I need to buy a laptop computer and I am not sure just how much computer I need. I will use it to surf the net, send emails, store some photos, and watch some movies. I see laptops in stores that retail for $275-$375 that have 4 and 3 gigs of menory and 320 on the hard drive. I have seen some refurbished and used ones that are 1 year old that I can buy for $150-$275 that have more features than the new ones. I do not know which brands are the most reliable. As you can tell I am not real computer savy (yes I am a old guy)and need someone who knows what they are talking about to guide me along. Thanks for your time and input.
laptop info/advice
- Thread starter slt200mph
- Start date
DMGrier
VIP Member
Well my advice is stay away from Hp, I see in stores brands like Dell go for pretty cheap like at Walmart and that is where I recommend if you do not want to spend much at all.
Don't worry about features cause for what you want to do any computer with that kind of hard drive and ram can do. look into a Dell or Toshiba if you can cause for the prices listed you will get far better life out of those models instead of a Hp or a Acer.
If you can buy new, refurb is not bad but it could be a refurb cause it was just a good model line.
Don't worry about features cause for what you want to do any computer with that kind of hard drive and ram can do. look into a Dell or Toshiba if you can cause for the prices listed you will get far better life out of those models instead of a Hp or a Acer.
If you can buy new, refurb is not bad but it could be a refurb cause it was just a good model line.
The_Other_One
VIP Member
I'd suggest looking into Acer/Gateway laptops. They've come a long way and priced very competitively. I know they have a few that use lower power processors 300-400 range. They still are full laptops, though, with 15" screens and optical drives (assuming you don't want something like a netbook). Lenovo is another great brand to consider. They tend to be a bit more expensive, but are much better built than other brands. Oh, and of course Asus!
Brands in general though, I would stay away from HP/Compaq. They have the most hardware failures among all laptops we see in for repairs. Dell's are OK but I'm not too keen on their new designs. Simple repairs like hard drive replacements require a complete system teardown...and realize the previous Inspiron 15xx series was notorious for HD failures
Oh...and very bad hinges.
Refurbished laptops...eh, not too keen on them. Too many points of failure on a laptop. Unless it's simply open box, I'd say get it new. If you do have hardware failure, it should be warrantied...
Brands in general though, I would stay away from HP/Compaq. They have the most hardware failures among all laptops we see in for repairs. Dell's are OK but I'm not too keen on their new designs. Simple repairs like hard drive replacements require a complete system teardown...and realize the previous Inspiron 15xx series was notorious for HD failures
Oh...and very bad hinges.Refurbished laptops...eh, not too keen on them. Too many points of failure on a laptop. Unless it's simply open box, I'd say get it new. If you do have hardware failure, it should be warrantied...
I purchased a new laptop yesterday and it will be delivered by UPS this afternoon. A Dell 15.6 with a i3 processor 3 gigs of RAM and 320GB hard drive. It was priced very nicely and it should take care of my minimum internet needs with ease. Just surfing the web, emails, save some photos, save some music, and watch some movies. I will probably expand my internet use with the new toy. Anyway thank all you for their input.