Typical Best Laptop Question!

[RighteousMan]

Yes this is the typical question about which you see everyday!
Alright, I am looking for a laptop for no more than 350.
I will be using it to do lots of browsing(I open lots of tabs)while listening to music.
So I'm looking for something with 4 gb of ram and the ram has to be upgradable.
Has to have lots of storage and maybe upgradable. 300 gb or more maybe
Good battery life.
Windows 7, 8, or 10.
Screen of 13 inches or more.
Good CPU.
And durable!

 

[GObonzo]

there is no "best laptop" manufacturer. Lenovo, ASUS, and some MSI variants are very nice.
for a typical web browser, small screen, low RAM, small storage like you're looking I would probably go for a Lenovo "Think" or "Idea" Pad.
i purchased a 17.3" 16GB DDR3 1600, 1TB, i7, nvidia 600 series IdeaPad for ~$700 a couple years ago. now that same model would be ~$500. so dropping down to 13" and removing the dedicated graphics card it should run <=$300.

check their site and most models have a few build options you can customize there to fit your price range.

 

[basroil]

While there is certainly no "best" manufacturer, some are better than others, especially when it comes to durability. Asus and toshiba always top the charts in reliability, and of the major ones with full customer support, dell is often the best.

And a tip: unless you want to deal with spyware and rootkits, avoid lenovo like the plague. They have been known to disable network encryption and add key loggers, update blockers, and trackers to machines.

 

[GObonzo]

While there is certainly no "best" manufacturer, some are better than others, especially when it comes to durability. Asus and toshiba always top the charts in reliability, and of the major ones with full customer support, dell is often the best.

And a tip: unless you want to deal with spyware and rootkits, avoid lenovo like the plague. They have been known to disable network encryption and add key loggers, update blockers, and trackers to machines.

never had a security issue issue with my IdeaPad or a ThinkServer, also their customer support is great. but, I would never keep the OEM installations on any system I would plan on using for long. it is always a better idea to do a clean install of whichever OS is supported and the updated drivers offered by the manufacturer. suggesting they come with malware preinstalled is just juvenile. probably just an ignorant user that got themselves infected.
also, Toshiba makes good products but adds a couple $100 to the price just for their logo.

 

[basroil]

suggesting they come with malware preinstalled is just juvenile. probably just an ignorant user that got themselves infected.

http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/02/ssl-busting-code-that-threatened-lenovo-users-found-in-a-dozen-more-apps/
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/02/further-evidence-lenovo-breaking-https-security-its-laptops
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/aug/14/lenovo-service-engine-pre-installed-security-superfish

I will reiterate the point, Lenovo has been proven to ship malware (superfish code is classified as a trojan by most AV companies) in it's computers, and in the case of LSE the malicious software will be installed even if you reformat using a clean install media. Do not buy their products unless you have no other choice.

 

[GObonzo]

http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/02/ssl-busting-code-that-threatened-lenovo-users-found-in-a-dozen-more-apps/
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/02/further-evidence-lenovo-breaking-https-security-its-laptops
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/aug/14/lenovo-service-engine-pre-installed-security-superfish
I will reiterate the point, Lenovo has been proven to ship malware (superfish code is classified as a trojan by most AV companies) in it's computers, and in the case of LSE the malicious software will be installed even if you reformat using a clean install media. Do not buy their products unless you have no other choice.

and i will reiterate it's still going to come down to just ignorant user at fault. some cheap websites that support anti-Lenovo/IBM posted doesn't change that through 2 systems in the past few years there was none of this you're suggesting. can find the same type of garbage out there about any company from generic web searches.
and even if you're worried about it; doing a clean install without the OEM bundle OS & software, like I stated any user should do with any system, this could not happen because there would be no Lenovo based software running, only drivers for your specific motherboard and other devices.

 

[basroil]

and i will reiterate it's still going to come down to just ignorant user at fault. some cheap websites that support anti-Lenovo/IBM posted doesn't change that through 2 systems in the past few years there was none of this you're suggesting.

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/how-to-lenovo-bootkit-removal,news-21456.html
https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/current-activity/2015/08/12/Lenovo-Service-Engine-LSE-BIOS-Vulnerability
https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/alerts/TA15-051A

The freaking government of the United States issued a warning about both, and even called their first thing "adware". In the 7 years of available alerts, they have NEVER called out a device manufacturer other than lenovo.

and even if you're worried about it; doing a clean install without the OEM bundle OS & software, like I stated any user should do with any system, this could not happen because there would be no Lenovo based software running

Please read the links, lenovo implanted the LSE "malware" directly in the firmware, which means any time you install Windows from ANY media (including your own clean ones), it will automatically install itself to the drive and start downloading lenovo products to your computer (including viruses like superfish). The only other manufacturer to get reprimanded for shady practices was samsung, but their software only changed Windows Update settings to manual check and install.

RighteousMan, do not get lenovos or even think about getting them unless you literally have no other option!

 

[jaguarskx]

Lenovo Service Engine (LSE) is not malware. However, like many other softwares it can be vulnerable to exploitation. Windows is well known for having many (some severe) security vulnerabilities. The same can be said of Linux, Chrome, and Mac OS, but they are not a popularized as Microsoft's OS because Windows is by far the dominate OS.

From the same article you linked:

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/how-to-lenovo-bootkit-removal,news-21456.html

Lenovo stated the LSE security flaw was brought to its attention by independent security researcher Roel Schouwenberg, formerly of Kaspersky Lab, who described "possible ways [LSE] could be exploited in the Lenovo Notebook implementation by an attacker, including a buffer overflow attack and an attempted connection to a Lenovo test server."

Lenovo now recommends that users patch the BIOS to disable LSE, and the company says it stopped preinstalling LSE in May. However, there are sure to be many computers in supply chains, not to mention already sold, that have the software.

 

[jaguarskx]

The following 15.6" HP laptop for $350 is probably your best bet.

http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/780196/HP-Pavilion-Laptop-Computer-With-156/?cm_mmc=PLA-_-Google-_-Computers_Tablets-_-780196-VQ6-42102169076-VQ16-c-VQ17-pla-VQ18-online-VQ19-780196-VQ20-71569147196-VQ21-&gclid=CjwKEAjwsvmvBRCT5ozK-dmY7D4SJACyIoJmtqB8kjQ90aVggIPyuBHRvAcY5yFjv24zWtm8hL7BvxoC9_bw_wcB