Advice on Laptop Mk II

OK, chaps! a while ago I had £600 stuffed in my stockingtop with which to buy a laptop, and I came in here for advice on which one to buy. BUT carpetbaggers stole my money. Of Course. So I never got the laptop and am still beavering away on my Samsung N220 Plus netbook. (I love you li'l netbook! )

I had a ticket out of Stepford which I was going to cash in, but I have been offered pretty much anything I want if I keep the ticket in my stockingtop where the £600 used to be. Including a computer of just about any price I wish to name.

So I have come back for more advice. You are all writers so you will know what sort of machine will suit me best.

Murmurs have been made about a sort of tiny touchpad which would be linked to a big screen that could also be used as a tv.

But y'know, I don't think I could do my marking, and scientific analysis of quantitative data (I did not really say that, I am fluttering my eyelashes desperately here), and writing smut on a huge screen that all the piglets will see when they come round to tea at my house.

I think a laptop is my best option; I just want something proper to work on with a proper-sized keyboard. Cuz I am not a size queen and have little fingers, but I would like a nice sized screen to look at when I admire pictures of naked men, I mean inspiring words by the inspiring writers on here who often inspire me to great things .

Seriously, if possible I would like something that I can have two windows at once to look at, as I often have two things I want to switch between - being bisexual 'n all.

It has to work hard, cuz I do use a lot of different software, some of which is demanding on memory or fast processing, or whatever it takes. I do online teaching, as well as analysis. I sometimes record an audio file, lalala .

I like to carry the computer around with me, mostly working in the kitchen, sometimes in the garden. The poor machine has to be capable of being moved to the side unit and having pancake batter splashed on it when I enthusiastically go to post in Misquotes while waving the pancake pan around.

I will still have my netbook so I can surreptitiously edit smut at the swimming pool without it being too obvious to other parents.

BuckyDuckman had some good advice last time, so I am reposting it in case it needs updating.

At this stage, on the advice I had last time, I'm thinking about a Toshiba as they are reputed to last a long time and a gurrrl likes that.

Thank you to all who helped me last thread, and in advance for your help here.

BuckyDuckman's advice

1) If your laptop will have Windows 8, GET A TOUCH SCREEN! Windows 8 is designed with touch in mind.

2) Windows 8 may bother you at first. No start button. Charm bars. Tiles. Take a deep breath, stay calm and it will be okay. It does happen to be a very good operating system.

Other odds and ends:

- Core i5 is the sweet spot for price/function
- There's a new processor line out. Intel is moving from their 3rd generation "Sandy Bridge" processors to 4th generation "Haswell." Haswell reported offers substantial improvements with battery life. However, I don't know if you'll find an i5 laptop with a Haswell processor yet. Soon, but you might be ahead of that curve.
- Hard drive size still matters - bigger is ALWAYS better. If everything else between two computers happen to be equal, get the one with the bigger hard drive. SSD hard drives are still pricey, but WONDERFUL. Unlikely you'll find one in your price range. 500 GB is relatively standard. Don't go smaller. 1 TB is lovely.
- RAM still matters, too. More is ALWAYS better. If all else is equal, get the one with more RAM. 6 GB of RAM is good and easy to find. 4 GB is a bit lame and should probably be avoided.
- Test the keyboards if you can, see if one "feels" better to your fingers than another. I'm not a big fan of the "Chicklet" style keyboards, but they seem rather standard now.
- Depending on your eyesight, be careful with screen resolutions. My first 15.6" laptop had a wonderful HD screen packed with pixels. The end result? Thing looked so small on the screen that it was challenging to read. 1366 x 768 feels rather standard. I would only recommend 1920 x 1080 to people with good eyesight.
- ASUS is a good brand. Lenovo is geared towards business, formerly IBM Thinkpads, good durability. Sony, I believe, has more flash than substance. Sony's are "sexier" than others, but I would question its durability. I'm currently using a Toshiba. Compaq's are inexpensive. Dell's can be pretty good.

(Thank you for this! and any more advice really welcome)

As for windows 8, here is a link to the fix for getting the desktop back to something that is workable.

http://http://www.pcworld.com/article/2027945/how-to-banish-metro-from-your-windows-8-pc-forever.html

A Toshiba Satellite P855 is my first choice. I hammer a keyboard and usually wear the letters off in a few months. This one is far tougher and it's backlit also which is nice for writing smut in the dark.

I agree with the touchscreen. My mother didn't get the touchscreen. She uses her old computer instead.

NaokoSmith said:

1) If your laptop will have Windows 8, GET A TOUCH SCREEN! Windows 8 is designed with touch in mind.

2) Windows 8 may bother you at first. No start button. Charm bars. Tiles. Take a deep breath, stay calm and it will be okay. It does happen to be a very good operating system.

Other odds and ends:

- Core i5 is the sweet spot for price/function
- There's a new processor line out. Intel is moving from their 3rd generation "Sandy Bridge" processors to 4th generation "Haswell." Haswell reported offers substantial improvements with battery life. However, I don't know if you'll find an i5 laptop with a Haswell processor yet. Soon, but you might be ahead of that curve.
- Hard drive size still matters - bigger is ALWAYS better. If everything else between two computers happen to be equal, get the one with the bigger hard drive. SSD hard drives are still pricey, but WONDERFUL. Unlikely you'll find one in your price range. 500 GB is relatively standard. Don't go smaller. 1 TB is lovely.
- RAM still matters, too. More is ALWAYS better. If all else is equal, get the one with more RAM. 6 GB of RAM is good and easy to find. 4 GB is a bit lame and should probably be avoided.
- Test the keyboards if you can, see if one "feels" better to your fingers than another. I'm not a big fan of the "Chicklet" style keyboards, but they seem rather standard now.
- Depending on your eyesight, be careful with screen resolutions. My first 15.6" laptop had a wonderful HD screen packed with pixels. The end result? Thing looked so small on the screen that it was challenging to read. 1366 x 768 feels rather standard. I would only recommend 1920 x 1080 to people with good eyesight.
- ASUS is a good brand. Lenovo is geared towards business, formerly IBM Thinkpads, good durability. Sony, I believe, has more flash than substance. Sony's are "sexier" than others, but I would question its durability. I'm currently using a Toshiba. Compaq's are inexpensive. Dell's can be pretty good.

(Thank you for this! and any more advice really welcome)

Click to expand...

TxRad said:

As for windows 8, here is a link to the fix for getting the desktop back to something that is workable.

http://http://www.pcworld.com/article/2027945/how-to-banish-metro-from-your-windows-8-pc-forever.html

A Toshiba Satellite P855 is my first choice. I hammer a keyboard and usually wear the letters off in a few months. This one is far tougher and it's backlit also which is nice for writing smut in the dark.

Click to expand...

I have the P875. I want to say I love the machine. I do, except....within a couple of months, the DVD drive failed. It was still under warranty, but I was going to have to ship it out and wait a few weeks to get it back. I rarely use the drive, so I wasn't willing to do that. The other issue is that the wireless connection can just falter once in a while for no reason. I've done some research, and this is a common complaint. It may be a driver issue, but I'm really not interested in getting involved with the finger pointing that takes place between Toshiba, the wireless card manufacturer, and Microsoft.

As much as I love this machine, it's hard for me to recommend one with issues like this.

I don't have a touch screen, and I'm fine with it. There are a series of keyboard shortcuts that make it easy to move around. I've toyed around a bit. On startup, I come right to my desktop. After some initial setup, you'll feel very much like you're in earlier versions of Windows if that's what you're comfortable with.

There's a very tough business machine made by Panasonic [used by Nurses, builders, and so on] which is Very, Very Tough. It also seems to have a decent processor.
see here.

Personally, I'd not recommend a touch-screen Windows 8 thing; it will be a while before software makers catch up with what it claims to do.

Toshiba Google Chrome Book is the cheapest and by far the best computer on the market at the moment. It is superfast with every outlet bay you need, wi-fi, no chance of catching viruses, definitely no 'blue screen of death,' free cloud memory for two years, great keyboard, light, really textured surfaces, strong, robust, extremely good sound system on board, best resolution screen.

Downside? If you want a lot of personal, private memory you will be using usb sticks, but... maybe that's a good thing, considering what the NSA is still doing, with basically all Western governments except France and Germany stringing along like the yellow-bellied running dogs that they are. Italy doesn't have a government, really, so it doesn't count. And I don't think they would give a f**k about the NSA or people's secrets anyway.

With the danger of sounding fanboy'ish, I'd advice you to save a few hundred more and go get an Apple. In your case maybe (depending on the processor requirement of your data analyzing of course) a 13" MacBook Air, which according to Apple UK can be had for 850. Or, if you want the 15" screen and more power, the MacBook Pro, which of course is a little more expensive.

Why? I've bought a lot of laptops over the years - for myself as well as for others - and the Mac's have provided me with the best and least stressful owners experiences by far. The build quality has no equivalent, and besides they're simply nice to use and look at. The extra cash would be well spent.

If you don't go with an Apple, which would be my first choice, go find a seller that sells to commercial accounts and buy one of their Windows-7 Pro machines. You can get the latest hardware, and still use an OS that works.

IMHO Win-8 is a raging POS that cannot decide what it wants to be when it grows up. It is definitely for the mobile tablet sort of users, and even in Windows Emulation mode leaves several key functions unusable.

Better yet, save your money and just buy the Apple.

Guys, thank you v. much for this!

Apple ... hmm. I have always had PCs, and I will still have my Samsung Netbook, would they talk easily to each other? cuz I know I will be switching between the two A LOT, what with trotting off on the train to teach and to the swimming pool to simultaneously supervise the synchronised swimming Piglet and scan smut.

I definitely want a larger screen, as this tiny netbook is making me squint (unless that's some other activity reputed to affect your eyesight ).

Desiremakesmeweak - I think the reason the Italian government is not worried about private citizens' secrets is that the government's secrets are way worse than private citizens'.

I use USBs a lot, however I probably do need a fair bit of memory because of the range of software I want to use.

I've never been impressed with Apple. Feh. I do like portable machines. For years, we used light (1340g and 1440g) little 10-inch Sony VAIOs, which (besides home use) were carried all over, like in backpacks across Guatemala, etc.

Alas, both expired recently, after well over a decade of service. My research pointed toward two families of replacements: 1) Panasonic ToughBook, like vulcanologists and desert rats (and troops) carry, or 2) Lenovo ThinkPad, like business warriors carry. Both are tough and light. ThinkPads are lighter. ToughBooks are impervious. Neither are cheap.

Or are they? I went hunting on eBay and found both, in the 10-13-inch range, refurbed by authorized refurbers, for under US$500. Smaller costs more. ToughBook costs more. We ended up with a VERY light (1460g) ThinkPad x201 with Win7, and a heavier ThinkPad x200 (screen rotates 360 degs) with Win 8.1, and an XB200 docking base with DVD R/W drive, for under US$500 total. Both ThinkPads have 12.5-inch screen, quite adequate for laptop or desktop use.

These refurbed tough machines should last a long, long time, in less-than-ideal conditions. And their cost can't be beat. My advice: Look for a refurbed ToughBook or ThinkPad.

Handley_Page said:

There's a very tough business machine made by Panasonic [used by Nurses, builders, and so on] which is Very, Very Tough. It also seems to have a decent processor.
see here.

Personally, I'd not recommend a touch-screen Windows 8 thing; it will be a while before software makers catch up with what it claims to do.

Click to expand...

Toughbooks, great computers if you have an unlimited budget, the cheapest is $2,550 USD and only has a 13.1 screen. I wish I could afford one.

NaokoSmith said:

I use USBs a lot, however I probably do need a fair bit of memory because of the range of software I want to use.

Click to expand...

Software - This is the main driver to consider when making your decision. Sorry I failed to point this out earlier.

Not all software runs equally as well, if at all, on all OS platforms. I'll leave you with one example:
If you use Microsoft Publisher, you are locked into Windows-7 Pro, or Windows-8. The latest version of MS-Publisher comes bundled in MS-Office 2013 and MS-Office 2013 for Mac does not include Publisher.

Do this first - Make a list of all of your software and check to make sure all of your software will run on your new operating system.

Another word of caution. A fair number of programs you have already paid for may need to be re-purchased if you move up to MS Windows-8. Even if a program shows that it is compatible, check to make sure that it can be re-installed without re-purchasing. Several of my friends have learned this lesson the hard way.

If you go the Apple route, you aren't out of the software checking game (same as moving to Win-8). You have to make sure that your software is portable (can be re-installed on the Apple). Non-Portable software can add a lot of hidden cost to the machine.

Once you decide what you want to do with your computer (i.e. what software you will use), then select an operating system.

After all of that, then you can talk about brand names and hardware and memory and RAM and USBs and... Okay you get the picture.

If I was going to buy another laptop to replace my aged Gateway(Acer) I would get this...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acer-Travel...mputers_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=039AAA7XV7SKT6SJPM5M

Acer is a good product. And if all you are going to do is write and maybe watch a movie on NetFlix or from a DVD this is a great little machine for the price.

Zeb_Carter said:

Toughbooks, great computers if you have an unlimited budget, the cheapest is $2,550 USD and only has a 13.1 screen. I wish I could afford one.

Click to expand...

I've seen refurbed ToughBooks for under US$300 (older, larger) and under US$500 (newer, smaller) where 'smaller' is ~10in and 'larger' is ~13in. For laptop use, we find our 12.5in ThinkPad quite acceptable, much more so than the 10in VAIOs we had before. Not the best for photo editing -- I use a 17in Toshiba for that, but the sucker weight 10+lbs! And the Toshiba is old -- I'll probably get a 21in monitor to plug into the ThinkPad's Ultrabase for graphics work.

But I digress. Consider refurbed machines. An electronics rule: Stuff that fails, usually fails soon. A used & refurbed laptop has been burnt in -- most failure points have already passed. And an authorized refurber provides a warranty.

NaokoSmith said:

- Hard drive size still matters - bigger is ALWAYS better. If everything else between two computers happen to be equal, get the one with the bigger hard drive. SSD hard drives are still pricey, but WONDERFUL. Unlikely you'll find one in your price range. 500 GB is relatively standard. Don't go smaller. 1 TB is lovely.

Click to expand...

Seconding the recommendation for SSDs. Though the space you need depends on what you're doing with it - I've been getting by fine on 120 GB for writing, net surfing, gaming, and music. If I was using it for video, now, I imagine I'd want a lot more.

(And I imagine 500 GB today doesn't cost much more than 120 did when I bought this machine... especially if somebody else is paying for it ;-)

Hypoxia said:

I've seen refurbed ToughBooks for under US$300 (older, larger) and under US$500 (newer, smaller) where 'smaller' is ~10in and 'larger' is ~13in. For laptop use, we find our 12.5in ThinkPad quite acceptable, much more so than the 10in VAIOs we had before. Not the best for photo editing -- I use a 17in Toshiba for that, but the sucker weight 10+lbs! And the Toshiba is old -- I'll probably get a 21in monitor to plug into the ThinkPad's Ultrabase for graphics work.

But I digress. Consider refurbed machines. An electronics rule: Stuff that fails, usually fails soon. A used & refurbed laptop has been burnt in -- most failure points have already passed. And an authorized refurber provides a warranty.

Click to expand...

Used? Refurbished? Never!

And what laptop has ever been used in your lap without burning your legs or causing the damn thing to overheat?

This is all great!

I am no longer limited to the £600, btw. Guilt is gilt-edged, so I have a pretty big budget to play with now. $2-$3000 is not beyond my beck and call.

Software will mostly be provided to me by my employer if required. I will go away and make a list and figure out some of what can and can't run on these different systems.

(On the whole, what I want is to access the internet really easily so I can work on my blog. I would like to see Youtube videos without them suddenly grinding to a halt so I can review them - but I think that's about my bandwidth or waistband or something, isn't it? I use Word and Excel and very basic photo things, and little bits and pieces like Audacity. I have marking software provided for me, and occasionally I use some specialist social science analysis software. I am not bothered about watching DVDs cuz Piglet and I can do that on her laptop.)

Zeb_Carter said:

Used? Refurbished? Never!

And what laptop has ever been used in your lap without burning your legs or causing the damn thing to overheat?

Click to expand...

Used & refurbed, yes. I no longer pay top peso for unused machines whose value plummets as soon as payment is accepted.

And none of my little notebooks has burnt my lap. Of course, at home I usually put a drawing board under the machine when it's in my lap. I started that with our first VAIO (bottom vent) and continued with newer machines (side vents).

I am, at this very moment, in my usual authoring position: sitting on a reclining couch, with my bare legs either stretched out or crossed. My ThinkPad X200 (8.25x11.5 inch footprint) sits on a Dietzgen 379B drawing board (10.5x13 inches) in my lap. No heat, no pain.

If not at home, not in the recliner, not using a board, the ThinkPad just sits in my lap, arranged so the side vent blows away from my flesh. No problem.

Y'know, Hypoxia, I think I did start out with a Sony Vaio, and it's true, they were great machines.


(Although the best laptop I had was this li'l silver one which one workplace bought me. It exactly matched my mobile phone at the time and one day one of my students rushed in and said she had seen a silver sports car which would also match the laptop and phone. Unfortunately the university declined buying that for me.)

NaokoSmith said:

(Although the best laptop I had was this li'l silver one which one workplace bought me. It exactly matched my mobile phone at the time and one day one of my students rushed in and said she had seen a silver sports car which would also match the laptop and phone. Unfortunately the university declined buying that for me.)

Click to expand...

Bummer. Now, what would be FUN, would be some steampunk hardware -- brass fittings, polished wood, and a Morgan or Stutz to match.

SSD's are supposedly great for OS's, but in time, they will get locked up. The reason I heard is that SSD's are like old floppy disks. Anything you put on them and erase, never fully erases. In time, all the "never fully erased" stuff will get chock full and then you'll have to get a new SSD.

NOT saying not to get an SSD, because the speed is supposedly lightning and it's prime for a laptop. I've had a laptop with a hard drive that fell just a short distance and I had to replace the hard drive. Who hasn't ever dropped their laptop once or twice? It's cheaper in the long run to get a SSD, but get another form of storage for all the files you intend to write up, etc. and keep as little on the SSD as possible.

NaokoSmith said:

Guys, thank you v. much for this!

Apple ... hmm. I have always had PCs, and I will still have my Samsung Netbook, would they talk easily to each other? cuz I know I will be switching between the two A LOT, what with trotting off on the train to teach and to the swimming pool to simultaneously supervise the synchronised swimming Piglet and scan smut.

Click to expand...

What will happen after a while is, that you will begin to hate working on the Samsung.

That's the "problem" with Apple. Once you get the functionality programmed into your fingers, you will find yourself doing the same thing on your Windows PC and curse the poor thing out when it doesn't work. And after you have gotten yourself used to working with a 15" 2880 x 1800 "retina screen", ordinary screens suddenly look blurry with visible pixels.

That's when you realize that you're hooked for life. Macs are the black cocks of the laptop world. And once you go black...

NaokoSmith said:

I definitely want a larger screen, as this tiny netbook is making me squint (unless that's some other activity reputed to affect your eyesight ).

Click to expand...

Apple used to make a 17" but it was killed off when they introduced the retina screens, the reasoning being that the increased sharpness made a 15" equivalent to a normal 17" without the bulk and low battery life. I don't know if I quite agree with that - size does matter - but when it comes to displaying text the ultra high resolution does wonders for the readability. As far as software goes, there are Mac versions of everything you have mentioned - Audacity included. And if needed a Mac runs Windows just fine - either as a separate OS that you select when booting or as a "Windows window" in Mac OS. I'm running Windows 8.1 on my MacBook 15" when gaming and I've never had a problem with it. In fact it seems more stable than most native Windows machines, and many of the special Apple features still work.


Well, enough Apple advocacy - they ain't paying me. Good luck with the shopping.

StrangeLife said:

Well, enough Apple advocacy - they ain't paying me. Good luck with the shopping.

Click to expand...

Do you think Apple will go by way of the dodo bird when Helium reserves become depleted in the next couple of years? PCs will get a price spike too, but since Apples are traditionally more expensive...

I would toss in my vote for a MacAir or MacBook Pro if it's doable. They're easy to set up and Apple customer service is generally pretty good. Online help in forums is plentiful. Apple sells them refurbished, too, for slightly less.

My MacAir will talk to my husband's PC and his HP All-in-one, even (oddly enough) when his HP Windows 7 desktop will not. We have also just set up a 2009 MacBook Pro for PennBoy (an old one from my brother). It doesn't have the latest OS, but it works fine.

My beta reader, a definite Mac person, also has a 2009 MacBook Pro and has decided (at last check) to replace the battery, which is not holding a charge as long as it used to, as opposed to replacing the machine, which he feels does everything he needs, hence there's no need for a new machine.

OTOH, I have heard good things about the above-mentioned Toshiba Chrome models. If I was going to get a PC, I'd probably look at those first. And I do think laptops are great. They are small, portable, and anymore there's often little difference in storage space or processor speed vs. desktops.