Laptop Suggestions Help!

cdarro94 · December 6, 2016

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone here can give me any suggestions, I'm pretty clueless when it comes to Windows PC's/Laptops.

Basically I need to help my mum find a laptop as she's going away to a remote island for her work for 6 months. She leaves in a couple of weeks which is why I am posting here as it's urgent. I'm looking for something that has good battery life and is reliable and easy to use for someone who isn't too tech savvy. Also with good wifi as where she is going I'm going to assume doesn't have the greatest signal.

As I said I don't really know windows based laptops and don't have much time left to do any research before she leaves.

Thanks in advance!

captain_to_fire · December 6, 2016

Two questions:

What does she do on a computer?
How much are you willing to spend?

cdarro94 · December 6, 2016

Basic web browsing, checking email, and watching movies that I will have on a hard drive for her so she has something to do on her time off. She's looking to spend around 400 AUD which is around 300 USD. She will potentially sway 100 either way if there is good reason to. Reliability is key as if something happens to it then it will be broken for the remainder of her time there. It's a very small island with basically no resources.

Thanks for your reply!

captain_to_fire · December 6, 2016

4 minutes ago, cdarro94 said:

Basic web browsing, checking email, and watching movies that I will have on a hard drive for her so she has something to do on her time off. She's looking to spend around 400 AUD which is around 300 USD. She will potentially sway 100 either way if there is good reason to. Reliability is key as if something happens to it then it will be broken for the remainder of her time there. It's a very small island with basically no resources.

Thanks for your reply!

If that's all she wants to do, she might want a Chromebook instead of a Windows laptop. Chromebooks fit perfectly for her budget and it's easy to use especially if she's already using Google Chrome. The problem with Chromebooks however is mass storage. Most of the Chromebooks available have 16 or 32 GB storage. Since she wants to watch movies downloaded, she might want to buy a flash drive or an external hard drive for a couple of dollars. Chromebooks support USB too.

But if she really wants a Windows PC, check out the HP Stream which also comes with 1-year of Office 365 and it's a touchscreen. Another option is the Lenovo Ideapad 100S which also comes with Office 365 for one year. Another is the Acer Swift 1 and lastly the best bang for the buck, the Dell Inspiron 11 3000 2-in-1 which has 32 GB eMMC storage for the operating system and a decent 500 GB mechanical hard drive and 4 GB of RAM.

But then again, ask her if she wants a Chromebook or a Windows laptop.

cdarro94 · December 6, 2016

5 hours ago, hey_yo_ said:

If that's all she wants to do, she might want a Chromebook instead of a Windows laptop. Chromebooks fit perfectly for her budget and it's easy to use especially if she's already using Google Chrome. The problem with Chromebooks however is mass storage. Most of the Chromebooks available have 16 or 32 GB storage. Since she wants to watch movies downloaded, she might want to buy a flash drive or an external hard drive for a couple of dollars. Chromebooks support USB too.

But if she really wants a Windows PC, check out the HP Stream which also comes with 1-year of Office 365 and it's a touchscreen. Another option is the Lenovo Ideapad 100S which also comes with Office 365 for one year. Another is the Acer Swift 1 and lastly the best bang for the buck, the Dell Inspiron 11 3000 2-in-1 which has 32 GB eMMC storage for the operating system and a decent 500 GB mechanical hard drive and 4 GB of RAM.

But then again, ask her if she wants a Chromebook or a Windows laptop.

Brilliant! Thankyou so much, you've saved me so much research time! I will check out all of these and see what she likes best!

Is there one brand that is more reliable than the other here? Or are most things these days pretty well made?

captain_to_fire · December 6, 2016

55 minutes ago, cdarro94 said:

Brilliant! Thankyou so much, you've saved me so much research time! I will check out all of these and see what she likes best!

Is there one brand that is more reliable than the other here? Or are most things these days pretty well made?

You're welcome. A Chromebook might be more reliable than a Windows PC for the very simple computing needs. Chrome OS is a very light and consumes less power. So based on her needs, I'd go Chromebook if you ask my opinion.