Need a "new" laptop

Egg_Head

Egg_Head

Joined
Oct 7, 2012
Messages
1,651
Location
North Carolina
I have 2 Windows 10 laptops that cannot be upgraded to Windows 11. With back to school sales hopefully coming up, any deals out there on new or refub? Don't need a model that can launch the Space Shuttle. 15" range, 512GB SSD, no gaming, no idea of what the new processors are doing these days, TIA.
 
I'd just wait for back to school sales start to see what's on best buy or other trusted retailer. I read an article about one trick on how to pick a good low price computer and it says that selecting 16gb of ram as the minimum usually filters out the junk.
 
The original Space Shuttle computers were 32 bit machines running about 1/2 million instructions per second with KB of RAM memory, later upgraded to about 1MB and doubling the speed - your old laptop is far faster, with more RAM and is more than capable of launching the Space Shuttle! 😎
 
I am running an HP Envy with Fedora Linux but to tell you the truth it's hard to not look at the 15 inch M4 MacBook Air. Long useful life span. Unrivaled support. Light & portable. Decent display and an actual all day + battery. I hate to say it but as long as you aren't a gamer, they are probably the best Laptop for the money these days.
 
I've had Commodore, TRS-80, DOS/Windows computers all my life. Due to having an iPhone, iPad, and Ultra2 Apple Watch, last year I went out on a limb (for me) and bought a M3 MacBook Pro, which was on sale because the M4 was about to launch. It's been quite a learning curve, but I have zero regrets. Very lightweight, and the battery life alone is worth the price of admission. If you are already in the Apple ecosystem, you should consider a MacBook. If not, you probably won't be happy.
 
I’ve had good luck with Dell. A refurbished Dell would be a good budget pick. My wife’s old Dell is over 12 years old, and still runs just fine. I got her a Dell XPS 13 a few years ago - super light, very thin, very fast, beautiful display. Costco had the best price by far. If you’re a member, I would browse their aisles and see what they have.
 
mrsilv04 said:
Dell Refurbished. I've bought 3 here.

https://www.dellrefurbished.com/category/store-nb-std/laptops/standard-laptops/1.html
Click to expand...
This would be my recommendation. Off-lease Dell Business laptops would surpass any consumer item you could buy in practically every metric, except perhaps battery life. On a refurb, battery condition is always the gamble, but it's more than made up for by the price of the laptop and what you get.

I usually stick with the upper end of business laptops, like Precision. The Latitudes aren't bad, just not as expandable / easy to upgrade.

The last few I purchased from Amazon, they were Precision 7530/7730. For well less than $500 you get a laptop that will last 5-10 years (for most people), easy to upgrade to obscene amounts of RAM/storage, and easy to work on. If your wife/kids trip on the charging cable and breaks the connector, no problem. Takes about 5 minutes to replace, definitely not a throwaway laptop.
 
Egg_Head said:
I have 2 Windows 10 laptops that cannot be upgraded to Windows 11. With back to school sales hopefully coming up, any deals out there on new or refub? Don't need a model that can launch the Space Shuttle. 15" range, 512GB SSD, no gaming, no idea of what the new processors are doing these days, TIA.
Click to expand...
The only laptops worth considering right now are MacBooks. Apple is so far ahead it’s not even funny. They are both faster and their batteries last literally days longer. It’s not even close.

And I was a diehard Windows and PC guy.
 
Egg_Head said:
Don't need a model that can launch the Space Shuttle. 15" range, 512GB SSD, no gaming,
Click to expand...

honestly sounds like you'll be happy with pretty much anything, performance wise. Dealmaker/breaker for you probably will be something like screen size, like moving up to a 17.3". Even a Chromebook might fit your needs. If you are a slightly above basic needs, get as much RAM as you can afford (up to 32GB, or get a laptop that makes DIY RAM upgrades relatively simple)---browser and OS bloat makes this a must.

aside from all the options listed, if you're not in a rush and willing to wait for sales---Costco might be an option (IIRC, non-members can buy most things off of the website).

https://www.costco.com/laptops.html?refine=||Brand_attr-&sortBy=item_location_pricing_salePrice+asc
 
goingplacesanddoingstuff said:
The only laptops worth considering right now are MacBooks. Apple is so far ahead it’s not even funny. They are both faster and their batteries last literally days longer. It’s not even close.

And I was a diehard Windows and PC guy.
Click to expand...
I too switched over to Mac. Disappointed that I didn’t do it sooner. The battery life, screen, speed, heck, even the track pad is nicer on a Mac.
 
Egg_Head said:
I have 2 Windows 10 laptops that cannot be upgraded to Windows 11. With back to school sales hopefully coming up, any deals out there on new or refub? Don't need a model that can launch the Space Shuttle. 15" range, 512GB SSD, no gaming, no idea of what the new processors are doing these days, TIA.
Click to expand...
You can always install Linux Mint, or some other flavor of Linux on those computers. That's what I did. Linux will even let you configure a dual boot setup during installation so you can keep Windows 10 if you wish.

If either of those two laptops has the graphical BIOS interface, they MIGHT be able to handle Windows 11. My old laptop did not.
Microsoft recently relaxed some requirements for Win11 installation, so don't give up hope just yet.
 
OP, are you getting a new laptop because of Windows 10 phase-out?

Honestly you don't need one unless you're having performance issues. If you are concerned about sensitive data---move all of that to an external drive(s) and/or one of the old PCs and never/rarely connect to the internet.

and/Or install Linux on one of the old PCs----if you don't have any Windows-specific software needs.
 
duck__dodgers said:
OP, are you getting a new laptop because of Windows 10 phase-out?

Honestly you don't need one unless you're having performance issues. If you are concerned about sensitive data---move all of that to an external drive(s) and/or one of the old PCs and never/rarely connect to the internet.

and/Or install Linux on one of the old PCs----if you don't have any Windows-specific software needs.
Click to expand...
Linux has gotten really good.
 
If buying from dell refurbished they have coupon codes and I'd get at least an intel 12th gen or later..

they have 12th gen i7's 32GB ram for ~~$450

1753826974096.webp

that one is $460

coupons here
https://www.dellrefurbished.com/coupons
 
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