Most of those are Roxors (that’s Woot-speak for reconditioned as opposed to new) and/or are new, old stock with two year old GPU’s and out of date processors for a non-competitive prices, IMHO.
Those prices look ehh.
I went with the more expensive one. It’s extravagant, but, every now and then that’s ok.
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It’s a good thing you are an actuary!
After a few weeks of looking around at various deals online, i ordered a Lenovo Slim 7 Pro X 14.5" from Costco for $899. 1TB SSD and 32GB Ram.
Features:
- Microsoft® Windows 11 Home
- AMD Ryzen™ 9 6900HS (8-Core) Processor
- 14.5" Touchscreen IPS sRGB 3K (3072 x 1920) 120Hz Display
- Wi-Fi 6 (2x2/160) Gig+ and Bluetooth® 5.1
- NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3050, 4GB
Looking at the reviews, there are quite a few that note early failures (hours to weeks). I have 90 days returns and 2 year warranty from Costco if it happens.
I bought Lenovo legion 5 with 4060 from microcenter open box for 800.
I have had some issues with it though. Games crashing here and there.
My sister’s looking for a laptop and needs advice.
She’s used mostly Mac but hates whatever the Word equivalent is and likes Word. I assume there’s a Mac version. Is it pretty much identical in interface to the Windows version? Is there still a version she can buy outright rather than pay as you go?
The other problem she has with Mac is she says she’s never sure where things are saved. I’m guessing that’s just a training issue. I know in Windows the easiest way to figure it out is to look where SaveAs defaults to. Is there something similar in Mac?
I think her needs have become pretty basic - Word, email, the usual browsing and online banking, etc. I"m not sure what she uses for email. She doesn’t use a gmail account as far as I know, so I’m guessing it’s the Mac equivalent of Outlook.
I"m assuming bottom of the line Mac will be more than sufficient for her. Is there any reason for her to move up other than thinness? She’s considering a Windows machine, but is there a reason to move if the above are addressed?
Oh yeah, also, if she likes Word, does that rule out a Chromebook?
Probably.
She can play around with Google Docs for free to see if that works for her before ruling it out.
Oh. One more question. She apparently has stuff going to iCloud. Other than getting set up with iCloud, will she (or I, as it will probably turn out) need to do more porting of stuff between machines?
Would iCloud get all her stuff to a Windows machine if she decides to go that way?
Maybe one more question. This will probably end up with me having a “new” Macbook Air 2012. Would that be a reasonable platform as a media center? What would it need to run? Right now I’m running kodi on a Frankenstein Windows laptop
Looks like the short answer is “basically yes” although I’ve not tried it myself.
I also recently got myself a Crucial brand 1 TB external SSD hard drive to start backing some things up, in the event of a work computer upgrade down the road (or another opportunity like the recent full-time instructor one at my adjunct school—that I didn’t get—pops up).
I’m guessing that too. Get something with an M1/M2…M4 chip. Those things are obscene for the price.
My marketing/design person I had on ubuntu, known for it’s leanness. Whenever they edited videos, it either took 20 minutes, or crashed. One or the other, sometimes both. I upgraded her processor. I upgraded her ram. I upgraded her video card. Still those two results.
Then I went out and bought the cheapest mac mini I could buy, with an M1 chip. Blazing speed, no more crashes - everything fixed perfectly.
I’m not a mac fanboy, but those m1’s, gosh. Hard pressed to find something in intel/amd that plays catchup with those.
just bought new HP laptop for MsPZ.
she never had one, just Iphone and Tablet.
Stopped working a few years ago, but then took job proof reading court reporter transcripts
She used my personal laptop and my e-mail. She would take it on trips to work when we had down time.
My laptop is huge 16" across and heavy 5 lbs. Good enough for my purposes.
So, today we buy her a new laptop from Costco. $370, 14" screen, 3 lbs. plus Office $125.
Getting through set up and get to a Microsoft page i can’t bypass. Says her e-mail already has an account, but she tried paasword too many times, and froze account.
So, to get her set up, i used my email, only sent a verification, didn’t even need password.
But now everything on PC is linked to me. Not sure it matters. Unlinked my computer, but my files transferred. I did get her email set up.
Also seems to already have Office, maybe from the link to my account? Can i make this her PC? Do i care ( we have no privacy issues)? Would i lose the Office? Is the office i bought returnable, if not installed?
Thanks for any help
Oh wise ones of the AO,
please tell me a list of what I need for security on a new laptop. What is the list?
Anti-virus
Anti-malware
firewall
VPN (and sort of: what is a VPN and why would I want one if I have anti-virus?)
what else
What’s a complete list of recommended products, specific by brand name. Cost effective is good, but quality and security is more important to me.
For anti-virus, anti-malware, and software firewall, assuming a Windows machine, the built-in Defender is generally considered adequate for consumer purposes.
I’m using Webroot because Defender is annoying for my hobbyist purposes (I use programs written by others in my hobby, which aren’t always signed or run afoul of Microsoft’s checks), and Webroot addresses most of those annoyances (but adds a few others) without being as obnoxious as most commercial anti-virus, etc. applications.
For VPN, I signed up for NordVPN a few years ago, and it’s been fine for my needs, except for every now and then needing to disconnect/reconnect because connectivity is frozen. However, I keep saying that I’m going to shift to a self-hosted VPN (my Ubiquiti router can host a VPN server) and save a few bucks (at the expense of losing some ability to get around geo-blocks).
My primary annoyance with NordVPN is more correctly described as an annoyance with recent versions of Android. On my phone, there’s no viable way to have NordVPN auto-connect on “untrusted” WiFi, because Android won’t pass WiFi SSIDs to apps anymore. You can auto-connect on all WiFI (and annoyingly, it won’t disonnect when switching back to cellular data), or you can connect manually. (At least the “trusted network” option works with Windows.)
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The VPN is mostly for privacy, particularly when using random WiFi networks while traveling. Also useful for region hopping to get more options on Netflix, etc.
Any opinions on the Norton products for anti-virus, anti-malware, etc.?
I’ve heard most people are good with Windows defender…
Within my primary hobby, Norton is considered to be malware due to its intrusiveness, extreme difficulty to completely remove, and harms caused by its attempts to protect systems.
Odds are, for ordinary consumers, it’s fine, but having seen/heard of the problems it’s caused some people I know…there are better alternatives, including (for most people) Defender.
I don’t remember which antivirus it was, but I had a problem with one of them interfering with the BOINC (cure cancer) app.