New laptop recommendations.

[wbw6cos]

Are there any members on this board that know enough to recommend a good laptop?    I would rather have ideas from BMWST members than from the web sites that want me to buy their stuff.

 

The one I use right now basically replaced a Dell Inspiron 17, which was getting slower and slower.  It is more than a few years old and is hard to charge up due to the fact that the cord needs to be set (pushed) just right with my tongue hanging out a certain way to get the charging light to come on.  Sometimes it will charge, and other times the cord needs to be adjusted.   It has the round female-type end on the cord to plug into the typical round type, with a pin in the center.  I guess I can get that repaired.  I have also been told that the slow speed of the computer may be indicative of the hard drive getting ready to fail.  I am not too fussed about fixing it for future use, so I would rather just buy a new one.  I have a decent amount of photos and other data on it, so I will keep it for now and use it sparingly.  It also has an optical drive, which I can use to access my repair manual for the RT.

 

In my search for another laptop (prefer it over desktop) I have discovered that there is a difference in SSD and HDD.  I have a SLR digital camera, Garmin VIRB 30 helmet cam,  and a little trail cam mounted in our yard.  I have found out that there is very little storage room for those pics on this laptop, as I keep getting messages about the  One Drive is almost full with click here to upgrade.   Nah.  

 

This laptop is 13" with touchscreen and has only 2 type-C ports.  One can be used for charging.  The other can be used for USB with an adapter, which I use with a wireless mouse (I prefer that over the tocuhpad.)  I mainly purchased the 13" to use for travel.  It is thin and light weight.    Runs on Windows10 Home, has 11th Gen Intel processor, 32 GB RAM.

 

I want to get a 17", but it needs a good storage drive on it for all the large photo and video storage.  I know that SSD is slimmer for the overall profile and is quicker to boot up, but the HDD has to be be large enough to hold a lot of photo/video data.  I have seen some laptops for sale that have both SSD and HDD and they still seem pretty thin and light weight, as best as I can tell from images.  

 

So my question is which one should I choose?

 

My wants:

- 17" screen, touch screen preferred

- ample storage (this one has roughly 459 GB) which could be TB  (??)

- a good connection for charging.  The C-type seems pretty robust compared to the other round type.  (??)

- 11th Gen, or better processor

- min 64 GB ram; could be higher, but for just uploading photos, surfing the world wide web, emails, etc  (??)

- USB ports to allow for external drives (optical, maybe storage)

- prefer the metal casing over the plastic.

- light weight, to a degree.   I realize they are getting smaller and lighter as technology improves.

- dependable; lasting longer than a few years.  Brand not an issue, but the most recent 2 were Dell, then HP, followed by another Dell.  

- back-lit keyboard

- number pad

 

I use Chrome browser for access to the internet.

 

The new laptop will be used for:

- internet access

- uploading photos (large MB) from SLR digital camera

- uploading videos from helmet cam

- connecting to Nav VI, using Basecamp

- accessing the BMW repair manual on disc - will need external optical drive, no doubt.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TSConver]

I really like my surface tablet. Full MS OS. Fast. Touch screen. Easy to take with you. 

 

Had mine at FART and used it to fix a route for someone.

[Rougarou]

1 hour ago, wbw6cos said:

- accessing the BMW repair manual on disc - will need external optical drive, no doubt.

 

 

No need for an optical drive to carry around.  Load the repair manual onto the laptop and mount it with a virtual drive,......that's how I do it....never need to carry a disc with me anywhere I go.

[Lowndes]

If the Dell is in OK shape physicnally, why not get a new SSD for the Dell (Dells are well made) and a new charger from Amazon or eBay??  For the pics and vids carry an external 2 Tb HDD.  Add some RAM and clean up the directory.  The new SSD's come with instructions on how to transfer the OS, legit.  Cheaper, faster, and more fun!!

[Rougarou]

4 minutes ago, Lowndes said:

If the Dell is in OK shape physicnally, why not get a new SSD for the Dell (Dells are well made) and a new charger from Amazon or eBay??  For the pics and vids carry an external 2 Tb HDD.  Add some RAM and clean up the directory.  The new SSD's come with instructions on how to transfer the OS, legit.  Cheaper, faster, and more fun!!

 

SSD makes a spinner feel like a superfast machine

[Lowndes]

I replaced the spinners with SSD's, brand new, out of the box, on the last two laptops.  EZPZ.  Plug and play....well, almost.

 

Still using the ASUS with win 8.1 and the original SSD.  The older HP is still using the SSD, win 7, and is the backup machine.  Both are still fast enough for me and rock solid.  And.....paid for. 

[wbw6cos]

The old slow Dell has an HDD drive.  I did consider upgrading to a newer, larger hard drive.   As far as the charging is concerned, I may try a new charging cord and hope it is not the receiving portion on the lap top.

 

So, Lowndes, you are saying that I should swap out my old laptop HDD for a larger SSD?

[Lowndes]

Yes, larger or smaller.  You can even re-use your old spinner HDD in an external case.  Or get a bigger external HDD, 2 Tb should be enough for several years of pics.  Add some RAM, too.

 

 

[wbw6cos]

Interesting.   I may consider that.   I already use an old laptop hard drive as an external storage drive; I access it every now and then for some old files.   Food for thought.  

[Lowndes]

Ever go in Microcenter over there on Pleasant Hill Rd??  

[Alfred02]

Lenovo Legion 5 17IMH05

 

You don't need 64GB Ram...I have expanded this one to 32GB during the order which is more then you ever need.

Get the 500GB SSD build in....Most important, it has room for a 2nd normal sized HDD (SDD).

You can add it to the order or get one through 3rd party and install it yourself.

[Rougarou]

12 minutes ago, wbw6cos said:

Interesting.   I may consider that.   I already use an old laptop hard drive as an external storage drive; I access it every now and then for some old files.   Food for thought.  

 

Slap that external on your home router, always available,....least while you're home......or you could FTP it and it would be available while you are away.

 

I have a 2tb on my home router, pretty much for movies that I load that I use Plex to allow my daughters/grandboys to access......my laptop has to be on for that as it acts as the server.

 

 

 

 

[Skywagon]

William....I have a new Dell AC and probably a DC cord.  If you can't find yours or can't get it to work, Let me know and I'll send it to you.  Look and see what OS your on and what speed your chip set is...e.g. I5, i7, Celeron....etc.  Some of that stuff is no longer supported, not that that matters too much but if the os is too old you may have trouble running security and other things.

 

If you do decide to buy new, I highly recommend HP or Dell  Personally I think HP makes a better 17 than anyone, but one good drop and the hinges that hold the screen on will likely break.  Dell PC is more rugged.  So if you buy new....17, SSD 1TB, backlit keys, and as much memory as you can afford.  All the upgrades to screen quality you should demo at a bestbuy from low grade to best grade.  As others said...don't get a HDD.  You can get one and plug in USB if you have to for about $50.

 

PC's are way up in price right now.  A great 17 6 months ago was $1100-1400.  Now I see them as much as $2000.  Chip shortage and gouging to make up for it.

[chrisolson]

4 hours ago, wbw6cos said:

So my question is which one should I choose?

 

Like a lot of things ...it comes down to money ... what's your budget?  Without that , hard to recommend anything.

 

A few other comments ...

 

4 hours ago, wbw6cos said:

One Drive is almost full with click here to upgrade

 

One Drive is Microsoft's cloud storage ... double check where you are actually storing your photos and data. You might discover you have a lot of "local" storage available.

 

Your  "requirements"

 

4 hours ago, wbw6cos said:

- internet access

- uploading photos (large MB) from SLR digital camera

- uploading videos from helmet cam

- connecting to Nav VI, using Basecamp

- accessing the BMW repair manual on disc - will need external optical drive, no doubt.

 

 

If I have understood correctly,  have little to do with computer speed, but have everything to do with internet connection speed or are not dependent on a fast , new computer ... (there are really cheap USB optical drives available).

 

Or if "uploading" means from the source to the PC ... then yes, a faster processor and additional ram and a faster storage device (SSD) will help.  There is always the mantra, get the fastest processor, storage and max ram you can afford (however which brings us back to budget)  .

 

If you're a Windows user and the old Dell will meet the new Microsoft hardware requirements ... I'm with Lowndes ... ditch the old platter HDD and go SSD.  Also check out what the max ram the old Dell will take and add ram as needed to the max.  32 gig is plenty, even 16 will work.

 

I believe that most any of the major brands are equally good for your purpose ... if you just gotta go new ... buy the screen size you want, fastest speed processor, largest SSD drive included (or optional) in the price range you can afford.  You can always add ram later  , its fairly cheap as an add-on.  You won't go wrong. 

 

But, for a lot less, you can probably upgrade the old Dell ... but don't forget about internet connection speed as a major player in your end game, you can have the fastest computer but crappy internet which will spoil the day.

[wbw6cos]

9 hours ago, Lowndes said:

Ever go in Microcenter over there on Pleasant Hill Rd??  

 

It has been a while.   I may go visit them this weekend and get off this amazon search kick. HA    I will look into doing some minor upgrades to my old Dell; I may have them take a look at the charging port if a new cord will not suffice.

 

7 hours ago, Skywagon said:

 

PC's are way up in price right now.  A great 17 6 months ago was $1100-1400.  Now I see them as much as $2000.  Chip shortage and gouging to make up for it.

 

I can atttest to that.  Although I can afford a new one, I just do not want to pay all that much while all the shortages are going on; I may wait.  I do believe the pandemic caused more remote activity causing stronger demand for PC's.

 

6 hours ago, chrisolson said:

One Drive is Microsoft's cloud storage ... double check where you are actually storing your photos and data. You might discover you have a lot of "local" storage available.

 

If I have understood correctly,  have little to do with computer speed, but have everything to do with internet connection speed or are not dependent on a fast , new computer ... (there are really cheap USB optical drives available)

 

But, for a lot less, you can probably upgrade the old Dell ... but don't forget about internet connection speed as a major player in your end game, you can have the fastest computer but crappy internet which will spoil the day.

 

I will look at the storage on this newer laptop.  Even if I upgrade the old one, I need to address the MS One Cloud storage issue.

 

I have Comcast internet.  Need I say more?   LOL 

 

Download speeds are  in the 7 - 8 Mbps range and uploads are 5 - 6 Mbps (avg) and have been a lot lower in the past.   Still waiting to see when T-Mobile will be offering wireless internet service in my area; I want to test out other options, but for what I do on the internet,  I can tolerate what we have.

 

 

I appreciate all the replies.   Y'all present some good ideas that give me better information to help me decide what I want to do.

[Rougarou]

1 hour ago, wbw6cos said:

 

 

Download speeds are  in the 7 - 8 Mbps range and uploads are 5 - 6 Mbps (avg) and have been a lot lower in the past.   Still waiting to see when T-Mobile will be offering wireless internet service in my area; I want to test out other options, but for what I do on the internet,  I can tolerate what we have.

 

 

Ouch!!  That DSL or cable?,....anyway, that wireless internet will do the trick for ya.

 

I have between my daughters place and my house Ubiquiti set up so I pipe her internet wirelessly.  She streams two TVs as well as a laptop and her phone with no issues.  It's line of site and she's right below a 1000ft away.  There is a start-up in my county that intends on doing this to the more rural areas that don't have wired internet.  I think I'm pumping over to her house at 3-500mbs +/-  but my download speed from Spectrum is only at 210mbs

 

 

Also, to keep on the topic itself.  I had a PTSD moment a few years ago when my refurbished Dell blue screened so instantly the mouse seemed to have left my hand and ended up somehow cracking the screen in all sorts of ways.

 

I ended up going with another Dell, new this time, and a gaming machine.  I don't game but I wanted the processing speeds and graphics.  I did swap out for a SSD getting rid of the spinners.  I borrowed one of the data-dinks from work magic box and just cloned the drives, easy ta do.

[wbw6cos]

Ouch,  is right.

 

The cable company uses their own wi-fi router for hot spots.  Not sure why that is needed at our house; we are not in a high traffic area requiring free hot spot access to the public.   I have tried my own wireless routers and they seem to get slowed down (or throttled back, IYKWIM - and I think  you do) and one was taken out by electrical surge through internet.  That was in my other thread about electrical protection.  I will hook the ethernet up to the modem and see what the ISP streams.

[Rougarou]

I use my own modem (Arris Surfboard forget which model) and router/s.  I currently have the main router in the basement, then an older router upstairs that is used as a bridge/access point.

 

You should be able to use your on kit for your own house.....I know I just had to call Spectrum so they could ping my modem to allow it to work.

[Lowndes]

The SSD's I've bought came with complete instructions on how to transfer (clone) everything from the old spinner to the new SSD including the OS.  It seems very daunting at first but it's very doable.

 

Here is a neat, external clear case for a HDD ($15), others for $10:  https://www.amazon.com/ORICO-External-Drive-Enclosure-Type-C/dp/B01N48791I/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=207K859XROWYV&dchild=1&keywords=external+hdd+case+2.5&qid=1632916536&sprefix=external+HDD+case%2Caps%2C166&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExRzBQVjlUUEpLNVEwJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwOTI5OTQ5MjZJODNEMFFESUtTVCZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMTE4NDg4MUFPVVk4V0hOQU5OSiZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

 

I'd keep the internal light (optical) drive, maybe upgrade to a blue-ray.  Electro drives (spinners and SSD's) have life spans but CD's, DVD's will outlive the drives to read them.  You can store an infinite collection pics and vids with no degradation of quality, well, as many as your wallet allows.

[MikeB60]

I wouldn't rule out a surface pro especially if you need something portable. I don't know anything about computers other than it needs to work when I press the go button. The computer geeks at work transitioned us to surface pros about three years ago and they have been great. We do a lot of work with video and photos that required a big ass laptop (infantry technical term) but the surface pros work like a charm. We have port expanders and the big power supply/docking station has 5 USB ports. I have a portable monitor for dual monitor capability and Microsoft has a neat connection for smart TV. The ability to use the surface as a tablet is also a huge plus.  I would never willingly go back to a laptop. 

[lkraus]

I think you will find that most new laptops have dropped the optical drive in order to be thinner and lighter. It's not much of a loss since most software is now provided as a download. Older programs can be loaded from an external drive. Basic CD/DVD units with read/write capability are only ~$30-40, double that if you have to have Blu-Ray (we never have). We have one that has been used with three different computers as needed, but mostly just sits in the closet.

 

1 hour ago, Lowndes said:

  Electro drives (spinners and SSD's) have life spans but CD's, DVD's will outlive the drives to read them.  You can store an infinite collection pics and vids with no degradation of quality, well, as many as your wallet allows.

 

CD and DVD discs do degrade over time. I've tossed many that have become unreadable. Fortunately, they contained only obsolete software and old backups. I keep important data on multiple external drives. Yes, I've lost one of those too, but the backup was backed up.

[Skywagon]

Lots of good ideas here. A couple more personal things. I am terrified of virus or pc hostage. If you run back up on line regularly don’t count on that backup not having the same virus. I use 3 external drives. The first one has a full image monthly. The second one is 6 months  and the third is one year. That gives me a good chance of surviving. See pic below

Comcast. I have a 500mb Comcast connection with their router. I get 500 wireless when within about 20 ft. As you go through the house it degrades to the point of not usable on upstairs TV. Most router extenders throttle the speed back  a lot. I tried a few. They suck. I finally landed on the eero extender. I now get at least 150mb anywhere in the house and in most places above 300. As Chris said speed of connection is important. On your old Dell your comm card and drivers may well be limiting to. I have an old Dell in the garage and the wireless card and software are limited to 10mb. 

[wbw6cos]

Thanks David.

[John Ranalletta]

I've been a Lenovo ThinkPad user for lots of years.  The oldest one is 7 y/o and only needed a DIY chip cooler replaced.

 

There's a YouTube guy in NYC who fixes Apple products but he uses ThinkPads as his diagnostic s/w on runs on Windows and his experience says they're the most reliable.

 

That written, I'm intrigued by the new Framework modular laptop. https://frame.work/#laptop-configuration

 

[wbw6cos]

I thought I would post an update on what I ended up doing.

 

I decided to upgrade the hard drive on my old laptop and added memory.

 

First off, a brand new power cord solved the charging issue.  I may get a new batttery as this one does not last as long as it did when it was new.  No hurries, though.

 

Then I purchased a 1 TB SSD to install.  Samsung 870 EVO.   The computer guy recommended  keeping it limited to 1 TB because the pc was older and it may start experience  some issues.  I am okay with that.  So far, so good.  Fires up pretty fast, so I got that going for me, which is nice.

 

I also had only 8 GB of RAM with an empty slot, so I bought two 8 GB memory cards and installed them.  No issues surfing the world wide web, downloading Bernie routes, etc.   

 

Thank you for reading and posting good information.  

 

Cheers!