Laptop for Dad

[HungryHamster]

Budget (including currency): $2000 USD

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Excel spreadsheets, email, internet browsing, etc.

Other details Wants Windows 11 and lots of USB ports to plug in a monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc.

 

Hello,

 

I don't know a lot about laptops and the current market. My Dad is looking to upgrade from his PC of 7 years and he wants a laptop now because he travels. If possible, most of the time he wants to be using this at home with a physical keyboard, mouse and monitor. He is worried that a laptop might not have enough USB ports. Do you have any recommendations that would meet his needs? Thanks.

 

[GreenShellMac]

That's a big budget for a laptop that's gonna do work stuff. I would look at a budget of roughly 1000.

 

[emosun]

12 minutes ago, HungryHamster said:

He is worried that a laptop might not have enough USB ports

does he not want to use a usb hub

[Hyroshi]

Oh wow that is a big budget, but there are defiantly some good options out there.

I love the Framework (13 or 16) because of its repair-ability and modular IO solution, but it is a little more involved (frame.work)

The Acer Swift Go has a lot of IO and a great screen (https://www.amazon.com/Laptop-400nit-Display-i7-13700H-SFG14-71-785V/dp/B0BXBFPM69?tag=p00935-20&ascsubtag=07enED97FnEEA5kKfflQrs2&th=1)

Or this Thinkpad with some robust IO (https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadt/thinkpad-t14-gen-4-(14-inch-intel)/len101t0057#ports_slots)

 

But honestly with those uses, you could go on EBay and find a decent machine that is 3-5 years old that will work fine, also saving a lot of money.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

1 hour ago, HungryHamster said:

Excel spreadsheets, email, internet browsing, etc.

dude even a 50$ used prebuilt can do that

 

1 hour ago, HungryHamster said:

Wants Windows 11 and lots of USB ports to plug in a monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc.

might raise it to more like 100$ or whatever 8th gen prebuilts go for

 

 

1 hour ago, HungryHamster said:

If possible, most of the time he wants to be using this at home with a physical keyboard, mouse and monitor

essentially its a portable setup that gets expanded at home

 

keyboard and mouse are 2 usb ports but specify monitor display input and also power input incase its purely from the usb c port

 

usb c should be adaptable to hdmi or dp afaik but idk if all laptops support usb c display output, common sense would lead me to belive that all of the laptops that have no hdmi or dp whatsoever should support display out from usb c

 

as for the usb ports will they be used with anything else aside from the keyboard mouse? cause all laptops should have atleast 2 usb a or atleast a few usb c ports that can be adapted to usb a with some usb hubs

 

1 hour ago, Hyroshi said:

I love the Framework (13 or 16) because of its repair-ability and modular IO solution, but it is a little more involved (frame.work)

pricey compared to other laptops but good i/o and you can literally drop in a new board to upgrade the thing without trashing the whole laptop, same thing goes for the screen

 

if you go for the diy version the ryzen 7640u version is 800$ but thats barebones where you have to buy the rams ssd and power adapter yourself and the former two would be ~200$ combined for a 2x16 5600 kit and a 2tb nvme, id still prefer this over any laptop if you have this kinda budget cause of the upgradability and customization of stuff like the i/o

 

theres also intel but idk why youd wanna go intel unless you need the multicore cause higher power draw = less battery life

[HungryHamster]

2 hours ago, emosun said:

does he not want to use a usb hub

I had mentioned this to him, but I thought that maybe a USB hub wouldn't be able to power everything.

[HungryHamster]

2 hours ago, Hyroshi said:

Oh wow that is a big budget, but there are defiantly some good options out there.

I love the Framework (13 or 16) because of its repair-ability and modular IO solution, but it is a little more involved (frame.work)

The Acer Swift Go has a lot of IO and a great screen (https://www.amazon.com/Laptop-400nit-Display-i7-13700H-SFG14-71-785V/dp/B0BXBFPM69?tag=p00935-20&ascsubtag=07enED97FnEEA5kKfflQrs2&th=1)

Or this Thinkpad with some robust IO (https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadt/thinkpad-t14-gen-4-(14-inch-intel)/len101t0057#ports_slots)

 

But honestly with those uses, you could go on EBay and find a decent machine that is 3-5 years old that will work fine, also saving a lot of money.

The Acer looks nice, but I don't think he needs an OLED screen. A customized thinkpad might be the best option, but they are a little spendy. I also should have mentioned that he probably would like 1TB storage which increases the cost quite a bit.

[emosun]

7 hours ago, HungryHamster said:

I had mentioned this to him, but I thought that maybe a USB hub wouldn't be able to power everything.

what usb devices is he using that use large amounts of power but don't have external power bricks