how to find a new laptop

[chrisinva]

Ineed new laptop & I'm not tech savvy. Please recommend something: I need a laptop to run WORD, & EXCEL. I surf the web & shop online. I use hotmail/outlook. I save lots of pictures (.pdf, .tiff. jng) from my iphone to my laptop. Currently I have used 100 GB of my 225 GB Dell laptop that we got 5 yrs ago. I don't do any gaming & don't want to. Weight is important, current laptop weighs 2.2 lbs.; I'm willing to go to 3 lbs. Backlighting is VERY important. Battery life not so important. Chromebooks look interesting but I tried a MAC years ago & could never adjust to it so went back to WINDOWS. Thanks for any recommendations.

[JohnN]

Chromebooks don't have a hard drive, so you'd have to save your photos to the cloud somewhere. I'm much like you. I just bought a Lenovo laptop with 4 mg RAM (more than enough if you're not gaming nor stream ing vids) and a 125 gig hard drive. It was something under $300 from Walmart. There are a lot of black friday deals right now.

You don't need a high end PC. HP, Dell, ASUS, Lenovo, any of those will do.
Don't spend over $400. Just my opinion

[retiredguy123]

Have you considered subscribing to Microsoft 365 for $70 per year? It will allow you to use all of the MS Office programs: Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Outlook on all of your devices, and you can download the programs to any device. It will also provide 1tb of cloud storage using One Drive. You would not even need to have a Windows computer. Any Internet device will work, and the programs are always up-to-date. So, any laptop will work, even a Chromebook. I have subscribed for several years. Your photos will fit on a flash/thumb drive, but the cloud storage will allow you to access them from any Internet device.

[CarlR33]

I assume you’re using a usb cord to get the photos from iPhone to laptop since you did not mention a cloud service? Anyhow, I use both windows and iPad for work and personal and much prefer the iPad (with a wireless keyboard). You said you tried MAC but your using an iPhone that is a Mac? You can subscribe to a few gig of icloud storage for like 50 cents a month and you’re not in danger of your storage being stolen, damaged, or hard drive issues just using an PC storage, etc. I have seen a few people post in here about using local storage like a PC but the cloud is the way to go as pictures taken on your phone will automatically sync with your iCloud and be available on your iPad (or it does have windows capability via a windows app).

[MorTech]

Asus Vivobook S 14 at BestBuy on sale at a good price. AMOLED 14 inch screen.
Model:Q423SA-U5512 - On sale now for $650 - 2.87 lbs.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-vivobook-s-14-14-oled-laptop-copilot-pc-intel-core-ultra-5-16gb-memory-512gb-ssd-neutral-black/6595523.p?skuId=6595523&ref=212&loc=1&utm_source=feed&extStoreId=1156

[dewilson58]

Best Buy is a good option.

I'm a Lenovo Yoga user.

Light weight & powerful.

:posting:

[Arctic Fox]

Take a look at what Amazon has to offer in the Acer Aspire range - I went with the Ryzen CPU which does everything the more expensive Intel option does.

[MorTech]

Light weight and inexpensive never seem to get together :)

[Stu from NYC]

Do you belong to either Sams or BJ? If so pay them a visit

[dtennent]

Why do you want to buy a new computer? If you are having trouble with storage, the cloud storage options could be helpful. If the computer is running slowly, a clean up of the files running could extend the life for a few more years. We are using a computer that is 10 yrs old though we don’t play games on it.

We did have a lap top which finally came up with the message “This computer can no longer be updated . Buy a new computer.”

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Chromebooks don't have a hard drive, so you'd have to save your photos to the cloud somewhere. I'm much like you. I just bought a Lenovo laptop with 4 mg RAM (more than enough if you're not gaming nor stream ing vids) and a 125 gig hard drive. It was something under $300 from Walmart. There are a lot of black friday deals right now.

You don't need a high end PC. HP, Dell, ASUS, Lenovo, any of those will do.
Don't spend over $400. Just my opinion

Chromebooks all come with USB ports where you can insert a flash drive, and store everything on the drive for when you can't access the internet. You just have to remember to upload any changes or new files to the cloud when you do that.

Google docs doesn't download anywhere though - you'd have to convert the file before you can move it out of the cloud storage. Which - if you're into software, isn't hard to do, it just has a learning curve.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Why do you want to buy a new computer? If you are having trouble with storage, the cloud storage options could be helpful. If the computer is running slowly, a clean up of the files running could extend the life for a few more years. We are using a computer that is 10 yrs old though we don’t play games on it.

We did have a lap top which finally came up with the message “This computer can no longer be updated . Buy a new computer.”

Windows 11 is out, and Windows 10 is being officially retired next October. A machine that's 5 years old MIGHT not be updateable. Mine isn't. I just bought a new desktop because some of my old apps were updated for Windows 11 and weren't working properly anymore. They still worked - just not well.

Security updates will cease to exist for windows 10 next October. That means they're already barely stable now, and will be UNstable next year.

Thanksgiving sales are when you find the best prices, so Windows has basically forced everyone into having to buy a replacement a full year before they turn windows 10 into legacy machines.

I'll have to buy a new laptop too for the same reason.

[FloridaGuy66]

Chromebooks don't have a hard drive, so you'd have to save your photos to the cloud somewhere.

Chromebooks DO have a hard drive. I'm typing this right now on my Chromebook. I have plenty of movies, photos and documents saved to my Chomebook. Mine has a 64GB solid state hard drive. Paid $299 for this Chromebook.

I don't deal with Windows computers anymore. Too much bloat and nonsense like viruses to deal with.

[FloridaGuy66]

Ineed new laptop & I'm not tech savvy. Please recommend something: I need a laptop to run WORD, & EXCEL. I surf the web & shop online.

Chromebooks look interesting but I tried a MAC years ago & could never adjust to it so went back to WINDOWS. Thanks for any recommendations.

My main computer is a Chromebook. It's fantastic, light and fast.

You can load Word and Excel using Google Docs and Google Sheets and still save in Word or Excel format if that's what you need.

Most younger people just use Google Docs and Sheets for everything. It's FREE, better than the Microsoft products, you can do 99% of what they will do, plus you can easily access your documents and spreadsheet from your phone or another computer if you ever need to through Google Drive which is also free.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Note to the OP: If you prefer Word and Excel, you'll need MS Office. The off-line version of it is not free. But if you want a free office suite I recommend LibreOffice. It works the same as MS Office, it's open source software, offered by The Document Foundation, a non-prof that's been around for many years. It's the same group that produced OpenOffice (LibreOffice is basically OpenOffice, with more functionality and wizbang sparkles).

They do accept donations, but use of the product for personal use is 100% free.

[metalic]

Why do you want to buy a new computer?

That's a great question

Looks like you already have enough RAM and storage for your needs, and 5 years is no great age for a laptop - should be "Windows" upgradable for some time if you need to

I use CCleaner every month to get rid of junk and speed things up, and my old laptop just keeps going and going

[MorTech]

LG Gram 16 inch at Bestbuy for $850 on sale. Less than 3 lbs.
Model:16Z90R-H.AAY7U1

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lg-gram-16-laptop-intel-evo-13th-gen-intel-core-i7-1360p-16gb-ram-1tb-ssd-charcoal-gray/6579392.p?skuId=6579392

[Blueblaze]

Ineed new laptop & I'm not tech savvy. Please recommend something: I need a laptop to run WORD, & EXCEL. I surf the web & shop online. I use hotmail/outlook. I save lots of pictures (.pdf, .tiff. jng) from my iphone to my laptop. Currently I have used 100 GB of my 225 GB Dell laptop that we got 5 yrs ago. I don't do any gaming & don't want to. Weight is important, current laptop weighs 2.2 lbs.; I'm willing to go to 3 lbs. Backlighting is VERY important. Battery life not so important. Chromebooks look interesting but I tried a MAC years ago & could never adjust to it so went back to WINDOWS. Thanks for any recommendations.

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.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

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.

Neither windows 7 nor windows 8 have ANY security updates anymore. Win8.1 stopped updating in 2023. That means EVERYTHING you do on windows 8.1 is subject to hackers, crackers, trojans, phishing scams, ransomware - and there is absolutely NOTHING you can do to prevent it. If you're online, you're vulnerable, and the criminals who target vulnerable people will eventually find you (if they haven't already).

Whenever you are online and open any software on your computer, someone "out there" is watching you do it. They might not be interested in you. But if you have a decent bank account, or use credit cards online, they might be interested in you. Firewalls and virus protection won't protect you if you're using a legacy unsupported version of windows.

You don't need the most current one, but you do need one that continues to get security updates. Right now, that means windows 10. In October of 2025, Windows 10 will cease to be supported or have any security updates, and windows 11 will be the "oldest one that gets security updates."

[Berwin]

I had stayed away from Lenovo laptops but finally bought one earlier this year at Best Buy. I have to say it is the best laptop I've ever owned. I got the Yoga with a 1 TB SSD.

[Two Bills]

You can get free upgrade to Win 11 from Win 10 before cut off for support in 2025, from Microsoft.

[retiredguy123]

You can get free upgrade to Win 11 from Win 10 before cut off for support in 2025, from Microsoft.
Some Windows 10 computers cannot be upgraded to Windows 11. It is not just a software upgrade.

[Two Bills]

Some Windows 10 computers cannot be upgraded to Windows 11. It is not just a software upgrade.

Yes. I should have added, Microsoft will check existing com. to see if it will carry upgrade.
Mine does, so will do it nearer shutoff.

[rsmurano]

I’ve helped friends get rid of their windows crap (and a few times away from a Mac computer) to go to an iPad. Much better experience than a pc. If you type a lot, then you can get a keyboard/trackpad for it. I would get the 12.9” from 2022 or the more current 2024 models. I bought my wife a newer 2024 with the pencil so you can write/draw/sketch on it. Word/excel and apples equivalent software come on it. You can buy internal storage up to 2TB.
This iPad will allow you to have an easy experience doing whatever you need to do. We get the 256G storage option. We also buy Apple cloud storage to get more advanced features like private relay and many new mail security features and we can store files/photos/music in the cloud.

[bowlingal]

Jacobs Computer in Wildwood is the place to go for your shopping needs

[mntlblok]

Neither windows 7 nor windows 8 have ANY security updates anymore. Win8.1 stopped updating in 2023. That means EVERYTHING you do on windows 8.1 is subject to hackers, crackers, trojans, phishing scams, ransomware - and there is absolutely NOTHING you can do to prevent it. If you're online, you're vulnerable, and the criminals who target vulnerable people will eventually find you (if they haven't already).

Whenever you are online and open any software on your computer, someone "out there" is watching you do it. They might not be interested in you. But if you have a decent bank account, or use credit cards online, they might be interested in you. Firewalls and virus protection won't protect you if you're using a legacy unsupported version of windows.

You don't need the most current one, but you do need one that continues to get security updates. Right now, that means windows 10. In October of 2025, Windows 10 will cease to be supported or have any security updates, and windows 11 will be the "oldest one that gets security updates."
Warning: stream of consciousness posting. OrangeBlossumBaby and Blueblaze have lots of Bs and Ls and orange and blue are complementary colors which always reminds me of Thunderball which was out when the 47 year coder wifey and I learned that color fact together in 7th grade. We got together at our 25th high school reunion. :-) It's quite the luxury to be able to run the various points made in this thread by her, as my tech savvy is extremely limited (niche?), though I'm learning a fair bit in this thread. Fascinating to see that so many old farts here have come to know so much about tech. Had coincidentally read through the Wikipedia entry on Edward R. Murrow last evening. There have been some changes since that era, though I do (barely) remember seeing him on TV. BTW, got down *that* rabbit hole via reading up on King Edward VIII, about whom I had also known very close to nothing. No fan of "royalty", BTW.

[jamorela]

Ineed new laptop & I'm not tech savvy. Please recommend something: I need a laptop to run WORD, & EXCEL. I surf the web & shop online. I use hotmail/outlook. I save lots of pictures (.pdf, .tiff. jng) from my iphone to my laptop. Currently I have used 100 GB of my 225 GB Dell laptop that we got 5 yrs ago. I don't do any gaming & don't want to. Weight is important, current laptop weighs 2.2 lbs.; I'm willing to go to 3 lbs. Backlighting is VERY important. Battery life not so important. Chromebooks look interesting but I tried a MAC years ago & could never adjust to it so went back to WINDOWS. Thanks for any recommendations.

I just bought this one. My Computer guy recommended it. It’s a steal right now at Best Buy.

Lenovo Ideapad 1i 15.6" FHD Touchscreen Laptop - Intel Core i3-1215U with 8GB Memory - Intel UHD Graphics - 256GB SSD - Cloud Gray $249.

[danglanzsr]

Have you considered subscribing to Microsoft 365 for $70 per year? It will allow you to use all of the MS Office programs: Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Outlook on all of your devices, and you can download the programs to any device.

Or, you could buy an Office Pro 2024 software key from any number of suppliers for about $35 and use it without having to connect to the internet to use all the Office apps or pay a new annual subscription It is legal. They buy the keys from companies that buy computers that are preloaded with Office but don’t want to use it and sell them to people that do want them. I have updating my copies of Office this way for years.

[RoboVil]

Ineed new laptop & I'm not tech savvy. Please recommend something: I need a laptop to run WORD, & EXCEL. I surf the web & shop online. I use hotmail/outlook. I save lots of pictures (.pdf, .tiff. jng) from my iphone to my laptop. Currently I have used 100 GB of my 225 GB Dell laptop that we got 5 yrs ago. I don't do any gaming & don't want to. Weight is important, current laptop weighs 2.2 lbs.; I'm willing to go to 3 lbs. Backlighting is VERY important. Battery life not so important. Chromebooks look interesting but I tried a MAC years ago & could never adjust to it so went back to WINDOWS. Thanks for any recommendations.
To decrease the weight, get one with a solid-state drive (SSD). You will want at least a 500 MB SSD. RAM memory is more important than speed of the CPU so get at least 16 MB of RAM. There will be great deals on Black Friday - Best Buy, Walmart, Sam's, Dell, will all have excellent deals. Also, I would plan on buying 2 anti-virus programs - example, Norton and MalwareBytes for internet protection - be safe out there!

[ResQme]

I get my laptops from Walmart. Right now there is an HP 15.6" Windows Intel I3, 8GB memory, 256GB SSD for $283. on sale. I'm in IT, so, I opened it up and replaced the drive with a 2TB SSD. I don't recommend opening up your laptop if you aren't technical. But I would definitely recommend this laptop.

[JoelJohnson]

Want to save your current laptop? It can be converted to Linux (I've converted many people here in The Villagers to Linux over the past few years). You can use your current MS apps online. Not sure about that? Then buy a new SDD disk drive and I'll put Linux on that, then copy all your files to the new drive (at your house). If, after a while you don't like it, I put your old drive back in your laptop and no harm no foul. (JoelJohnson920@gmail.com)

[lpkruege1]

Ineed new laptop & I'm not tech savvy. Please recommend something: I need a laptop to run WORD, & EXCEL. I surf the web & shop online. I use hotmail/outlook. I save lots of pictures (.pdf, .tiff. jng) from my iphone to my laptop. Currently I have used 100 GB of my 225 GB Dell laptop that we got 5 yrs ago. I don't do any gaming & don't want to. Weight is important, current laptop weighs 2.2 lbs.; I'm willing to go to 3 lbs. Backlighting is VERY important. Battery life not so important. Chromebooks look interesting but I tried a MAC years ago & could never adjust to it so went back to WINDOWS. Thanks for any recommendations.

Do you currently have a solid-state hard drive? If not, you may look at updating your current drive to a 500 gig or 1 tera byte drive. I'd go to a tera byte drive. It'll give you room to store and upgrade to windows 11. That's what I did. All your programs can be reimaged over to the new dive with ghosting software. The cost of word and excel for your new laptop would justify just cost to reimage the drive. After you have the new SSD hard drive imaged, they just take out your old one and put in the new one. You will see a boost in speed. Next how much RAM do you have? A boost in RAM will boost performance. I'm running a dell with 16 gig of RAM, 2 hard drives. A 500 gig and 1 tera byte. I run excel, word, power point, edit videos, it's 5 years old, and it runs great. It's an Inspiron 3793 so a pretty decent laptop. NOT 2 pounds. 6.6 lbs. actually, but it's a 17-inch screen. I'd buy Dell again. It's all the company I worked for bought. They have a great extended warranty if you are not computer savvy.

[airstreamingypsy]

Be sure you get a Win 11 OS, Windows is dumping 10 next year. You will see many great deals, but on laptops that cannot be upgraded.

[terryf484]

Love my Lenovo.

[PoolBrews]

Have you considered subscribing to Microsoft 365 for $70 per year? It will allow you to use all of the MS Office programs: Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Outlook on all of your devices, and you can download the programs to any device. It will also provide 1tb of cloud storage using One Drive. You would not even need to have a Windows computer. Any Internet device will work, and the programs are always up-to-date. So, any laptop will work, even a Chromebook. I have subscribed for several years. Your photos will fit on a flash/thumb drive, but the cloud storage will allow you to access them from any Internet device.

You can go to productkeys.com and buy a legal permanent Office 2024 license for $23.90. No way I'm paying $70/year. It's a one use one computer key, but at that price it's a steal.

[JRcorvette]

Ineed new laptop & I'm not tech savvy. Please recommend something: I need a laptop to run WORD, & EXCEL. I surf the web & shop online. I use hotmail/outlook. I save lots of pictures (.pdf, .tiff. jng) from my iphone to my laptop. Currently I have used 100 GB of my 225 GB Dell laptop that we got 5 yrs ago. I don't do any gaming & don't want to. Weight is important, current laptop weighs 2.2 lbs.; I'm willing to go to 3 lbs. Backlighting is VERY important. Battery life not so important. Chromebooks look interesting but I tried a MAC years ago & could never adjust to it so went back to WINDOWS. Thanks for any recommendations.

Just about any laptop would work for you. Why not stick with Dell? Too bad you could not adjust to a Mac. I switched years ago and it took a little getting use to but now I would never go back to a Windows operating system! I have had zero issues with our MacBook Air laptops for over 10 years. There is an Apple club here that would help you out. Just my opinion.

[retiredguy123]

You can go to productkey.com and buy a legal permanent Office 2024 license for $23.90. No way I'm paying $70/year. It's a one use one computer key, but at that price it's a steal.
I typed in that address and got a blank screen.

But, I assume you get a one time installation on one device, with no updates or cloud storage. MS 365 allows you to use Office on multiple devices on the Internet or download it other devices. The programs are always up-to-date. You also get 1tb of cloud storage. But, if it suits your needs, great.

[Bill14564]

I would suggest trying an iPad and considering a Mac.

I have used Windows and Linux for quite a while. Linux can extend the life of older hardware but while it can be "pretty much like" Windows, it isn't Windows and the differences become annoying.

I recently started using an iPad and am amazed at how well it integrates with my phone. Other than making calls, I can do everything on my iPad in the same way I do those things on the phone. This makes life very simple. I even have MS 365 running on the iPad so I can open and edit Excel and Word documents. I still think I need a laptop for some other packages but if I didn't have those then the iPad might be all I used.

I am currently typing on a Windows laptop which will need to be replace eventually. I am trying hard to come up with a reason not to switch to a Mac so that all my devices are integrated and function the same. It would be great to have a message come to my phone but see it on my Mac screen. If I add a new password on my iphone it would automatically be available on the iPad and Mac. If I find a recipe while using the Mac and save it to my iCloud storage then I can call it up on my iPhone and check the ingredients while I'm out shopping.

Yes, all these things can be done on Windows if you run the right applications, subscribe to the right cloud storage, have all the settings correct, and pay for the necessary subscriptions. It is also possible to build my own sub sandwich by buying the bread, meats, and condiments. But just as it is far easier to get that sub from the Publix counter, so it is far easier to get the interoperability by using the Apple products.

Currently, there are two software packages that I don't believe I can live without but haven't confirmed they work on a Mac. If I find that they will run on a Mac then the decision will be simple. If they won't then I'll keep the old Windows laptop in the office for running just those two programs.

[PoolBrews]

I typed in that address and got a blank screen.

But, I assume you get a one time installation on one device, with no updates or cloud storage. MS 365 allows you to use Office on multiple devices on the Internet or download it other devices. The programs are always up-to-date. You also get 1tb of cloud storage. But, if it suits your needs, great.

Oops... it's productkeys.com - forgot the s.

1) It is a full legal key.
2) It gets all updates via Windows update, so programs are always up to date.
3) It's a one time payment, not annual. My price to install on 3 computers would be about the same as the annual fee... except that I save that annual fee for every year past my purchase. I seriously doubt that most folks here need to install on more than 2 machines. Office apps on Android and iPhone are free to anyone. Microsoft pushes major updates every 3-5 years for Office. All other updates come through Windows update.
4) It's installed locally, so it always works, and my sensitive files are not stored in the cloud. (I was in IT my entire career. Anything stored in the cloud will eventually be hacked. I don't store anything with sensitive information in the cloud.)
5) It does not include cloud storage, but iDrive is far better than MS cloud (or Google Drive) storage and you can get 500GB for $9.95/year.

[jrref]

With all these suggestions just remember, if you go cheap, you are going to get cheap.

I would suggest going on-line with Dell and get a nice laptop during this Black Friday sale. Get the service contract for 4 years since they heavily discount it, and no matter what happens, Dell will take care of you.

[pokeefe45@aol.com]

HP envy 14-in laptop 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB hard drive-All yours for $449 right now at Best buy not a better deal around keep it simple

[JWGifford]

That’s good info. Thx. Seems like a better value than spending $25/yr and getting less storage space and no MS use.

[dawabeav]

Make sure the machine has Windows 11. Win 10 will lose support 10/25. If you use the internet and buying new, Win 11 is a must. I'm researching a new desktop and finding out that even old generation I-5 and I-7 are bottom end machines now days. Just educate yourself before you buy.

[TVTVTV]

Ineed new laptop & I'm not tech savvy. Please recommend something: I need a laptop to run WORD, & EXCEL. I surf the web & shop online. I use hotmail/outlook. I save lots of pictures (.pdf, .tiff. jng) from my iphone to my laptop. Currently I have used 100 GB of my 225 GB Dell laptop that we got 5 yrs ago. I don't do any gaming & don't want to. Weight is important, current laptop weighs 2.2 lbs.; I'm willing to go to 3 lbs. Backlighting is VERY important. Battery life not so important. Chromebooks look interesting but I tried a MAC years ago & could never adjust to it so went back to WINDOWS. Thanks for any recommendations.

Most important to me, in the last 2 laptops I bought, is that it has a touchscreen! Best feature ever to save keystrokes and time! I wouldn't get one without it. You don't need to use the touchscreen exclusively, but it is so much easier to click on the screen like I do on my smartphone. Shop now for Black Friday deals.

[buzzy]

Oops... it's productkeys.com - forgot the s.

1) It is a full legal key.
2) It gets all updates via Windows update, so programs are always up to date.
3) It's a one time payment, not annual. My price to install on 3 computers would be about the same as the annual fee... except that I save that annual fee for every year past my purchase. I seriously doubt that most folks here need to install on more than 2 machines. Office apps on Android and iPhone are free to anyone. Microsoft pushes major updates every 3-5 years for Office. All other updates come through Windows update.
4) It's installed locally, so it always works, and my sensitive files are not stored in the cloud. (I was in IT my entire career. Anything stored in the cloud will eventually be hacked. I don't store anything with sensitive information in the cloud.)
5) It does not include cloud storage, but iDrive is far better than MS cloud (or Google Drive) storage and you can get 500GB for $9.95/year.

This looks like a great idea. Do I download the product and then buy a key, or buy the key first and then download?

[kkingston57]

Ineed new laptop & I'm not tech savvy. Please recommend something: I need a laptop to run WORD, & EXCEL. I surf the web & shop online. I use hotmail/outlook. I save lots of pictures (.pdf, .tiff. jng) from my iphone to my laptop. Currently I have used 100 GB of my 225 GB Dell laptop that we got 5 yrs ago. I don't do any gaming & don't want to. Weight is important, current laptop weighs 2.2 lbs.; I'm willing to go to 3 lbs. Backlighting is VERY important. Battery life not so important. Chromebooks look interesting but I tried a MAC years ago & could never adjust to it so went back to WINDOWS. Thanks for any recommendations.


Make sure you get a solid state board. Boots up much faster. Looks like you do not need anything better than what you already have. Personally would get the biggest screen that fits your budget and which you feel comfortable with

[kkingston57]

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.

Scour garage sales for a replacement computer in world with planned obsolescence? Go to these sales more than I care to admit to and have never seen one. Who knows what is still on any older computer?

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

You can get free upgrade to Win 11 from Win 10 before cut off for support in 2025, from Microsoft.

Only if your computer isn't too old to update further. While most computers built in 2019 will update to Win11, some will not. The exact reverse is true for 2018 machines - most of them will not update, but some will.

People with Windows should have already received a notification from the Microsoft Defender (the security system built into Windows) that their computer can, or cannot, update.

Mine cannot. Neither can my laptop.

[PoolBrews]

This looks like a great idea. Do I download the product and then buy a key, or buy the key first and then download?

You buy the product, they send you a download link and a key via email.

[PoolBrews]

Only if your computer isn't too old to update further. While most computers built in 2019 will update to Win11, some will not. The exact reverse is true for 2018 machines - most of them will not update, but some will.

People with Windows should have already received a notification from the Microsoft Defender (the security system built into Windows) that their computer can, or cannot, update.

Mine cannot. Neither can my laptop.

It's fairly easy to install Win 11 on just about ANY computer. I've done it for a number of friends. Do a google search on installing Win 11 on incompatible hardware, and you'll find plenty of guides.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Warning: stream of consciousness posting. OrangeBlossumBaby and Blueblaze have lots of Bs and Ls and orange and blue are complementary colors which always reminds me of Thunderball which was out when the 47 year coder wifey and I learned that color fact together in 7th grade. We got together at our 25th high school reunion. :-) It's quite the luxury to be able to run the various points made in this thread by her, as my tech savvy is extremely limited (niche?), though I'm learning a fair bit in this thread. Fascinating to see that so many old farts here have come to know so much about tech. Had coincidentally read through the Wikipedia entry on Edward R. Murrow last evening. There have been some changes since that era, though I do (barely) remember seeing him on TV. BTW, got down *that* rabbit hole via reading up on King Edward VIII, about whom I had also known very close to nothing. No fan of "royalty", BTW.

I don't know why you're surprised about tech savvy seniors. The "father" of the Personal Computer, Ed Roberts, would have been 82 years old this year if he hadn't died in 2010.

The only reason I'm not a certified Microsoft Software Professional was I was too lazy to take the test. I also took BASIC computer programming in high school in 1978, then took Visual BASIC and C++ and then advanced VB and C++ somewhere around 2005. I also was certified as a CompTIA A+ bench tech (qualified computer repair person who had to actually take a course and pass two tests to get a certification). While I can't deal with MAC products at all, and don't like them, at all, and I don't know my way under the hood of a laptop of any type, I can take a desktop computer apart, identify most of the things inside it, reseat a heat sink, and put the machine back together again.

People who say they're "too old" to learn how to use a computer are simply incorrect. Age has nothing to do with your ability to learn the computer. Three possible reasons to not learn: 1) mental disability, 2) physical limitations** 3) stubbornness.

**physical disability doesn't really stop people from using computers. I had a friend with ALS, who was 100% physically disabled other than his eyesight and hearing. He couldn't move his head, but he could move his eyes. He had machines breathing for him, eating for him, and expelling waste for him. He used a computer to communicate via a specialized device placed on the surface of his forehead, similar looking to a bindi dot that married Hindu women have. It was hooked up to eye-tracker software, and a monitor hung over his hospital bed. Tucker was an amazing digital artist. He passed away a couple of years ago but he was paralyzed fully for over 10 years, and continued to communicate daily from his home hospital setup, until a week before he died.

[PoolBrews]

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.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Make sure the machine has Windows 11. Win 10 will lose support 10/25. If you use the internet and buying new, Win 11 is a must. I'm researching a new desktop and finding out that even old generation I-5 and I-7 are bottom end machines now days. Just educate yourself before you buy.

i5 and i7 refer to the Intel Core processor, not the computer's model. If you're using your laptop for basic tasks, an i3 is fine. And i5 is great for home, if you're using your laptop to stream video and do MS Word and Excel and e-mail and general stuff like that. And i7 would be most appropriate for gaming computers, online content creators, high-end digital artwork and the like. Intel's Core processors are currently on their 14th generation, but the 12th and 13th are 100% totally and completely perfectly useful.

12th generation Intel Core i5 would probably do the OP fine, with plenty of wiggle room to expand functionality for several years.

Of course not all computers use Intel processors, AMD has their Ryzen processors which do the same job by a different company. Ryzen is often considered to be superior in benchmark tests of similar generation. I'm an Intel gal, I have stock in the company. But I wouldn't turn down a Ryzen machine if everything else was equal and I could get it for less money.

For MOST people, an AMD 5600 series Ryzen 5 is all they'd need in a laptop. The Ryzen 7 is considered high-end, is much more expensive, and can do things most people will never need to do, thus being totally wasteful. Ryzen 9 is for - I don't even know who would need a processor that powerful. You could probably run a state government computer system on something like that.

If the OP wants to go bare-bones, they could try an updated Athlon (they were basically discontinued and then resurrected recently by AMD). You'd need to look around to find a machine that comes with it though, and you'd be looking for a 7000-series Athlon.

[Gfnorris]

I recently bought a Dell laptop from Best Buy. It will do everything you described. I paid $399 back in August. Very happy with it. You want an i5 or higher processor.

[Pinball wizard]

I just bought this one. My Computer guy recommended it. It’s a steal right now at Best Buy.

Lenovo Ideapad 1i 15.6" FHD Touchscreen Laptop - Intel Core i3-1215U with 8GB Memory - Intel UHD Graphics - 256GB SSD - Cloud Gray $249.

Very good deal.

[mikempp]

Ineed new laptop & I'm not tech savvy. Please recommend something: I need a laptop to run WORD, & EXCEL. I surf the web & shop online. I use hotmail/outlook. I save lots of pictures (.pdf, .tiff. jng) from my iphone to my laptop. Currently I have used 100 GB of my 225 GB Dell laptop that we got 5 yrs ago. I don't do any gaming & don't want to. Weight is important, current laptop weighs 2.2 lbs.; I'm willing to go to 3 lbs. Backlighting is VERY important. Battery life not so important. Chromebooks look interesting but I tried a MAC years ago & could never adjust to it so went back to WINDOWS. Thanks for any recommendations.

OfficeMax, Office Depot, etc have the best prices. Look at their weekly sales, they are consistently cheaper than Amazon and Best Buy. Plus if you have a problem they are right down the street. Never buy a reconditioned computer, they returned it for a reason.

[CoachKandSportsguy]

Windows 11 is out, and Windows 10 is being officially retired next October. A machine that's 5 years old MIGHT not be updateable. Mine isn't. I just bought a new desktop because some of my old apps were updated for Windows 11 and weren't working properly anymore. They still worked - just not well.

Security updates will cease to exist for windows 10 next October. That means they're already barely stable now, and will be UNstable next year.

Thanksgiving sales are when you find the best prices, so Windows has basically forced everyone into having to buy a replacement a full year before they turn windows 10 into legacy machines.

I'll have to buy a new laptop too for the same reason.

This Dell laptop Precision 7510 was $4,000 in 2017, upgraded myself to 64 Gigs RAM and 1 T solid state drive. To replace it today is like $5,000 but there are used corporate laptops which are about 25% of a new list price. I had found a site for with cheap like new and a friend bought one very cheaply. . OBB you can probably get something very reasonable with great specs looking at the used market.

I have to replace this laptop due to Win 10 being pastureized. . .

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

It's fairly easy to install Win 11 on just about ANY computer. I've done it for a number of friends. Do a google search on installing Win 11 on incompatible hardware, and you'll find plenty of guides.

Sure, you can install a Win11 on a legacy computer but it will be unsupported, because the bios is unsupported. It won't work efficiently. Legacy computers tend to also have legacy audio, legacy chipsets, you'll probably want to replace the fans and re-gunk and reseat the heat sink, and you'll be dealing with legacy graphics cards that no longer are supported and can no longer update the drivers. Unless of course the graphics are integrated. Anyone with a 10-year-old computer would be better off just buying a new computer. None of those 10-year-old components are designed to deal with the functionality of Windows 11, which is why Microsoft says these older machines can't be updated with Windows 11.

Technically they can. But no one who expects their computer to actually work efficiently without having to swap out every component and card under the hood would want to.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

This Dell laptop Precision 7510 was $4,000 in 2017, upgraded myself to 64 Gigs RAM and 1 T solid state drive. To replace it today is like $5,000 but there are used corporate laptops which are about 25% of a new list price. I had found a site for with cheap like new and a friend bought one very cheaply. . OBB you can probably get something very reasonable with great specs looking at the used market.

I have to replace this laptop due to Win 10 being pastureized. . .

You couldn't pay me to own a Dell. That's what Southern CT State University used when I was a bench tech there. They were reasonably good machines but their IT department and customer service were HORRIBLE - and we had a million dollar contract with them. Most of the time the problems were just idiot professors who didn't password protect their department machines and the students would download porn and warez on them, which of course would cause endless popups, ransomware, and annoying viruses. But the hardware failures were pretty serious, and Dell IT wouldn't even answer the phone, and hardware was all contract work.

But yeah I'll be getting a new laptop this year at some point. Will get either an HP or a Lenovo. HP has a less-than-stellar reputation among serious tech geeks but to me an HP is like the old Volkswagen Beetle - it's not sleek, it's not super powerful, it doesn't come with a lot of doodads and sparkle. But it's really hard to kill it - as long as you don't do really stupid or abusive things to it, it'll outlast the operating system, software, and all your peripherals.

[Freeda]

Go to Best Buy. They have people there who can help you choose. Also they have a hour return policy if you need to exchange etc.

[jimhoward]

A number of suggestions have been made on how to make an existing laptop last, or what might be the least expensive computer that could meet your need.

I look at it differently. Getting a new laptop is fun. Overkill never hurts and it’s not that expensive.

I think the fastest processor you can get and the most memory you can get (economically) is the way to go.

I would be going for:

I7 (or ryzen 7) processor or better (i9 is probably too pricey).

1Tb memory. Good laptops nowadays can have 1tb or even 2tb,

Full hD display (1920x1080).

The OPs weight requirement of 3lbs is mainly set by the screen size. you just pick a model that meets that weight,

If you type i7 or ryzen 7, 1 tb, FHD, 3lbs. Into Amazon several reasonably priced choices will come up which are all awesome computers. Overkill perhaps, but sweet. I personally like the ACER predator line. Those are gaming laptops but work well for general purpose as well. It just never hurts to have more speed, a good display and more memory.

[jimhoward]

By the way. When you get your new laptop also buy Zinstall or pcmover pro. Those will allow you, with zero technical skill or knowledge, to move all your files, settings, photos and applications from the old laptop to the new one.

[MorTech]

$220...Hurry!...May not have enough storage for you at 128GB...A smidge heavy at 3.1 lbs.
X1404ZA-I38128 Asus 14 inch

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-vivobook-14-laptop-intel-core-i3-1215u-with-8gb-memory-128gb-ssd-quiet-blue/6568805.p?skuId=6568805

[MorTech]

The challenge is the 3 pound weight limit...And a Linux solution just laughable!

I think you would be happier with a 16 inch display in 16:10 format. If you can budge to 3.8 pounds, there are more inexpensive options this Black Friday.

[nn0wheremann]

Ineed new laptop & I'm not tech savvy. Please recommend something: I need a laptop to run WORD, & EXCEL. I surf the web & shop online. I use hotmail/outlook. I save lots of pictures (.pdf, .tiff. jng) from my iphone to my laptop. Currently I have used 100 GB of my 225 GB Dell laptop that we got 5 yrs ago. I don't do any gaming & don't want to. Weight is important, current laptop weighs 2.2 lbs.; I'm willing to go to 3 lbs. Backlighting is VERY important. Battery life not so important. Chromebooks look interesting but I tried a MAC years ago & could never adjust to it so went back to WINDOWS. Thanks for any recommendations.
Install linuxmint and scrap windows. Much more efficient in its use of space. It has thunderbird resident, so you don’t need outlook or a subscription to microsoft 365. It comes with libre office, which will handle your Office files.

[PoolBrews]

A number of suggestions have been made on how to make an existing laptop last, or what might be the least expensive computer that could meet your need.

I look at it differently. Getting a new laptop is fun. Overkill never hurts and it’s not that expensive.

I think the fastest processor you can get and the most memory you can get (economically) is the way to go.

I would be going for:

I7 (or ryzen 7) processor or better (i9 is probably too pricey).

1Tb memory. Good laptops nowadays can have 1tb or even 2tb,

Full hD display (1920x1080).

The OPs weight requirement of 3lbs is mainly set by the screen size. you just pick a model that meets that weight,

If you type i7 or ryzen 7, 1 tb, FHD, 3lbs. Into Amazon several reasonably priced choices will come up which are all awesome computers. Overkill perhaps, but sweet. I personally like the ACER predator line. Those are gaming laptops but work well for general purpose as well. It just never hurts to have more speed, a good display and more memory.

There are no laptops available with 1TB of memory (RAM). The max you'll find in a laptop is 32GB and those will be VERY expensive. I'm pretty sure you meant 1TB of storage (i.e. hard drive). Getting 250GB, 500GB, or 1TB of storage will not make the laptop any faster or slower, it just gives you more room to store files and install programs. 1TB is overkill for 99% of folks.

[PoolBrews]

Sure, you can install a Win11 on a legacy computer but it will be unsupported, because the bios is unsupported. It won't work efficiently. Legacy computers tend to also have legacy audio, legacy chipsets, you'll probably want to replace the fans and re-gunk and reseat the heat sink, and you'll be dealing with legacy graphics cards that no longer are supported and can no longer update the drivers. Unless of course the graphics are integrated. Anyone with a 10-year-old computer would be better off just buying a new computer. None of those 10-year-old components are designed to deal with the functionality of Windows 11, which is why Microsoft says these older machines can't be updated with Windows 11.

Technically they can. But no one who expects their computer to actually work efficiently without having to swap out every component and card under the hood would want to.

I didn't say you SHOULD, I said you COULD. I've upgraded many friends' computers to Win 11 - none of them 10 years old, but many in the 4-6 year old range. I haven't had to swap out a single card or component. None of these were a legacy computer - they haven't built those for 15-20 years.

In each case I install a $35 SSD drive, transfer the contents over, then upgrade to Win 11. The resulting computer runs far faster than it did and has a current OS that is supported.

The only thing not supported on an older machine is TPM (Trusted Platform Module), and that in no way affects how the OS runs. It's a security module that is needed more for corporations than for personal use.

I 100% agree with your statement about recommending buying a newer computer. I only posted because I wanted folks to know that you can run the latest OS with no issues on older hardware.

[jimhoward]

There are no laptops available with 1TB of memory (RAM). The max you'll find in a laptop is 32GB and those will be VERY expensive. I'm pretty sure you meant 1TB of storage (i.e. hard drive). Getting 250GB, 500GB, or 1TB of storage will not make the laptop any faster or slower, it just gives you more room to store files and install programs. 1TB is overkill for 99% of folks.


Solid state memory. Yes, storage for massive number of photos and ,particularly, videos. Minimizes dependency on cloud storage.

[ronda]

Ineed new laptop & I'm not tech savvy. Please recommend something: I need a laptop to run WORD, & EXCEL. I surf the web & shop online. I use hotmail/outlook. I save lots of pictures (.pdf, .tiff. jng) from my iphone to my laptop. Currently I have used 100 GB of my 225 GB Dell laptop that we got 5 yrs ago. I don't do any gaming & don't want to. Weight is important, current laptop weighs 2.2 lbs.; I'm willing to go to 3 lbs. Backlighting is VERY important. Battery life not so important. Chromebooks look interesting but I tried a MAC years ago & could never adjust to it so went back to WINDOWS. Thanks for any recommendations.

Post from a local Computer Tech (Michael McLeer) here in TV. Look like a great deal to me too. cut and paste the URL into your browser

Folks...
Many of you over the last couple of months have been advised by me that this is a real good deal on Amazon if you were looking to get a new computer.
https://a.co/d/ge1Ziz2
It just went back on sale and is EVEN LESS EXPENSIVE!
This was an amazing deal at $380!
It's $322 today!
If your computer is > 5 years old... Consider purchasing this.
I can move your files if you need me to.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Post from a local Computer Tech (Michael McLeer) here in TV. Look like a great deal to me too. cut and paste the URL into your browser

Folks...
Many of you over the last couple of months have been advised by me that this is a real good deal on Amazon if you were looking to get a new computer.
https://a.co/d/ge1Ziz2
It just went back on sale and is EVEN LESS EXPENSIVE!
This was an amazing deal at $380!
It's $322 today!
If your computer is > 5 years old... Consider purchasing this.
I can move your files if you need me to.

That uses an Intel Celeron processor. That's the LOW-budget, cheapest, least efficient, slowest processor that Intel makes. The clock speed is only 1.1 and at turbo it's 2.8GHz. That's really slow, compared to today's "normal use" machines. The fact that it's just a dual core and not at LEAST a quad core would be concerning, unless the ONLY thing you ever did on it was check your e-mail, play solitaire, and write papers on Word.

[biker1]

Unless you are running some apps that are supported on Windows only, a Chromebook will probably satisfy your requirements. There will be a short learning curve but it may very well make things easier for you in the longer term.

Ineed new laptop & I'm not tech savvy. Please recommend something: I need a laptop to run WORD, & EXCEL. I surf the web & shop online. I use hotmail/outlook. I save lots of pictures (.pdf, .tiff. jng) from my iphone to my laptop. Currently I have used 100 GB of my 225 GB Dell laptop that we got 5 yrs ago. I don't do any gaming & don't want to. Weight is important, current laptop weighs 2.2 lbs.; I'm willing to go to 3 lbs. Backlighting is VERY important. Battery life not so important. Chromebooks look interesting but I tried a MAC years ago & could never adjust to it so went back to WINDOWS. Thanks for any recommendations.

[chrisinva]

OBB, I can't thank you enough for understnding my question & replying (multiple times) in language I can understand. Haven't selected the laptop yet, still complying & comparing TOTV and Next Door comments.

And thanks to all who commented. I appreciate that many individuals commented & re-commented on suggestions. It's great to have this forum for an intelligent, thoughtful discussion.
Blessings to you all & Happy Thanksgiving!

[Lea N]

Asus Vivobook S 14 at BestBuy on sale at a good price. AMOLED 14 inch screen.
Model:Q423SA-U5512 - On sale now for $650 - 2.87 lbs.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-vivobook-s-14-14-oled-laptop-copilot-pc-intel-core-ultra-5-16gb-memory-512gb-ssd-neutral-black/6595523.p?skuId=6595523&ref=212&loc=1&utm_source=feed&extStoreId=1156

We once bought a laptop from Best Buy and purchased warranty with it. About a month or so later we were having issues with it. My husband brought it back to be repaired and was told that they wouldn't honor the warranty. They said if he wanted to have them run diagnostics on it they would charge $200. We ended up taking the laptop to a place at the Marion Market and they fixed it for $20.

[retiredguy123]

We once bought a laptop from Best Buy and purchased warranty with it. About a month or so later we were having issues with it. My husband brought it back to be repaired and was told that they wouldn't honor the warranty. They said if he wanted to have them run diagnostics on it they would charge $200. We ended up taking the laptop to a place at the Marion Market and they fixed it for $20.
I would never pay for a warranty of any type. They are almost always a rip-off.

[MorTech]

I think you would be happy with the LG Gram 16 inch. Less than 3 pounds.
Keep an eye out for Black Friday deals...$760 at Amazon now.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

OBB, I can't thank you enough for understnding my question & replying (multiple times) in language I can understand. Haven't selected the laptop yet, still complying & comparing TOTV and Next Door comments.

And thanks to all who commented. I appreciate that many individuals commented & re-commented on suggestions. It's great to have this forum for an intelligent, thoughtful discussion.
Blessings to you all & Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey - there is a pretty nice windows 11 laptop that I thought would be perfect for my sister (who is also not tech-savvy, but IS software-oriented). It's the Lenovo IdeaPad Ryzen 5 7520U with 8gb memory, 256gb SSD storage, a 15.6" screen, with a blue case, for $299.99 at Best Buy. She just ordered it yesterday. If they can order one, that's a good deal. If not, you could try the HP 15.6" touch screen with 12th Gen Intel Core i5, 8gb memory, 512GB SSD. It's $349.99 and weighs 3.5 pounds. Also has a 10.25-hour charge rate, which is pretty good for a laptop.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-15-6-touch-screen-laptop-intel-core-i5-8gb-memory-512gb-ssd-natural-silver/6587788.p?skuId=6587788 for the HP

Windows 11 does NOT look like Windows 10, which does NOT look like Windows 8, which does NOT look like Vista or Win95. But there are ways to make it ALMOST emulate Vista, if you prefer a cleaner desktop with little icons instead of tiles and lists. I can direct you to the thing I found that I ended up using, if you need. Just DM me. It doesn't look "exactly" as I'd like it but it's pretty close.

Lastly - a lot of these laptops come with Windows 11 in "S" Mode. You'd have to upgrade to regular Windows Home, which is FREE but requires that you click stuff and press buttons. Any geek can walk you through it, it's mostly not a big deal. If you choose to keep it in S mode, you will ONLY be able to download apps from the Microsoft Store, and you won't be able to use Google Chrome or Firefox - only Microsoft Edge for your browser.

[Michael G.]

Best Buy is a good option.


Except BB has a restocking fee if you return it. :grumpy:

[Grinchie]

Check out Amazon special deal right now til gone: Lenovo 20 Ram, 1T SSD, 15.6”, comes with 1 year Office, wi fi 6, Bluetooth, webcam & SD Card reader total cost $344.70 with tax added in. Great deal - on special.

[Grinchie]

Great deal re Lenovo with 8 gig, but but check out Amazon with a Lenovo on sale with 20 gb ram & 1T SSD + for about 344.00 out the door & includes tax & one year of Office. Sweet deal…

[Grinchie]

Check out this Lenovo on Amazon special til gone - $ 322.15. Has 20 gb, 1T SSD, adequate chip, 1 year of Office, webcam, Bluetooth, SSD card reader. $ 344.00 with tax. Really good deal for most users.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Grinchie, your Lenovo "deal" is no deal at all. The Celeron N4500 is clunky, only a 2-core 2-thread machine with only a 1.1gh clock speed (max is 2.8ghz, which is what most 'modern' laptops START at). For $20 more they can get a system twice as fast, with twice the functionality. They don't need 20G ram or 1TB storage. They're a casual user. Most people don't even use the 256GB that is standard on laptops these days.

[MorTech]

Even the latest Intel N100 processors are barely adequate. There are a lot more deals in laptops above 3.5 pounds if you are not too hung up with the 3 pound weight limit.

[PoolBrews]

Except BB has a restocking fee if you return it. :grumpy:

They only charge a restocking fee if you don't return it in the same condition as when you opened it, or if you return it after 15 days. Just make sure to keep all packaging, and do a factory reset on the laptop before returning it.

[retiredguy123]

They only charge a restocking fee if you don't return it in the same condition as when you opened it, or if you return it after 15 days. Just make sure to keep all packaging, and do a factory reset on the laptop before returning it.
I would add that, if Best Buy installs any software, they will charge you for it.

Personally, I would never buy a computer that had been returned.

[PoolBrews]

I would add that, if Best Buy installs any software, they will charge you for it.

Personally, I would never buy a computer that had been returned.

I have zero qualms about purchasing a returned laptop. I was in the IT field for 40 years, so I'm very comfortable with anything I might run into. If there really are issues with the laptop (and not just buyers remorse), I can always return it.

The laptop I purchased was on sale for $899 (normal price $1,499, and it's back to that now). I got a returned laptop in excellent condition for $751 - nearly another $150 savings. First thing I did was to factory reset it. Zero issues and saved a ton of $$$'s.