I need a new laptop. HELP!!!! (please)

[Anonymous]

I need a new computer and I think I want a laptop. My ex-husband was a computer guy and the computers I’ve had for the last 30 years were assembled from his cast-off parts. The last computer I had any input on was the Tandy my parents bought me for college. Clearly, I need help.

I need a something that can handle major business applications, especially Microsoft Office, because my skills are outdated and I need to get them up to speed. I do a lot of internet browsing (and end up with ridiculous amounts of tabs open), but very little gaming (mostly an ancient version of Civilization). I listen to Pandora and watch Youtube, but I don’t generally stream movies/TV.

I don’t like the idea of storing things on the cloud, so I’d prefer something that would be compatible with some type of backup device.

I tend to sit on the floor a lot, so a lightweight device that I can use in my actual lap would be great. It might be nice if there were some way I could connect it to a larger screen, ergonomic keyboard, etc., for large projects.

I don’t need a fancy bells and whistles system, but I tend to hold on to technology for years longer than most, so I am willing to invest more in capabilities that will prolong its useful life before it’s completely outdated.

Do you have any recommendations for me (or recommendations to avoid)? Is there anything I need to know? Where should I be shopping (Microcenter, Best Buy, Walmart/Target, Amazon, other)?

I greatly appreciate any and all help. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Microcenter probably will be the most helpful place to start.

[Anonymous]

Do you have an iPhone? If so I’d get a MacBook. Otherwise get a Dell or HP laptop.

[Anonymous]

I also am not tech savvy. I have a regular HP laptop. It has enough storage space, but for photos I transfer them to an external hard drive and also backup important documents on this drive.
I pay for a Microsoft subscription and I think it's around $80/year.
The laptop has a display port to connect to a larger monitor. I use a USB port for a wireless mouse. Since there are only 2 USB ports on this laptop I have a USB hub extension in the other port.

If you are not tech savvy, go to BestBuy. They are more expensive than other places but have a good return policy. The sales people are used to customers who have no knowledge of technology. Although some of the sales associates are also not very knowledgeable themselves.

https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/mdp/great-value-notebooks-348002--1/hp-laptop-laptops-tab4-module6-hplaptops

[Anonymous]

We are strictly an Apple household. DS received a Macbook for college that he found easy to set up (he has very little computer skills). I liked his so much I bought a smaller, more portable version. Typing this answer on it as we speak. You don't need microsoft office.

[Anonymous]

18:08 here. I do not use Apple products which is why I prefer an HP laptop. I used to have an iPhone in my late 20's/early 30's but switched to a Samsung after I had kids. It was so darn frustrating downloading photos to a physical drive. Apple designs their products so that you are forced to use their cloud services.
Also, while they have the same applications as Office, the files don't always convert properly. I have opened presentations in PowerPoint that were created on a MacBook and the images were all shifted and cropped and the embedded videos wouldn't play.

Having said that, if you already use Apple products, getting a MacBook may make sense for you.

[Anonymous]

Lenovo

[Anonymous]

Microsoft just released their new Surface Laptop. It’s nice, light, and good screen resolution. It’s $999 for the entry level which is fine for you. Get the MS Office subscription and you’ll be set.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
We are strictly an Apple household. DS received a Macbook for college that he found easy to set up (he has very little computer skills). I liked his so much I bought a smaller, more portable version. Typing this answer on it as we speak. You don't need microsoft office.

And btw I hate using the cloud. Back up hard drives in this house. Works perfectly fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
We are strictly an Apple household. DS received a Macbook for college that he found easy to set up (he has very little computer skills). I liked his so much I bought a smaller, more portable version. Typing this answer on it as we speak. You don't need microsoft office.

And btw I hate using the cloud. Back up hard drives in this house. Works perfectly fine.

How do you back up photos? Do you download via a cable or do you move the photos to the cloud and then download to a computer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
We are strictly an Apple household. DS received a Macbook for college that he found easy to set up (he has very little computer skills). I liked his so much I bought a smaller, more portable version. Typing this answer on it as we speak. You don't need microsoft office.

And btw I hate using the cloud. Back up hard drives in this house. Works perfectly fine.

How do you back up photos? Do you download via a cable or do you move the photos to the cloud and then download to a computer?

DP. I have a local fileserver and point Mac's Time Machine to it. For my computers, running Linux, I rsync once a month. For DW's iPhone, it backs up to iCloud. Since the Mac will sync to iCloud, eventually everything winds up on the local fileserver.

My computers just rsync to the local file server about once a month. That's "good enough."

Somewhere, there is a Windows laptop I use once a year. It's supposed to backup to the file server, but I have never really double-checked its work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:18:08 here. I do not use Apple products which is why I prefer an HP laptop. I used to have an iPhone in my late 20's/early 30's but switched to a Samsung after I had kids. It was so darn frustrating downloading photos to a physical drive. Apple designs their products so that you are forced to use their cloud services.
Also, while they have the same applications as Office, the files don't always convert properly. I have opened presentations in PowerPoint that were created on a MacBook and the images were all shifted and cropped and the embedded videos wouldn't play.

Having said that, if you already use Apple products, getting a MacBook may make sense for you.

I have a Mac and an iPhone. I have never used their iCloud. Sync'ing photos from iPhone to the disk inside my Mac is easy (at least for us non-iCloud people). Backups to an external drive also are easy.

Btw, I also have and use Microsoft Office for Mac (yes, it has existed for decades now) and that is fully compatible with MS Office for Windows.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
We are strictly an Apple household. DS received a Macbook for college that he found easy to set up (he has very little computer skills). I liked his so much I bought a smaller, more portable version. Typing this answer on it as we speak. You don't need microsoft office.

And btw I hate using the cloud. Back up hard drives in this house. Works perfectly fine.

How do you back up photos? Do you download via a cable or do you move the photos to the cloud and then download to a computer?

DP. I use a Lightning cable between Mac and iPhone, but it can be done in several other ways.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I really appreciate everyone’s help so far.

Most of my experience has been with IBM compatible PCs and Android, so I definitely want to stay in that area, rather than going Apple/MAC.

[Anonymous]

Costco or microcenter.

OP, for the needs you listed you don’t need that expensive of a laptop. You should be able to find one that suits your needs for easily less than 1k, probably a solid one for $700.

As for backup, ideally you have a backup in two places, one at home and one off site (cloud) but if no cloud, maybe consider a simple backup device. Microcenter might be better in that case as they are more computer savvy than Costco.