New laptop for wife.

[OLYLEN]

For the high-tech guys. Wife laptop is getting and we need to replace. Got an idea what we want, need but would like in put. Looking in the $800-$1000 or below. Want the I7 processor with 8-12 ram, and solid state drive 500 gig area. They all have WIFI and most of the needs. Leaning to HP as I have had good luck with them. Any suggestions, also looking at Best Buy, again reasonable prices and have had good luck there. What would you purchase any extras. Still open to options. Fair about tech but not into it as much as years ago, more of just a user now. Thoughts?

LEN

[parkerbill]

After a couple of decades of using company laptops and fighting with the various Microsoft Windows operating systems when I retired I made the jump to a Mac Air and it has been great. It just simply works, all the time, every time. No hassles. Of course it only came with 128 GB of flash storage (no hard drive to fail), so I added 128 GB of micro SD and together they have served me very well. I doubt I would ever go back to Windows. I also have a one terabyte external drive for extra storage and backups.

[Cover Dog]

If you have a Micro Center in your area they are much more knowledgeable than Best Buy.

[ThomB]

Originally Posted by Cover Dog

If you have a Micro Center in your area they are much more knowledgeable than Best Buy.

Oooooooo, I miss my (and by the looks of it your) NEO MicroCenter in Mayfield. When I come back home my wife always says "Why do we have to go there?" I tell her I go shopping with her she can suck it up for an hour...

To stay on topic I'd ask What is she planning to do with the machine? With that much processing power I'd expect that she's still working maybe? Heck, my company doesn't give me machines that powerful to work with. I mean I'm all for bigger is better but that class machine is a workhorse and you could spend much less on a machine that could just get by.

That said if it were me I too recommend MicroCenter for pre-built machines and although your budget may be too small the specs make me lean toward recommending an Alienware machine if you're going Windows.

[Podivin]

If your Mrs uses a 10 key pad for number entry, rather than the numbers across the top of the keyboard, you might think about making a point to look for a laptop with a keypad.
That also gets a larger display just by virtue of the keyboard being wider, and a larger display is always a good thing.

I've had good luck with HP also and in general have heard good things about them. Everybody comes out with a problem unit every now and then, but for the most part HPs are solid machines.

I concur with your specs - nothing less than 8gb of ram (As you probably know, Windows works better with more RAM) and 500gb drive.

An SSD drive (solid state drive, memory only, no moving parts) would be a nice to have simply because they are SO much faster than a traditional hard drive.

I'm somewhat picky about the displays that I use, and HPs are generally good, but there are differences between models. For ME the best test is just plain old black text on a white background. If the display is going to be grainy at all I'll see it there.
I'd suggest opening Notepad on Wordpad on one of their display units and type a few lines of text. If that looks good then probably everything will.

[vsheetz]

I bought my wife a 17" Dell notebook last year - i7 processor with lots of memory and storage. Windows 10 operating system. She is not a techy, and loves it. Big display, fast, reliable, etc. Paid about $700, maybe $800 iirc. HP or other major brand would be fine as well.

I like to buy computers and other electronics from Costco. They double the manufacturers warranty and offer a 90 day no questions asked return policy. So you can effectively try it before you final buy.

[OLYLEN]

OK could not wait any longer. Read the replies and checked around town. Costco got the $$$ Lenovo/IBM got the heads up. IT has the newest gen I7 processors, solid state disk drive(no spinning disk). With 16 gig Ram and 512 gig mem with a touch screen and it folds back like a tablet. Needless to say it is fast. thanks to all.

LEN

[dwhit]

I was in IT for Xerox 35 years...retired in 2007.

I purchased a refurb'd DELL thru Amazon. I am satisfied with my i7 2620 2.7Ghz
platform with 8G ram and Win 10 Pro. The HDD failed after six months. They said sent it back for the one year warranty but such easy drive replacement and reload I didn't return it.

I spent $219 on the aging 2012 Dell E6520 laptop and $49.95 for an 850G hdd.

Excellent battery too. This pc flies compared to my Compaq bought back 10 years ago.

I purchase used everything...nothing I own is brand new. It's not how much you make...it's how much you save.

[ByeTheWay]

MacBook for me!!!

[Vanslam]

I use a MAcBook Air. It maybe expensive but a basic MacBook would work and its cheaper. I have had a bunch of Windows laptops but have always run into problems with them. My 1400 Dell now has an issue with windows software. I am so done with Windows machines. Of course my company only uses Dells so I run paralleles and MS software on my MacAIr and no issues.

[Isaac-1]

Personally these days I look at build quality far more than processor specs, etc. There are way too many flimsy consumer grade laptops out there these days that the hinges will be flopping around on in a year, and within 2 years the finish will be warn off the plastic.

My personal choice is Lenovo Thinkpads, preferably the T series (note not all Lenovo's are Thinkpads, and even then not all Thinkpads are upper level build quality)

[Hgrace56]

After decades and a collection of laptops starting with a 386 I have switched to Surface Pro Notebooks.
Fast reliable. Tablet and touch if you need. I have 4 monitors driven by USB 3.0 at home e office and a sleeve case I throw in the coach when we travel.