What should I look to get in a new laptop?

[Ellen F]

Hi everybody, I need your help with something.

I am looking to get a new laptop because work wants us to cut back on using our work laptops for personal use (even though I have to travel alot with it) and have been checking them out at the electronics stores and such and I am so confused as to what to get. The sales people keep trying to get me to spend a very high amount of money to get something but I do not think I need something that expensive. I used to have a guy at work that helped me to let me know what I need but he is no longer working for us. So any help will be much appreciated.

I am just looking to use it to do some blogging and some marketing with some random web surfing. I do not know if anything special is needed to do blogging with or not but I would think it wouldn't matter much at all. I will not be doing anything special with it but I would like it to last a couple years. At work they just give us our new laptops with all our software already installed and we have no choice or idea what we are gettin.

I just need to know some kind of minimums for the hard drive, the memory and such as well as maybe some good or bad brands to buy or stay away from. I know this might seem silly to ask you all about but I tried looking online and it's so confusing.

I would really appreciate any kind of helpful information or advice.

Thanks everybody.

 

[Waqass]

Ellen, if you have only basic office work to do then any current generation will laptop will do fine with you. Just go and buy any corei3 based laptop and it will have all the bells and whistles required for basic office work. You don't need to go into technical depth.

 

[ProfMike]

Ellen,

The first thing I would consider is that screen size. How comfortable are you with the screen size of the laptop you are currently using. That is something that many people do not think about until after they are already using the laptop and since that is the part you interact with on everything you do you should think of that first.

Then do you need a numeric keypad. If you are constantly entering a bunch of numeric data, a numeric keypad is important. If you are mainly entering text, as you would be with a Blog, a numeric keypad may not be that important. A numeric keypad will also impact your screen size as the laptops with the numeric keypads tend to have larger screens.

Another consideration is weight and physical size. Since your work does not want you to use their laptop for personal use and if you travel a lot you will probably need to carry both. Can you fit both laptops in a single case? With the way airlines are today, especially when it comes to carry on baggage if you are going to carry them both with you, you will want them to fit in a standard carry on case. You can cut down on weight if you get a laptop by the same manufacturer by using just one power supply for both. I was doing that for many years, but you will need to make certain that the laptops are by the same manufacturer if you want to do that as most manufacturers have a proprietary connection to the laptop from the power supply.

Now the laptop itself. Since you are doing blogging the technical requirements will not need to be that high. Since the majority of your work will be simple data entry. This is what I would shoot for.

Operating System - Windows 10 (Windows 7 would be a better OS but most manufacturers do not offer that anymore and the support for Windows 7 will end in about 18 months.) Do not get a Windows 8.0 or 8.1 there are too many issues with that OS. Windows 10 is actually a pretty good system, I have it on a couple of my Desktops and a laptop.

Processor. i5 or i7 are very good processors. i7 is a little more expensive and may be overkill for what you plan to do but it is a little faster for processing your internal requests. If you can afford it the i7 is the better processor, but an i5 will work almost as well.

Memory - the least expensive way to increase your laptop or any computers performance is adding more memory. The more internal RAM (Random Access Memory) the better. For what you are doing 4 GB will be fine, but again if you can afford more get it, it is the least expensive way to increase performance.

Hard Drive - You will want a minimum of 500GB. This is where all your stuff is stored on the computer. If you are mainly doing Blog related activities 500GB will be fine. If you can afford more get it. This is all storage space and if you plan to keep it awhile it will eventually fill up. On a Side Note: Once you get the laptop look at partitioning the hard drive, one partition for applications and the other for Data. I usually do a 30% / 70% split. 30% for applications and 70% for data. This has many advantages for performance and backups. By keeping your applications and data in separate partitions it makes it much easier and faster to restore if you need too, and much more importantly, you can backup the data frequently to an external drive. This protects your data and makes it easy to move to another system if you need too. Your data is the most important thing on that computer.

Must Haves:

Internal wireless connection.
LAN Connection (wired) This is especially good if you go with the satellite connection. You will get an increase in speed and stability from home if you can plug the system in to a fixed network cable. When you are on satellite look for any way you can to stabilize your speed of the connection.
A couple of USB Connections (USB 3) you can confirm this by looking at the connection. It will have an internal separator that is blue if it is USB 3 compatible.
Recovery Software (make certain that you have the software to recover the computer in the event of a system crash) This is a laptop it happens.
Good Anti-Virus software (I recommend PC-Matic, it is excellent and I run it on all the mys system. It has a lot of other features other than virus, spam and mal-ware protection)


Nice To Haves: (Not Required just nice to have)

Internal CD Rom drive (these are not common anymore but they are nice to have for software installation and videos especially if you travel)
External monitor port - Nice when you are at home for a bigger display.
Built in speakers.

Manufacturers:

I would stay with the name brands. I have had many laptops and most of them worked very well as long as you took care of them. ASUS is good.
HP is good. (But tend to use proprietary connections internally, not a problem as long as you do not plan to upgrade it) - can be a little pricey - your paying for the name.
Dell - good. - can be a little pricey.
Samsung - based on the reputation of the company they should be good, but I have not owned one.

One thing to keep in mind. Most CPU's and Motherboards are made by just two companies. All the manufacturers are using those chips and boards in their products. That is where the majority of the cost of the laptop lies in those parts. So paying more is not always a sign that you are getting a better laptop.

I would stick with Intel CPU's as they are much more prominent in the market. AMD CPU's are good but Intel just has a bigger and more tested market share. But honestly for what you will be doing the CPU manufacturer should not really matter. You see more comparability issues with CPUs in the gaming arena.

I hope this helps. let me know if you have any specific questions that I can help you with.

 

[ProfMike]

Ellen, if you have only basic office work to do then any current generation will laptop will do fine with you. Just go and buy any corei3 based laptop and it will have all the bells and whistles required for basic office work. You don't need to go into technical depth.

Be careful with a standard i3. The reason that I point that out is that many of the new i3 will not have a network port. These are very basic laptops and in order to cut cost many will not include that port. They will include wireless but many will not have a fixed network connection.

With the issue that we discussed with your satellite connection you will want a fixed network port to get all the speed you can from that connection when you are home. You will always have a better speed throughput with a network cable then you will with a wireless connection.

Just wanted to make sure that you understood that.

 

[Ana]

Ellen,

The first thing I would consider is that screen size. How comfortable are you with the screen size of the laptop you are currently using. That is something that many people do not think about until after they are already using the laptop and since that is the part you interact with on everything you do you should think of that first.

Then do you need a numeric keypad. If you are constantly entering a bunch of numeric data, a numeric keypad is important. If you are mainly entering text, as you would be with a Blog, a numeric keypad may not be that important. A numeric keypad will also impact your screen size as the laptops with the numeric keypads tend to have larger screens.

Another consideration is weight and physical size. Since your work does not want you to use their laptop for personal use and if you travel a lot you will probably need to carry both. Can you fit both laptops in a single case? With the way airlines are today, especially when it comes to carry on baggage if you are going to carry them both with you, you will want them to fit in a standard carry on case. You can cut down on weight if you get a laptop by the same manufacturer by using just one power supply for both. I was doing that for many years, but you will need to make certain that the laptops are by the same manufacturer if you want to do that as most manufacturers have a proprietary connection to the laptop from the power supply.

Now the laptop itself. Since you are doing blogging the technical requirements will not need to be that high. Since the majority of your work will be simple data entry. This is what I would shoot for.

Operating System - Windows 10 (Windows 7 would be a better OS but most manufacturers do not offer that anymore and the support for Windows 7 will end in about 18 months.) Do not get a Windows 8.0 or 8.1 there are too many issues with that OS. Windows 10 is actually a pretty good system, I have it on a couple of my Desktops and a laptop.

Processor. i5 or i7 are very good processors. i7 is a little more expensive and may be overkill for what you plan to do but it is a little faster for processing your internal requests. If you can afford it the i7 is the better processor, but an i5 will work almost as well.

Memory - the least expensive way to increase your laptop or any computers performance is adding more memory. The more internal RAM (Random Access Memory) the better. For what you are doing 4 GB will be fine, but again if you can afford more get it, it is the least expensive way to increase performance.

Hard Drive - You will want a minimum of 500GB. This is where all your stuff is stored on the computer. If you are mainly doing Blog related activities 500GB will be fine. If you can afford more get it. This is all storage space and if you plan to keep it awhile it will eventually fill up. On a Side Note: Once you get the laptop look at partitioning the hard drive, one partition for applications and the other for Data. I usually do a 30% / 70% split. 30% for applications and 70% for data. This has many advantages for performance and backups. By keeping your applications and data in separate partitions it makes it much easier and faster to restore if you need too, and much more importantly, you can backup the data frequently to an external drive. This protects your data and makes it easy to move to another system if you need too. Your data is the most important thing on that computer.

Must Haves:

Internal wireless connection.
LAN Connection (wired) This is especially good if you go with the satellite connection. You will get an increase in speed and stability from home if you can plug the system in to a fixed network cable. When you are on satellite look for any way you can to stabilize your speed of the connection.
A couple of USB Connections (USB 3) you can confirm this by looking at the connection. It will have an internal separator that is blue if it is USB 3 compatible.
Recovery Software (make certain that you have the software to recover the computer in the event of a system crash) This is a laptop it happens.
Good Anti-Virus software (I recommend PC-Matic, it is excellent and I run it on all the mys system. It has a lot of other features other than virus, spam and mal-ware protection)


Nice To Haves: (Not Required just nice to have)

Internal CD Rom drive (these are not common anymore but they are nice to have for software installation and videos especially if you travel)
External monitor port - Nice when you are at home for a bigger display.
Built in speakers.

Manufacturers:

I would stay with the name brands. I have had many laptops and most of them worked very well as long as you took care of them. ASUS is good.
HP is good. (But tend to use proprietary connections internally, not a problem as long as you do not plan to upgrade it) - can be a little pricey - your paying for the name.
Dell - good. - can be a little pricey.
Samsung - based on the reputation of the company they should be good, but I have not owned one.

One thing to keep in mind. Most CPU's and Motherboards are made by just two companies. All the manufacturers are using those chips and boards in their products. That is where the majority of the cost of the laptop lies in those parts. So paying more is not always a sign that you are getting a better laptop.

I would stick with Intel CPU's as they are much more prominent in the market. AMD CPU's are good but Intel just has a bigger and more tested market share. But honestly for what you will be doing the CPU manufacturer should not really matter. You see more comparability issues with CPUs in the gaming arena.

I hope this helps. let me know if you have any specific questions that I can help you with.

This is not my post message but this information is very helpful to me. I have also been trying to find a new computer that is better because mine is older and not so good. I search and there is so much information I do not know what to get. I have to buy on the internet because there are not good computer seller where I live. This is why it can be hard to find right one. I can use this information to help find a good one to ship to my home. Thank you for this much help information for reference.

 

[Naveen Karma]

Its depended on your requirement just like what type of your work.

If you work at your office, you just need a desktop and you can solve everything with it but Laptop is more flexible if you often go out to work with partners then Laptop is more effective in this case.

 

[ProfMike]

Great Ellen, I am glad it will help.

Let me know if their are any specific questions that you might have. This is one of the many things I cover with my new college students when they first begin their introduction to web engineering. Some of them are on really tight budgets and it always helps to have an idea of the differences in the platforms.

 

[Ellen F]

Thank you to everyone for all your help. I really appreciate it. I especially appreciate the detailed post by Mike with all the information. I printed it out and I am using it as a guide in my shopping.

I have been busy the last few days but have a couple I have checked into. Maybe I can post the models here or something so you guys can let me know if they are good ones.

Thanks everybody

 

[Dean]

Be careful with a standard i3. The reason that I point that out is that many of the new i3 will not have a network port. These are very basic laptops and in order to cut cost many will not include that port. They will include wireless but many will not have a fixed network connection.

Great piece of info Mike. Since I saw that you had posted this about the i3 models not always having a network port, I started paying attention at some of the models I was looking at and about half of the i3's didn't have one. I didn't think that the makers would eliminate this because I always thought that if your Wi-Fi goes out or has an issue, you would still have the wired connection.

I have been checking out the laptops for the last couple of months because I plan to get a new one at some point and hadn't thought to look for that. I am now going to have to keep an eye out because I found some i5's and i7's that didn't have one either. It seems like the makers just don't think that it's a must these days. I do because if one type of connection has an issue, you always have a backup.

Thanks for pointing that out!

 

[ProfMike]

Thanks for the comment Dean, but yes I noticed that about a year ago the manufacturers started eliminating that port. It surprised me because many of the motherboard manufacturers include the chips to support it on the boards.

The vendors can decrease cost by decreasing the port on the case and the connections to the port and save a few bucks, not much savings but I guess they think any savings is good. I will not buy one without that port for the very reasons that you stated. I always use a wired connection if possible for speed, stability and most of all for security. That wired connection is much more secure than a wireless.

Thanks for the comments.

 

[Dean]

Thanks for the comment Dean, but yes I noticed that about a year ago the manufacturers started eliminating that port. It surprised me because many of the motherboard manufacturers include the chips to support it on the boards.

The vendors can decrease cost by decreasing the port on the case and the connections to the port and save a few bucks, not much savings but I guess they think any savings is good. I will not buy one without that port for the very reasons that you stated. I always use a wired connection if possible for speed, stability and most of all for security. That wired connection is much more secure than a wireless.

Thanks for the comments.

You are welcome Mike, you know me, I say it like it is.

I wasn't really paying attention for a network port since I have been checking some of the new laptops out this go around. I guess it just isn't something that many people think about these days.

I was checking out the things that most people look at. The CPU, RAM, HDD, Display, the usual things. I didn't even think to check for the network port. I always like to have one, just in case something goes wrong with the wireless connection but I guess I was just assuming most have the port. You would think that for a few dollars more, the makers would just include it as a selling point. I guess they just don't look at it like that.

Well, thanks again for the info. I am now checking every laptop I am looking at. Sometimes we just tend to pay attention to other things but I have it in my mind to check for.

Have a good one.

Cheers, Dean

 

[Ellen F]

Do you guys know if Asus laptops are any good? I was looking at some different laptops and have seen a lot of that brand but I am not familiar with them or the quality of the computers.

Are there specific brands that I should make sure to avoid? I just want to know which ones to skip over and not bother looking at if the quality is poor with certain brands.

Thank you for your input everybody.

 

[KeralMTG]

Do you guys know if Asus laptops are any good? I was looking at some different laptops and have seen a lot of that brand but I am not familiar with them or the quality of the computers.

Are there specific brands that I should make sure to avoid? I just want to know which ones to skip over and not bother looking at if the quality is poor with certain brands.

Thank you for your input everybody.

Yes asus laptops are good quality. They also have real good prices compare to some other laptop makers. They also most times give you more hard drive space and real good quality screen.

 

[ProfMike]

Ellen,

Over the last few years ASUS laptops are the laptops that I have been using. They are good quality and seemed to be made well. I would recommend them. The prices are reasonable and they have good support if you need that.

 

[Dean]

I agree with the others, ASUS laptops are good machines. They are one of only a few brands that I would buy myself. I have owned just about every brand of laptop for the big companies and many of them are producing low quality laptops these days.

I have been thinking about getting a new laptop myself and ASUS is one of the brands that I have been checking out and researching. I did a lot of my checking on these first hand at electronics stores and was impressed at how well they are built.

One of the things that always seems to have problems with many laptops is the hinge area that holds the display up. They tend to break, crack or have some other kind of damage over time. The ASUS look like they are really solid in that area.

Overall I think that ASUS is one brand that you can consider and I am sure you will be happy with.

Cheers, Dean

 

[Ellen F]

Thanks everybody, I really appreciate your help.

Here are the 2 that I am looking at. 1 is an Asus and one is a Lenovo. If you have the time, let me know what your opinion is about which is better.

Asus:
bestbuy.com/site/asus-2-in-1-15-6-touch-screen-laptop-intel-core-i5-12gb-memory-1tb-hard-drive-black/4777100.p?id=1219819881120&skuId=4777100

Lenovo:
bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-z70-80-17-3-laptop-intel-core-i7-8gb-memory-1tb-8gb-hybrid-hard-drive-black/4577102.p?id=1219788060704&skuId=4577102

Any king of input will be much appreciated. Thanks everybody.

 

[ProfMike]

Of the 2 if it were me I would pick the ASUS. Reading through the specs it seems to be more up to date with ports and configuration.

All the ASUS ports are USB 3 and it even supports a USB type C port which is currently unusual for a laptop. This is a newer technology.

For anyone not aware - USB Type C

Type-C USB will support USB 3.1 with the top speed of 10Gbps and has much high power output of up to 20V(100W) and 5A. Considering most 15-inch notebook computers require just around 60W of power, this means in the future laptop computers can be charged the way tablets and smartphones are now, via their little USB port.

Going forwards, USB-C will enable storage vendors to make bus-powered (no separate power adapter required) external hard drives of much larger capacity, since it provides enough power to run one or even multiple desktop hard drives.

Type-C USB also allows for bi-directional power, so apart from charging the peripheral device, when applicable, a peripheral device could also charge a host device. All this means you can do away with an array of proprietary power adapters and USB cables, and move to a single robust and tiny solution that works for all devices. Type-C USB will significantly cut down the a amount of wires currently needed to make devices work.

That is a pretty neat feature and has only been available for about 6 months. Cool to see it in a mid range laptop. Up to this point the only manufacturer that had incorporated it in a laptop has been Apple on the high end Mac Book.

The ASUS has more memory and is a better known manufacturer. That would be my choice if it were up to me.

It has an overall good rating although I am concerned with some of the comments on the lower ratings. Of course, there will always be knuckleheads that just cannot seem to get it right no matter how much hand holding that is provided.

 

[Ellen F]

Of the 2 if it were me I would pick the ASUS. Reading through the specs it seems to be more up to date with ports and configuration.

All the ASUS ports are USB 3 and it even supports a USB type C port which is currently unusual for a laptop. This is a newer technology.

For anyone not aware - USB Type C

Type-C USB will support USB 3.1 with the top speed of 10Gbps and has much high power output of up to 20V(100W) and 5A. Considering most 15-inch notebook computers require just around 60W of power, this means in the future laptop computers can be charged the way tablets and smartphones are now, via their little USB port.

Going forwards, USB-C will enable storage vendors to make bus-powered (no separate power adapter required) external hard drives of much larger capacity, since it provides enough power to run one or even multiple desktop hard drives.

Type-C USB also allows for bi-directional power, so apart from charging the peripheral device, when applicable, a peripheral device could also charge a host device. All this means you can do away with an array of proprietary power adapters and USB cables, and move to a single robust and tiny solution that works for all devices. Type-C USB will significantly cut down the a amount of wires currently needed to make devices work.

That is a pretty neat feature and has only been available for about 6 months. Cool to see it in a mid range laptop. Up to this point the only manufacturer that had incorporated it in a laptop has been Apple on the high end Mac Book.

The ASUS has more memory and is a better known manufacturer. That would be my choice if it were up to me.

It has an overall good rating although I am concerned with some of the comments on the lower ratings. Of course, there will always be knuckleheads that just cannot seem to get it right no matter how much hand holding that is provided.

Thank you for your help and detailed replies. I'm going with the Asus and I am going to try to get it ordered in the next couple days. I really appreciate your help with this.

I am usually not so helpless with most things but I have always had someone else (my son) help me with my computer needs and the company I work for has a tech guy that does that for us there so I am just not up with what is good and what isn't these days. I didn't want to get something that was not going to be good for long. Thank you so much, I really appreciate your help.

 

[ProfMike]

No problem Ellen. Glad that I could help, good luck with the new purchase.