new computer
 

My wife wants a new laptop computer (WinOS). Her Lenovo isn't what it should be. What's the best brands.?TIA

I have had very good service from both Dell and Toshiba, both lasting over 5 to 6 years.

:agree:

I think what is more important than the brand, is the RAM memory. I would get one with at least 8GB of RAM. I have a Windows 10 laptop with 2GB of RAM, and it is basically worthless.

Using an HP with Win7. Seven years old, still going ok, but gettng slower.
Lenovo with Win 8.1 still pluggng away well after five years.
Think most brands now are pretty reliable.
More a case of how much you want to pay for another one, and what type of use you put it too.
For us, mail, banking, research, and news is all we need, so spending a lot is not warranted.
For games, saving the world, hacking missile systems etc. etc, maybe spend a bit more!

The Wirecutter has useful information and choices.

This article may be helpful.

The Best Laptops for 2019: Reviews by Wirecutter

Add some memory. It's quite inexpensive and typically easy to install.

Having worked in the industry for 36 years, I like HP and Lenovo.

What are your Lenovo shortfalls??

Thanks, V-T
I have a DELL myself, I'm kinda leaning that way.

Get an Apple- Best products out there

I hardly ever turn my windows 10 computer on since I got my tablet computer. I highly recommend an Apple tablet instead.

Pinball Wizard, you probably know this but for those who don't: Some laptops come with empty memory slots and some don't. For those that don't, you may be able to increase the memory but it would require removing what is already there and replacing it.

Sometimes it is less expensive to remove and replace the existing memory than to buy the computer with the memory already upgraded (often true of Apple because their memory is pricey). Sometimes it makes sense to buy the computer configured the way you want it. Just something to be aware of when shopping. Also, I wouldn't necessarily trust a sales person at Best Buy to know about this stuff for each model they sell. I would research it online before purchasing.

kathy

If you are comfortable backing up your data and reinstalling Windows and your applications from scratch, doing so often makes your computer seem to be as snappy quick as it was when you bought it. That's usually because most folks end up installing a whole lot of junk apps simply by visiting various web pages that can add a lot of stuff running in the background that slow down your foreground application. There are some utility programs that you can buy and run that also try to "clean up" your computer from junk like that without having to do a complete re-install.

If you find you are trying to do tasks that are CPU-intensive, memory-intensive or disk-intensive that you didn't used to do when the computer was new, then it can help to add a faster CPU, more (and faster) RAM and/or a faster and/or larger hard drive. However, that can be challenging to do with a laptop as they are often not designed to be easily upgraded. If that's the case, then a new laptop can be the best fix.

Before buying a new PC, think about what you are doing with your computer. For most folks, that is just firing up a browser and doing email, online banking or surfing from the browser. They are not generating large amounts of data and so don't need a monster hard drive. They aren't doing photo or video editing or playing high-end video games and so don't need super-fast video cards. They aren't working with huge amounts of data and so don't need huge amounts (like 32 or 64 Gb) of RAM. They aren't running tons of applications simultaneously and so don't need a CPU with a lot of cores (some of the new CPUs have 10 or more cores and effectively double that number with virtual operations). As Windows continues to evolve, it is generally using more and more RAM, but 8 or 16 Gb is probably more than enough for most people. It's like buying a new car. On the one hand, you don't need a Ferrari to go get groceries but if you're a professional racer and this is your race car, you probably don't want to buy a mini-van. If you're mostly watching cute kitten videos on YouTube and checking family pictures on Facebook, you don't exactly need a state-of-the-art, expensive PC.

My advice, go to Best Buy, and ask the people in the computer department. I've never had them steer me wrong. They will pair you with a computer that suits what you use it for, and they are sensitive to price constraints...just sayin'

Don't be afraid to look at ones with chips other than Intel - Ryzen are highly rated and can save you big bucks without adversely affecting performance

And certainly don't get sucked into buying one designed for high-end game playing if all you do is surf the net

Apple MacBookAir

I've converted over a dozen villager's this past to Linux Mint. None have asked to back to Windows. It will make your old PC feel like new.
The way I work is to replace your hard drive with one that has Linux already on it. If you like it you keep it and I erase your old drive and put Linux on it for the next person, if not I put your old drive back in, and your back to the way it was.
What do you have to lose?
PM me and I will come to your house.

I have a Lenovo X1 with Windows 10. Still use Microsoft Word and Excel nearly every day. I woudnt buy a machine without that "pencil eraser" under the G and H.. have used that on all my machines for over 20 years. It was and is a signature feature of Thinkpads. Many people running Windows 8 blamed their computers, but it was the worst release of all time. BTW, before you throw out your current Lenovo, stop using Explorer or Firefox, and use CHROME as your browser.. Your machine will immediately stop freezing every 2 minutes.

Reference an earlier post, if you mainly just surf, consider a CHROMEBOOK . Takes a bit getting used to, and when you do need to write a note or work a spreadsheet, you'll learn goodle docs and sheets .. Good Luck !

We took are older HP laptop into the Geek
Squad at Best Buy, it was getting very slow
they put in a solid state drive. It is much
fastet now. For storage we use an external
drive. We use their Web Root security program
and can take it in there for occasional maintenance.

Go to the Apple/Windows computer clubs and see what they use and recommend.

In my business I have come to rely on Dell XPS and HP Spectre. Go large with Ram and SSD. Both have quite good stand alone warranties but you can also extend through Square Deal. Back up on cloud or Western Digital on a routine basis (I do both). The new XPS 13 and 15 inch models have unbelievably sharp screens. We were doing ToL Lenovo systems and have had a number of recurring issues causing my switch back to Dell and HP. Happy Holidays!

Here is my opinion, I’ve also worked in the industry for 35 years. I would spend anywhere between $500,000.00 - 1.5M per year on computers, tablets and servers. We’ve tried everything, HP, IBM or Lenovo now and DELL to name a few. The least amount of issues and best support received = DELL by far. If you want a good laptop that will last you 5-10 years, look at the Lattitude line of laptops and get the largest CPU you can afford and load that baby with as much RAM as you can put in it. (I have 32GB in my personal Dell laptop). Now someone touched on something very important to consider, if you are simply looking at a device to answer emails, browse the internet and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, etc... the best solution could be a tablet. My wife and I LOVE our Apple iPads, very portable, quick and great for those types of things I just mentioned above. I’m actually replying to this on my iPad now. We have a full keyboard on ours and use it instead of the soft keyboard, much better if you are a typist. My wife who was an Executive Assistant used her laptop everyday at work while it was sitting in a docking station with a full external keyboard and mouse. Since she has retired, she rarely uses my PC and loves her iPad. You can get MS Word, Excel on the iPad but these APPS do not have all the same features as a PC version but it’s pretty close and would be quite fine for most users. Evaluate what your wife uses the laptop for now and see if an iPad would be a better fit for her usage. Maybe a new laptop is not at all what she needs depending on what she does with her present system. If you have children and grandchildren living away, using FaceTime (like Skype) on an iPad is easy and very common amongst younger users. Check with your family and kids and if they have iPhones or iPads that might make the decision that much easier. Good luck.

Like you, I've spent 50 years working with many different types of computers from mainframes to micro computers. You gave very good advice, my wife uses an iPad but I started using a Chromebook 10 years ago and find it the perfect PC for my needs. I have spreadsheets and documents and even a few slides (powerpoint type documents). I love that you can't get a virus and everything is automatically backed up to the cloud (15GB free). I do all my banking and surfing on it and feel safe. Updates are automatic and mostly invisible (they are downloaded in the background and when you turn the Chromebook off then on you have the new updates).

I do have a couple of old laptops that were running Windows 7 and didn't want to go to 10, so I found out about Linux and upgraded them to Linux Mint 19.3. I have converted over a dozen people to Linux and none want to go back to Windows. Like the Chromebook you don't have to worry about getting a virus, why? you may ask, it's because the way the operating system is designed. While it's not impossible to get a virus, it is very, very, very rare and mostly aimed at the big corporations.

My wife bought a Dell XPS 13 last year on a reliable recommendation, she loves it. I’m sticking to my IPad Air.

Is there anybody in the area that will build a computer from scratch or update an old one?

You can try Gizmo Depot on 441 in Lady Lake, 352-641-0435, or Refresh Computers in Longwood FL, 407-478-8200.

Change to old one over to Linux Mint, it's safe and easy to use. I picked it because it is the most Windows-ish. I have a demo PC that I could show you. PM me.