Looking for a new laptop.

[SarahMarie1987]

My trusty laptop has reached its end, I am afraid. It has been with me through 2 colleges and 2 degrees. A few moves. A few drops. But all in all, it has been an awesomely great machine. It was a Toshiba Satellite 10. It will be sorely missed.

But I am looking out for its replacement (sob!) in the near future (aka when I have the cash). Any suggestions?

Ideal laptop would be able to do the following:
Use for writing and or blogging. Like if I need to jump out a piece real quick.
Music. This is what is hurting my one now. Music (Itunes) plays, but every song skips or jumps when using another program.
Video (and maybe video editing) Some times I like to shoot little videos on my phone.
Other than that price is a later issue really.

[Laura_7]

Well from your requirements there should not be too high demands on hardware...

any thoughts of OS ? Linux, Apple, Win ?

Concerning your problem with music you might try a few different players, or give the music process priority...
techrepublic dot com/forums/questions/start-program-with-realtime-priority-by-default/
careful with realtime.. you might rather try other priorities...


hugs

[SarahMarie1987]

Well from your requirements there should not be too high demands on hardware...

any thoughts of OS ? Linux, Apple, Win ?

Concerning your problem with music you might try a few different players, or give the music process priority...
techrepublic dot com/forums/questions/start-program-with-realtime-priority-by-default/
careful with realtime.. you might rather try other priorities...


hugs

Thanks!

I knew I forgot something about the OS. I've used Windows all my computing life. But I think I could switch to Apple if their prices were fairly cheap. And if their OS isn't too hard. It seems to me that Windows is trying to get into a mobile laptop/tablet kind of thing. I'm not really
into that.

[Laura_7]

Well I'd say just have a look around in your price class then... there are no special demands...

you could compare a bit for sizes and screens, and how it feels for you...
same for the apples... sometimes they are accessible in shops so you could have a look and get a feel of their os...

if you're into gaming win could be a bit more of advantage...

and a word of caution... touching and shopping around might lead to wants

I'd say take your time...

and maybe you can live until then with raising the priority of your music application one notch...


hugs

[SarahMarie1987]

Well I'd say just have a look around in your price class then... there are no special demands...

you could compare a bit for sizes and screens, and how it feels for you...
same for the apples... sometimes they are accessible in shops so you could have a look and get a feel of their os...

if you're into gaming win could be a bit more of advantage...

and a word of caution... touching and shopping around might lead to wants

I'd say take your time...

and maybe you can live until then with raising the priority of your music application one notch...


hugs

Thank you for your help!

And yes, touching and looking do lead to wanting(!) Ack! Lol.

I think the easiest thing to do is save up the money first and do a little comparison shopping really.

[Kelly_1979]

Can't really recommend anything since models available vary by country and region but I'd say lenovo's dell's toshiba's are fairly good (if possible try not to buy from their cheap line). Get one with a good full hd screen if possible. 1366x768 is so low. I don't have a macbook but probably I wouldn't buy one (too expensive etc).

For gaming I wouldn't get a laptop. Regarding video editing get one with a fairly strong cpu [beware of the Ultra power saving models] , gpu and lots of ram (or available slots for so-dimm). 8gb on laptop for medium- heavy use is more or less ok. If you intend to heavily use virtual machines I would advice 12 or 16gb (although 8gb is more or less ok for pretty much everything, based on normal use).

[Swayallday]

I'd go for atleast i5 processor and 700+ series NVIDIA video card (GPU)

500-700€ (500-800bucks?)

If you don't do any gaming that will suffice and the rest isn't that important.

Otherwise do CTRL+ALT+DEL and start a new task and type dxdiag if you will.
copy the .txt file and upload it here so I can compare whether you have to throw so much money at it or not:p

cheers

[islandgirl]

I was a PC user for all of my working life. After I retired I needed to replace my old laptop. I found my new 13 inch Macbook Pro and will never look back. Does everything I like and more!

[katrinaw]

Love my Satellite too, mines about 3 yo now, but will look at a Mac next... will mean changes, but I won't miss all those MS Windows updates and hiccoughs they cause!

L Katy

[Lady Smith]

My daughter studied computer science and electronics at university and works here from home doing programming and software creation at a fairly esoteric level.  She has always said she wouldn't own a Mac as their walled garden approach to everything is too much of a pain in the butt to work with.  They are expensive too for what they can actually do.

I used an IBM Thinkpad T30 for many years and loved it.  I only retired it because it simply became too old to run modern software at any kind of useful speed anymore.  I have an older HP/Compaq Presario C500 laptop running Windows 7 at present which only really gets used when I go to the library or if I'm writing.  I don't really do anything demanding on it so it does for me at present.
One thing about HP laptops though, some models had poor processor cooling and would slowly cook themselves over time and fail prematurely.  The one I bought for my son when he was doing his law degree did this and was a big disappointment.

My daughter has a Dell laptop that she drags around everywhere with her and it seems to be virtually indestructible.  I've lost count of how many different operating systems she's run on it over the time she's owned it, battery life is good too.  If I was in the market for a new laptop myself I would buy a Dell.  Don't be scared off by Windows 8.1, it works fine, better than the previous versions of Windows truth be told.  And don't let the tablet thing worry you either as there are plenty of laptops on the market and will be for a long time.

[SarahMarie1987]

My daughter studied computer science and electronics at university and works here from home doing programming and software creation at a fairly esoteric level.  She has always said she wouldn't own a Mac as their walled garden approach to everything is too much of a pain in the butt to work with.  They are expensive too for what they can actually do.

I used an IBM Thinkpad T30 for many years and loved it.  I only retired it because it simply became too old to run modern software at any kind of useful speed anymore.  I have an older HP/Compaq Presario C500 laptop running Windows 7 at present which only really gets used when I go to the library or if I'm writing.  I don't really do anything demanding on it so it does for me at present.
One thing about HP laptops though, some models had poor processor cooling and would slowly cook themselves over time and fail prematurely.  The one I bought for my son when he was doing his law degree did this and was a big disappointment.

My daughter has a Dell laptop that she drags around everywhere with her and it seems to be virtually indestructible.  I've lost count of how many different operating systems she's run on it over the time she's owned it, battery life is good too.  If I was in the market for a new laptop myself I would buy a Dell.  Don't be scared off by Windows 8.1, it works fine, better than the previous versions of Windows truth be told.  And don't let the tablet thing worry you either as there are plenty of laptops on the market and will be for a long time.

I like that phrase "Walled garden approach". It pretty much sums up Apple to me.

My mother had the same HP issue. Took us forever to figure out that was what the issue was. I think she did get a refund at some point though.

I've used Dells before and usually have had a good run with them. So we will see what happens with it.

Incidentally, I am curious if anyone would know that if a big box store (Best Buy, Staples, Wal-Mart) vs a local computing store (For example, we have a Chris' Computing Service, a local store 5 min from where I live.) is better or worse. As for customer service, pricing, overall quality, and just store layout.

[Laura_7]

I like that phrase "Walled garden approach". It pretty much sums up Apple to me.

My mother had the same HP issue. Took us forever to figure out that was what the issue was. I think she did get a refund at some point though.

I've used Dells before and usually have had a good run with them. So we will see what happens with it.

Incidentally, I am curious if anyone would know that if a big box store (Best Buy, Staples, Wal-Mart) vs a local computing store (For example, we have a Chris' Computing Service, a local store 5 min from where I live.) is better or worse. As for customer service, pricing, overall quality, and just store layout.

In the big stores you basically buy a cheap package.
Careful, some hardware might be made customized for them. For example a series with downgraded drives etc... look exactly at specs.

Small stores offer customer support, advice, customized products and often further products like software etc.

[SarahMarie1987]

Thank you for the information. :-)

I will have to shop around. But I think a smaller place sounds up my alley.