OT: Seeking laptop advice please

by Paul , Saturday, December 06, 2014, 14:43 (3645 days ago) @ Hoot

As we contemplate heading north next year my thoughts turn towards upgrading, so have been doing some contemplating on the matter me ownself. You're right, storing of pictures and such can be handled by diverse storage options. With gigabytes of quickly accessible storage space available in relatively small packages, one need worry too much as to the size of a computer's hard drive. And this adds another interesting possibility - obtaining a relatively expensive SSD (Solid State Drive) to turn the ol' dog into a fairly quick booting beast.

Here's Mickey$ofts minimums for running their office suite:

Computer and processor
1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster x86- or x64-bit processor with SSE2 instruction set

Memory (RAM)
1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit); 2 gigabytes (GB) RAM (64-bit)

Over the years it has been my experience and rule of thumb that if they say "minimum" that means you'll need a REAL minimum of DOUBLE their recommendation to actually run the product and get anything done. Taking a look at what it takes to run Windows 8.1 (which you'll be stuck with buying today's computers) they run pretty much the same as above.

So here's what I'd look for if I were looking for something described as you do above:

Intel i3 or i5
4 gigabytes or more of RAM

We've run or seen others run about every major brand of laptop. They are all actually built on two or three factories over in China so swearing by one brand over another is not always an apples to oranges comparison since they may come off the same assembly line. That being said, Toshiba has given us consistently good results in our small test sample over the years. The last time I upgraded my personal laptop it was done via http://www.toshibadirect.com/

There are switches to flip and buttons to click to your hearts content, or you can just go with a pre-configured factory offering. If you're not going to be toting it around a lot, there is much to be said for a larger screen. Not that I'm saying anything about age, eyes and the need for magnifying glasses or anything like that.

Took a quick look at the link above and came up with a couple of 17" screens that'd meet the criterion above for about $350-$550 - the top price there comes with the i5 and more RAM and is the way I'd go if looking around for something in that end of the spectrum.