Looking for a new laptop

[Sagebrush1]

Hello,

I haven’t computer shopped in a looooong time so I need some help. We are starting a small business and we want to upgrade from the little chrome book that we’ve had for the last 5 or 6 years.
We need the ability to do basic things:
- access internet to use basic software for business (email, quickbooks, TurboTax, etc) and EHR sites
- use Zoom and Telehealth
- save and modify docs
- print docs
- effective “antivirus” protection

As you may gather from my questions, my computer experience has mostly been with work systems. We got this chrome book but it’s kind of a pain in the butt because dealing with a non-windows-based system is counter intuitive to our old brains.

I was going thinking a Windows 10 system would work. Am I on the right track? What am I missing?
Thanks
Jim

 

[Pucky Freak]

We just bought Dell Inspiron 15 7501 i5, 8 GB ram Windows 10. Touchscreen + keyboard. Works great no complaints. About $1k including MS Office Suite.

 

[WapitiBob]

I'm partial to laptops; I take mine everywhere including hunting camp and ran my cnc shop off one for almost a decade. Sitting in my recliner right now with tabs open in chrome, pdf's of draw odds, and google earth working on WY Antelope app selection.
Go to best buy and ask the computer kid what's getting returned and what isn't.

 

[Bowmannate2000]

I work in IT in a school. We have our teachers set up on Lenovo Thinkpad L13yoga, and Thinkbook 14s. Both models seem to be quite nice for an entry to mid level business model. These flip around into tablet mode and include a stylus. They also have versions without the tablet mode and touch screen. I can usually find them on Amazon for around $750, sometimes less.

Whatever you get, I would recommend minimums of i5 for processor, 8gb RAM, and a solid state drive (SSD). SSD is pretty standard now, but you can still find models with standard hard drives which are much slower.

 

[Sagebrush1]

Thanks guys. Time to start shopping!

 

[rustednuts]

I work in IT in a school. We have our teachers set up on Lenovo Thinkpad L13yoga, and Thinkbook 14s. Both models seem to be quite nice for an entry to mid level business model. These flip around into tablet mode and include a stylus. They also have versions without the tablet mode and touch screen. I can usually find them on Amazon for around $750, sometimes less.

Whatever you get, I would recommend minimums of i5 for processor, 8gb RAM, and a solid state drive (SSD). SSD is pretty standard now, but you can still find models with standard hard drives which are much slower.

I work in IT for healthcare and recommend similar specs. Sounds like you’re handling ephi so be sure to enable encryption with bitlocker in the event the laptop is lost or stolen

 

[dirtclod Az.]

I have a Chromebook Acer and I can log into HT, and
watch Randy Newburg on YouTube!

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

I’d buy a Mac lol they last 2-3x as long. I’ve burned through 4 work laptops since I bought my mac book pro. Our IT policy is to get new hardware every 3 years and at 2.5 every pc I’ve had is on its last legs. I have a Mac mini from ‘13 and a Mac book pro from ‘12 and both are still in great shape.

I also prefer desktop to a laptop if it doesn’t have to be a laptop. For the price of a janky laptop you can get a desktop with two big monitors which is great.

If your getting a pc laptop I agree get one with decent specs. SSD with 16gb of ram would be my min.

 

[1_pointer]

I’d buy a Mac lol they last 2-3x as long. I’ve burned through 4 work laptops since I bought my mac book pro. Our IT policy is to get new hardware every 3 years and at 2.5 every pc I’ve had is on its last legs. I have a Mac mini from ‘13 and a Mac book pro from ‘12 and both are still in great shape.

I also prefer desktop to a laptop if it doesn’t have to be a laptop. For the price of a janky laptop you can get a desktop with two big monitors which is great.

If your getting a pc laptop I agree get one with decent specs. SSD with 16gb of ram would be my min.

What he said. Our Mac has been the most trouble free computer I've ever owned and by a large margin.

 

[VikingsGuy]

I’d buy a Mac lol they last 2-3x as long. I’ve burned through 4 work laptops since I bought my mac book pro. Our IT policy is to get new hardware every 3 years and at 2.5 every pc I’ve had is on its last legs. I have a Mac mini from ‘13 and a Mac book pro from ‘12 and both are still in great shape.

I also prefer desktop to a laptop if it doesn’t have to be a laptop. For the price of a janky laptop you can get a desktop with two big monitors which is great.

If your getting a pc laptop I agree get one with decent specs. SSD with 16gb of ram would be my min.

If the software you need is on the Mac and you are willing to re-learn some of the small differences in OS, a macbook is a no brainer. They simply perform longer than comparable PCs.

 

[SD_Prairie_Goat]

I'd second the Mac. Still using a Macbook Pro from 2011 for basically what you described. Not as powerful as the new machines but still works for the minor stuff I need it to.

Oh, and I even stepped on the screen once and cracked it... still going strong though ha!


Just bought the GF an Macbook Air, if you don't need the disk drive they work very well. She loves the thing for surfing the web and what not. If you go with a factory refurbished unit they can be had for around $500 or so

 

[Sam Colt]

With Apple shifting from Intel to their own chips, now might not be the best time to take the plunge. May want to wait until their chips have been proven, and you don't know how long MacOS will be supported for Intel.

 

[Bowmannate2000]

I would disagree on Mac being better than comparable PC. If you spend as much for a PC as the price of an apple, you will get a very nice machine. Most people that complain PCs don't last as long, are buying a cheap PC. Apple generally has good hardware, but their keyboards have been very bad for years. They finally fixed this, but a Thinkpad is still going to be far superior in this area. In my experience, the failure rate on mac's and PCs is about the same, and longevity with a good PC isn't an issue. Conversely, older mac's will stop receiving operating system updates sooner than windows machines.

If you like the Mac OS, nothing wrong with getting one. I just think if you are going to spend that much, you can get a much better windows computer.

 

[longbow51]

FWIW my SIL is an instructor at Army Cyber Command. Mostly civilian professors, and essentially all of them have...Macs. Running Linux. Not that you need Linux for what you want to do.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

I would disagree on Mac being better than comparable PC. If you spend as much for a PC as the price of an apple, you will get a very nice machine. Most people that complain PCs don't last as long, are buying a cheap PC. Apple generally has good hardware, but their keyboards have been very bad for years. They finally fixed this, but a Thinkpad is still going to be far superior in this area. In my experience, the failure rate on mac's and PCs is about the same, and longevity with a good PC isn't an issue. Conversely, older mac's will stop receiving operating system updates sooner than windows machines.

If you like the Mac OS, nothing wrong with getting one. I just think if you are going to spend that much, you can get a much better windows computer.

• ZBook Studio G5 with Intel i7 with 32gb ram

My last work laptop... that's what I'm comparing an 8 year old Mac book Pro to.

 

[Bowmannate2000]

• ZBook Studio G5 with Intel i7 with 32gb ram

My last work laptop... that's what I'm comparing an 8 year old Mac book Pro to.

Glad you like your apple . Since you love your apple so much that it is featured in your profile picture, it is clear you are unbiased on this issue .

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

Glad you like your apple . Since you love your apple so much that it is featured in your profile picture, it is clear you are unbiased on this issue .

Yeah probably says something considering I have a PC tablet from work, 2 pc desktops, and review the computer purchases for 100 machines (PCs) at work.

I'm not in love with OS though, I wouldn't build a hackintosh, conversely I run windows via bootcamp on my macs, I like the hardware better (laptops).

 

[Bowmannate2000]

I just like to give apple die hards a hard time . I've used and manage both (as well as chromebooks). Managing Macs is a pain in an enterprise network, but a lot of that has to do with Apple not playing nice with Microsoft active directory, so I'll admit I am biased as well .

 

[CycleFishHunt]

I am a long-term Mac user, but it really comes down to taste. Windows PCs are certainly good enough given that most of the desktop computing world uses them. (Personally, I have disliked Windows going all the way back to at least Win 3.1).

However, if you've used Macs and like the experience, I recommend it. I have found them to be ridiculously reliable, and they last a long time. My wife still uses my 2011 vintage MacBook Air without issue.

Also, if you have an iPhone, having everything in the Apple/iCloud ecosystem makes life a little easier. If not, .

And good luck with your new venture!

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

Macs... in an enterprise network