Hello,
We want to replace my wife's Dell Inspiron 15.6" laptop--it has been very unreliable and very slow almost since we bought it in 2006. Because she had so many problems with the Dell, she would prefer some other brand, though we know that's not entirely logical.
Her's is not the only computer in the house, and she uses it primarily for email, going online, and uploading photos. She will never play any games on it, and she will probably never use it for movies or TV viewing. She may take it on weekend trips, but so long as she can carry it to the car or, very rarely on an airplane, portability is not terribly important. Battery life is not crucial, as it usually be plugged in somewhere in the house. Becasue the Dell has been maddeningly slow, she would love one that was a bit quicker.
We don't want to buy more than she needs, but we are not sure how to translate that into specs like processor speed and RAM and HD. And we don't know whether, for her limited purposes, things like 4G wi fi, SATA, and HDMI are important (we guess probably not).
Someone told me most laptops are made in the same factory in China where they slap different brands on them--that is probably figurative, but I suspect brand name is not the most important criteria.
We would like to spend $400 or less, though we would go a bit higher if it makes good sense. There are several in the $350 to $425 range, too many to compare. We can find very few of the specific models that Consumer Reports ranks; the ones we find are similar but have different model numbers.
There are probably no definitive answers to our questions--we have not found answers by searching online--but we will appreciate guidelines you more knowledgeable folks are willing to share.
We want to replace my wife's Dell Inspiron 15.6" laptop--it has been very unreliable and very slow almost since we bought it in 2006. Because she had so many problems with the Dell, she would prefer some other brand, though we know that's not entirely logical.
Her's is not the only computer in the house, and she uses it primarily for email, going online, and uploading photos. She will never play any games on it, and she will probably never use it for movies or TV viewing. She may take it on weekend trips, but so long as she can carry it to the car or, very rarely on an airplane, portability is not terribly important. Battery life is not crucial, as it usually be plugged in somewhere in the house. Becasue the Dell has been maddeningly slow, she would love one that was a bit quicker.
We don't want to buy more than she needs, but we are not sure how to translate that into specs like processor speed and RAM and HD. And we don't know whether, for her limited purposes, things like 4G wi fi, SATA, and HDMI are important (we guess probably not).
Someone told me most laptops are made in the same factory in China where they slap different brands on them--that is probably figurative, but I suspect brand name is not the most important criteria.
We would like to spend $400 or less, though we would go a bit higher if it makes good sense. There are several in the $350 to $425 range, too many to compare. We can find very few of the specific models that Consumer Reports ranks; the ones we find are similar but have different model numbers.
There are probably no definitive answers to our questions--we have not found answers by searching online--but we will appreciate guidelines you more knowledgeable folks are willing to share.
/www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+17.3%26%2334%3B+Pavilion+Laptop+-+4GB+Memory+-+500GB+Hard+Drive+-+Pewter/5044404.p?id=1218608972318&skuId=5044404
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