Help choosing a Win 10 laptop

Goldengirl. I'm a born shopper. Give me a few minutes, okay?

UPDATE -- I don't know if you're still at the $200 pricepoint, but if you could go up $150 --

https://www.amazon.com/Vivobook-Touc...gateway&sr=8-3

That's great pool man while you're out there pick me up a pool

I've never seen this one before --

https://www.amazon.com/Celeron-Proce...1&s=pc&sr=1-37




Best advice ever: never buy any laptop until you've seen a handful of YouTube reviews of it.

My Personal Advice: the screen is critical. The cheesier the screen, the less happy you'll be eyeballing it. I'm not saying you need some insane Apple Retina Schmetina 8K 10 Trillion color screen.

What's needed is Full HD (1080p) and IPS... which translates as 'real purty'. That doubles your budget, but with that screen usually comes twice the spec. I used to own an Asus ZenBook Flip -- which has that screen plus is skinny plus is touch plus 8GBs of RAM, nice keyboard, nice storage. The problem? Pricy unless used --

ASUS ZenBook Flip UX360CA (13.1" screen, 512GB SSD, Touchscreen Laptop) | eBay

theoldwizard1 said:

I have not read all of the posts, so I really don't know the OP budget but I do know he spec'd a very small screen.

I think this is a very good deal. You will be hard pressed to find a similarly equipped notebook anywhere else.

HP Pavilion Laptop - 15z $540

• Ryzen 5 3500U
• 16 GB memory
• 256 GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD

If you want to splurge on something, the $40 Full HD IPS display is worth the money.

As I posted above, the HP Probook has a similar spec / price but is built to a higher standard with better warranty support.

The Pool Man said:

https://www.amazon.com/Vivobook-Touc...gateway&sr=8-3

The Pool Man said:

https://www.amazon.com/Celeron-Proce...1&s=pc&sr=1-37

My Personal Advice: the screen is critical. The cheesier the screen, the less happy you'll be eyeballing it.
.
.
.
What's needed is Full HD (1080p) and IPS... which translates as 'real purty'.

With only 4 GB of memory Windows 10 will be swapping so much, the machine will be useless !

But I do agree about the screen ! 1080p and IPS. Worth the money !

- - - Updated - - -

- - - Updated - - -

Steve C said:

As I posted above, the HP Probook has a similar spec / price but is built to a higher standard with better warranty support.

All of the ProBooks start at a higher price and have less memory

HP ProBook 445R G6 Notebook PC $679

after watching several videos, some I did 2 videos on same product, and I like this the best, even though I had to pay a bit more, I think it will suit me fine. I know many of you wouldn't go for something this cheap, and lacking in the areas that you prefer, but for me, I think I'll be fine with it, and for my purposes.

Really appreciate all I learned here because I would have spent much less most likely if I hadn't consider things like dual processor & quad, 32 bit, 64 bit. Things like that I know little about but am always impressed by a larger number, unless it's in dollars I will have to switch from that S-mode. Need to read up on it, and did find easy instruction.

https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-Displa...9267730&sr=8-1

Thanks again, and I will come back to the thread and give what I find to be pros and cons on it

The Pool Man said:

I was trying to meet her pricepoint. In a PM I suggested any laptop below $550 isn't really worth it.

I've gotten annoyed that -- in general -- there's (seems to be) some domestic price fixing going in the American laptop market.

Try to find a decent 13 inch laptop with a nice IPS screen, 8GBs of RAM, and 256 SSD. They don't exist.

WOW ! I agree 100% !! The only thing I would debate with you is if 1080P is "required" for a screen smaller than 15".


Segue - Way off base, but related. The Raspberry Pi 4 now can be purchased with a desktop kit (housing, power supply, keyboard and mouse). Add a display (any TV) and you have a desktop that can do email, surf the web, do some word processing and light spread sheets, play music and watch videos on. All for about $120.

Nexdock is developing a notebook for the Raspbery Pi 4. It will have a 13" FHD IPS display, keyboard, trackpad, 38Wh battery and stereo speakers. At $260, it is a bit pricey (add $55 for the Raspberry Pi 4 itself).

If Microsoft wants to be a player in the low end market, they had better get serious about Windows on Arm !

theoldwizard1 said:

WOW ! I agree 100% !! The only thing I would debate with you is if 1080P is "required" for a screen smaller than 15".

I'm from 29 years of Apple ONLY. I can compromise in all sorts of ways but not MEH screens. For me 1080p, IPS, and 'fine' color is something I can't let go of.

Hey, if they want to offer cheaper screens, all power to them. But to force us to pay more for a 13 inch with a solid screen than a 15 inch with an 'okay' screen is infuriating.

I was trying to switch a college freshman off of a MacBook Air and over to an Asus 13 inch Vivobook. But since one didn't exist with a reasonably similar screen, she got the MacBook. In the best case scenario I could only manage to save her $100 on a nice ZenBook over the Air.

It should have been at least $399 in savings via a Vivobook to make it interesting for her. Asus can sell a slim 13 inch Vivobook for $599, but they won't because they hope they can get you to buy a 15 inch for $100 more with a B+ screen.

To me, that's stupid.

The Pool Man said:

I'm from 29 years of Apple ONLY. I can compromise in all sorts of ways but not MEH screens. For me 1080p, IPS, and 'fine' color is something I can't let go of.

I recently got a new notebook (the old one died when it slid off the couch and broke a hinge) and the one thing I am very happy I upgraded was to a FHD IPS display !