Laptops

Any obvious pitfalls/brands to avoid for a newb looking to buy?

Just need to surf, mail and high res vid viewing.

In on this one too.

I know one annoying fact of cheaper units is the fact they come preloaded with the most bloated Windows versions known to man. 

Any way of avoiding this?

Flip top/detachable? Apple pro/cons?

Not a budget laptop by any means, but work just assigned me a Microsoft Surface Book and it's fantastic.  Fast, stylish, sleek, light, and (unfortunately) kind of expensive for casual use.

Maybe look for a refurbished LT?

They get returned so they are checked over fixed, repackaged  and sold as a refurb because they can't be sold as new sometimes there is nothing wrong with them besides a fucked up user?

I got this Lenovo refurb probably 4 years ago and it has always worked fine

Posted by: damian

In on this one too.

I know one annoying fact of cheaper units is the fact they come preloaded with the most bloated Windows versions known to man. 

Any way of avoiding this?

This is pretty much the only reason to buy a more expensive computer if you aren't doing any computationally expensive tasks.

That said, I immediately wipe and reinstall the OS for any new laptop, and as I use it to make money I never buy cheap...

It sounds crazy, but you could buy a copy of Windows alongside a cheap laptop and just install it overtop.

That said, Microsoft is turning Windows 10 into an advertising platform unto itself. 

There are also open-sourced OSes but I suspect few, if any here are interested in the learning curve.

For the uses listed, pretty much any machine with a 15" display and a Pentium, or better, processor in the $400-$500 range will be more than good enough.

I've had a couple of refurbished HP laptops from Future Shop / Best Buy.  The current one is going on 7 years.  Had a problem with the display a couple of months ago but the local repair shop fixed it for cheap.

I'm also a proponent of wipe the factory OS and install fresh yourself.

I just went through this myself. I found Best Buy had the best sales. I just waited until a 15" lap top with the newest Intel i5 processor came on sale. I wanted something that was a little future proof. YMMV. I ended up with a Acer for around $600. IMO all the brands are the same at this cheaper price point. I was looking for the best deal.

I then wiped all the bloatware. It's very easy with Window's 10.

https://www.howtogeek.com/265054/how-to-easily-reinstall-windows-10-without-the-bloatware/

I removed all the useless Windows apps with CCleaner. I highly recommend CCleaner. It's worth running every few days if you browse a lot.

Then I waited for a Samsung SSD M.2 hard drive to come on sale and popped it in. I was surprised how easy it was to upgrade the hard drive. The Samsung SSD's come with very good cloning software.

Edit: don't get anything with less than 8gb of ram.

Lots of knowledge here. [beerinmug]Thanks a bunch....![/beerinmug]

i just bought one from these guys near ottawa.  that said i bought a beefy true desktop replacement as that is my life.  but it looks like they have slimmer models.  they get good reviews

http://www.eurocom.com/ec/main()ec

I love my little Asus Zenbook UX305C...good price, looks great and great performance...especially for the price. The only thing I wish it had was a backlit keyboard.

My Job is design. My desktop is a beast, but my laptop is one of these which has been great.

http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/acer-acer-aspire-e-series-15-6-laptop-intel-core-i5-6200u-1tb-hdd-8gb-ram-windows-10-open-box-e5-575-54fx/10549841.aspx?CMP=KNC-GOOGLE:Shopping+Campaign+-+Laptops+-+RLSA:Laptops:acer&gclid=CjwKEAjwkq7GBRDun9iu2JjyhmsSJADHCD_H8Ucqebms2mp7m9eJ613hThoJotrD6u0t0k8JL_GFuxoC82jw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Can prob find one cheaper if you look around.

Posted by: bkoz

I just went through this myself. I found Best Buy had the best sales. I just waited until a 15" lap top with the newest Intel i5 processor came on sale. I wanted something that was a little future proof. YMMV. I ended up with a Acer for around $600. IMO all the brands are the same at this cheaper price point. I was looking for the best deal.

I then wiped all the bloatware. It's very easy with Window's 10.

https://www.howtogeek.com/265054/how-to-easily-reinstall-windows-10-without-the-bloatware/

I removed all the useless Windows apps with CCleaner. I highly recommend CCleaner. It's worth running every few days if you browse a lot.

Then I waited for a Samsung SSD M.2 hard drive to come on sale and popped it in. I was surprised how easy it was to upgrade the hard drive. The Samsung SSD's come with very good cloning software.

Edit: don't get anything with less than 8gb of ram.

Response this  ^^ putting a solid state drive in cranks it up a notch big time.

The site is not letting me quote this morning.

bux-bux's link is pretty much the same Acer I ended up with.  But mine has the newer i5-7200 chip and touchscreen for just over $600 taxes in.