Laptop Question

[DA#23]

My laptop is nearing the end of its useful life: battery has been shot for a year, the fan runs pretty hard more often than not, and it's pretty dang slow. It's just a basic Dell Inspiron that I've had for 5+ years, and it's held up pretty well overall. Just wanted to get some opinions on what I should be looking at in 2015.

I'll just throw it out there right now that I'm wanting to go look at a Macbook Air or maybe even the basic pro model. Pretty soon I'll be having to travel a great bit more for work, and until this development I had decided against buying another laptop altogether...but if I will be gone for a week at a time, it would be nice to have.

I bought this current laptop with the frame of mind of spending no more than $450 and add the memory I needed, and that worked out ok. It's running Windows Vista which was going out at the time and required less performance to run smoothly, but truthfully it's always been on the slow side. My uses will be the basic browsing, listening to music, watching Youtube, maybe streaming Netflix someday. I don't perform any video or photographic editing, no CAD, nothing that complicated.

How do you all feel about going to Apple from PC. I have an Iphone 6 and I thought the two might work well together.

[Matt Dillon]

When it comes to computers, I'm no tech guru. I have a Dell PC which I use for a variety of things. My wife has a Dell Inspiron laptop that she uses mostly to play games on. She's talking about getting a notebook (or is it a notepad?) which seems to be the latest thing.

[KevinHall]

I have a Dell Inspiron similar to what you probably have now. They seem to be very good for the price. IIIRC I paid about $400 for mine and got it from Amazon. I just use it for basic things too like the Internet and watching things off it. The people that have Mac's swear by them though. It might be worth your time to research those too.

[surveyor]

I don't know what all you'd be using it for, but laptops and desktops are increasingly available with optional solid state drives - like having big ol' flash drives for programs and storage vs having disk drives. They cost more, but the nice thing about solid state drives is there's no moving parts, so they last a lot longer.

[Blue Heaven]

I hear with the Apple PC's that's it's about impossible to get a virus. I don't care though as I HATE Apple products.

[Matt Dillon]

When it comes to computers, I'm no tech guru. I have a Dell PC which I use for a variety of things. My wife has a Dell Inspiron laptop that she uses mostly to play games on. She's talking about getting a notebook (or is it a notepad?) which seems to be the latest thing.

I believe what she is wanting is called a Tablet.

[George]

You won't have any trouble going from PC to Apple if you choose to do so. At the risk of sounding like a sheep, I'd recommend an Apple over a PC all day every day. It isn't that the performance (spec wise) is that much better; it's just that Apples are absolutely trouble-free. Between my wife, brother, parents and myself, we've owned six. Not a one has ever had a virus (heard numerous times that viruses are fewer and farther between for Apples and are more complicated to install) and when, after running smooth for a few years, the inevitable breakdown of a component occurs, the Apple Store has always replaced/repaired each machine for free.

You'll pay a little more, but go with Apple. Simple, user friendly, and excellent customer service make it an easy choice for me every time. And yes, the phone compatibility will improve, too.

[DA#23]

I don't know what all you'd be using it for, but laptops and desktops are increasingly available with optional solid state drives - like having big ol' flash drives for programs and storage vs having disk drives. They cost more, but the nice thing about solid state drives is there's no moving parts, so they last a lot longer.

Yessir, they were simply on the horizon when I bought this laptop. I think the demise of the laptop I had prior to this one was due in part to me walking around when it was running.

Thanks for the advice, all. I think the two downsides that I've come up with so far are initial price and I can't really add to a macbook down the road, as I have added memory to PC's before when software updates had them running slowly.

[Old School]

FWIW my last laptop purchase was an HP and I will not buy another one. It's very poorly designed and has a lot of frustrating problems, unlike those I've had previously. I won't buy another HP product.

[George]

FWIW my last laptop purchase was an HP and I will not buy another one. It's very poorly designed and has a lot of frustrating problems, unlike those I've had previously. I won't buy another HP product.

Yeah, we had one years back. That thing invited new viruses every single day.

[boomdaddy]

I have always been told that a person should always buy the fastest computer or laptop with the most memory that they can afford. A better, faster whatever will hit the market every month or two. The big difference in price is what software you get with it. You can get one with or without Microsoft office and that will make a difference in price.

You can buy a reconditioned Dell laptop online. Nothing wrong with them. Usually it is a return from some person that decided they wanted a different product. There is a significant savings involved and you get the same warranty, but you have to take whatever software that comes with that unit that is for sale. It may only be worth it to you if you are going to buy the more expensive models.

I would definitely buy one with a 17" screen. Much better than the 15"