Laptop advice

[Hedgehog]

I'm in the market for a new laptop and wanted some advice. I do most of my Internet surfing and email on a iPad so I only need a basic laptop. I install mobile electronics and need a windows based pd to flash bypass modules. I also work on Harley's and need a newer computer for remapping fuel injection. I also want to be able to take music CDs and download them onto my iPod. With that said, every time I go to bestbuy, I walk out empty handed because I know nothing about windows 8 other than the negativity. I just went to a old computer shop locally that I dealt with some 15 years ago. He is offering Lenovo thinkpads with windows 7 installed and a windows 8 cd in case I ever wanted to switch. It is a intel i3 processor with 6gb ram and 320gb hard drive. He removes all the trial******and installs all updates prior to pickup. His price is $649. I don't know whether I should grab this and know ill have local tech support or save a few hundred and get a windows 8 model from a big box store. Any input would be appreciated

[fcooper]

After a learning curve experience, I'm very happy with my Lenova Idea Pad S510 touch running windows 8.1. Paid about $560 for it 6mb/500 gb, I5. I very seldom use the touch screen feature, but I like having it for future use if required.

My previous Toshiba laptop ran 5+ years with no problems.

Fred

[lre01]

Staples Asus i7 laptop windows 8 in two machines with no problems

[WyoTraveler]

jcpainter wrote:

Hedgehog wrote:
For $750, I can upgrade to a i5 processor and 500gb of ram. Is it worth $100 to go from a i3 with 320gb of ram to a i5 with 500gb of ram?

Don't confuse RAM with disk size. 320GB and 500GB are disk sizes, not the amount of RAM. You will find most newer laptops come with 4,6, or 8 GB of RAM.

I would go with the i5. Also, check for the version number of the processor. If the number starts with a 2, it's only a second generation, 3=3rd generation and 4=th generation.

You should be able to get the i5 for about $550 with windows 7. I googled for days and the i5 was $550 to almost $600. $750 is too much.

[Ron3rd]

I believe you can still order the Dell laptops with Windows 7. A couple years ago I bought the wife a cheap HP laptop at Staples on sale for $379.00. She uses it for internet and email and has the built in camera for Skype with the kids. Works great; we used to take it camping to watch DVD movies. For your use, my recommendation is not to spend a ton of money on a laptop if you don't need a bunch of processing power for apps like Photoshop, etc.

[wa8yxm]

The Tosh I bought for 250 last fall came with Widders 8.1 and .. Well, I'm getting used to it.. First thing I did was make it as much like XP as possible.

My personal preference is for Thinkpads, over Tosh Satellies. and it sounds like your computer guy is offereing you a decent package. DO NOT Loose that widdeers 8 CD though. you may some day need it. I do not know how long Microsoft will continue to support 7.. they have a tendency to cut short the mandatory support period.

For E-Mail.. Please consider using web-mail.. THE Reason: I won't say it is impossible to get a virus past web based e-mail hosts, but.. It's not easy.

And with Web-Mail your mail account is automatically "Synced" across all your computers including the one you "Borrow" at the library, the one you have not bought yet and your friends' you borrow when yours is in the shop.

Since it's on the web host, not on your computers at all.

[sue_t]

For basic stuff, i3 is fine considering the amount you'll be using it and what you'll be using it for. After recently purchasing a new Win7 desktop, I reformatted the hard drives in the 7-year-old XP desktop and loaded Win7. It is running real fine again and is the machine my husband uses for his playtime. I was impressed with how it cleaned up and before retiring it was running programs like Photoshop and AutoCAD, at the same time.

I'd be tempted to go with a 500GB hard drive though. Especially if you plan to use it move CDs over to iTunes. Hard drive space gets eaten up with operating system and program updates over the years. My first desktop in the 1980s had a 40GB hard drive, and the present new one has two 500 GB hard drives, one for the operating system and programs, the second for my stuff which includes lots of photographs.

Recently helped a friend with his new Win 8 laptop. Didn't like Win8 that much, but really like Win7. Wasn't that much of a learning curve from XP, is stable, and not a bandwidth hog (which is a factor when you live in Yukon using an archaic internet infrastructure). Win7 has also proven compatible with all my old programs, both on the old 32-bit machine and with the newer 64-bit machine.

[SCClockDr]

Give Cyber Power Inc. a look see. They are still shipping Windows 7 units built to your spec. Not cheap but you drive the build.

[Hedgehog]

I'm sorry, you are right, that is the hard drive size. The ram is 6gb on both

[jcpainter]

Hedgehog wrote:
For $750, I can upgrade to a i5 processor and 500gb of ram. Is it worth $100 to go from a i3 with 320gb of ram to a i5 with 500gb of ram?

Don't confuse RAM with disk size. 320GB and 500GB are disk sizes, not the amount of RAM. You will find most newer laptops come with 4,6, or 8 GB of RAM.

I would go with the i5. Also, check for the version number of the processor. If the number starts with a 2, it's only a second generation, 3=3rd generation and 4=th generation.

[Hedgehog]

For $750, I can upgrade to a i5 processor and 500gb of ram. Is it worth $100 to go from a i3 with 320gb of ram to a i5 with 500gb of ram?

[dodgerdog]

Toshiba windows seven best buy free years finanacing.... Thats what I did for my other half and I've never had a problem or heard a *****... I have a buddy that fixed my HP laptop... he says he gets them in all the time to fix... The one he rarely see's are the Toshiba's... Plus he said they are allot easier to work on if he has too...

Mike C.

[Matt_Colie]

If your are lead into a good deal on a Win8, just get in touch with MacroSquash and they will send you the upgrade to 8.1 that can have a screen like Win7. It seems that they sorely misjudged the acceptance of touch screens and the inflexibility of "Tile Land".

Matt

[Heisenberg]

Go to newegg and get an Asus.

[1775]

Dell will sell you a laptop with Win 7 installed. There is a company called Micro Centre that is located all over the US and also sells from their website that has laptops that they build that can come with Win 7.