You don’t have to find exactly what you want in a store. All the laptop
companies allow you to contact them directly and configure the machine as
you want it. For instance, the last one I ordered, which was a Dell, I
called dell and spoke with the sales technician who asked me all the
questions, and allowed me to configure the thing just as I wish. You can
also do this on-line though that can get pretty tedious.
In my experience, HP is to be avoided. Their tech support is the worst, and
as another person on here mentioned, I’ve seen lots of problems making them
work with peripherals. Finding a simple USB port with a thumb drive can
make you want to throw the thing out. Plus, HP always comes with tons of
adware and trial software which bogs the thing down and creates lots of
conflicts with adaptive software.
Lenovo is a very solid choice, as is Acer. Both have good tech support,.
I’ve never owned a Lenovo, but I have an Acer and it’s my favorite machine
of all time.
So, figure out your features, type of processor, amount of ram, screen
size, hard drive size and type, then call two different companies and have
them configure it for you. That will give you a price comparison. If you
know what you have to spend in advance, that makes it easier.
I agree with others that I5 is just fine, I7 is better but not essential
unless you are a power user. I3 may be a bit underpowered. Solid State
hard drives are terrific, and fast, but expensive for the size. So, that
can be a place3 you can cut costs if you need to. Regular hard drives these
days are very big, very fast, and will suit most people. Do not scrimp on
the amount of RAM. Ram is cheap, so get at least 4 gigs, and 6 or 8 gigs is
better.
Be careful, some laptops do not come with an optical drive nowadays. So, if
you have a need for running CDs or DVDs, you either need to make sure you
have an optical drive in the machine, or plan to purchase an outboard drive.
Beyond these things, most modern machines have everything else you’d want
including USB ports, audio ports, card readers, Wi Fi, and Bluetooth
standard.
Good Luck.
Bill
*From:* Visually Impaired Computer Users' Group List [mailto:
[log in to unmask]] *On Behalf Of *Lisa McManus
*Sent:* Tuesday, December 10, 2013 7:19 PM
*To:* [log in to unmask]
*Subject:* [VICUG-L] advice needed on some specifics of buying a laptop
Hi all,
I know I have mentioned on the list before that I was going to buy a laptop
at some point. Well, I decided now is the time.
I am driving myself crazy looking through store ad after store ad and
websites to try to get all the specifications that I want.
I am looking for a laptop both for myself and for my sister. We both have
a little bit different needs so they will be different.
One thing is that I have a question about the processor. If I asked this
on here in the past please forgive me, but I forget. My husband's nephew
is a programmer and he says for my purposes I should stick with looking for
an intel i core 5 or 7.
I see a ton of ads for intel pentium processors. I thought that intel
pentium was a pretty old processor or is this a new version of intel
pentium?
So is the i cores 3, 5, and 7 faster than the intel pentium?
He said that i core 3 is at the low end of the spectrum, with i core 5
being mainstream, and i core 7 being really fast.
Also, one last question he had told me that dell, asus, and hp were good to
look at, but I was wondering if anyone knew anything about linova.
If someone could give me some info to help clear this confusion up for me I
would really appreciate it. I have grown really tired of this looking and
searching for a good deal. Thanks very much.
Lisa
------------------------------
Leave list: [log in to unmask]
VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at http://listserv.i cors.or
g/archives/vicug-l.html <http://listserv.icors.org/archives/vicug-l.html>
Send questions on list operation to
[log in to unmask]<[log in to unmask]>
VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
Archived on the World Wide Web at
http://listserv.icors.org/archives/vicug-l.html
Signoff: [log in to unmask]
Subscribe: [log in to unmask]
|
