Need laptop, suggestions?

[my2¢]

Wife finally decided her Apple iPad doesn't cut it and wants to get a new laptop. I've stuck with a desktop computer through the years so I'm not much help in offering advice.

She'll be using Office 365 (Outlook, Word, Excel), cruising the web (Facebook and such) and for doing her banking and paying assorted bills. Pretty basic.

I'm thinking around $400 would get her what she needs. Any suggestions as to (1) a good laptop and (2) where to purchase it would be appreciated.

 

[Pogo]

Wife finally decided her Apple iPad doesn't cut it and wants to get a new laptop. I've stuck with a desktop computer through the years so I'm not much help in offering advice.

She'll be using Office 365 (Outlook, Word, Excel), cruising the web (Facebook and such) and for doing her banking and paying assorted bills. Pretty basic.

I'm thinking around $400 would get her what she needs. Any suggestions as to (1) a good laptop and (2) where to purchase it would be appreciated.

I just went through this with a comprehensive search for what I wanted. My old system was moving at glacial speed and giving me all kinds of hints that it wanted to retire.

I settled on a Dell Latitude E6530 -- you have to get very specific with these model numbers -- with an Intel i7 processor. Several years old and wiped out with a new hard drive but in excellent physical shape. Built like a tank and runs like the wind.

The hard drive is solid state so it's way WAY faster than a spin-up, which I'll be adding by removing the CD and inserting a 500 gig new traditional HD, a process I can do in 30 seconds. The spin-up will hold the bulky files and the SSHD does the operating system.

Other than still not getting the lighted keyboard I wanted it's got everything I could possibly ask and it's lightning quick. All told with the extra hard drive it will have cost me just over $200. Purchased from eBay.

 

[Ringel05]

Wife finally decided her Apple iPad doesn't cut it and wants to get a new laptop. I've stuck with a desktop computer through the years so I'm not much help in offering advice.

She'll be using Office 365 (Outlook, Word, Excel), cruising the web (Facebook and such) and for doing her banking and paying assorted bills. Pretty basic.

I'm thinking around $400 would get her what she needs. Any suggestions as to (1) a good laptop and (2) where to purchase it would be appreciated.

 

[there4eyeM]

Wife finally decided her Apple iPad doesn't cut it and wants to get a new laptop. I've stuck with a desktop computer through the years so I'm not much help in offering advice.

She'll be using Office 365 (Outlook, Word, Excel), cruising the web (Facebook and such) and for doing her banking and paying assorted bills. Pretty basic.

I'm thinking around $400 would get her what she needs. Any suggestions as to (1) a good laptop and (2) where to purchase it would be appreciated.

....and, it's rice powered!

 

[Ringel05]

Wife finally decided her Apple iPad doesn't cut it and wants to get a new laptop. I've stuck with a desktop computer through the years so I'm not much help in offering advice.

She'll be using Office 365 (Outlook, Word, Excel), cruising the web (Facebook and such) and for doing her banking and paying assorted bills. Pretty basic.

I'm thinking around $400 would get her what she needs. Any suggestions as to (1) a good laptop and (2) where to purchase it would be appreciated.

This is for real.......
Top 10 Best Laptops Under $400 of 2018 - Best Guide for Budget Buyers

 

[Pogo]

Wife finally decided her Apple iPad doesn't cut it and wants to get a new laptop. I've stuck with a desktop computer through the years so I'm not much help in offering advice.

She'll be using Office 365 (Outlook, Word, Excel), cruising the web (Facebook and such) and for doing her banking and paying assorted bills. Pretty basic.

I'm thinking around $400 would get her what she needs. Any suggestions as to (1) a good laptop and (2) where to purchase it would be appreciated.

This is for real.......
Top 10 Best Laptops Under $400 of 2018 - Best Guide for Budget Buyers

That's basically the route I took several years ago when I got the laptop that ran out of steam -- the "budget" line. Probably paid around 400 at the time too.

The thing is you pay all that markup for a "latest" product, much like a car. This one I'm on now was in its "new" day a high-end product and prolly cost four times that -- but now it's "dated" and costs half that. And I've got far more in performance with my $200 investment than I ever had with my $400 one, even when it was new and fresh.

So I don't think I'd walk into a store again.

 

[Pogo]

Wife finally decided her Apple iPad doesn't cut it and wants to get a new laptop. I've stuck with a desktop computer through the years so I'm not much help in offering advice.

She'll be using Office 365 (Outlook, Word, Excel), cruising the web (Facebook and such) and for doing her banking and paying assorted bills. Pretty basic.

I'm thinking around $400 would get her what she needs. Any suggestions as to (1) a good laptop and (2) where to purchase it would be appreciated.

....and, it's rice powered!

That's ricist!

 

[Erinwltr]

Wife finally decided her Apple iPad doesn't cut it and wants to get a new laptop. I've stuck with a desktop computer through the years so I'm not much help in offering advice.

She'll be using Office 365 (Outlook, Word, Excel), cruising the web (Facebook and such) and for doing her banking and paying assorted bills. Pretty basic.

I'm thinking around $400 would get her what she needs. Any suggestions as to (1) a good laptop and (2) where to purchase it would be appreciated.

This is for real.......
Top 10 Best Laptops Under $400 of 2018 - Best Guide for Budget Buyers

That Asus VivoBook 14 is serious contender. Light, powerful, great sized screen and the keyboard is comfortable.

 

[there4eyeM]

Wife finally decided her Apple iPad doesn't cut it and wants to get a new laptop. I've stuck with a desktop computer through the years so I'm not much help in offering advice.

She'll be using Office 365 (Outlook, Word, Excel), cruising the web (Facebook and such) and for doing her banking and paying assorted bills. Pretty basic.

I'm thinking around $400 would get her what she needs. Any suggestions as to (1) a good laptop and (2) where to purchase it would be appreciated.

....and, it's rice powered!

That's ricist!

There you liberals go again! Your cry-baby bleeding hearts! Racists everywhere! In the woodpile! Under the bed! Behind the abacus!
Oh! You said "ricist"!
Nevermind!

 

[Indeependent]

Buy at a store and have them boot it successfully for you before you walk out with it.

 

[Pogo]

Wife finally decided her Apple iPad doesn't cut it and wants to get a new laptop. I've stuck with a desktop computer through the years so I'm not much help in offering advice.

She'll be using Office 365 (Outlook, Word, Excel), cruising the web (Facebook and such) and for doing her banking and paying assorted bills. Pretty basic.

I'm thinking around $400 would get her what she needs. Any suggestions as to (1) a good laptop and (2) where to purchase it would be appreciated.

....and, it's rice powered!

That's ricist!

There you liberals go again! Your cry-baby bleeding hearts! Racists everywhere! In the woodpile! Under the bed! Behind the abacus!
Oh! You said "ricist"!
Nevermind!

Actually it takes on a whole 'nother meaning if you do it in a Southern accent....

 

[koshergrl]

I walk into the nearest best buy, fred meyer, or walmart and look at what they have.
I pick the one usually that is marked down the most, usually because they are no longer carrying them...which means it isn't the brand new version of whatever people are paying too much for.

I picked up a beautiful HP desktop set up for the kids last year that way.

I also got my current chromebook that way.

 

[my2¢]

I laugh but I shouldn't. I do remember this from the 60's, think everybody in our family used it once and found out it was just another piece of crap:

​

And back in '71 during the first week of high school physics we learned to use our:

, much more useful.​

 

[koshergrl]

 

[koshergrl]

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

Wife finally decided her Apple iPad doesn't cut it and wants to get a new laptop. I've stuck with a desktop computer through the years so I'm not much help in offering advice.

She'll be using Office 365 (Outlook, Word, Excel), cruising the web (Facebook and such) and for doing her banking and paying assorted bills. Pretty basic.

I'm thinking around $400 would get her what she needs. Any suggestions as to (1) a good laptop and (2) where to purchase it would be appreciated.

I have a Lenovo Yoga, totally solid state. It's pretty nice. My last was a Dell XPS 15, expensive, total piece of garbage. I also have a MacBook Pro, an iPad and a Surface Pro. All pretty decent machines.

 

[Ringel05]

Wife finally decided her Apple iPad doesn't cut it and wants to get a new laptop. I've stuck with a desktop computer through the years so I'm not much help in offering advice.

She'll be using Office 365 (Outlook, Word, Excel), cruising the web (Facebook and such) and for doing her banking and paying assorted bills. Pretty basic.

I'm thinking around $400 would get her what she needs. Any suggestions as to (1) a good laptop and (2) where to purchase it would be appreciated.

....and, it's rice powered!

That's ricist!

Unkotare is offended.......

 

[Ringel05]

Wife finally decided her Apple iPad doesn't cut it and wants to get a new laptop. I've stuck with a desktop computer through the years so I'm not much help in offering advice.

She'll be using Office 365 (Outlook, Word, Excel), cruising the web (Facebook and such) and for doing her banking and paying assorted bills. Pretty basic.

I'm thinking around $400 would get her what she needs. Any suggestions as to (1) a good laptop and (2) where to purchase it would be appreciated.

I have a Lenovo Yoga, totally solid state. It's pretty nice. My last was a Dell XPS 15, expensive, total piece of garbage. I also have a MacBook Pro, an iPad and a Surface Pro. All pretty decent machines.

Want another one?

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Wife finally decided her Apple iPad doesn't cut it and wants to get a new laptop. I've stuck with a desktop computer through the years so I'm not much help in offering advice.

She'll be using Office 365 (Outlook, Word, Excel), cruising the web (Facebook and such) and for doing her banking and paying assorted bills. Pretty basic.

I'm thinking around $400 would get her what she needs. Any suggestions as to (1) a good laptop and (2) where to purchase it would be appreciated.

This is for real.......
Top 10 Best Laptops Under $400 of 2018 - Best Guide for Budget Buyers

That Asus VivoBook 14 is serious contender. Light, powerful, great sized screen and the keyboard is comfortable.

Had three ASUS and had nothing but problems with them.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Funny....
Just ordered a new 15 inch MacBook Pro about ten minutes ago.
Selling my 2015 MacBook Pro.