EvanK
Member
Hi all,
I'd like to start this post with a little apology; I haven't been able to hang around the forum too much these past few months. School's simply gotten busier as work piles up, and in the spare time that I do have I've been taking shifts part time at the local Tim Hortons.
Anyways, as much as I've been enjoying and using my desktop, it's not exactly the most portable machine around. And while it's unbeatable for productivity, sometimes I'd prefer to be typing up in the living room or at school as opposed to my basement desk, secluded from everyone around me. So, I'm currently in the market for a low-cost machine for light web browsing, word processing, and general productivity for school.
I don't have a specific budget, but I really don't want to go over $500. Of course, the lower the price the better. I've taken a look at a couple of products on the market including RT tablets (eg: Surface 2), RT laptops (eg: Chromebooks), or just entry level Windows machines. However, I'm at a bit of a loss in terms of which one will suit my needs better in terms of finding something practical that can maximize productivity.
My needs just require it to be light and portable, to have a decent keyboard (preferably multilingual) that can be used for churning out multi-page documents on a regular basis, to have a long enough battery life to get me through a full day's use, and to have a full office suite such as MS Office or Google's suite.
I tried a Chromebook the other day at Best Buy and was extremely impressed, but I'm a little concerned about how well it would work for school especially since all word processing is done through a web app. I tried the new Surface and love it too, but I'm worried that the keyboard just isn't fit for long typing sessions. Or what about just a cheap Windows laptop? I purchased a $350 Satellite a few years back and it was pretty awful. Have low-end Windows laptops progressed since then?
And any other recommendations are appreciated!
Thanks,
-Evan
I'd like to start this post with a little apology; I haven't been able to hang around the forum too much these past few months. School's simply gotten busier as work piles up, and in the spare time that I do have I've been taking shifts part time at the local Tim Hortons.
Anyways, as much as I've been enjoying and using my desktop, it's not exactly the most portable machine around. And while it's unbeatable for productivity, sometimes I'd prefer to be typing up in the living room or at school as opposed to my basement desk, secluded from everyone around me. So, I'm currently in the market for a low-cost machine for light web browsing, word processing, and general productivity for school.
I don't have a specific budget, but I really don't want to go over $500. Of course, the lower the price the better. I've taken a look at a couple of products on the market including RT tablets (eg: Surface 2), RT laptops (eg: Chromebooks), or just entry level Windows machines. However, I'm at a bit of a loss in terms of which one will suit my needs better in terms of finding something practical that can maximize productivity.
My needs just require it to be light and portable, to have a decent keyboard (preferably multilingual) that can be used for churning out multi-page documents on a regular basis, to have a long enough battery life to get me through a full day's use, and to have a full office suite such as MS Office or Google's suite.
I tried a Chromebook the other day at Best Buy and was extremely impressed, but I'm a little concerned about how well it would work for school especially since all word processing is done through a web app. I tried the new Surface and love it too, but I'm worried that the keyboard just isn't fit for long typing sessions. Or what about just a cheap Windows laptop? I purchased a $350 Satellite a few years back and it was pretty awful. Have low-end Windows laptops progressed since then?
And any other recommendations are appreciated!
Thanks,
-Evan