Quote:
Originally Posted by Blueblaze
You didn't say why you need a new one. Did the old one die? You're going to be very disappointed in the replacement. It will be slower and buggier. It will refuse to run your old software and try to make you rent Word and Excel from Microsoft instead of using the programs you've already own. It will freeze whenever it feels like downloading an "update" -- which will be almost constantly. It will periodically download an update that breaks everything and forces you to recover from backups.
Personally, I've been keeping my old Win-7 laptop running for at least the last 14 years. I've replaced the battery twice and the hard drive once. I keep my wife's old Win-8 Dell in backup, against the day when I'm forced to replace mine. She insists on the latest and greatest, and is willing to wait for her computer to try to keep up with her typing, just to be able to say she's running the new stuff. I'm not. To each their own, I guess, but it sure is annoying when I'm forced to fix her computer every time some moron at Microsoft breaks it. I have turned off the updates on that stupid thing every way I can think of, using all the skills I learned in a 40 year career as a coder, but they keep finding ways to turn it back on so they can break it again.
But good luck with your new laptop. If I were you, I would scour the garage sales for an old one.
|
This is the worst possible advice I've seen on here.
I too came from a 40 year career in IT. I started as a programmer, moved into system design, and ended up as the Director of Solution Architecture at Coca Cola.
Windows 11 is the cleanest, safest, and fastest version of Windows ever released. Win 11 will run faster on old hardware than Win 7 does - I know, because I've done it for a lot of friends. If you have fairly current technology - not technology from 10-15 years ago - you will have no issues with updates or running any software. The evolution of processors, system design, and peripherals has increased at a ridiculous rate over the past 10 years. Software that is processor intensive and took minutes to run on old systems now run in seconds.
When buying a new laptop for casual use, I would look at what I want in the following order:
1) Screen size. How big a screen do I want? For me, I want at least a 16" screen. The older I get the bigger screen I want
2) Screen resolution. Cheaper laptops will offer full HD (1920 x 1080) or less. I like a sharp screen. For me, I want a 2.5K (2560 x 1440) or higher. Getting a higher res screen will add quite a bit to the cost.
3) Backlit keyboard. I always want a nice bright backlit keyboard. It makes the keyboard much easier to see, especially in dim lighting.
5) Processor. All of the newer processors are decent. The Intel i3 and Celeron are the slowest, and the newer Intel Ultra are their latest. The AMD Ryzen processors are faster than the Intel's, and you can often find a deal on them. The latest processors in the Windows realm are the ARM (Snapdragon) processors. They are very fast and use far less power than either Intel or AMD (so battery life is much better), but they are so new that there are some incompatibilities. I wouldn't recommend an ARM processor for a casual or basic user.
6) RAM. 8GB is the minimum I would get and will run everything fine for most tasks. I usually get 16GB, but I do some fairly intensive graphic and video work.
7) Hard drive. Any new laptop will have SSD (Solid State Drive) drive. You don't want a laptop with an older physical spinning drive. An SSD drive will make a system 3 - 10 x faster. 250GB is fine for a casual user. Windows will use up about 100GB, leaving 150GB for your use. 500GB is fine, but you don't need to pay extra for 1TB - most folks will never come close to using 500GB.