PolyRob
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2016
Thank you, it seems like a nice machine, but I don't want to give her bad advice if she is dropping $1,500 on something. Glad to hear you are enjoying yours a year later!Love my Dell XPS. I looked at that, Surface Laptop and Macbook. Decided I wanted Windows Laptop and then preferred the Dell colors (mine is Rose Gold). I have had it for almost a year and it is wonderful. So glad I sprang for something decent.
Oh Sony computers! They used to look so cool! My sister's first laptop was actually an HP years ago when the first Centrino chips came out (I picked that one too LOL). The Envy and Spectre seem to offer better graphics capabilities than the XPS, but IDK that she would necessarily benefit from it. I almost want her to go to BB or something just to look at the actual machines and try the touch pads. That has been a dealbreaker for me on some models at work.I have an HP Envy x360 with an i7 processor and I love it! Size wise it's small 13.3 inch, and that was one of my main criteria so as to carry it easily wherever I go on vacations. I've had it for several years -2 plus - I got it in 2017. And, TBH, I mostly read email and message boards on it and download photos. It's never had any issues. I know I could probably get along with a tablet of some sort, but I prefer my small laptop. Battery life is great and it charges relatively fast. Don't ask me anything technical as I'm clueless, but this is my 6th laptop over the last 20 or so years. My first one was a Sony .
The HP Envy was around $1K when I bought it at Costco. I tried out several others and returned them at the time to Best Buy and Costco until I found one that felt good. Ps - I can get tech answers by asking daughter if you like.
Excellent point. She is not doing anything like intense gaming. LOL I am mostly looking at ultrabooks because she carries it around with her everywhere and likes it to be tiny, light, and run cool with a solid battery. Right now her Portege has an i5, 8gb ram, and 256 SSD. I told her should shouldn't go below 16gb of ram and a 512gb ssd considering her 256 is almost full. The Portege is a business laptop and I actually looked at the Latitude 7300 because it has so many useful ports.It really depends on what she plans to use the laptop for. That will make all the difference. Some programs require many more resources than others. We only buy Dell at work and rarely have problems. We buy Latitude laptops because they are the business class, but they do well for us. Four year replacement schedule for regular use, then we reimage and place them in an infrequent use area for another few years. The Inspiron is not one I’d recommend- XPS is definitely better.
I’d personally stay away from any of the less expensive brands; Dell or HP are the way to go. Check out Costco’s Black Friday deals and get the best spec you can- i7, 16GB +RAM, good size HD. They also offer the additional tech support, which is awesome
Or, make her a Mac convert and listen to her sing your praises for years. Windows isn’t allowed in my house
Funny you mention Costco... I have two models on my radar between Thanksgiving and Black Friday. In my research I see the regular XPS will have a better keyboard feel, but the 2 in 1 has the superior 10th generation i7 with Iris Plus graphics. It's a $100 difference so I will let her decide. Costco makes returns effortless if she is unhappy within 90 days.
Those new 16 inch MacBook Pros do like very nice I have a mid-2015 15-inch that is still working great so no need for me... yet lol
Wow! $130?! She isn't looking for something with a 4k screen or titanium finish (those are just added bonuses), she just wants it to boot up fast, be very light, and last a long time if she can't plug-in. Her current machine is just over 5 years old and cost $1,200 back then (without extended insurance, that was added-on) so I think she is ok with spending that much if it will last a similar amount of time. I guess she could technically upgrade for $300 annually rather than one $1,500 unit lolWe bought my DD a cheapy cheap Asus before she went to Africa because she didn't want to bring her macbook. It was $130. Not a chromebook either. She loved it. She actually did not want to go back to her macbook when she came home. lol She only recently got it back out because it had a stored password she needed. She only uses a computer for internet research, watching movies and writing papers. So she doesn't need anything fancy. Her macbook was required for her major (and they made us add extra stuff) and she has 1 semester left and still has no idea why it was required. lol Does your sister require something fancier? My theory on laptops is that no matter what, they are only going to last a few years. So I get something on the cheaper end. My current one is almost 2 years old and I spent less than $400. I think it is fine. If I had to run intensive programs then it would be different.