Your suggestion for a new computer

[street]

I'm looking to get a new computer and would like your opinion on a brand name and what type etc.

I have a Toshiba I don't remember the memory size I would have to look. It is getting very slow and I believe it is a 2010 model. It also is a laptop with a smaller screen.

All was fine till I went with W10 and that was fine at first but just seems to be having more trouble.

So any help would be appreciated and tell me what to get.

Thanks

 

[Jerry1]

Laptop or Desktop? How much are you willing to spend? What are your main uses for the machine?

Laptop, I like the MacBook Air. Great for surfing and travel but admittedly very expensive for such basic use activities.

Desktop, I had mine made by a company called SilentPC (aka, End PC Noise). The main functions/parts I like are that it is one of their smaller desktops and it is dead quiet. There is no fan and the case is basically a heat sink. And it's fast. https://silentpc.com/fanless-pcs

Main things I like (need) in a computer are a SSD drive (ram drive, solid state drive) and at least 8GB of ram. The SSD doesn't have to be too big as you only load your operating system an programs on it. I save all my data to a secondary 1TB hard drive. Ultra fast boot up and no moving parts, so no noise.

Neither of these options is budget friendly, but they are very good at doing what I want very quickly and quietly. With more information on what you're looking for, there might be better recommendations.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

I've been very happy with my Asus laptop. I bought it in 2007 on the recommendation of a university IT specialist, and it's still humming along. The only service it has needed is replacement of a worn-out keyboard, which I DiYed with the help of a youtube video. The speakers are less than great, but then it's from the bottom of their product line.

 

[Fermion]

I just got an Acer Predator Helios 300 laptop from Costco online that has a 17.3" 1080P screen, 1TB hard drive + 256MB SSD, 16GB memory + 6GB Nvidia dedicated graphics card. I love it.

It was $1100 which is expensive, but also kind of inexpensive for what you get (my wife's Alienware was $1700 a couple years ago but does have a 4k screen).

Best part of getting from Costco? 4 year warranty!

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I guess it really depends on what you intent to use it for and your budget. For the last 10 years or so, we have bought refurbished computers from Micro Center (desktops and laptops) and have been very happy with them. I also have purchased computers for my Dad and my Mother and they too have been happy. Our current desktop has Windows 10 and works great for everything we use (mostly internet stuff, some basic CAD programs) and it cost us about $250. Generally speaking, we get about 3-4 years out of them before they slow down to the point that it's easier to replace than clean/repair/restore.

 

[easysurfer]

I'm looking to get a new computer and would like your opinion on a brand name and what type etc.

I have a Toshiba I don't remember the memory size I would have to look. It is getting very slow and I believe it is a 2010 model. It also is a laptop with a smaller screen.

All was fine till I went with W10 and that was fine at first but just seems to be having more trouble.

So any help would be appreciated and tell me what to get.

Thanks

You replacement will have W10?

 

[Ian S]

I'm very happy with an HP Spectre 360 that I bought factory refurbished. It has a 13" screen as it's mostly used on the go (I have a home built desktop too.) The 360 also comes in a 15.6" screen size. My version came with an SSD which I would really recommend for speed of startup and software launch. The Spectre is a convertible meaning it can be used as a tablet. Actually, if your old laptop is fine apart from slowing down, you might want to look into replacing the hard drive with an SSD. That, some additional memory, and a clean install of Win10 might be all you need to really speed it up.

 

[Midpack]

Whether buying a desktop or a laptop, for me there are only two choices. A Dell for Windows or an Apple if that's your preferred ecosystem. We don't replace ours often, so I usually buy a model/spec just under the top of the line, second best CPU, graphics card, RAM, HD, etc. - so it doesn't become obsolete too quickly. The premium for top of the line is too much IMO.

You can certainly buy cheaper, but performance and compatibility with cheaper can be hit or miss if you don't know a lot. I gather the OP doesn't want to know a lot (like most people, nothing wrong with that) based on asking for a recommendation here.

And fortunately these days, Win and iOS devices play very nice with each other. We have iPhones & iPads with a Win PC and Win laptop, and they work together almost as seamlessly as confining yourself strictly to one ecosystem. I'm not an Android fan, but as I understand it they play nice across the board as well.

 

[frank2009]

You don't indicate what you use your computer for. If your needs are minimal; web surfing, email, photo's, documents, etc, a Chromebook may work for you. I've seen 15" Acers for less than $200. Thats what I replaced my old Mac Book with.

 

[ivinsfan]

OP at seven years you have gotten good use out of that computer. If you haven't bought one in 7 years all the options can be daunting...are you looking to save money and just buy something good enough or do you want to "invest" in a laptop that might go another 7 years...there would be a big price different between these 2 options IMO.

 

[Bamaman]

I have a 17 inch Dell laptop that I keep anything importent on. It stays locked up in my safe most of the time.

I started using a $159 Asus Chromebook for travel and day to day surfing.

At a big Amazon sale dah, I bought every family member a Ford 8 tablet for $40 each. They are so quick, efficient and light in weight. The kids have access to thousands and thousands of games. My wife who seldom ever used a computer is now a gamer.

It all comes down to what you are going to use the computer for. In refirement, my needs are simple.

 

[Sunset]

OP - The choices out there are incredible, for example:
- I'm still using a desktop, because I like to have 2 - 27 inch screens to view everything on.
- I also have a small light laptop for traveling.
- I use Ubuntu on the desktop, and the entire Hard drive is encrypted, so if it gets stolen, they can't read any of my data. Ubuntu makes this easy (my Win10 laptop does not do it).

- I want to switch my DW to Ubuntu as it is easier than Windows.

The downside to Ubuntu for me is I can't do my taxes on my machine with it, would have to use online account, so I do use my windows laptop for taxes.

 

[bloom2708]

We have two Windows 10 laptops. Both are i5 with SSD. They work great.

I have an ASUS chromebook that I am very impressed with. Fast and incredible battery life. I can see a point where we could get by with a couple simple Chromebooks. But, I think right now they are more a supplemental device to a more powerful Windows or Apple laptop.

ASUS C201PA-DS02 1.8GHz Quad Core 4GB Memory 16GB eMMC 11.6-inch Chromebook-WHITE/BLUE - ASUS Store US

 

[candrew]

Last year, we replaced our Lenovo desktop with a Macbook Pro. It's my first experience with Apple and so far, it's working out really well. Glad to be rid of the clunky box, keyboard, and monitor.

 

[W2R]

Apparently Windows 10 is more difficult to deal with, if one has to download and install the upgrade (which I have never done). I haven't had any problems with it in my Windows 10 laptop computers, all of which had it pre-installed at the factory.

I wonder if the OP's laptop is still downloading updates to W10 in the background (related to or finishing up the upgrading process) and if that is why it has slowed down.

I always liked Toshiba laptops too, but my most recent laptop is an Acer i5 with a 256 GB SSD and 8 GB RAM, that I got last spring from Amazon. It is fine and I have had no problems with it.

 

[harley]

Whether buying a desktop or a laptop, for me there are only two choices. A Dell for Windows or an Apple if that's your preferred ecosystem.

I've also been a long time Dell user. Haven't bought anything else for at least 5 generations of laptops. I tend to replace them every 3 or 4 years. But I've been very unhappy with my most recent XPS 15". Crappy jumpy touchpad, and they got rid of the page scrolling keys, combining them with the arrow keys, so you have to press two buttons with two hands to scroll complete pages. I've gotten around that by writing a script. It still takes two keys, but at least they're on the same side of the keyboard now. I also thought I wouldn't miss the DVD player, but I do. Hauling around and hooking up the external is a PITA. Some things you just can't stream, so you need it.

And don't even get me started on Win10. I'm definitely switching OS's next time, either Apple or Linux. What an invasive, controlling PoS.

Anyway, what I meant to say before I started ranting was to pay attention to the little things like keyboard layout and slots and stuff. Things that you might not be consciously aware of can cause a lot of annoyance if they go missing.

 

[RunningBum]

Last time I replaced my laptop I bought another Gateway because I had bought extra power supplies so I could keep them plugged in to my most common places--no more crawling around under desks and beds to get to the cord. Just a thought that if all other things are equal, if you can reuse something like this from the old system it is nice. Probably nothing to go out of your way for.

I also upgraded to an SSD drive for better speed and durability.

I agree with the other responses that the more info you give about what you want to do, the better people can help. So far you've given virtually no info, not even laptop vs desktop or apple vs PC. Mostly web browsing, watching movies, gaming, what?

 

[brett]

Have you looked first into why it might be getting slow?

Perhaps you need to run some maintenance on your disk. Or, are there some programs that are slowing the system down/creating overhead, that you don't need and could eliminate

It may be that you need a new CPU or it may be that your system needs to be cleaned up and perhaps increment the memory. . I think the latter is one of the best things that you can do, assuming that this is a straightforward upgrade.

Finally, check the speed of your connection and or router if you have one.

We recently upgraded our 2010 desktop. We cleaned up the disk. We deleted some programs that we either did not use or did not know where they came from. We had our internet supplier come to our house because the system was slow. They upgraded the modem/router-it was was four plus years old. Next on my list was memory (disk space was fine) but I did not have to bother since the speed and performance increased substantially. Instead, I went out and bought a 27" monitor to replace the old 17".

 

[T-Minus]

IF you can get by with a Google Chrome browser (use Google Docs), a Chromebook is a good choice that abstracts the computer (and associated complexities), and gets you right to what you want: content. If it weren’t for my Quicken obsession, I’d jump to a Chromebook right away.

https://www.google.com/chromebook/

 

[jetpack]

For Windows laptops or desktops, I recommend Dell Refurbished.

https://www.dellrefurbished.com/dell-coupons

You can get a desktop with more power than you need for like $200. No Bloatware, as these are business machines. I've bought a few for friends, and they all looked brand new and have had zero problems with them.

For examle: https://www.dellrefurbished.com/dell-optiplex-7010-84307.html
coupon 7010DESK40
$161 + tax (free shipping)

 

[CRLLS]

My last 2 new laptops have been Lenovo. The 1st had battery life problems. Even replacement batteries did not give a good life either. The newer one, the battery life is great even after several years. But the keyboard ended up with a few sticky keys after a couple of years. I tried cleaning them to no avail. I looked at replacing the keyboard but that was built into the entire top panel at a cost that was not worth it for an older laptop. So I bought an off-lease HP for about the same cost as a keyboard. Now the keys on the Lenovo are working just fine. the HP sits on the counter waiting.

 

[jim584672]

I would build one from parts. A SSD is a must. At least 8gb ram. You can add/update things as needed. For the OS I would use Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, which is free.
The Pentium G4560 is a good value (@$60) cpu or an i5 if you are going for power.

 

[cathy63]

I got this one a few months ago: Inspiron 13 7378 2-in-1 Laptop with 7th Gen Intel Core | Dell United States

Things I like:
- light weight
- thin
- touch screen
- blazing fast

Things I don't like:
- keyboard layout, as harley said, the pg up/pg dn keys are secondary functions now - ugh!

DH got a slightly different Dell with a 1TB drive so he can do photo processing while traveling, and we got a docking station and external DVD drive, so we can use a regular keyboard, mouse and multiple displays. We find that we're hardly ever using the docking station though.

 

[Ronstar]

I had Dell or HP desktops and laptops for years when I was working. Fairly reliable, but not as reliable (and nice) as my MacBook Pro and IMac

 

[Sojourner]

I've also been a long time Dell user. Haven't bought anything else for at least 5 generations of laptops. I tend to replace them every 3 or 4 years. But I've been very unhappy with my most recent XPS 15". Crappy jumpy touchpad, and they got rid of the page scrolling keys, combining them with the arrow keys, so you have to press two buttons with two hands to scroll complete pages. I've gotten around that by writing a script. It still takes two keys, but at least they're on the same side of the keyboard now.

[...]

Anyway, what I meant to say before I started ranting was to pay attention to the little things like keyboard layout and slots and stuff. Things that you might not be consciously aware of can cause a lot of annoyance if they go missing.

+1

I always use Dell for desktops, but I agree that some of Dell's choices with the XPS laptops have been very user-unfriendly. I hate the lack of dedicated page-up & page-down keys, and I also abhor the lack of a true HDMI output port. On mine, there is a ridiculous Mini Display Port output that makes hooking the laptop up to a 4K TV painfully difficult. I will never again buy a laptop that doesn't have a true HDMI video output port. Also, my XPS doesn't have an SD card slot, which I find to be pretty aggravating.