally use google music for my 50 gigs of free personally owned music. If my computers all burn to the ground I still have it there. And for movie collection I use ultraviolet and AMAZON and netflix combined for any movie, resulting in only a small collection I have to hold at home. Beyond music and movies my storage needs are limited.

 

[caseyc]

Cuz p@rn takes up copius amount of space, haha!

 

[offroad]

Caseyc - yep. Suspect some need to collect all the baseball cards. (Aka all the movies on the planet).

 

[caseyc]

I think the cloud certainly has its advantage and is a nice addition for ones's storage needs. But there are times when it becomes a problem due to either no internet connection or poor connection. For example, my car stereo has an "AUX" (Auxilary) outlet port for connecting a 3.5mm cable from stereo to say a smartphone for listening to music from a smartphone device. I have a friend who stores her music almost exclusively to the cloud. But when she tries to access her music through her smartphone connected to my car stereo's AUX outlet, her music sometimes keeps disconnecting due to her crappy Sprint cellular service. There are various dead spots that Sprint has a problem with cellular connection in my area, hence her cloud music (plus voice and data) connection will simply stop working. I told her she should also have her music backed up to her memory card inside her smartphone so she wouldn't have such a problem. Same thing can be applied to a laptop/netbook. She's also looking into switching from Sprint to Verizon would be a big improvement for her.

 

[offroad]

It's a race. Put all your stuff in a local 1 terabyte memory card or equivalent. Or use a superior always connected data service. But then you weigh why you have to have music or video at any time of day or night. Silence and a book are good too.