Basic computer recommendations

[craigcd]

Educate me beyond.

I am looking for a basic computer and my requirements are pretty low. Essentially the computer would be used for light browsing, picture storage and basic course work for my wife. The computer wont be used for downloading, gaming, or anything like that. At the end of the day I want to buy something that is decent and will last at a reasonable price, the cheaper the better but I dont want to sacrifice reliability for price.

I am computer literate but not to the extent where I want to build something, I would prefer something that is built and ready to go and it could be a laptop or a desktop.

Must have:

I want NEW not used
Windows 7 (or better i guess)
Office 2010
Prefer a built package
Reasonable amount of storage

I am not even sure where to start looking - Future Shope, Memory Express, Staples.....???

Suggestions?

[Stealth22]

I try to avoid places like Future Shop, because if you're not computer savvy, the salesbros will just feed you bullshit. A friend of mine went shopping for a laptop at Best Buy, and the sales guy tried to tell her that the laptop did not come with Windows, and that she would have to pay them to install it for her!

And if you are computer savvy, the salesbros are just annoying. :rofl:

I bought an Asus laptop last year from Memory Express, and it's been great for me.

This would probably be more than enough for you: http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX54239

I try to stay away from Dell and HP, but here is an option from Dell with a touchscreen: http://www.dell.com/ca/p/inspiron-15-5547-laptop/pd?oc=ni15m5mp_ftsb_h2605e&model_id=inspiron-15-5547-laptop

Stay far, FAR away from cheapo brands like Acer and Gateway. Those laptops are utter pieces of crap. I realize that ~$700 might be around the top end of your budget, but if you're going to spend hundreds of dollars on a laptop, you might as well get a decent one that can run Windows without struggling. Like you said, you want something reliable and decent that will last.

The only brands I really trust are the Lenovo ThinkPads, and now Asus, since I bought mine. But Lenovo makes cheap plastic just like the other brands...the "real" ThinkPads are the T and X series, which will be out of your price range, and overkill for your needs. The only reason I included the Dell link is because my company uses Dell...although the stuff we buy is business-grade, not the plastic home PC stuff. So tread carefully there.

At this point, without further info/criteria, I'd recommend that Asus. If you can give a better idea of what you want to spend, or if there's any other criteria, then we can narrow it down a little more.

As for Office, most computers won't come with it, and you can't even buy 2010 anymore AFAIK. I recommend Office 365. Its like $100/year for 5 licenses of Office 2013...better bang for your buck than paying ~$400 for a retail Office 2013 license. It's the exact same software, just a different licensing structure.

EDIT: Oh, and the reason I didn't recommend any desktops is because with a laptop, its portable, so your wife can use it anywhere or take it on family vacations, etc. And with a desktop you have to worry about a monitor, mouse, keyboard, etc.

[eblend]

Depending on your budget, the new Dell XPS 13 starts at about $800 and is smaller than the macbook air, despite having the same size screen. Came out just a few days ago. Otherwise if that's too expensive, can go and get any old $400 laptop at futureshop ect, just find something you like, your requirements can be fulfilled by pretty much anything on the market.

http://cnet3.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2015/01/06/164f462e-1483-4fee-b7eb-6ffec5975a67/thumbnail/770x433/5b532f5e210c5813ec95a7404cbece1d/dell-xps-13-ces-2015-008.jpg

[Thaco]

Originally posted by Stealth22
Snip ^^ gonna have to disagree with most of what he said, i have owned every brand in my years i am an IT professional, we use Dell in house. Honestly, the name on the box means nothing (unless it's sony or apple, in which case it doubles the price). I have dealings with Asus, Acer, HP, IBM, Lenovo, Compaq, Emachines, custom builds, basically anything you can name.. (the only one i really dont like is toshiba, but that's more for service reasons than the actual machines)

My suggestion is, do some research, look online at all the usual suspects, find something that's pretty, and on sale, then go in to the store, poke it, make sure the build quality is decent, and if it is, you'll likely be happy with the performance.

95% of the internal components are the same, except for generational gaps, which in your case going a generation or 2 older will likely be more than sufficient for performance, but give you better value for your dollar... my Go-to for a decent system with a reasonable pricetag is usually check, memex, staples, bestbuy and FS, check the clearance sections, don't buy a return or a refurb, but often they clear out older models, this is what you want.

(maybe also check Costco, better warranty you'll get)

[Stealth22]

Originally posted by Thaco
^^ gonna have to disagree with most of what he said, i have owned every brand in my years i am an IT professional, we use Dell in house. Honestly, the name on the box means nothing (unless it's sony or apple, in which case it doubles the price). I have dealings with Asus, Acer, HP, IBM, Lenovo, Compaq, Emachines, custom builds, basically anything you can name.. (the only one i really dont like is toshiba, but that's more for service reasons than the actual machines)
Ehh...fair enough. Maybe I've just had some bad apples over the years. I just wanted to steer him away from the $400 "clearance" laptop with a Core i3 that will be two generations old. He'll spend hundreds of dollars on a laptop that will be "just good enough" for what he talked about, but then his wife will start watching movies, or a kid will install a game, and it will become the "crappy laptop" of the house. The game thing is a bad example...nothing we're talking about will be good enough for gaming, lol. But I've seen family members go through this twice now, they'll buy the cheapest $300 Gateway they can find, and it struggles to even run Windows 7 smoothly, let alone run Outlook or Chrome.

We use Dell at my company too...I'm a software developer. We use the business Latitude laptops for our managers, and a previous IT manager bought a couple of Inspirons just because they were on sale. Granted, they were slower laptops. But the difference in build quality was night and day.

Same goes for a few ThinkPad Edge laptops we got on sale at Mem Ex. They had Core i7 CPU's, we upgraded the RAM, and everything. They were supposed to replace some older Dells, but we could never get them to run as smoothly as our other machines. I never found out details, as I wasn't involved, being a developer. Maybe those were just some bad apples, but the IT manager basically said we made a mistake buying those, and they were not up to Lenovo's usual standard for ThinkPads. On the flip side, every ThinkPad T or X series I've ever worked with (there have been a lot) was 1000x better.

Maybe I'm just spoiled because any computer I buy has a lot of horsepower, but I can't stand using an el-cheapo laptop that takes 2 minutes to open a web browser. :dunno:

EDIT: I realize that most of the time, the internal components are the same, if you're comparing two brands with similar technical specs.

I'm not saying that Brand A's laptop will be more powerful than Brand B. You're right, the name on the box doesn't really mean much. But I'm talking about the overall build quality. You can't tell me that a plastic Gateway or eMachines will last longer than something that's built better, whether its a Dell Latitude, ThinkPad T400, or a Macbook Pro. There's a reason why a lot of these laptops are so cheap, they just aren't going to last as long. And I'm speaking from experience.

[HiTempguy1]

Originally posted by Thaco
^^ gonna have to disagree with most of what he said

Thaco nailed it IMO.

Why are people recommending laptops though?

Honestly OP, anything out there will work.

Two things though:

1) Processors don't matter much anymore
2) A computer with a SSD as its operating system hard drive will blow your mind

All in all, you should not pay more than $500. And DO NOT GET WINDOWS 8! Especially if your wife is using it. Either Windows 7 or Windows 10 (when it is available). Even if you have to buy an OEM Win 7 copy, for the love of god don't do Windows 8!

[revelations]

279$ + tax - from DELL.ca


http://computercritique.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Dell-Inspiron-3000-i3647-1231BK-desktop-1024x1024.jpg

A mini sized, bare bones system. You can add Office easily to it using the Dell configuration.

http://www.dell.com/ca/p/inspiron-3646-small-desktop/pd?oc=di3646_ft_h7101e&model_id=inspiron-3646-small-desktop

Nothing wrong with Windows 8 AS LONG AS you install classic shell to bring back the start menu.

-Intel® Celeron® Processor (Dual Core)
-Windows® 8.1 with Bing
-4GB Memory
-500GB Hard Drive

[Thales of Miletus]

A Celeron 300A, an Abit motherboard, and a Rage Fury video card, 128 megs of PC133 and Windows XP.

Total cost $20.00

Just go to a place like memory express and buy some old clunker that was traded in or simply left there.

[craigcd]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I will read more of your replies in detail tonight and do a bit more research on my own.

I would say my budget is around the $500 mark but could be swayed, its just the number I had in my head.

Interims of desktop vs laptop basically I could careless either way. The desktop would help keep school work to the office and we have a variety of iPads and such that move around the house as needed. I just didnt want to eliminate one or the other.

Keep the advice coming and thanks for the replies so far :thumbsup:

[eblend]

Maybe take a look at an all-in-one as well if you want it in the office? Takes up much less room and will do all you want.

This is my old all in one I use for my office/racing setup :)

Study:

http://www.eblend.ca/photos/i-T6FZxGt/0/XL/i-T6FZxGt-XL.jpg

Play:

http://www.eblend.ca/photos/i-Ct2JXB2/0/XL/i-Ct2JXB2-XL.jpg

[craigcd]

Dell has a couple different choices in both lap tops and deskstops between $279 and $500.

Based on my requirements I will likely go this route. I really find that almost everything is done on tablets aside from word processing/picture storage. I currently have a seperate computer (old) that I use for downloading and virus collection :D

Thanks for all the input

[Seth1968]

Around $400.00 will get you a decent Asus laptop or desktop. For your needs, there is no reason to spend much further.

Ignore the negative comments about W8. Take 2 minutes to install Classic Shell and you're pretty much good to go.

[01RedDX]

.

[ZenOps]

Custom cheap build:

Intel G3258
Asrock Z97 anniversary (solid capacitors, don't cheap out on the capacitors)
Overpriced DDR3.
SSD of some sort, store Gigabyes of unimportant stuff to the "cloud" gmail, yahoo mail as attachments.

If you can wait for the inexpensive Windows 10, that could cut down price significantly. Likewise, you can get a beta ISO of Windows 10 pretty easily.

[toor]

All In Ones are literally the worst of all worlds: compact, low-power, non-upgradeable, overpriced components in a non-portable nor easily serviceable form factor.

[codetrap]

You could also go down to the Microsoft Store and pick up something. They seemed to have a nice selection of gear.