Joined Jan 2012
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Forum Thread
Need Help with Laptop Shopping, What Specs do I want?
February 20, 2019 at
09:51 AM
I haven't purchased a laptop in over 6 years, and things have obviously changed a bunch. Our current Asus is crapping out, wifi is dropping constantly and it's getting really slow. So it's time for a new one. Budget is under $600. We don't game or anything. Just use it for internet browsing, streaming, photoshop, video editing, and that's about it.
I know that we want a backlit keyboard, cause it sucks not having one at night! And we want it as thin and light as possible. We have a 15" screen currently and probably want to stick with that, or bigger if possible. Touchscreen is optional. We do need a disc drive still. Don't need the fancy multi-folding ones, but it would be cool if in budget. I have access to a cheap copy of microsoft office suite and mcafee from work. So where do I even start with all the options?
It seems like SSD are the new thing, is that cause they boot up faster? But most only have a 256GB SSD...we need at least a 500GB harddrive for picture/video storage, or 1TB if possible. Is it desirable to get the smaller SSD just to boot up the computer faster, with a second bigger regular harddrive installed? What is the advantage of a SSD? Or do laptops only fit one or the other? I'm guessing any i3-i7 processor will work for us and memory amount? We are Costco members too and have been looking there. Thanks for any help you can provide! Just want to gauge what specs to look for.
I know that we want a backlit keyboard, cause it sucks not having one at night! And we want it as thin and light as possible. We have a 15" screen currently and probably want to stick with that, or bigger if possible. Touchscreen is optional. We do need a disc drive still. Don't need the fancy multi-folding ones, but it would be cool if in budget. I have access to a cheap copy of microsoft office suite and mcafee from work. So where do I even start with all the options?
It seems like SSD are the new thing, is that cause they boot up faster? But most only have a 256GB SSD...we need at least a 500GB harddrive for picture/video storage, or 1TB if possible. Is it desirable to get the smaller SSD just to boot up the computer faster, with a second bigger regular harddrive installed? What is the advantage of a SSD? Or do laptops only fit one or the other? I'm guessing any i3-i7 processor will work for us and memory amount? We are Costco members too and have been looking there. Thanks for any help you can provide! Just want to gauge what specs to look for.
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I know that we want a backlit keyboard, cause it sucks not having one at night! And we want it as thin and light as possible. We have a 15" screen currently and probably want to stick with that, or bigger if possible. Touchscreen is optional. We do need a disc drive still. Don't need the fancy multi-folding ones, but it would be cool if in budget. I have access to a cheap copy of microsoft office suite and mcafee from work. So where do I even start with all the options?
It seems like SSD are the new thing, is that cause they boot up faster? But most only have a 256GB SSD...we need at least a 500GB harddrive for picture/video storage, or 1TB if possible. Is it desirable to get the smaller SSD just to boot up the computer faster, with a second bigger regular harddrive installed? What is the advantage of a SSD? Or do laptops only fit one or the other? I'm guessing any i3-i7 processor will work for us and memory amount? We are Costco members too and have been looking there. Thanks for any help you can provide! Just want to gauge what specs to look for.
Replaced a slow 5400 rpm drive with a SATA SSD drive on my parent's barebones i3/4GB laptop and it is finally usable. It's not just boot/shutdown but everything is snappier.
Oh crap, my dog just peed on my leg.....
If you consider Lenovo, DO NOT get a notebook with a "clickpad" (the touchpad "rocks" to perform a mouse click, no discrete mouse buttons). Mine totally sucks! It is completely erratic. People hated them so much Lenovo had to discontinue them on Thinkpads. Other notebooks may still have them.
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OR...if you start a NEW thread...you could post a link to it from your Old thread aka this thread