Laptop shopping time

I've been out of touch with the PC world for a few years, but it's time to shop for a new laptop for SWMBO. Her current Toshiba is 7-years old & works well enough for me to take it over(to install ECMLink for the DSM).

It needs to be Windows, and we'll be installing whatever the home version of Office is called now(NOT 355), but I'm generally brand-agnostic. Otherwise I just want some kinds of multi-core processor & plenty of ram so it won't crawl to a halt after it receives several years of Window's updates. 
 

Any recommendations of what to check out/what to avoid, or any good deals you've seen recently?

I've told myself that my next laptop will have an NVMe M.2 SSD rather than a SATA SSD, because in a modern laptop a 2.5" SATA drive is an enormous waste of space. Other than that, I'd say you want at least a 1080p screen these days, no less than 8 but ideally 16GB+ RAM (extra RAM really pays off if you keep your computers a long time), at least 802.11ac wireless, and USB-C power input - one it has that it'll work with what will be a common power adapter in the future, and should have modern high-speed USB ports. In terms of processing power, I'd say at least 4 apparent cores at 3Ghz+ is good enough these days.

In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :

My wife just got her upgrade.  Even Best Buy is running short of first and second choices.  We checked on line and found three she liked yet apparently none are around. 
 
She went so far as to try to duplicate the one her bank has her work from home with.  It's NLS.  

 Since she's been fighting with her old one for months she finally settled on

In reply to GameboyRMH :

Thanks, that gives me something to shop for!

If my 4 yr old Lenovo Think Pad computer crapped out, I would highly consider another Lenovo.  There are fancier and flashier laptops out there but I like the "business sensible" design of my Lenovo.  It has been trouble free too.  

If I were spec'ing a laptop, and being price conscious, I would log onto NewEgg or similar and choose:

• Intel i3 processor (sure an i5 or i7 might be better but will cost more and my computer needs are basic)
• As much Ram as possible.  Min of 8gb but 16gb would be better
• A 256gb Solid State Drive (SSD) 
• Lenovo

On NewEgg, those specs are $302 for refurb or $675 for new

One thing I would change about my laptop is the fact that the camera is very low spec.  That has never been an issue but now in this world of daily Zoom meetings, a better camera would be nice.  True, I could add a remote camera via usb.  

I've been shopping off-lease Dell Latitudes and Lenovo Thinkpad T-series on eBay. The Latitude E7450 my last job gave me, with at least 8GB of RAM, would be ideal for your described use. They're going on eBay around $300 right now.  

Something like this

Now is a really bad time to laptop shop. We are currently over 100K units in backlog just for our distributors. 

Normally, we would be running killer deals right now but not this year. If you are looking for a good price I'd look at refurbished or used right now as a stopgap. 

Depending on what the laptop is needed for, I'd go for an off-lease professional Lenovo (not a consumer grade one) - basically X-series or T-series, the newer the better but not brand new.

I personally think NVMe in laptops (and desktops, despite mine having two of them) is overkill, although M.2 SATA (similar form factor, different connector) is nice to have due to the space savings GameboyRMH mentioned.

Go different. Buy an Asus gaming rig. 

Does your wife travel with her laptop and need lightness built in?  Or is it just a portable computer that goes with her to where ever she is sitting?  If you build in lightness, the price will go up.

Costco has a variety of systems available.  If you buy from them, they double the OEM warranty, so at least 2 years.  If you purchase using a Costco credit card, they double that to 4 years.

Something like this may work for her as a basic consumer grade system.  HP Laptop - $550

• 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-1035G1 Processor at 1.0GHz
• Full-size Island-style Backlit Keyboard with Numeric Keypad
• 12GB DDR4-2666 SDRAM
• HP TrueVision HD Webcam with Integrated Dual Array Digital Microphones
• 1x HDMI

As BoxheadTim mentioned, a professional grade system will stand up to travel much better than a consumer-level system.

My wife went with HP's gaming line because I wanted it to hve a stand alone gpu but we game so that might not be relevant to your needs. 

Thanks everyone! To answer a few questions:

• Weight/portability are non-issues. The only chance of it leaving the house would be when we travel & there would need to be some specific purpose for her to bring it along. She'll just use it on the couch at home.
• It'll see infrequent use, maybe a couple evenings per month on average.
• I'm ok with a refurb/used business machine, but if it appears used that's likely going to be a non-starter.
• Good to know that now is not the time to buy. There's no immediate need or urgency, so it can wait a few months.

CJ (It's Just a Flesh Wound) said:

As BoxheadTim mentioned, a professional grade system will stand up to travel much better than a consumer-level system.

Agree, they do travel a lot better. It's also that the quality of other components like the keyboard, touchpad etc is a lot better compared to consumer-level systems. Not to mention that you tend to have more of a chance of getting spare parts for business laptops during and after the warranty period.

+1 to off-lease business machines above.  The Dell business units are pretty high quality in my experience.  The only real downside to them is the newer ones that have crappy docking stations vs. the old port replicators, but that doesn't sound like its a concern anyway.

In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :

Most of the off-lease business machines will show some signs of use and I don't think it would be cost effective to refurbish it to the point where it's invisible as you're likely talking keyboard, trackpad and possibly the upper half of the case.

In reply to BoxheadTim :

That's how the ones I've seen/used previously appeared too. Definitely not a problem for me, but to her that's not a "new" laptop & thus = more likely to have problems in her mind. 

Another vote for off lease business Dells if you dont mind a few blems and unknown battery condition.

Sounds like your usage would not require a high end scientific computing or gaming box. Dont let the sales guys suck you in on the latest and greatest cpu's, big memory and SSDs. Just keep the crap and free downloads from the internet off it and it will serve for many years.

I think I've said it before but I work for Dell and have for over 15 years. I have always bought through the outlet store and have always had great luck with the units. Usually I've replaced them every 3-4 years or so. 

www.delloutlet.com

If you have questions just PM me. 

In reply to bmw88rider (Forum Supporter) :

Thanks, I'll check those out!

Another question: are there any AMD processor machines worth considering, or should I stick to Intel?

In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :

For what you want to do with the machine I don't think you will notice any difference between the two.

I agree with Aaron - AMD or Intel shouldn't make that much of a difference, in fact if it has a current (3rd gen) AMD Ryzen chip it may offer more bang for the buck if the rest of the machine (keyboard, screen etc) is of the same quality.

Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to bmw88rider (Forum Supporter) :

Thanks, I'll check those out!

Another question: are there any AMD processor machines worth considering, or should I stick to Intel?

Yes, Current gen AMD stuff is kicking ass.  https://www.techspot.com/review/2018-amd-ryzen-4800h/

I was on the fence between Lenovo and Asus, until I found an Asus ROG with a yellow tag while I was browsing in Best Buy.  It is incredibly overkill for your needs; 32g memory, 6gb GPU, 1TB SSD... but Asus and Lenovo earn top marks when it comes to laptops.  They have remarkably little bloatware, unlike Dell, Sony, or even Acer have.  Don't get me started on HP.  Not only are they full of bloatware, they aren't very serviceable.  I wanted to swap out an aging keyboard on my last HP only to find that the laptop ribbon is held to the MB with just a bare end of the ribbon and a weaksauce snap-down plastic tab that broke the first time I touched it.  I more or less turned an otherwise perfectly fine laptop into spare parts because the MB had no means of holding the keyboard ribbon.

I would do ASUS again in a heartbeat.  This one is over 2 years old and I use it hard.  Work, play, studio recording, editing 4K video, CAD.  It has taken a beating (electronically AND physically) and it hasn't slowed down a single tick.  From the time I press the power button until I get the password screen is under 6 seconds from a cold start.

In reply to ProDarwin :

Thanks for that link!

Is there a general consensus of what AMD processors to avoid vs. the ones that are good?

In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :

If you're buying new, anything Ryzen 3xxx is good vs similar spec Intel. I'd avoid Ryzen 1xxx and 2xxx by now (first and second generation of the current AMD processors), they're not that much cheaper but perform noticeably worse.

That said, given the requirements, pretty much any half decent current laptop model will do.