I would agree that getting the most you can afford is a good strategy,
especially with a laptop, since it can be harder to upgrade. That being
said, memory is still trivial to upgrade, even on a laptop, and adding
memory after you purchase your laptop may be cheaper than ordering a
laptop with more memory. For example, I just bought a Asus U36 laptop
with 4G of memory and upgraded it to 8G, for less than I would have
spent ordering additional memory with the laptop. I also waited to see
if I needed the additional memory. Since I run Vinux as my primary OS
and run Windows 7 and other versions of Vinux as client OS's, I quickly
realized I needed the extra memory.
Adding storage, especially external storage, is also trivial and may be
the cheaper way to go. Swapping out your internal hard drive for a
larger one is also pretty inexpensive and straightforward, but
transferring over the operating system and applications may be a chore,
so I would recommend getting the size of the internal hard drive you
need up front.
I'll add a few more thoughts, but since no one included Deborah's
original note, let me do that now. BTW, I would encourage people to
include the emails they're responding to. It makes it easier when
responding to multiple questions and going back through the history to
understand what's being asked for.
Hi Everyone,
I have an opportunity to get a new computer and need to act fairly quickly.
My desktop is 7 years old and fading fast.
Here are my questions for all of you.
First, I'm thinking to go with a laptop rather than a tower and would like
to hear opinions on the subject. My sense is that laptops can be just as
powerful as towers and could then be portable if necessary.
Second, what brands and/or specs in laptops are needed for best performance
with all our screen-reading jazz?
I was just looking around on-line and suddenly felt dizzy! Looking at HP
laptops, for instance, the home and student edition looked like they had
more RAM and storage space than the models listed as professional. What's
up with that?
Grateful for all and any direction!
Deborah
First, I would agree that a laptop can replace a desktop or a tower. It
ultimately comes down to what you'll be using the system for. A tower
will let you do things like add superior graphics and sound cards and
hold more storage, but much of this can be done with external devices
these days. Of course, a tower or desktop system isn't going to go to
class with you or even move from your office to your living room.
Two places I look to for guides on buying PC's and laptops are CNET and
consumersearch.com. They both have tips on what to look for and reviews
on the best systems to purchase.
For my own part, I've purchased three laptops in the last year. One each
for my two sons who are in college and law school and one for myself,
since I just changed jobs and needed to get my own laptop. I'll tell you
a little bit about what I looked for and settled on.
The first thing you need to decide is what you'll be using your laptop
for and how portable it'll need to be. laptops are pretty much
distinguished these days by their screen size. The most portable have 13
inch screens and smaller. Your standard laptops have 14 to 16 inch
screens, and your gaming and desktop replacement laptops have 17 inch
screens. You may think the screen size doesn't matter for a blind
person, but the larger screen sizes also tend to come with faster
processors, better graphics adapters and in general are more suited for
gaming and multi-media. Of course, the larger the laptop and the larger
the screen size, the heavier the laptop will be and the shorter the
battery life.
I would look for at least 4G of memory, but like I said, if you'll be
doing things with video or running virtual machines than 8G will be
better. Screen readers tend to be memory pigs, but again, 4G will be
good for most things.
I'd suggest the latest I5 Intel processor. I think they're the best
performance for the money and the so called Sandybridge processors are
quite a bit more efficient, given you better battery life. I3 are good
if you're looking to save a bit of money and really want something for
longer battery life. They would also be good for most purposes, surfing
the web, reading email, and the like. I think the I7 are a bit too
pricey for what you get, but they will be the most powerful and energy
hungry of the processors.
Storage depends a lot on what you'll be using your laptop for, but if
it's a desktop replacement then you probably want quite a bit of
storage. 550G hard drives are pretty common now, although 320G to 640G
can also be had. I'd lean towards a 7200RPM drive, but you'll still find
a lot of 5400RPM drives out there, and you probably won't notice the
difference. Of course if you want blazing speed and don't need the
capacity and don't care about the money then you can go solid state.
Even though you may not care about the graphics adapter, the better the
graphics adapter the better the overall performance, so this is
something you can look for. The high end laptops also now frequently
come with two graphics adapters. One built into the mother board, which
usually uses less power and is the default when the laptop is running
off of battery or is in power saving mode. The other is a dedicated
graphics adapter with it's own memory and is used when doing graphics
intensive work. This greatly improves battery life, but also adds to the
cost of the laptop. For my part, I didn't pay too much attention to this
except for the opportunity to gain some battery life.
You may also want to keep an eye out for the connectors. My sons really
wanted HDMI output for example. USB 3.0 will be nice to have, but I
don't have any USB 3.0 devices yet myself.
As far as brand are concerned, I've become a big fan of Asus laptops. I
think you get the most laptop for the money these days. My laptop is a
high end Asus U36 with a 13 inch display. I got it because it was the
most power in the smallest package. My youngest son, who's going off to
college, just got a 15 inch Asus netbook. It's not as portable as mine,
but a bit more powerful with a bit more room. He doesn't envision taking
his laptop to classes, but he does want something that's occasionally
portable. Lenovo Thinkpads are also really good machines and are
particularly durable, so if your laptop will be carried around a lot and
needs to be durable then I'd definitely go with a Lenovo Thinkpad. My
older son has a 14 inch Lenovo thinkpad. He takes it to his law school
classes, study groups and in general is pretty hard on his laptops, so
this seemed like the ideal machine for him. HP's now get really good
reviews, as you'll see from CNET and consumersearch.com. I was tempted
by the HP's, but went with the Asus instead.
On 15/07/11 08:10, Duane S. Farrar wrote:
> Yes, please do respond to the list. Those of us with early 21st Century
> desktop towers would be interested in your expertise. I have been thinking
> of moving to a wireless laptop unit. My philosophy when buying hardware is
> to buy as much computer as I can possibly afford; i.e., get the biggest bang
> for the buck (most storage, most RAM, fastest CPU, fastest bus, etc.). This
> philosophy has served me well over the years.
>
> Thanks,
> Duane
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Lisa McManus" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Friday, July 15, 2011 4:07 AM
> Subject: [VICUG-L] anyone responding to Debra about her laptop question
>
>
> Could you please do me a favor and either respond to me with the same
> information or put it to the list. I am interested to know what to exactly
> look for in purchasing a laptop so that I would get the best performance,
> etc. Thanks very much. I know that my nephew said to make sure it is
> intel.
>
> Lisa
> i
>
>
> VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
> Archived on the World Wide Web at
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>
> VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
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--
Christopher (CJ)
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