Hard Core Shopping: Best Laptop Buy For The Buck SSD ?

Mex, I lost interest in learning Win 8/10 new interface and use "Classic Shell". It makes Win 8/10 look and feel like XP. I think you'll like it.

Richard

Solid state storage sounded great until I read comments that claimed I would be fortunate to get 2 years lifespan out of anything less than top flagship grade models. Your thoughts?

In the early days of SSD there were some problems.
However, those problems are history.
At the time, new SSD machines and software vendors did not have their act together - resulting in bricks.

You will never need an i7 machine. i5 machines will work for you probably forever. (based on the limited "need" information that you've provided)

Printer: Yes! Be aware. Some Chromebooks and tablets may not have a USB port. (My Android tablet has one USB - and I can download apps to the machine - not on the cloud stuff).
All newer machines are zippy.

More USB: The not-so-Universal Serial Bus has morphed.
The USB port styles now vary. USB 2, USB 3 and USB Type-C
Newer machines may differ from what you're used to.
Faster and faster they are.

I just bought an HP Envy as well - specs:

Windows 10 Pro 64
Intel® Core™ i7-10510U (1.8 GHz, up to 4.9 GHz, 8 MB cache, 4 cores)+NVIDIA® GeForce® MX250 (4 GB GDDR5)
16 GB DDR4-2666 SDRAM (2x8GB)
17.3" diagonal FHD WLED UWVA (1920x1080)
1 TB PCIe® NVMe™ M.2 SSD
Microsoft® Office 365 Personal 1-year
Security Software Trial
3-cell, 52 Wh Lithium-ion prismatic Battery
DVD-Writer
Full-size backlit island-style keyboard with integrated numeric keypad
HP Wide Vision HD Webcam with Dual Digital Microphone
Intel® Wi-Fi 6 AX 201 (2x2) and Bluetooth® 5 Combo (Gigabit file transfer speeds, MU-MIMO supported)

Spent just over 1K. This thing boots and shuts down in less than 5 seconds. You can buy direct from HP online or Best Buy. 17 in screen is the way to go.

Hi Mex,

I can only say my SSD is over 2 years old. I have an HP Envy from Costco. It cold boots in about 8 seconds. I'll never go back to a hard drive. I do back it up weekly to an external hard drive.

2.00 gigahertz Intel Core i7-8550U
256 kilobyte primary memory cache
1024 kilobyte secondary memory cache
8192 kilobyte tertiary memory cache
64-bit ready
Multi-core (4 total)
Hyper-threaded (8 total)

Bus Clock: 100 megahertz

dieseltruckdriver wrote:
If you mainly do internet, maybe light word processing and spreadsheets a Chromebook would be perfect.
My mom has the first one I ever bought, and it still works like new. It has to be 5 or 6 years old now. Both my wife and I use our Chromebooks much more than the Windows 7 or 10 machines.

Edited to add:
You can work with spreadsheets and word processing without internet, and you can get by with a $200 to $300 computer that will work faster than Windows 10.
Just wanted to add that before someone says they don't work without internet.

Chromebooks are not a real substitute for all things "PC".

You do realize that a Chromebook is nothing more than a highly crippled Android OS?

Has very limited processing power, very limited on board RAM, has very limited onboard drive space, pretty much all of your "APPS" sit out on the "Cloud" not on your Chromebook, your "data files" sit out on the "Cloud", your printing sits out on the "Cloud"..

Want to install some PC software you have, NOPE, not going to happen on a Chromebook..

Can your Chromebook PRINT directly to a printer without the Internet? NOPE, not going to happen there.. Have to use an Internet printing app..

Can you plug in anything USB? Nope, not even close, some do, most do not.. The ones that might have a USB port, well most likely will not support say optical drives, printers or anything other than a flash drive..

Heck an Android phone has pretty much everything you need except for a bigger screen. But Mex WAS asking about a PC, not a wannabe pretend PC, a PC where you can install your own software LOCALLY, store all of your FILES locally, operate at 100% even without Internet.

Sure, it may be possible to do SOME very limited stuff on a Chromebook, but to REALLY do most anything it REALLY NEEDS 100% Internet connection, something that Mex does not have the luxury of.

The only thing the Chromebook has going is the cheap, cheap price, it really does not compare to a real Laptop running a Windows version of some sort for compatibility with the world..

If you want limits and be cheap then Chromebook is definitely your cup o tea..

I should add I have something I am more versed in :)

A Lifeline Xt Battery. A 600 watt Samlex PSW inverter for Use as a UPS. Mostly as a line conditioner.

Some suggestions are dreamware but greater value than my Social Security check :I amLearning a lot here despite financial limitations. So if you do not mind may I ask more questions?

Solid state storage sounded great until I read comments that claimed I would be fortunate to get 2 years lifespan out of anything less than top flagship grade models. Your thoughts? I am interested in durability and longevity.i am fluent in spanish but WindowscSpanish is gobbledygook to me. After getting utterly lost on Windows 10 Engish and needing a friend to bail me out. Is there still a Windows 7 shell still available? Jeezo the only CAD I am familiar with had tail fins and a huge gas tank.

If you mainly do internet, maybe light word processing and spreadsheets a Chromebook would be perfect.
My mom has the first one I ever bought, and it still works like new. It has to be 5 or 6 years old now. Both my wife and I use our Chromebooks much more than the Windows 7 or 10 machines.

Edited to add:
You can work with spreadsheets and word processing without internet, and you can get by with a $200 to $300 computer that will work faster than Windows 10.
Just wanted to add that before someone says they don't work without internet.

Mex,

Do yourself a HUGE favor..

Stay clear of all of those "discounters", AMAZON, WALMART, used, refurbs, CHROMEBOOKS.

Everyone gravitates towards the cheapest price, in laptops especially this is a very bad thing to do..

You asked for 14" that is small considering it will be a widescreen 16-9 or 16-10 format so be aware of that.

Walmart HP PCs are specially built for Walmart, HP will not recognize them for direct warranty and third party Techs have difficult time getting parts from HP for Walmart HPs..

Most manufacturers will shy away from warranty work when not sold through a legit reseller like Amazon so keep that in mind.

Had to buy a laptop for DD a couple of years ago when she started College.

I ended up buying a Dell Laptop DIRECTLY FROM DELL, main reason was my company offers a discount program to employees since the company buys a lot of laptops from Dell..

I also discovered that buying directly from Dell allowed me to CHOOSE Win10 PRO rather than the HOME version you get stuck with when buying ready built laptops from other retailers.

Win10 Pro includes one special program which was removed from the HOME version called Regedit.. That is the registry editor which allows one to disable a lot of the MS spyware junk which will use a lot of your Internet connection.

Win10 Pro also allowed me to install a third party program called O&O Shutup that allowed me to stomp on more spyware, customize the Windows updates (IE TURN OFF).

I NEEDED a stable PC platform that didn't randomly turn into a doorstop due to no quality control of Windows updates for my DD to do schoolwork.

My suggestion while not as cheap as others, is a Inspiron 14 5000 model laptop, 14" monitor, i7 multicore (4 cores) Processor at 3.9Ghz, 8 GB Ram, 512 GB NVMe SSD drive.

For $799, add in the Win10 PRO for $60 more.

That will be a laptop that can handle pretty much anything you can throw at it and will be much faster than your Internet..

You can find that PC HERE

You could go with a i5 to lower the cost but you will sacrifice a lot of speed in doing so.. That i7 really flies, so far no complaints from DD and she is working a lot with Adobe Illustrator..

One other thing, what ever laptop you buy, the processor setting NEEDS changed from "managed" to MAX, often the managed power setting will be defaulted to 5% of the processor speed which makes it a slug to say the least.. They do that to increase your battery life but at the cost of the speed..

Best bang for the buck.
Here

Check with CNET.