[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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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]

Originally Posted by PoolBrews

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]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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]

Originally Posted by PoolBrews

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?