Posted on 04/13/2018 5:07:02 PM PDT by Don W
I am looking at a few new options, and would like some input.
Choice #1: ASUS VivoBook E203NA Ultra Thin and Light Laptop Intel Celeron N3350 Processor (Turbo up to 2.4 GHz) 4GB LPDDR3 RAM 32GB eMMC Flash Storage plus pre-installed 32GB SD Card 11.6”HD Display Windows 10
Choice #2: Panasonic A Grade CF-19 Toughbook 10.1-inch (XGA sunlight-viewable LED 1024 x 768) 1.06GHz Core Duo 160 GB HD 2 GB Memory Digitizer Pen Windows XP Pro OS Power Adapter Included
Choice #3: Apple Grade B Laptop MacBook MC516LL/A Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 (2.40 GHz) 2 GB Memory 60 GB HDD 13.3" Mac OS X
Choice #4: DELL Laptop Latitude E4310 Intel Core i5 520M (2.40 GHz) 4 GB Memory 120 GB SSD Intel HD Graphics 13.3" Windows 10 Home
I would not run Windows 10 with less than 16 GBytes RAM. For OSX, 8 GBytes minimum.
I assume from this that this is your personal computer and not a work computer.
Unless you are taking this computer on the road where it is at risk of being dropped, kicked or other wise suffer physical abuse I would eliminate the Toughbook from your list of choices.
With the Toughbook you are paying extra for the hardened design and you lose speed and memory capacity because the internals were cheapened.
Dell has proprietary power supplies? Go figure...
Thanks to all, I am still reading your posts.
At least an i5 or i7 processor. Celeron is slow. Also, 8 Gb ram.
15” screen, unless you are specifically looking for a tablet size. I prefer 17” even on the laptops.
Of course, it depends on what kind of computing you do.
That’s ridiculous. Windows 10 runs perfectly fine on 4 gigs of RAM. A casual user does not require more than 8, either way.
The Toshiba has hit the floor a couple of times over the years, which is why the toughbook was on the list. The price is within $50 for all these choices.
DELL has lousy customer service. I’ve been using an Aspire notebook on my trips, it’s slow but dependable.
I love my Dell Latitude laptop. Of course, it’s a 2015 model with Windows 7. Still, it’s a workhorse.
The only thing I don’t like is the numerical keypad, which doubles as the pg up, pg down, end, etc., so you can’t really do math stuff and maneuver around, say, a spreadsheet without some fancy footwork with the Fn key or NumLock key.
So if you’re a heavy numerical keypad user as I am, be sure to check out that setup with any brand you buy.
An Intel i5 is a good balance between performance and battery life. 4 gigs of RAM is sufficient, but 8 is the sweet spot.
Make sure the WiFi adapter supports 802.11ac. A weak WiFi will cripple your experience and just make you angry
You can’t go wrong with a IBM 360.
Downside: You need a big lap!
I’d like to be able to use the F350 for hauling stuff OTHER than my ‘puter, thanks < LOL >.
P.S. We bought two HP Envy laptops with Win 10 last year and have had trouble with their batteries not charging correctly and some other small issues.
In 2008 I got an HP Pavilion laptop with Vista and it’s still problem free and going strong.
I spent too much money on a high number of Windows systems and servers in my two offices. I don’t want to add up the total I spent over 25 years Most lasted 2-4 years under daily use.
I was also forced into being an unpaid Microsoft tech support. That in addition to paying real tech support.
In the last two years of owning my company, I decided I wanted a different life. I bought a Mac laptop as my personal machine, installed a virtual windows partition so I could run the one remaining, industry specific program I needed.
First, windows ran noticeably faster on my Mac than on my Dell computers - while I was also running OSX and applications.
In the past 7 years, I’ve never had virus software, never had a virus or malware. Updates are free and install without problems. No searches online for drivers.
When we sold our firm, I treated myself to a great MacBook Pro upgrade. Love it. 5 years later, I’m running that same laptop and it runs like a champ.
Ditched the windows partition as soon as I no longer had to use that one program. I’m free and loving having a computer that just works.
Good luck!
Craigslist picks?
Need to know what it’ll be used for.
OS?
I like the Intel i5 pick.
For W10 you’ll be hurting with anything less than a quad core, 3ghz with 16GB of RAM.
Remember, whatever you go with you can always blame FR for all problems thereafter.
I wouldn't try to run Mac OS in less than 4GB, preferably more. Nor Windows 10. If you're going to try to fit into 2GB, run Windows XP or an appropriate Linux distro. Or Chrome OS.
In recent years, as memory has become ever cheaper, software developers have become very lax about controlling RAM usage. These days, even browsers are very RAM-hungry. Load a page with an active ad-tech engine running in the background and watch RAM usage grow and grow!
I remember when we had 50 users on a single mainframe (IBM 4341) with 4 megabytes of RAM. The apps were in assembly language, and the users were sitting in front of dumb terminals (3270s).
Yes, the price is in range but as I and others have said said you sacrifice a good deal of computing power for that hardened design.
Your boot time, picture render time and general processing will be much longer.
I haven’t looked at Toughbook in a long time but if you compare processor speed and RAM of the other computers you will see that you are getting a lot less computer for the price.
But if you are worried about drops and other mishaps it may be worth it.
I did look at buying one myself years ago when I spent a lot of time in restaurants and coffee shops with my laptop. But ended up going with another laptop because if I upgraded to a more capable Toughbook that price was just too high.
Another thing I would look at is the Apple refurbished computers on their official website. I have bought all of my Apple computers refurbished. You typically save about 20-30 percent off of new prices.
You get the same one year warranty. I have not been able to see any difference between what I get and new.
I have Apple at home and use Microsoft at work. I will pick Apple over Microsoft every time for my money.
Don’t rule out Acer. I had an Asus that I sent back and replaced with a lighted-keyboard Acer laptop. Over a year... so far, so very good!
I’m with you on HP. Crap.
I’m on a ToughBook right now. The CF-19 is heavy, bulky and (most of all) slow! In order to make their laptops water-resistant (don’t let anyone tell you they’re “water-proof”!) they dispensed with a cooling fan. So they use step-down processing to control the heat. In effect, the hotter it gets (and they get HOT!) the slower it goes.
I found the drop test claims were a bit off the mark - I’ve seen two HDD’s die (with total loss of data) in drops of two feet or less. If you do go with one, upgrade the HDD to an SSD. Performance is better and then it will truly be tough.
All in all I’d go with the Dell.
If you are windows and don’t do graphics, the Mac is not a good idea. And no matter what, if you can afford it, go with a solid state hard drive. Beats a spinning disc every day of the week.
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