I have a fairly nice desktop upstairs. That's my workhorse, and my game machine. And I built it myself with advice from TomsHardware. I sure appreciate the help I got here before.
My old computer is downstairs. It's running XP, it's slow, the DVD player is broke (and being IDE, isn't easy to replace) and it's not worth trying to upgrade. I hadn't expected to keep using it, but then I moved in with my GF, made an upstairs office (my new computer is there), and I needed a computer downstairs, so my old one ended up doing that downstairs job. Barely.
I'm thinking of getting a laptop to replace it. I don't travel a lot, and most of the time, the laptop will just be available as a replacement for my downstairs computer, but it'll be nice to have an option to pick it up and take it with me.
I don't mind if it's big and heavy, since I don't plan to move it around on a regular basis. Perhaps "luggable" is a better term than "laptop" for what I want. I don't mind if it's light and slim, of course, but that doesn't really help me, and probably adds to the cost.
Most of the time, it will stay at home, it will be plugged in, and even when I take it someplace, I expect to have an outlet available, so battery runtime isn't a major issue.
I've never had a laptop, in part because I like a real keyboard and a full size monitor. (24" or bigger.) From what I've read, I can plug in a real monitor and keyboard to my laptop and use them, which is the plan at home. Mostly it will be used for web browsing, and IRC is usually running. It will also be used for Skype from time to time. It would be nice if I could do some basic low end gaming, but if I'm serious about a game, I'll just go upstairs, so that's very low on the priority list.
I may stall on this until Win 10 comes out, but I'm more likely to buy soon, then upgrade to 10 later. I really don't like Win 8, but I might suffer with it until I can do that upgrade.
I probably don't want an SSD, to keep the cost down, but a hybrid drive might be worthwhile.
I'd like 802.11ac wireless, and bluetooth. 16" minimum screen (even though I plan to plug in a real monitor for most of my use.) 8 GB memory, Intel i5 CPU (an i3 might be ok) and storage in the 320-500 GB range. (More is fine, but that's minimum, and I don't really need more.)
I'm not sure if I need a Full HD system or not. I certainly want it to run my real monitor in full HD, but if I take it traveling, I'm not so concerned about resolution on its built in screen.
I'm hoping to keep this in the $700 range, but I'm not sure if that's feasible or just a daydream, and I can spend more if I have to.
So, I'm asking for advice. Is there anything wrong with my plan? Is there any feature I haven't mentioned that I should be looking for? Do you have a specific laptop to recommend, or a brand to avoid? (I'm aware of the recent Lenovo Superfish situation, and Lenovo won't be getting my business.)
Any help would be appreciated.
My old computer is downstairs. It's running XP, it's slow, the DVD player is broke (and being IDE, isn't easy to replace) and it's not worth trying to upgrade. I hadn't expected to keep using it, but then I moved in with my GF, made an upstairs office (my new computer is there), and I needed a computer downstairs, so my old one ended up doing that downstairs job. Barely.
I'm thinking of getting a laptop to replace it. I don't travel a lot, and most of the time, the laptop will just be available as a replacement for my downstairs computer, but it'll be nice to have an option to pick it up and take it with me.
I don't mind if it's big and heavy, since I don't plan to move it around on a regular basis. Perhaps "luggable" is a better term than "laptop" for what I want. I don't mind if it's light and slim, of course, but that doesn't really help me, and probably adds to the cost.
Most of the time, it will stay at home, it will be plugged in, and even when I take it someplace, I expect to have an outlet available, so battery runtime isn't a major issue.
I've never had a laptop, in part because I like a real keyboard and a full size monitor. (24" or bigger.) From what I've read, I can plug in a real monitor and keyboard to my laptop and use them, which is the plan at home. Mostly it will be used for web browsing, and IRC is usually running. It will also be used for Skype from time to time. It would be nice if I could do some basic low end gaming, but if I'm serious about a game, I'll just go upstairs, so that's very low on the priority list.
I may stall on this until Win 10 comes out, but I'm more likely to buy soon, then upgrade to 10 later. I really don't like Win 8, but I might suffer with it until I can do that upgrade.
I probably don't want an SSD, to keep the cost down, but a hybrid drive might be worthwhile.
I'd like 802.11ac wireless, and bluetooth. 16" minimum screen (even though I plan to plug in a real monitor for most of my use.) 8 GB memory, Intel i5 CPU (an i3 might be ok) and storage in the 320-500 GB range. (More is fine, but that's minimum, and I don't really need more.)
I'm not sure if I need a Full HD system or not. I certainly want it to run my real monitor in full HD, but if I take it traveling, I'm not so concerned about resolution on its built in screen.
I'm hoping to keep this in the $700 range, but I'm not sure if that's feasible or just a daydream, and I can spend more if I have to.
So, I'm asking for advice. Is there anything wrong with my plan? Is there any feature I haven't mentioned that I should be looking for? Do you have a specific laptop to recommend, or a brand to avoid? (I'm aware of the recent Lenovo Superfish situation, and Lenovo won't be getting my business.)
Any help would be appreciated.
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