My laptop is heading to the scrap pile lol its kinda old (sony vizio i5) and it has windows 8 that i hate, i was wondering what laptop is the best to buy and what brand/kind do u use ???
Or should i look into a some what custom desktop and buy a tablet ?
Desktops are easier to work on and upgrade, so you could keep the same one and upgrade parts as you go.
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Computers are a bit like cars: everyone has a brand that they prefer. I personally look for Asus and Lenovo first, and Toshiba second, but 90% of all computer parts are made by the same factory anyways.
Brands to avoid: eMachines, Acer, and Gateway, and never buy the cheapest model from any company. Step up to the middle range. If the plastic on the outside looks and feels cheap, the inside is probably the same way. Buy a computer based on the features that you want, the customer service reputation of the company, and the price.
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My experience: 4 years as a computer salesman and a lifetime of PC geekiness
I have used Dell laptops for the last 8 years and have been extremely impressed (and that’s really saying a lot cause I always buy the cheapest option).
In 2008 I bought the lowest budget model they offered on black friday for $300, it lasted (threw nearly 24/7 use) for 5 years (it actually still works but I had to repair the screen backlight last fall) and then this past year I bought another of their cheapest black friday offering, again for$300, and I’m really happy with it as well. That’s only about $60 per year.
I read that u bought yours during BF CK i would have but to many people pushing each other lol. I posted a desktop and just buy a tablet for around the house and yard and the cell else where, if i went with a custom built pc how much would that be around ?? Or just look into one from a store im just looking for something kinda fast with Windows 7 lol
Sounds like you got lucky! lol.
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I forgot to say in my post that buying a computer is always a crapshoot. If you buy the cheapest possible option from the worst company, it could still be great for many years, or if you buy the best possible model it could have endless issues. That’s why I always hesitate to recommend a particular computer to my friends. I don’t want to be blamed if something unforseen goes wrong.
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stores arent allowed to sell PC’s with Windows 7 anymore, maybe you can buy a copy on ebay and install it yourself. Otherwise, the cost savings of building a desktop yourself isn’t really worth it (imo). I would say only build your own if what you want isn’t available on the market, or if you want to know the quality of the specific parts in your computer.
Yea thats why im leaning towards a custom built pc so i can buy windows 7 for it.
Are you talking about buying a custom PC, or building your own? You can build a PC for any price you want $200-$15,000. It will definitely take an investment of time, but some of us like that :bigsmile:
Get both? 
Seriously, I would personally get a laptop if looking for just one computer for flexibility, but I do like my custom/home built desktop. I have a Dell Inspiron laptop I purchased around 2002 - 2003 that is still running, but it is running Linux now and is dedicated to my HAM radio station. I have not had a lot of experience with the various laptop brands, but I use a Lenovo/IBM think pad at work which works well. My wife has a HP, I would not buy another.
Yea getting some info on building my own or finding someone lol i think a desktop last longer and get a tablet to carry around the house and the back yard your in Michigan ill have you build it ;)
What exactly is wrong with Windows 8? It is much more advanced and efficient than Windows 7. Or maybe you don’t like the interface. That can be easily changed in 5 minutes.
+1
Idk maybe just not used to it yet
I’ve got 8.1 on my beast and it destroys 7 in performance. And it looks exactly the same, only faster. I hated 8 at first also, but thank god for Classic Shell, it brought back the classic start menu.
What you should buy depends on what you will be using it for. How many hours a day? What is the primary use? and so on.
More than 3-4 hours I would buy a desktop. 3-4 hours looking at a laptop screen can be extremely hard on the eyes. My eyes dry up.
If its mostly internet browsing. Go for tablet. If you have to use text often (mail, forums, work), I would go for laptop.
I worked as a cg artist for 5 years. No way my work would be possible on a laptop. Both because I needed the horsepower a desktop would give me - and because I had to use a dual monitor setup - 20’’ and 24’’
At home I haven’t touched my desktop for several years. I only use my Asus laptop. Love that i’m able to be mobile.
Laptop brand. I would always go for Asus, Lenovo, or Dell.
I’m using a MSI laptop for college and this’ll be it’s fourth year running. Gaming with it isn’t bad but it can’t run newer games to my liking. My roommate just bought a Lenovo y410p a couple months ago and he complains about it quite a bit.
I got my mom a $600 Dell laptop last year and she hated it so much I returned it and got her an ipad.
My dad is using my I built desktop back home so it’s pretty much his now and I just keep it running to his liking.
If you want a setup with a bigger screen and semi-mobility you could go for a barebobne.
My dad asked me to find a pc for his home office. Only requirements was “not too big”.
I bought a ZOTAC ZBOX which I mounted at the back of a 27’’ screen. Wireless keyboard and mouse. No wires or cables at the desk. Only thing not hidden is an external dvd-drive.
Back before Win 95 came out I spent nearly £2000 on my first set up. Now over twenty years later I am closer to £200 in what I spend and it has to be a laptop. I still have two PC’s and a Mac in my attic den room but none of them have been switched on in years. I really should have sold them when they had at least some monetary value but now they are just dusty relics. Having children has ended all that for me. Now I sit in the lounge with my second hand Samsung laptop which I use for most things (on Win 7) I tried buying a budget Win 8 laptop when they first came out but hated it and though if I have to learn a new system I might as well learn Linux. HP then came out with a basic cheap laptop that used Linux so I gave that a shot. It has Ubuntu built into it and works fine. Sadly the processor is a bit slow though and it is mostly used as my bedroom laptop. I also have another banger of a laptop I bought at a boot sale for £60. That is running Linux Elementary OS on it which I like a lot (the Win 7 it came with died after three months). The keyboard is horrible though so I can see why it was sold so cheap.
I’ve about run the gamut of computer options from mid-grade factory and 100% custom gaming desktops and from $2,000+ Macbook Pros down to sub $500 Acer laptops. I’m far from an expert on computers, but I probably know enough to be dangerous. Seems to be a side effect of being a serial tinkerer. So while I’m not an expert, I figure my most recent experiences with laptops might be helpful food for thought.
4+ years ago I bought an Acer at TigerDirect for $400 after taxes after my third $2,000 Mac (I went Powerbook G4-MacBook Pro-MacBook Pro… used for school and photo editing primarily) prematurely ended itself for some unknown reason.
My new job bought me a pretty nice HP Elitebook a little over a month ago (they’re mainly sold to business users… not a common consumer laptop. Only mentioning that b/c you won’t see one in Best Buy. I think my particular model sells somewhere around $1,800).
So because I can’t leave anything alone, my $400 Acer (came with a Sandybridge i3 and 4GB of RAM) has been very slightly upgraded with a second 4GB stick of RAM (8GB total), and a 250GB Samsung 840 SSD. Bought the SSD a while ago when they were slightly more expensive, so I’ve probably spent about $700 on the Acer in all.
This 4+ year-old Acer straight up whips my brand-new HP Elitebook that’s got a Haswell i5 in it and 16GB of RAM. Acer scores 6.3 in the Windows Experience Index vs. 4.6 for the HP. And it’s over four years old and the HP is 2.5 times more expensive. They’re both running Windows 7 Pro (64 bit), both are 15” and run the same screen resolution. Granted, the Windows Experience Index isn’t the end-all be-all comparison metric, but since they’re on the same version of Windows running the same resolution and the same sort of programs, I think it’s a convenient and fair comparison to somewhat quantify the difference in how much quicker the old Acer feels vs. the new HP. Kinda odd, but the 4.6 score from the HP stems from its graphics performance, and the Haswell generation is supposed to crush Sandybridge and Ivybridge in that regard. The HP scores marginally higher in the Processor and RAM categories (as it should). If the difference in the performance between the two was due solely to the SSD in the Acer, I would’ve expected the Primary Hard Disk score to be the lowest on the HP instead.
In more subjective terms, the HP is thinner, a little lighter and feels a ton nicer (metal keyboard surround, some soft-touch plastic on the shell vs the 100% hard plastic Acer). The HP also has backlit keys, whereas the Acer doesn’t.
That’s all to say I wouldn’t write-off budget brands entirely. Buying a computer is ALL about what you’re going to be using it for. I run a fair amount of heavy programs for work and have multiple cloud storage services running in the background which take up a lot of RAM. I don’t edit photos as much as when I was in college anymore, so I’ve been without a discrete graphics card since my last MBP died. I also use multiple external monitors about 80% of the time, but still need the mobility of a laptop for the other 20%.
So if you’re only using a computer at a desk - you’ll get a lot more for your money with a desktop. If you travel a lot, you might want a smaller/lighter laptop than a standard(ish) 1”–1.5” thick 15” screen laptop. Or get a nice shoulder bag to carry it around in.
My advice would be to figure out what you’ll be using the computer for primarily, and let that determine what features you need, then settle on a price range and try to find the best deal in that price range with the features on your list. There are way, way too many options out there to dive in without a list of must-have features. Also… get something with an SSD or put one in whatever you get. By far the biggest performance gain you can make for the money (in my humble opinion).
Laptops are the worst things in all domains. Overpriced computer with very low performances and stuck in a small plastic housing. Can’t even repair it yourself if you have a problem.
Better get a tablet for casual surfing, its the best to read things. You can even get awesome ones from China super cheap.
If you don't need the portability of a laptop, desktop is the way to go. For desktops, it's always best to build your own so you know exactly what parts go into it. There are lots of forums and whatnot that can help out with the process if you don't know how to do that. The budget really depends on your requirements and what you're willing to spend.
That said, it sounds like your laptop is recent, assuming it came with Win 8. If its performance is fine for you, you may consider updating it to 8.1 and installing classic shell for a Win 7 feel. An ssd might also breathe new life into the system.