HP Envy
 

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

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

Update to Win 11a must
 

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.

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.

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

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

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?

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Laptop
 

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.

Very good deal.

Office stores have the best prices
 

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.

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. . .

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

$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-vi...?skuId=6568805

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.

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.

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.

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.

Storage is nice
 

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

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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...?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.

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

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.

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…

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.