New lap top suggestions

Just received a nice gift card to Best Buy for Christmas.
I could use a new lap top to dedicate to learning QuickBooks, Excel, Word, Microsoft Office,...other stuff. I don't want to use this one to go on-line anymore than I have to, I want it for learning stuff only.
Any suggestions in the $3-400 range? Thanks, JB

 

Talk to Kimberly, I believe she built/builds computers. Probably a good resource-

 

If your looking at Windows Office and you're going to have to pay for it, I'd suggest looking at Apache Open Office. I use the equivalent of PP and it works great. I often times send my presentation to my client in advance and have not had a single compatibility issue...yet.

https://www.openoffice.org

 

Maybe I just got a bad batch, but we bought two inexpensive laptops for the Gdaughters last Christmas (about $180 apiece) against my gooder judgment, and the one I have sitting here is slow as molasses. I checked for virii, uninstalled a couple things, checked for extraneous running processes, and it's still a dog.
It has a Celeron processor. I've NEVER seen a computer with a Celeron perform well.
All that to suggest you not get a laptop with one of those dogs.
I'm also not sure your budget is quite enough, unless you can find a sale.
I'm probably gonna' just put Linux on it, and be happy.

 

I bought this for my son.

HP Laptop 15.6 Screen 8th Gen Intel Core i7 8GB Memory 1TB Hard Drive Windows 10 Home 15 bs192od by Office Depot & OfficeMax

They had one with the Intel Core i5 for 449 although it didn't show on their site. It was next to the one linked in the store. It's 50 higher than Beetle's top mark, but I've had good luck with Intel stuff.

Full disclosure, I own some Intel stock.

 

Curious if the newer I7 runs warm/hot. I've got an older one (about 5 years old) that gets a little toasty.
That HP looks pretty decent. The laptop I'm on right now has an I5, and it's about 4 years old now. 3rd gen, I think. Might upgrade next year, but this one still runs fine.

 

My gift card was for $400, I can go higher. I looked at the prices and seem's they've..ahem.. gone up a bit from the last time I was shopping for one.
I do have the Microsoft Office 2016 set-up, courtesy of my BIL. Other stuff I'd have to purchase.

 

The kiddo has been running Farm Sim 17 and it seems to be cool enough.

 

Try site guru Grizzly Adam

 

Best advice I can give is to study what every term means and to pay little attention to brand names. Get what you want and more so you will be set for a while.

 

Before I got my first computer, I asked my BIL what I should get (he was the guru in the family at the time).
His answer........what do you plan to do with it?
That was then, this day and age is hard to make a bad pick.........unless it's a Celeron. Sorry, I just have a thing about those.
Carry on.

 

This is all good stuff. I'm just hoping for input on what works best for the price point, knowing my intended usage. I'm not a gamer, not gonna use it for the internet, just to learn stuff. I'd love to get AutoCAD or sim. to design stuff on it also. It will be a working computer. All input is appreciated.

 

Check the software you'd like to use and see if it mentions minimum requirements, then make a pick. Kinda like picking a stove, you have to sift through all the marketing ....stuff.
If you want it to be snappy and peppy, get a bit more power. If you don't mind waiting for things to happen.......well, still don't go with the Celeron. I may have mentioned that. Wife has an I3 that's almost 2 now, and I don't notice much difference between hers and my older I5.
AMD makes good stuff as well, but it's been quite a few years since I built one of those. I've heard the name Rhyzen mentioned.....AMD Ryzen™ | AMD
Someone mentioned Tom's hardware. You could also check out Anandtech. Lots of really good info and forums on both sites.

 

BCPLLC

 

i have 4 hp lap tops find them very quick to fire up.bought one for the granson for xmas,

 

If you are going to be only using Windows software then you need to stick with Windows OS because it is just easier; I am going to be upgrading my sister's computer to Linux Mint but she will have me as her technician and I can get most Windows applications working on Linux using WINE. The problem with buying a new laptop with Windows is that it is going to be Windows 10. If you are stuck with Windows 10; look at the Stardock Windows Classic shell. I was able to make a Windows 8.1 machine usable by using Stardock shell and turning off most of the annoying aspects of the Windows 8.1 shell. If you are not going to allow the machine to connect to the internet you won't need to worry about all the Windows 10 spying; just turn off the wifi completely.

You will pay for the Rayzen chip; that is one kicking CPU.

Most office applications are not power hungry. However, when you get into CAD, that is different, especially 3D CAD. Basically you want the most RAM you can get and the fastest CPU you can get. Some laptops won't have an extra memory slot; so check the memory that it comes with and if it can be upgraded later if you have to go with less memory. Hard drive space is not that much of an issue since you can store files externally in thumb drives. Hard Drive speed is important if you are doing a lot of reads and writes; should be standard 7200 rpm; don't get one with a slower spin rate; also check the transfer rate of the drive. 500 gig to 1 TB is fine for the hard drive size. SSD drives are nice for speed but they will be higher priced.

Now, brand name does make a difference. Toshiba use to be great but their quality has slipped. Case in point. A friend brought a Toshiba; the case is really flimsy and you have to be careful with it. The screen went out on the laptop and I questioned my friend and they said they treated it with great care. Toshbia would not honour the warranty saying the friend had damaged the screen. I fought with Toshiba for a month but no go. They did not even examine the laptop, just made that claim over the phone and through emails. End result is that I won't buy Toshiba and I won't suggest anyone to buy Toshiba. If a company won't fix a computer during the warranty by making some bogus claim then bye bye.

This is what I suggest; if you find one you are thinking about buying, go online and search for reviews and issues. Do your homework.

 

You might also want to look at LibreOffice (grab it here: Home | LibreOffice - Free Office Suite - Fun Project - Fantastic People) ; it was forked from OpenOffice from the old StarOffice. See the WIKI LibreOffice - Wikipedia

 

Libre Office is better than microsoft orifice because the UI designers don't get all cheeky about minimizing the ibterface-- ie making the user click more just to find the option they are after. SMDH.

 

I've always had good luck with HP's - desktop and laptop (I always have 1 of each for my home). You can get some good deals if you pay attention to the sales. It may even be possible to find a refurb on their website (not in store), which would allow you to get more computer for less. I've gotten refurb'd HP laptop and desktop before and was not sorry. That only works if you have time to wait for what yo would really like though since it is hit or miss on what refurbs are available. If you can wait until mid-January, there will be a bunch as people return them (nothing wrong with them, just didn't want/need or they couldn't figure out how to use the cup holder ).