Laptop suggestions for my mother.

[RaspberryWilliam]

Hello.

My mother has recently decided, that it is time for her to purchase a laptop. She is a doctor and might need to start doing work home due to recent events. Thing is: I honestly can not figure out what laptop would be good for her.

She sent me a short list of features she would like to have in a laptop:

 

-ID-card reader (so she can log into the work system)

-Good battery life (12+ hours if possible).

-No separate numpad on the keyboard.

-Not too heavy/big, but not too fragile.

-Screen resolution should be good enough for viewing photos/videos (I'd say she's looking for something above 1920x1080).

-Good amount of storage.

-Ability to connect her phone to the laptop with no extra equipment.

-A pointing stick (one of those nub mice on the keyboard) would be nice.

 

Sound quality is not important to her, but having the least amount of wires and extra peripherals is a big deal. You know, to keep everything nice, simple and clean. Also, she doesn't really have a limit on the price but she believes that a laptop with features like these should be under or around 2500€ (She mentioned needing the ability to print but I feel like all laptops can connect to printers wirelessly if the printer has that functionality?)

If there exists no laptop that would have everything she is looking for, I would like to hear other good suggestions.

[boey]

ID-card reader? Like a barcode/QR code scanner? 

[homeap5]

If you like pointing stick, you have not so big choice.

But rest? Any laptop with i3 will be enough, unless good battery life is important - then your choice will be again limited.

Not too fragile? Without numpad? Well, I think it's impossible - you're limited to 13" laptops max and they're not build to be military.

 

Maybe you can save your mother eyes, buy some nice small Intel Pentium GOLD / Intel i3 / Ryzen 3 based desktop, wireless nice keyboard and monitor? Card readers and other accessories you can buy without any problem. Cost will be similar, but whole computer will be extra quiet (no GPU needed, in case Pentium only one bigger fan will be enough to cool it down without any case fans etc), picture will be much better quality, easy to fix if something happens etc.

 

And in most cases laptops needs the same amount of space on your desk.

 

 

[RaspberryWilliam]

1 minute ago, boey said:

ID-card reader? Like a barcode/QR code scanner? 

I think it could be called a smart card reader that reads data on a plastic card the same size as a credit card. You basically insert it into a reader in your computer and then you gain access into the patient database etc.

4 minutes ago, homeap5 said:

If you like pointing stick, you have not so big choice.

But rest? Any laptop with i3 will be enough, unless good battery life is important - then your choice will be again limited.

Not too fragile? Without numpad? Well, I think it's impossible - you're limited to 13" laptops max and they're not build to be military.

 

Maybe you can save your mother eyes, buy some nice small Intel Pentium GOLD / Intel i3 / Ryzen 3 based desktop, wireless nice keyboard and monitor? Card readers and other accessories you can buy without any problem. Cost will be similar, but whole computer will be extra quiet (no GPU needed, in case Pentium only one bigger fan will be enough to cool it down without any case fans etc), picture will be much better quality, easy to fix if something happens etc.

 

And in most cases laptops needs the same amount of space on your desk.

 

 

Processing power isn't too big of a deal in this case since she would mainly do work on the Laptop and I guess use it as storage for vacation photos. My parents already have a working desktop at home as well as my old PC as a spare, but she needs a laptop for the portability since they do spend a lot of time at their summer cottage all around the year not just the summers. The laptop won't need to be able to take a huge hit from something or anything like that. Something that doesn't feel wobbly when in use and won't bend in your backpack or bag and won't break if it falls off of your bed once. The pointing stick is not completely necessary but she does like using it instead of the more traditional trackpad.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

Look among Lenovo Thinkpad and Dell Latitude lineups for starters. Those are business-oriented, and more likely to have stuff like fingerprint sensors, ID card readers and/or NFC authentication, wide range of ports (RJ45, full-sized HDMI and USB, USB-C, SD card readers, potentially SIM card slots) and aim for a balance tilted towards robustness, battery life and connectivity over "thin and light", still very portable these days (think of 14'', 1080p displays, less than 2kg).

[RaspberryWilliam]

35 minutes ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

Look among Lenovo Thinkpad and Dell Latitude lineups for starters. Those are business-oriented, and more likely to have stuff like fingerprint sensors, ID card readers and/or NFC authentication, wide range of ports (RJ45, full-sized HDMI and USB, USB-C, SD card readers, potentially SIM card slots) and aim for a balance tilted towards robustness, battery life and connectivity over "thin and light", still very portable these days (think of 14'', 1080p displays, less than 2kg).

I think I will recommend my mother buys the Lenovo ThinkPad T490. It had everything she needs. Thank you for the help.