Please provide laptop buying advice

[cantdrv55]

I haven’t purchased a laptop in probably 15 years. I’ve simply used my work provided laptop for personal use too. Now that I’m leaving the workforce, I’m going to need a laptop of my own for perusing the internet, watching Netflix and Prime movies as well as transacting business on eBay and other sites. I have no idea what specs and cost I should consider?

I’m a PC guy so no Apple computers. How much storage, memory, video and processing speed/brand will I need? What do you think of buying one from Costco? Thanks!

[hcoles]

There must be people here that know much more than I think I do.
- SSD drive (1T or 500GB)
- lots of main memory (8GB?)
- i5 or i7 processor
I use a Lenovo T460, I think it has a 14" screen

[stomachmonkey]

As far as Windows laptops i’m a big fan of the DELL XPS line.

Thin, light, great ergonomics, good battery life and available in specs to fit most budgets.

An i5 or better, 8gb of ram and 500gb or better ssd will be plenty for your intended use.

If you are a Costco member they regularly have good deals on them.

I also happen to like the Surface Pro a lot.

Really portable but a bit limited on connectivity.

It’s a convertible meaning you can run it in tablet or standard PC layouts.

Very capable mobile platform but they are spendy for same spec as an XPS.

With portables my general advice is spend your budget since they typically don’t have the same upgrade options down the road.

More and more common these days that RAM and hard drives are integrated on the motherboard and can’t be bumped up later so you are stuck with what you bought so check that and take it under consideration no matter what you ultimately end up buying

Edit: missed the Costco question before.

Yes, buy from Costco. They tend to have better deals than the other big boxes.

My recommendations are based on having owned those devices.

Each of my kids got a Surface for college class use and ive had 3 XPS’s.

[Tishabet]

If using the internet and media streaming are your primary uses I would go straight to a chromebook. This one is pretty good: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086383HC7

[JackDidley]

Originally Posted by Tishabet

If using the internet and media streaming are your primary uses I would go straight to a chromebook. This one is pretty good: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086383HC7

Chromebooks for surfing the net. If you need more get a Dell Latitude, business laptop. Built much better than the cheap Dells. I buy the Dells used for cheap.

[JavaBrewer]

Dell business laptops encroach Apple products on price, but lack the quality hardware. OP listed online/cloud needs only so I second a Chrome book.

[island911]

What ever you do, do it quickly. IMO you want to stay away from Windows 11. At least for a while. That is being pushed out right now.

I'll second the Surface Pro - actually, the Surface Pro 7+. I saw that Costco has these now. The one big improvement is the SSD is replaceable on the 7+ allowing an easy upgrade path to a TB without spending 3k. - I spent ~2k on mine, and another $200 for the TB drive. Or just pay $3k and get the full boat version.

Originally Posted by Tishabet

If using the internet and media streaming are your primary uses I would go straight to a chromebook. This one is pretty good: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086383HC7

He said he is a PC guy.

[aigel]

I have good experiences with Apple laptops. Both for college kids, my wife and now me. Either a 13 inch air or a MacBook Pro (may wait for the new one to hit on that front). I can't say I love the iOS user interface but I got used to it okay. I find they last about twice as long as my average window laptop and that justifies the higher price in my book. I like to not produce a bunch of waste every 2 years.

[Icemaster]

Originally Posted by hcoles

There must be people here that know much more than I think I do.
- SSD drive (1T or 500GB)
- lots of main memory (8GB?)
- i5 or i7 processor

If you're not a power user, this is close to the sweet spot. I'd go 16 gb on RAM and a 15" screen.

Check Woot.com for some good deals, I have both HP and Lenovo in the house, main workhorse has been an HP Elitebook G4 that's been running strong for 4 years. I wouldn't trade it, the others are backups that I've acquired for when this one fails. Which it refuses to do.

[stealthn]

Budget?

[Jims5543]

Originally Posted by stealthn

Budget?

+1

I am sending this post from a 2011 ASUS ROG Laptop, it cost me about $1400.

I had to replace the hard drive about 6 years ago and put in a SSD in its place.

Other than that, it has never given me a problem, I love it so much I purchased another ASUS ROG Laptop in 2016 to keep at home and to travel with, it came with a SSD and it has been flawless as well.

Therefore that makes me an ASUS brand whore.

[stevej37]

Chromebooks work great for what you want to use it for...imo

[id10t]

Whatever you can buy from Dell as a small business/home office type (better hardware and warranty) for $600 and then add on/extend the warranty to next day on site parts replacement for 3-5 years.

[berettafan]

I’m not a tech guy and use my laptop for work and some internet. Work is all cloud stuff. Have owned my MacBook Pro for several years now (it’s the pre Touch Bar design, not sure when that was) and it’s as good as new. Also incredibly tough.

Should I for some reason need another I wouldn’t bother with any other brand. When I had pc laptops I’d always notice sales on newer laptops and wonder if I should get the latest. With the MacBook now after at least 4 or 5 years I couldn’t tell you anything about what’s out there in the laptop market. I love new gadgets but this thing is so supremely competent for my uses and so pleasant to handle I’ve quit looking.

[stomachmonkey]

FWIW.

I picked up an M1 Air for my wife and 13” M1 MacBook Pro for myself.

The M1 chips are stupid fast.

The Pro absolutely smokes my custom built $5k production rigs and it cost less than just one of the two GPU’s in those rigs and has the battery life of a tablet, easy 8 hours.

[recycled sixtie]

Good question CD. I bought a 17 inch screen HP from Costco a year ago and I am very happy with it. The big screen is almost as good as a tv and being older and having to wear glasses it is easier to read and watch.

Costco has a good selection of laptops and prices I think are reasonable. I don't know the technical side of it but it has lots of memory. I don't do games on it but there are dedicated game laptops there as well. I don't like buying a laptop online and usually there is a person to help with selection. The previous laptop I bought at Best Buy. Can't remember the make though. I had to return that one as there was an issue and it got returned to the wrong address(a nightmare for real).

Not familiar with returning a laptop to Costco. Never done it before but with returning stuff so far not a problem. My laptops usually last about four years. This is my second HP. Let us know what you choose and why?

Pros for buying at Costco:

Price paid was $800 cdn or about $600 us.
Return policy I believe is good
Good selection

Cons: I cannot think of any.

[flatbutt]

Isn't the chip shortage impacting the 'puter market right now?

[jyl]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

Isn't the chip shortage impacting the 'puter market right now?

To some degree, yes.

OP, you might consider getting a thin light laptop and one or more separate monitors. Have the large screen(s) when you want them, a compact handy portable when you want that.

I use Macs at home, PCs at work. My 2015 MacBook Pro is still going strong, which is impressive for a 6 year old machine. I may buy a new MBP anyway as the Apple M chips look really impressive. My 2019 Lenovo P1 is a very nice machine for work, but I'm disappointed in the keyboard; Lenovo used to have really good KBs but now they are not special.

[nota]

Originally Posted by hcoles

There must be people here that know much more than I think I do.
- SSD drive (1T or 500GB)
- lots of main memory (8GB?)
- i5 or i7 processor
I use a Lenovo T460, I think it has a 14" screen

m.2 drive is much faster then the SSD as much as the SSD over a spinner

16GB future proof nobody said I have too much

i5 if you get a video card the diff in the i5 vs i7 is the i7 built in but not excellent video
a Vcard is better but costs more but the i7 is not needed if the box has a Vcard

w11 is coming your new box should be ready for it

[hbueno]

If you like a bit of DIY and modularity, this may be up your alley: https://frame.work/

As far as specs:
16 GB of RAM
CPU: i5 is fine, even for gaming.
Storage: whatever SSD size fits your needs.256 GB as a minimum

Dell business (Latitude) laptops are decent, but stay away from their consumer laptops. The innards are fine, but the cases are cheap and flimsy.

Lenovo is fine as well. I don't have any experience with HP.