Need a New Laptop ...

[ChrisL]

When I went shopping for my laptop, there were some that were well over $1000. I was like !!! Show me to the 300 and 500 dollar laptops!

I know, right? The Lenovo I bought was $730 at Best Buy, got if for $670 on Amazon and all I heard was 'budget laptop' when asking questions about it. I refuse to pay over $1,000 for a laptop, especially when they don't last very long anyway.

I don't mind windows 8.1 at all. I thought it was going to be just awful but once you understand what they're trying to do, it's ok. I downloaded Classic Shell from here: Classic Shell - Start menu and other Windows enhancements to get the start menu back. Now when I press the 'windows' key on the laptop (bottom left area) the start menu comes up instead of the screen switching to the tiles page. I also went into the settings on the pc to tell it to load directly to the desktop so I don't have to switch from the tiles page. On the tiles page I went through each app and deleted or uninstalled the ones I'll never use. I also set a desktop tile on there just to make it easy to get back to the desktop. I understand what they're trying to do with windows and the app/tiles page ... have it be consistent across all devices. Laptops just don't seem overly conducive to apps, imo, even when you have a touchscreen. This laptop happens to be touchscreen. The only time I use that feature is if I'm using the apps but it isn't necessary. Oh, I do use it to swipe in from the right, to get to the control panel. Half the time I end up re-sizing my browser screen though. lol

Have you tried getting a wireless mouse so you don't have to use the track pad? I'm not a huge fan of the track pads, I fell uncoordinated and slow. I just got a wireless mouse and mousepad set (they match lol) at Target for $25. I prefer Logitech mouse, find them quite comfortable and reliable. Had a Microsoft mouse and it was awful, crappy scrolling. You can get just a mouse for pretty cheap .... $15 or so.

It's outrageous how much money they want. I don't need one that does all that much anyway, so I am fine with the cheaper laptop. Lol.

I'm getting used to Windows 8.1, but I HATE all the aps, and I don't like how the start menu is formatted at all! I find that to be a bit confusing.

I hate the tile pages, and because I have to 2-finger scroll, I accidentally click on things all the time! That is the most annoying part. If this computer had a scroll bar, it would make life MUCH easier. I'll have to make sure to check on that next time I have to buy one!

I have been thinking about getting a wireless mouse and keyboard. That would be fantastic, but they are not on my immediate list of purchases that I need to make at the moment. Maybe after Christmas or something. Thanks for the tip!

 

[ChrisL]

So my laptop hinge is still giving me problems, as is the battery/cord. (battery no longer charges, cord is duct taped into the laptop and still doesn't stay put, externally charge the battery). So I bought the Lenovo laptop. Really like it, great backlit keyboard, Windows 8.1 is not nearly as intimidating and awful as I thought, touchscreen is nice, touchpad is great, downloaded Classic Shell, am getting rid of useless apps, got mah Firefox add-ons to pretty up and also secure everything. My only complaint is that the battery life succccckkkkkkssssss. Initially it was like 6 or 7 hours but now that I'm up and running, it doesn't even get 3. Tried disabling some programs on startup but that didn't do much good. The fan is constantly running (which is what's sucking the battery dry imo). Any suggestions as to how to improve the battery life?

My laptop battery life sucks too. I wonder if certain programs use more power to run and therefore more battery life? I swear that if I play downloadable games, my battery gets drained super fast.

Also, my laptop was super cheap. It was all I could afford. No back lit keyboard. Not much for bells and whistles. Scrolling sucks. There is no scroll bar and I have to use the two finger method of scrolling. Also not all that crazy about Windows 8.1, I must say.

I keep testing the battery. When it's sucky is when the fan is running at high speed. Then the battery just drains within 3 hours. When the fan is running low or not at all (I think Lenovo's are designed for the fan to run most of the time) the battery is better, maybe 5 hours. Still testing that. Games will definitely chew up the battery faster.

The backlit keyboard wasn't something I was looking for but when I went to BB they had several Lenovo laptops (not the one I got though) and they all had the nice to use keyboards and they were all backlit. Maybe the backlit feature is standard on this brand? Don't know but I'm sold on it and will def always want that feature.

The one I have now, I don't really notice the fan being on too often. My last laptop did use the fan quite often and would get really hot sometimes. This one seems to stay much cooler, and I never notice when the fan is on, so that part seems to be working out okay for me.

I am definitely going to make sure my next one has the back lit keyboard though. It's hard to see the black keys when it's even a little bit dark in here. Lol.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

ChrisL, something you might consider that could work well for you is a Chromebook.
Amazon.com Acer C720 Chromebook 11.6-Inch 2GB Laptop Computers Computers Accessories

A Chromebook is basically a "web browser in a box". If primarily all you do is use your web browser to do things - then it is a very good option.
Pros:
1) Blazing fast. And I mean fast. Lift the screen up and literally in one second is it fully up and ready.
2) Battery life. All day. Average is 8.5 hours. And it will do it. My wifes seems to never need a recharge.
3) Quality build. The touch and feel exudes quality. It does not look or feel cheap.
4) Ports - HDMI and several USB ports to plug in keyboards etc.
5) PRICE - $199!
Cons:
1) Size, 11.6 inches. Which is small, but surprisingly you get used to it.
2) It has apps you can install, word processor etc. - but it is made for browsing the web.

 

[ChrisL]

ChrisL, something you might consider that could work well for you is a Chromebook.
Amazon.com Acer C720 Chromebook 11.6-Inch 2GB Laptop Computers Computers Accessories

A Chromebook is basically a "web browser in a box". If primarily all you do is use your web browser to do things - then it is a very good option.
Pros:
1) Blazing fast. And I mean fast. Lift the screen up and literally in one second is it fully up and ready.
2) Battery life. All day. Average is 8.5 hours. And it will do it. My wifes seems to never need a recharge.
3) Quality build. The touch and feel exudes quality. It does not look or feel cheap.
4) Ports - HDMI and several USB ports to plug in keyboards etc.
5) PRICE - $199!
Cons:
1) Size, 11.6 inches. Which is small, but surprisingly you get used to it.
2) It has apps you can install, word processor etc. - but it is made for browsing the web.

Thanks! Something to keep in mind for next time!

 

[Ringel05]

Have the Yoga2 all set up. Initially we had some connectivity issues, it would constantly drop the wifi connection, thankfully there was a fix for that, driver problem with Win 8.1, downloaded and installed the update, no more problems. Never occurred to me (but it makes sense due to it's size) no CD/DVD drive, it has USBs for flash drives and a slot for a standard size memory card. Could always get an external optical drive if I wanted to.
Basically the Lenovo Yoga2 we bought is a true 2 in 1 but it wasn't cheap, cost almost a grand but it works like a laptop or a tablet so ya get the best of both worlds.

 

[XPostFacto]

Seems as if disabling some of the start up programs did help. Updates had been installed earlier and I think that's why the fan was running so much. It got quiet hours ago and hasn't started up again. At the risk of repeating myself, the backlit keyboard is da bomb!

I remember some years back having a Compaq laptop at work, and the fan never ran the whole time I was building spreadsheets, and I put in some elaborate formulas. That PC was doing some calculations. That was back before the IT department put in all the security stops. Back then you could install what you wanted, so I had the demo version of "Return to Castle Wolfenstein." As soon as I started that game, that fan took off and ran the whole time I was playing the game, but spreadsheets? Nah! It didn't consider that even worth turning.

 

[ChrisL]

Have the Yoga2 all set up. Initially we had some connectivity issues, it would constantly drop the wifi connection, thankfully there was a fix for that, driver problem with Win 8.1, downloaded and installed the update, no more problems. Never occurred to me (but it makes sense due to it's size) no CD/DVD drive, it has USBs for flash drives and a slot for a standard size memory card. Could always get an external optical drive if I wanted to.
Basically the Lenovo Yoga2 we bought is a true 2 in 1 but it wasn't cheap, cost almost a grand but it works like a laptop or a tablet so ya get the best of both worlds.

Gah! Computer talk! I don't get it! That's whey whenever I shop for a new computer, I have to have help.

 

[Ringel05]

Have the Yoga2 all set up. Initially we had some connectivity issues, it would constantly drop the wifi connection, thankfully there was a fix for that, driver problem with Win 8.1, downloaded and installed the update, no more problems. Never occurred to me (but it makes sense due to it's size) no CD/DVD drive, it has USBs for flash drives and a slot for a standard size memory card. Could always get an external optical drive if I wanted to.
Basically the Lenovo Yoga2 we bought is a true 2 in 1 but it wasn't cheap, cost almost a grand but it works like a laptop or a tablet so ya get the best of both worlds.

Gah! Computer talk! I don't get it! That's whey whenever I shop for a new computer, I have to have help.

Heck that's Geekanese 101, wait till some of the hardcore ones get going.......
0101010001101000011001010111100100100000011100110111010001100001011100100111010000100000011101000110000101101100011010110110100101101110011001110010000001101001011011100010000001100010011010010110111001100001011100100111100100101110

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Have the Yoga2 all set up. Initially we had some connectivity issues, it would constantly drop the wifi connection, thankfully there was a fix for that, driver problem with Win 8.1, downloaded and installed the update, no more problems. Never occurred to me (but it makes sense due to it's size) no CD/DVD drive, it has USBs for flash drives and a slot for a standard size memory card. Could always get an external optical drive if I wanted to.
Basically the Lenovo Yoga2 we bought is a true 2 in 1 but it wasn't cheap, cost almost a grand but it works like a laptop or a tablet so ya get the best of both worlds.

Gah! Computer talk! I don't get it! That's whey whenever I shop for a new computer, I have to have help.

Heck that's Geekanese 101, wait till some of the hardcore ones get going.......
0101010001101000011001010111100100100000011100110111010001100001011100100111010000100000011101000110000101101100011010110110100101101110011001110010000001101001011011100010000001100010011010010110111001100001011100100111100100101110

01000110 01101111 01110010 01100111 01100101 01110010 01111001 .. obviously

 

[Ringel05]

Have the Yoga2 all set up. Initially we had some connectivity issues, it would constantly drop the wifi connection, thankfully there was a fix for that, driver problem with Win 8.1, downloaded and installed the update, no more problems. Never occurred to me (but it makes sense due to it's size) no CD/DVD drive, it has USBs for flash drives and a slot for a standard size memory card. Could always get an external optical drive if I wanted to.
Basically the Lenovo Yoga2 we bought is a true 2 in 1 but it wasn't cheap, cost almost a grand but it works like a laptop or a tablet so ya get the best of both worlds.

Gah! Computer talk! I don't get it! That's whey whenever I shop for a new computer, I have to have help.

Heck that's Geekanese 101, wait till some of the hardcore ones get going.......
0101010001101000011001010111100100100000011100110111010001100001011100100111010000100000011101000110000101101100011010110110100101101110011001110010000001101001011011100010000001100010011010010110111001100001011100100111100100101110

01000110 01101111 01110010 01100111 01100101 01110010 01111001 .. obviously

0101011101101000011000010111010000111111

 

[iamwhatiseem]

010011010110100101110011011100110110010101100100001000000110000100100000011011100111010101101101011000100110010101110010001011100010000001001001001000000111001101100011011100100110010101110111011001010110010000100000011101010111000000101110

 

[Zoom-boing]

Hey Ringel and iam ... I've got your number.

 

[Ringel05]

010011010110100101110011011100110110010101100100001000000110000100100000011011100111010101101101011000100110010101110010001011100010000001001001001000000111001101100011011100100110010101110111011001010110010000100000011101010111000000101110

010101000110100001100001011101000010000001101001011100110010000001110111011010000110000101110100001000000111100101101111011101010010000001100111011001010111010000100000011001100110111101110010001000000110001001100101011010010110111001100111001000000110100101101110001000000110000100100000011010000111010101110010011100100111100100101110

 

[ChrisL]

Have the Yoga2 all set up. Initially we had some connectivity issues, it would constantly drop the wifi connection, thankfully there was a fix for that, driver problem with Win 8.1, downloaded and installed the update, no more problems. Never occurred to me (but it makes sense due to it's size) no CD/DVD drive, it has USBs for flash drives and a slot for a standard size memory card. Could always get an external optical drive if I wanted to.
Basically the Lenovo Yoga2 we bought is a true 2 in 1 but it wasn't cheap, cost almost a grand but it works like a laptop or a tablet so ya get the best of both worlds.

Gah! Computer talk! I don't get it! That's whey whenever I shop for a new computer, I have to have help.

Heck that's Geekanese 101, wait till some of the hardcore ones get going.......
0101010001101000011001010111100100100000011100110111010001100001011100100111010000100000011101000110000101101100011010110110100101101110011001110010000001101001011011100010000001100010011010010110111001100001011100100111100100101110

What language is this? Basic?

 

[Ringel05]

Have the Yoga2 all set up. Initially we had some connectivity issues, it would constantly drop the wifi connection, thankfully there was a fix for that, driver problem with Win 8.1, downloaded and installed the update, no more problems. Never occurred to me (but it makes sense due to it's size) no CD/DVD drive, it has USBs for flash drives and a slot for a standard size memory card. Could always get an external optical drive if I wanted to.
Basically the Lenovo Yoga2 we bought is a true 2 in 1 but it wasn't cheap, cost almost a grand but it works like a laptop or a tablet so ya get the best of both worlds.

Gah! Computer talk! I don't get it! That's whey whenever I shop for a new computer, I have to have help.

Heck that's Geekanese 101, wait till some of the hardcore ones get going.......
0101010001101000011001010111100100100000011100110111010001100001011100100111010000100000011101000110000101101100011010110110100101101110011001110010000001101001011011100010000001100010011010010110111001100001011100100111100100101110

What language is this? Basic?

Binary.

 

[ChrisL]

Have the Yoga2 all set up. Initially we had some connectivity issues, it would constantly drop the wifi connection, thankfully there was a fix for that, driver problem with Win 8.1, downloaded and installed the update, no more problems. Never occurred to me (but it makes sense due to it's size) no CD/DVD drive, it has USBs for flash drives and a slot for a standard size memory card. Could always get an external optical drive if I wanted to.
Basically the Lenovo Yoga2 we bought is a true 2 in 1 but it wasn't cheap, cost almost a grand but it works like a laptop or a tablet so ya get the best of both worlds.

Gah! Computer talk! I don't get it! That's whey whenever I shop for a new computer, I have to have help.

Heck that's Geekanese 101, wait till some of the hardcore ones get going.......
0101010001101000011001010111100100100000011100110111010001100001011100100111010000100000011101000110000101101100011010110110100101101110011001110010000001101001011011100010000001100010011010010110111001100001011100100111100100101110

What language is this? Basic?

Binary.

I only speak English.

 

[Ringel05]

Have the Yoga2 all set up. Initially we had some connectivity issues, it would constantly drop the wifi connection, thankfully there was a fix for that, driver problem with Win 8.1, downloaded and installed the update, no more problems. Never occurred to me (but it makes sense due to it's size) no CD/DVD drive, it has USBs for flash drives and a slot for a standard size memory card. Could always get an external optical drive if I wanted to.
Basically the Lenovo Yoga2 we bought is a true 2 in 1 but it wasn't cheap, cost almost a grand but it works like a laptop or a tablet so ya get the best of both worlds.

Gah! Computer talk! I don't get it! That's whey whenever I shop for a new computer, I have to have help.

Heck that's Geekanese 101, wait till some of the hardcore ones get going.......
0101010001101000011001010111100100100000011100110111010001100001011100100111010000100000011101000110000101101100011010110110100101101110011001110010000001101001011011100010000001100010011010010110111001100001011100100111100100101110

What language is this? Basic?

Binary.

I only speak English.

No habla........

 

[ChrisL]

Gah! Computer talk! I don't get it! That's whey whenever I shop for a new computer, I have to have help.

Heck that's Geekanese 101, wait till some of the hardcore ones get going.......
0101010001101000011001010111100100100000011100110111010001100001011100100111010000100000011101000110000101101100011010110110100101101110011001110010000001101001011011100010000001100010011010010110111001100001011100100111100100101110

What language is this? Basic?

Binary.

I only speak English.

No habla........

Oh, I can speak a tiny bit of Spanish. I've taken it before a couple of times but never use it, so I don't remember it at all.

Como esta? Me llamo Christina. Agua. Muy caliente.

 

[Ringel05]

Heck that's Geekanese 101, wait till some of the hardcore ones get going.......
0101010001101000011001010111100100100000011100110111010001100001011100100111010000100000011101000110000101101100011010110110100101101110011001110010000001101001011011100010000001100010011010010110111001100001011100100111100100101110

What language is this? Basic?

Binary.

I only speak English.

No habla........

Oh, I can speak a tiny bit of Spanish. I've taken it before a couple of times but never use it, so I don't remember it at all.

Como esta? Me llamo Christina. Agua. Muy caliente.

Es tut mir Leid, dass ich kein Spanisch sprechen.

 

[ChrisL]

What language is this? Basic?

Binary.

I only speak English.

No habla........

Oh, I can speak a tiny bit of Spanish. I've taken it before a couple of times but never use it, so I don't remember it at all.

Como esta? Me llamo Christina. Agua. Muy caliente.

Es tut mir Leid, dass ich kein Spanisch sprechen.

Lol! I had to google translate and still not sure. It makes you sad that I don't speak Spanish?