Earlier this year I replaced a three year old Surface Pro (which replaced a Fujitsu laptop with Windows Vista) with a Lenovo YOGA 9I, Intel Core i7 processor, 16 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD hard drive, 14” touch screen 2-in-1 (the screen folds around to the back of the keyboard to make a tablet). It was on sale at BestBuy for $1,000. Costco had some good values at the time also.
One of my primary criteria was a lighter weight. For the last 5 years I’ve lived on the family farm with DSL internet coming over ageing rural phone lines. It works okay for e-mail, looking in on a forum, looking stuff up on a site that isn’t too graphically intense. I do not watch videos or movies at home. Zoom meetings can be hit and miss. When I want to download a large file or a new application, or watch a video, I go the library in town. I can also reserve a study room there when I need to be on a zoom meeting. So, I don’t want to lug around something big and heavy. In my shopping, both three years ago and last spring, I discovered that as with camping gear, the lighter and more compact the laptop the more expensive, usually.
I liked the Surface Pro, and especially its thinness and that it weighs less than two pounds. However mine had a 128 SSD hard drive that was getting full and only 8 GB RAM, and seemed to be getting sluggish. While useable, the detachable keyboard wasn’t my favorite thing. The Lenovo was a nice upgrade at a nicer price than a new Surface. I don’t mind the smaller screen, but there is always the option of connecting a larger monitor at home if one wants.
If the laptop is rarely, if ever, going to move off one’s desk, than size and weight won’t matter.
As others have said, if one is a Costco or BestBuy Total Tech member you can try out a laptop at home and have 90 or 60 days to return it if it’s not what you want.
Topic: Laptop Recommendations? (Read 9615 times)