I hope this is the right forum. I looked at Tech Issues but that seemed to concern more mechanical problems. I looked at Workamping but it didn't seem to have any traffic.We're planning on staying away from home for at least three months this winter while our son house sits for us.I have a powerful PC at home and my wife has a 5 y/o Macbook Air. I would prefer not to use her Macbook on the road and I'm looking for a simple 13"-15" laptop to use with a phone hotspot to pay bills and check emails and some simple browsing like trip planning, RV forums and craigslist. I don't want to take photos, watch videos, post social media, or play games. Strictly admin type functions.What's available out there without a lot of bloatware that meets this kind of specs? I've heard of Chromebooks but I don't know anything about them. I don't think I want a tablet as my eyes for reading aren't that great. I usually enlarge the font on the Macbook a Command + or two.Thanks in advance for any sage advice you may supply.

There are so many models of any brand you have to be seriously involved with the industry to make any sense of it. My tactic is to go to Amazon (New Egg is another possibility), select a few brands. I generally look at ASUS and ACER just because they have worked for me. Specify your minimum processor, memory, screen size, and disk type and size.Then I look to see what they have. New Egg is a bit harder to navigate if you aren't familiar with the site. Personally I specify a max price and am not interested in the latest bleeding edge machines. Especially not for a notebook. And I buy a warranty for notebooks since they are less reliable than desktops. I build my own desktops.Last time I got a good deal on a ruggedized milspec notebook a couple of generations back. Been working fine the last two years and I have a 24 in ips monitor hooked up to it.

Personally I would go with a IPAD. You can enlarge the print in settings or simply stretch the screen with two fingers. If your phone can be used as a Hotspot you can connect and do business with a wifi connection. If not you will need a service or trying to use free internet. But that's also true of any other device.

You can get a basic PC from toshiba, acer, or asus for around $300-400. It will do everything you listed. For things like trip planning, I prefer it to a tablet because I can have a spreadsheet and a webpage open on the screen at the same time.

There's a thrift store kind of place in the area here that has refurbished (or at least cleaned, tested, and wiped of old data) laptops and desktops besides the usual furniture, clothing, kitchenware, etc. They install a clean (and legitimately licensed) fairly generic Windows 10 setup with basically no additional software for the PC-compatible machines, and whatever recent version of OSX makes sense for the Macs. Maybe you can find a similar sort of place around you. Reasonably decent laptops there are generally around $150-$200; in fact, I'm posting this from a Lenovo T430s that I got there about two and a half years ago and that has worked just fine for me. The only possible complaint is that the used battery is, well, used, and doesn't last as well as one might like.

Agreed with above. If your budget is more than $400 I would look at a tablet or iPad for convenience based on the usage you described.

simple laptop solution for RV travel | Good Sam Community

obie311
Explorer II
Oct 03, 2021
PartyOf Five wrote:
Agreed with above. If your budget is more than $400 I would look at a tablet or iPad for convenience based on the usage you described.

How easy are they to read and how large is the keyboard? I get tired of doing internet transactions on my phone.
PartyOf_Five
Explorer
Oct 03, 2021
Agreed with above. If your budget is more than $400 I would look at a tablet or iPad for convenience based on the usage you described.
DrewE
Explorer II
Oct 03, 2021
There's a thrift store kind of place in the area here that has refurbished (or at least cleaned, tested, and wiped of old data) laptops and desktops besides the usual furniture, clothing, kitchenware, etc. They install a clean (and legitimately licensed) fairly generic Windows 10 setup with basically no additional software for the PC-compatible machines, and whatever recent version of OSX makes sense for the Macs. Maybe you can find a similar sort of place around you. Reasonably decent laptops there are generally around $150-$200; in fact, I'm posting this from a Lenovo T430s that I got there about two and a half years ago and that has worked just fine for me. The only possible complaint is that the used battery is, well, used, and doesn't last as well as one might like.
toedtoes
Explorer III
Oct 03, 2021
You can get a basic PC from toshiba, acer, or asus for around $300-400. It will do everything you listed. For things like trip planning, I prefer it to a tablet because I can have a spreadsheet and a webpage open on the screen at the same time.
bgum
Explorer
Oct 03, 2021
Personally I would go with a IPAD. You can enlarge the print in settings or simply stretch the screen with two fingers. If your phone can be used as a Hotspot you can connect and do business with a wifi connection. If not you will need a service or trying to use free internet. But that's also true of any other device.
agesilaus
Explorer III
Oct 03, 2021
There are so many models of any brand you have to be seriously involved with the industry to make any sense of it. My tactic is to go to Amazon (New Egg is another possibility), select a few brands. I generally look at ASUS and ACER just because they have worked for me. Specify your minimum processor, memory, screen size, and disk type and size.

Then I look to see what they have. New Egg is a bit harder to navigate if you aren't familiar with the site.

Personally I specify a max price and am not interested in the latest bleeding edge machines. Especially not for a notebook. And I buy a warranty for notebooks since they are less reliable than desktops. I build my own desktops.
Last time I got a good deal on a ruggedized milspec notebook a couple of generations back. Been working fine the last two years and I have a 24 in ips monitor hooked up to it.

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