I can't make any purchasing decisions

Post Reply New Topic

I'm trying to look for a perfect laptop computer that won't screw me over, but I just can't. I don't have a job to work yet, and I still get to be lended some money from mom and dad if I still live in their house. That money is not a whole lot (it would only afford me the really low-end like Chromebooks or cloud PCs) either.

Other than my money issue, I just can't settle on one because I can't "weigh" every single factor in a laptop; it either has to have this spec or it doesn't. What am I supposed to be asking myself when buying a new computer? How do I "weigh" all these specs? I don't want to end up with trash.

It's not easy at all. For something that important, I'd take a good long time acquiring the information and studying it, and deciding what you'll be using it for. Little by little the criteria that are important to you will probably become clear. A good, long warranty is useful, so is "try before you buy" if you can get it.

There's always some risk that something like a laptop could break down soon after the warranty expires, so your decision will never be perfect, but you'll hopefully get to the point where you've done all you reasonably can to ensure you've got a good one. If you know people in real life who have computers, try asking them what they think of them and see if they'll let you try them out. User reviews are also very valuable, though there are often a few jerks who give misleading information. I usually take more seriously the ones who give 2 to 4 out of 5 stars, and the average rating of all users is also helpful, if there are enough reviews to make that significant.

Hopefully people here will post about machines they recommend. Personally I like my secondhand Samsung N130, which does most things I want pretty well, and hasn't yet broken down after the 2 years of heavy use, though it's only got Windows XP which is probably too old fashioned for a lot of modern applications, and I don't suppose it'll be long before websites stop supporting it. And it doesn't perform very well with Skype, though it should in theory.

I wish I could recommend a good laptop, but I know very little about them.

I obsess over purchases like that and never feel really sure about a decision. It helps though if I read reviews on a product rather than just focusing on the specs. Even if the specs look good, it might suck. If I see a lot of negative comments about something I will avoid it. And sometimes you find out things from reading the reviews that you can't find out from specs or photos.

Another thing that helps me narrow it down is deciding who I want to buy from...what retailer will have the best warranty and/or return policy.

Also check deal sites like Slickdeals or Fatwallet, or Techbargains. You may find a good bargain that way, plus people on those sites will comment on pros and cons of the product. You can learn a lot that way. I think on Slickdeals there is a section of the forum where you can ask other people to help you find a deal on something.

There's a really good website that sell computers at good prices.. Newegg.. Maybe try to buy a Tablet first and get your feel of what you like and don't like.. I own a kindle fire and I love it ! ! its so easy to take with you, just toss it in your purse and go. Not to mention you can get one for around $100.00 on Amazon. Hope this helps and good luck to you

In addition to the specs, one very important thing you might want to consider in laptops is longevity.
It would be good if your purchase were easy to open up and clean.
Because many computers start to collect dust in the fan over time they get slower and become overheated, and eventually they just randomly start to shut down after a few minutes or worse.
All that can be prevented by buying something that is designed in a way that makes it easy for you to clean up every half a year or so. Just make sure you're safe if you do that: don't come into contact with anything inside the housing, unplug the laptop and remove the battery, use some sort of clean air, as you don't want to spit into your laptop lol.
Of course you could alternatively go to the computer store to get it cleaned.

I think tablets / kindles are the way to go - laptops are starting to die out now. But one reason I'm wary of taking the plunge is that if you want to transfer files to and from external storage, you often need another computer. You can always use something like the "cloud," and I can see the advantage of being able to access your files wherever you go, but that can also be done quite well for a laptop with a few good memory sticks, and I don't quite trust the cloud to always give me a good signal / look after my data / respect my privacy / refrain from charging me a fee.

I also used to be concerned that the battery isn't usually replaceable (though its capacity is often excellent), so once it's dead, so is the tablet's mobility, though I gather you can now get external plug-in rechargeable batteries, which seem to solve that problem. At least I think they do.

Agreed. I lost a great desktop PC because I didn't think to occasionally open up the case and clean out the dust. Eventually the airflow got so bad because of the clogged fans that the CPU died. And with some laptops it's a risky thing to dismantle them.

My laptops tend to get hot and die because I use them in bed a lot. The one I got recently does not have a fan, so it's not supposed to overheat. Plus it's inexpensive: I think under 250USD. And, the case of mine is bright rose-pink, so it's easy to find (it stands out because nothing else I own is this color, although my badly neglected most-recent datebook/calendar is close - just a little more purple).

The drawback to this computer is that it's only good for going on the internet, but if you wanted to keep/store/download anything on it at all, there wouldn't be enough room. You would need an external hard drive or whatever. When I tried to download Windows10 (now I'm glad I didn't, btw) - there wasn't enough space on the computer for it. I'd only had it for about a month at the time, & hadn't (still haven't) put much of anything on it. It's the HP Stream if you want to check it out; I'm really liking it.



Re: laptops, the worst I've experienced was an Asus. And the second-worst was one of those mini-netbook things. Acer I believe, although it may have also been Asus, in which case, I definitely UNrecommend Asus. The most recent Asus (full-size maybe 14") was missing around 6 or 7 keys by the time it was 10 months old; never treated it any differently than all the other computers we've had, which lost maybe one key for every 5 computers, but with the Asus, keys were falling off it from the get-go. Weird.

Get a used laptop with an Intel i3 processor in it. Avoid anything Sony because its overpriced junk, HP is a hit or miss, Acer depends on how old it is, really old Acer laptops used to be the lowest quality laptops you could buy but newer Acer laptop quality is decent for the money. Don't even touch budget AMDs processors or any Celeron or Atom processors, because they are so slow that you will just want to smash the laptop into pieces out of frustration and you would be better off flushing your money down the toilet.

I personally like the 14" Lenovo Ideapad that I got back in 2010. It has a first gen i3 processor in it, I tossed in 8GB DD3 1066mhz of ram instead of the 4GB it came with which was really cheap, and swapped out the harddrive for an Intel 320 SSD drive. The laptop still runs great and is faster than most laptops you will find at best buy, it just isn't something you would want to play any video games on because it has no dedicated video card. But for $525 as a floor model, I think it's pretty damn good and faster than laptops over twice the price. You don't have to buy a high end SSD, they are much cheaper now than they were years ago, but a SSD will make the most difference. Your laptop will even have a longer battery life as a result.

I don't know where you are, but here is an idea that you could do until you can decide or save up the money or whatever to get the money to get a better one. Rent it. Yeah I know. It costs a lot more to buy if you rent to own, but you don't have to own it. You can pay about $18 a week and get a laptop where all the service is included and if it breaks you just take it back and they give you another one. At that rate it would take about two years to pay off and it's not worth it to buy the one you will be renting.

It seems like you are throwing money away. Well you are but you aren't. You are paying for convenience and service and a replacement and not to commit. It's like leasing a car. You can get what you want, or close to it, right now with no money down, but it's not really yours and won't be unless you pay way too much for it over time. Yes, you can pay it off in one lump sum but it's still going to be at least one and a half times what you would pay in a store. You pay for the no credit check, the get it today, the weekly payments, and the if it breaks bring it back and we will give you a different one convenience.

I did that for years. Sometimes I'll rent one for a few months just because I want to use a laptop. Now that my daughter has one I can borrow it, but I'm still thinking of renting one for convenience. It's a good option if you want the convenience and service, and owning what you are going to use for months isn't going to be a big issue when you give it back when you decide to buy another one somewhere. It's also a good option if you don't have a lot of money or credit and don't have one right now and really want or need one. You can pay monthly or weekly at Rent A Center in the US. If you do use them PM me cause I want to give you my name cause they will give me a free week on my dryer for referring you please lol. Yes, I'm renting a dryer because when ours went out we had no money to get one right then and the ones from the power company they put on your bill were higher than buying one from Rent A Center, and if it breaks they give us another one. It will be paid off in November.

Yes it is the first option of people who usually buy crappy overpriced furniture to go in falling down trailers or low rent apartments. Yes, if you miss a week they take it back. However, you can go right back the next week and get it again and pick up where you left off.

I would do that if I were you and I had some weekly money to spend like that. Also, if you like the option of just renting you can rent much better ones from them as well. They have really good things but it costs more. You can try one out for a week or two as well. They will want you to do a rent to own agreement, but it's how they do everybody. You can swap your stuff around and it's not as binding as it looks with all those pages and initials and all that. I've rented stuff for years. I've rented and gave it back and rented and ended up buying and my mother loved doing that. She bought overpriced furniture and a way overpriced tv. But she wanted to.

So, check out that option if you don't want to sink a bunch of money into something right now. Or you could call Circuit City and talk to one of the guys there. Find out what you can get and the service plan and all that. See if you can get credit.

But you don't have to have any credit to rent on. Check it out. Rent A Center. If you do it, hit me up here in the PM please. If I'm not online when you PM me, get Aunt Blabby to either FB or call me. I talk to him almost every day. He can get hold of me and I'll check the PM real quick.

Don't decide you don't like the idea until you at least look at what they have and talk to them about what your options are. If there is no RAC there, look under furniture rental and computer rental as well. Lots of places rent computers.


ETA: If it's just to get online or FB or simple stuff like that and you don't need all the laptop stuff but just want convenience of using it in other places besides the desktop then get a phone. I just got a smart phone (I don't like it as well as my flip phone but it's growing on me - I didn't want to do computer and stuff on my phone but I am now) for $29.88 at Walmart for a Straight Talk phone. For $45 a month I get a card to load a months worth of unlimited calling, texting and data. I use our wifi at home but when I go somewhere I use the data from the card plan. They also have better ones, I got just a really crappy one. My kids love their phones more than their Kindles or laptops or any of that other stuff they have.

Also, Rent A Center has Kindle Fire and also tablets and all that stuff as well. And really expensive good phones that do everything except type for you.

I've got a HP laptop and I wouldn't recommend the one I have. I wouldn't trust any Dells because they tend to be badly designed and cheaply made.

I know two people with the same model and they haven't experienced the same issues.