PC/Laptop suggestions?

[sucker76]

The computer I"m on now at home is an older Asus with 256GB hard drive and 16GB of ram. My work computer is a Lenovo P1 with 1TB hard drive and 32GB ram. If you have the option get more ram and larger hard drive. Even for light use 32GB makes opening and using programs easier. I was also looking at a new laptop since this Asus isn't compatible with Win11. MY budget was about $1300 and I found many in that range with a 15" 4K monitor. For your budget you can get a 17" monitor laptop.

 

[no2gates]

It warms my heart to see Libre Office/Open Office being recommended.

I use it personally and at the office. I actually have an Office 365 subscription at work, but prefer to use Libre Office.

 

[oldag]

Samsung used to have great displays. But from a hardware standpoint, Dell is probably the most durable. Can't recommend Lenovo, due to hardware issues.

Have had issues with Dell notebooks and Windows however. They sometimes do not like updates or upgrades of Windows. Their display is not the best out there, though.

Seems like most of the major office suite apps today want you to buy via an annual subscription, which I will not do.

 

[sucker76]

I don't recommend Lenovo either because of high prices next to other options. I only have one since work bought it. The specs were what I was concentrating on.

 

[HKSig]

Get at least 1TB of storage (SSD, not a hard disk), and at least 16GB of RAM.

If it's a laptop, get a 16" display. Of course, you can add a monitor, but if it's not being used as a laptop, you might as well get desktop. They're easier to work on.

I recommended a 16" Dell laptop for someone recently; it was $1699 maxed out (32GB RAM, 2TB SSD). Plus tax and shipping. HP (I worked there...) didn't have anything that met her requirements. I think I looked at Lenovo too...

I set up an HP laptop for someone today; I didn't like the numeric keypad on it (it took a bit to get used to it), but it was fine otherwise. I had nothing to do with selecting it.

 

[Coiled]

Weight not important, nor is battery life.

Until it's a beautiful day and you'd like to work outside.
Or take the computer to a community meeting w/o dragging the charger, etc. along for the ride.

I bought my HP Envy used from a TGT member years ago, WELL below your budget and just recently the speaker started burping on start up/shut down, otherwise it's fully functional.

 

[Army 1911]

For a desktop, I use a Mac Mini with 16gb ram, 250gb SSD drive for all my programs. I haver a 2 tb drive for photos, a 1.5tb drive for other stuff and a backup drive for the internal SSD. The other drives are also backed up. It has a 276inch BenQ monitor for photo editing. I have added extra ports for peripherals like the extra drives, chargers for my camera batteries etc. I run Libre Office which is MS office compatible. Total cost less than $1500.

 

[HKSig]

For a desktop, I use a Mac Mini with 16gb ram, 250gb SSD drive for all my programs. I haver a 2 tb drive for photos, a 1.5tb drive for other stuff and a backup drive for the internal SSD. The other drives are also backed up. It has a 276inch BenQ monitor for photo editing. I have added extra ports for peripherals like the extra drives, chargers for my camera batteries etc. I run Libre Office which is MS office compatible. Total cost less than $1500.

A 276 inch monitor? Nice.

I second/third/fourth not buying MS Office unless you have to. Libre Office or Apache Open Office.

 

[MountainGirl]

Until it's a beautiful day and you'd like to work outside.
Or take the computer to a community meeting, etc.

I won't work outside, too many distractions, and I wouldn't be taking it to a meeting, if I did meetings which I don't, but thanks anyway

 

[Lead Belly]

Refurb might be good choice. Schools and .gov have a surplus of cash and sell them for cheap.

I got Dell touchscreen i7 a month ago, has a OEM (Office of Emergency Management) and Homeland Security ID stickers. Was $40 and works fine. I had to add a 1TB Samsung SSD chip for $95 from Amazon on Black Firday or whatever it is. $150 total.

Ubuntu Manjaro Linux installed flawlessly and has Libre Office. Lattitude 7400 it is.

 

[HKSig]

Macbook pro is in your price range.

If you do get a Mac, you have to get the memory and disk space (and processor) you need/want up front. You can't upgrade anything, other than adding external storage.

 

[no2gates]

And don't forget to ask for a Bill of Sale on that laptop.

 

[MountainGirl]

I run Libre Office which is MS office compatible.

I second/third/fourth not buying MS Office unless you have to. Libre Office or Apache Open Office.

Libre for the win.

 

[MountainGirl]

And don't forget to ask for a Bill of Sale on that laptop.

Oh God. Thanks for the reminder!!!

 

[Army 1911]

A 276 inch monitor? Nice.

I second/third/fourth not buying MS Office unless you have to. Libre Office or Apache Open Office.

27 inch.

 

[HKSig]

27 inch.

Darn it, I wanted that 276 inch monitor.

 

[jmohme]

If you do get a Mac, you have to get the memory and disk space (and processor) you need/want up front. You can't upgrade anything, other than adding external storage.

I run Macs and yes, when I buy, I max out RAM, but 512 internal SSD is plenty. I just need to run my OS and Photoshop, on the internal drive. I fill a 5tb exteranl drvie ever three or four months.

 

[Sasquatch]

For what you want, a Chromebook would be plenty powerful. We just bought my son 2 - one to replace his damaged personal unit, and one for school. Got them from Amazon for less than $60 each - they're Asus brand, same ones his school uses. They changed their policy this year to include a $500 fee for damaged units, wife and I said "nah, I think not" and just bought him a second school-only computer. If it gets lost, stolen, or busted up, we're out $50 instead of $500.

They use LibreOffice and GoogleDocs, along with web browsing and other productivity software. There's loads of useful apps for Android like that. His unit has an HDMI port and USB ports so you could hook up full size keyboards & mouse, and run to a larger monitor.

Personally my next computer will be a Mac. I'm tired of Microsoft's issues, and Microsoft announced a date they will cease to support Windows 10, which I run now. My computer is old enough it does not work with Windows 11 or newer. I made the jump from Android phones to an iPhone a year ago, and won't go back to an Android. In order to simplify life I intend to buy a Mac when I get the extra cash.

I don't use a standard PC monitor anymore either - I run a 32 inch TV as my monitor and my eyes have thanked me for it! You also don't need seperate speakers, and the TV speakers are way better than the laptop speakers out there, and if you plug the TV in it runs sound out to the TV. I used to use OpenOffice but have switched to LibreOffice as well for my productivity suite. There's some minor differences between the two, and there's some minor differences between them and MS Office, but they're easy to figure out and if you have experience on one, it makes learning the others a breeze.

 

[SARGE67]

Thank you. Time to visit the Dell website.

I never thought I'd ever own a laptop after building so many PCs for myself and others. About 7 total. But this one started giving hiccups a few years ago so bought a Dell laptop as a backup. But my PC never crashed so kept the laptop updated now wife uses it regularly.

I have a USB hub to use when using the laptop. I can plug my regular keyboard, mouse, speakers, monitor into it and do everything on the big PC monitor or just use the laptop monitor which is very sufficient. I paid around $1000 from Dell a month ago for this latest laptop still in the box and only got because my built PC using now isn't qualified for Windows 11. How fast they go, 10 years ago when I built it was the best CPU hands down.

 

[HKSig]

My computer is old enough it does not work with Windows 11 or newer.

There’s a trick for installing Windows 11 on “unsupported” computers…