I need some help from the #tech people. We may need a new computer in the not too distant future. My wife would like a #laptop. We're not heavy users, just web browsing, Skype, & watching a few movies. We don't really need a #notebook for taking places, just something smallish in our tiny apartment.
Assuming longevity and problem-free use is paramount, what brands or specs do you recommend? (However, it can't be Apple, and it has to run Windows.)
Thanks.
@julianruf
I'm a bit reluctant to go with Lenovo--even though they used to be IBM--because of the China connection. Do you have any thoughts on Asus?
@SlowRain Not really. The build quality of the ones I’ve seen at tech retailers seems to be fine and at least I haven’t heard something (fundamentally) bad about them.
However I have no idea how they perform in terms of longevity.
@julianruf
OK. Thanks.
And thanks for replying. My post was boosted by two people who have reasonably large followings (for Mastodon), and there are an abnormally high number of tech people on here, but yours was the only reply I got.
@SlowRain you’re welcome :)
To be honest I’m a bit surprised by this low amount of answers as well, even accounting for people living in different time-zones and older accounts (like mine) having a significant share of inactive followers.
I’ll boost your toot later today as soon as I see some my active followers / followed persons online.
@julianruf
OK. Thank you very much.
@julianruf @SlowRain If you're just to these low-workload tasks, an Intel Core i3 will be enough.
Generally ThinkPads are known for their longevity and robustness, so have a look at those.
@julianruf @SlowRain agreed.
8GB if you can afford, 4GB at a minimum.
Get SSD hard drive even it is "smaller". So much of what we do is in the cloud, most don't have the need for larger than 128 or 256GB hdd. External drives are super cheap too for long term storage.
@SlowRain if you only need it for web browsing, you should look for old Thinkpads. They can be pretty cheap (in good condition), and there's no need to buy a new machine.
Thanks for the replies.
I've had 3 recommendations for Lenovo now. I had originally written them off over security concerns the way we've been warned off of Chinese cellphones. I'm willing to consider them so long as there are no back doors or anything like that. What have you heard?
Alternatively, we've had good success with Acer PCs and Asus tablets. Any thoughts there?
@SlowRain @Nuntius @julianruf if you're gonna use windows, you will have American backdoors anyway. In general its a good idea to put a fresh install of windows and only install the necessary drivers, because vendors install lots of crap. Even better if you use Linux, its really easy nowadays (especially with Lenovo).
No idea about Acer or Asus, but the devices might not be as good physically.
@nutomic @Nuntius @julianruf
Thanks.
We live in Taiwan, & we're threatened daily with invasion by China. It's only America (Taiwan Relations Act, Taiwan Travel Act, & a couple more before Congress now) that seems willing to help. This current US administration may be divisive, but it's certainly the lesser of 2 evils--and by a fair margin, too.
I think I'd be OK with Linux, but good luck getting my wife to use anything other than Windows & Android.
@SlowRain @Nuntius @julianruf wow you really think China is worse than the US? Sorry but I can't take that serious.
https://github.com/dessalines/essays/blob/master/us_atrocities.md#asia
@nutomic Xi Jinping has promised he will reunify Taiwan with China within his lifetime, even if it takes a war to do it. They have a mock-up of Taiwan's presidential building & rehearse storming it annually. He has described Taiwan as the biggest no-go area for any country when negotiating with China. They have launched a massive campaign to remove Taiwan from world organizations, & are forcing companies to list Taiwan as part of China on their websites. Yeah, I'd say China is worse than the US.
@SlowRain maybe China is planning an invasion. But fact is, America has performed at least 81 "regime changes" against democratically elected governments since World War 2 alone. This has actually resulted in millions of deaths.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_regime_change
@nutomic
A valid point. If you want to look at total lives lost from past generations, you may want to look into the Chinese Communist Party's own Chinese Revolution, The Great Leap Forward, & The Cultural Revolution.
If you want to look at the current situation, we have Russia, China, & America all asserting themselves. It's anyone's guess at this point where the war will start, but I'll take the US as the lesser of these 3 evils any day.
We buy Dell's here almost exclusively here. I just specified a 13 inch touch screen SSD i7 for a friend and they're deliriously happy with it.
Don't get an i3. Go for at least an i5 or i7: cortana will work much better on it.
Shop sales on Dell's, and don't get a reconditioned one.
@SlowRain
Asus longevity: seems to be good i'm currently typing this on a 2010 Asus Travelmate with Lubuntu on it. If it had 4 GB of RAM it would actually be pretty decent.
Wife just bought an HP pavilion x360 convertible and it is crap. looking at the specs it should be ok but Win10 is riddled with lots of junky HP stuff like HP Support assistant and such.
Lenovo: they had the best combos i saw on PCHOME for RAM/SSD hard drive combos
@SlowRain also very important, what's your budget?
@eliasg
I'd like to say I don't care about the budget & am just interested in what meets my needs. My wife may have a different opinion, though.
I'm not going to buy more than we need, but I'd welcome something with good speakers so that we can get rid of our bulky external system. I'd like a largish screen, too, as we probably won't ever take it out of the apartment.
@SlowRain In terms of specs I would recommend at least 8GB of RAM and a SSD instead of a HDD (size depends on your needs).
Also based on personal experience I can recommend looking at laptops from Lenovo, they’re well-built and the prices are fair. I’ve also heard good things about Dell.