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Recommendation for a Good Laptop Computer

posted by Dopefish on Saturday April 05 2014, @03:21PM   Printer-friendly
from the moore's-law-still-trucks-ahead dept.

An anonymous coward writes:

Question for the lentils out there: What makes and models of laptops are good these days? Traditionally, you could just get an IBM ThinkPad if you were willing and able to pay extra for quality, but judging by reviews, they aren't as consistent as they used to be. A 'nice' laptop has to get a lot of things right: fast internals, sturdy case, quality keyboard, excellent battery life, and good heat management, to name a few. Are there any manufacturers that sell machines worth buying anymore, or do you have to compromise?

 
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  • (Score: 2) by ngarrang on Sunday April 06 2014, @02:02AM

    by ngarrang (896) on Sunday April 06 2014, @02:02AM (#26913) Journal

    Being the "computer expert" at my company, I guess asked this question often. I have the questions to ask to help them.

    1. Are you going to be playing advanced/very graphical games, or doing 3D modeling, or modeling nuclear bomb explosions?

    If the answer is "no", the the choice is easy. I recommend they buy a refurbished laptop. This type of user is looking to read e-mail, and other functions through a web browser. Maybe type up some documents. Upload pics from their camera and post them to FB. An older laptop like a Dell Latitude E6400 is more than sufficient. Loaded with 4GB or 8GB of RAM, coming with Windows 7 already installed, they will be more than fast enough this kind of productivity. And being refurbished, they have already been vetted (ie, did not have a motherboard problem). And they are cheap. Cheap enough to buy one for every family member.

    If the answer is "yes", I still recommend refurb, but I point them to workstation-class laptops like the Dell Mobile Precision or Lenovo W510 I have in my office. They get a system with OpenGL acceleration for 3D apps like SolidEdge. There are other laptop options that have better DirectX acceleration.

    I simply always recommend buying refurb. The world has enough computers, and I advocate for using them as long as the system runs before turning it into e-waste.

    Don't like the Windows 7 that will come on the system? I have basic advice on Linux for them, with the caveat that I am not a Linux expert, just a user.

    Some simple things can make these older laptops fast and usable for years. Maxing the RAM out helps, but putting in an SSD makes all the difference in the world. Voila. Working machines on a budget.

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  • (Score: 1) by Grishnakh on Sunday April 06 2014, @02:49AM

    by Grishnakh (2831) on Sunday April 06 2014, @02:49AM (#26924)

    I'm going to second the recommendation for Dell E6400. I've got two, and they're great machines.

    Don't get the E6420 or E6430, though. They suck; they're ugly, the keyboard layouts have been screwed up, and the screens are shorter vertically.