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'