Posted on 04/03/2019 6:14:29 AM PDT by Chickensoup
You can also look at OpenOffice
https://www.openoffice.org/
PC World review:
https://www.pcworld.com/article/3228112/apache-open-office-review-office-alternative.html
Thanks, as regards LibreOffice. I’m going to try it. Maybe I won’t feel I need to upgrade to MS Office 365.
But if you like hearing the whine of fans all day long, then go with the AMD and let Windows do its thing.
I think the best suggestions were for Dell refurb. That way you can get the highest quality laptop at a good price. It won't be the latest processor but the processors have not improved much lately.
Something most do not know. Used to be... If you opened up just about every PC and server made, 95% of the electronic parts are made by Asus. :)
Walmart
Costco
HP works.
Be prepared to change out certain cabling with perhaps new peripheral gear or adapters for the old cabling as the connectors have changed. There are other options such as touch screen and some hard drive options with a flash type of Technology employed rather than a moving parts hard drive of older technology, which is also available if that is what choose.
I would go up and look at Computer World online and read some fresh articles on the subject. You can get in for half of the cost of higher ends and still have a very proficient laptop.
I think a goal of maybe five hundred bucks Max would probably suit your needs very well. I got an HP a couple of years ago for 350 on sale at Costco and it’s much more than the gamer that I lost to a lightning strike and I’ve been real happy with it.
As with any computer you need to back your files up at least monthly and you can do that now on flash drive technology they have sticks that probably hold all the information that you actually have on your computer with the exception of programming but that changes anyway within any new computer as some of the older programming is no longer compatible and companies are not back engineering their software for more complex operating systems.
Hope that helps, by the way, somebody mentioned TigerDirect... I have dealt with them on several occasions and they have refurbs that are work great and I’ve been happy with the two refurbs I have purchased in the past.
I have noticed that computers for me and my family generally run about 10 years so I just treat them now like washing machines & dishwashers and just make sure my data files are backed up and stay backed up.
I was an IT Manager, Exec, and Director for years (the titles grew with the job).
I had a set of book shelves in one of my office areas, about 16 feet long. It’s main purposes changed as the years went by.
But the tops, end to end, became our “smithosonian”. As equipment became retired or obsolete, one of my oldest and longest-running consultants would pull some component out of the old machine before it left, and we’d pick one as a new candidate for our in office “smithsonian”. New employees in my staff and in the company in general, and guests would from time to time ask what the different items were. My admin assistant would call Walter (the old guy) and he’d relish the chance to explain the different items to folks.
I have a Dell 15” gaming laptop I paid $800-ish for a few years back off Amazon. It’s been great and has outlasted my need for it. I’m sure they make several 17” non-gaming models, probably fairly cheap at that.
Personally, if all I was doing was moving from ‘work’ to ‘home’, I’d get a smaller model, and rig it so I had a nice display to plug it into.
My system at home now is running a desktop into a 43” 4K HDTV. Who needs dual monitors?
(Mind you, this is largely because fighting dragons and sinking enemy battleships on a big screen is more fun. Your mileage will no doubt vary...)
What I’m trying to say here is don’t get yourself stuck in a “I have to use this this way or that way” paradigm. You can plug a laptop into anything. Wireless keyboards and mice are a wonder.
Good luck!
No matter what brand,type,features that you decide on, I recommend a separate laptop cooling fan. Mine powers off the USB port.
We have one for outside use, the grandkids have yet to kill it!
My wife water tested it the other day!
The screen is good in the sunshine!
dell Ryzen 7 laptops are available for $850 or so. 8 cores, 16 threads, each processor at least 2.5GHZ. 16 GB ram,
4L8r
I write software for a living.
The Cloud is really convenient. It’s on all of my computers. The files are also stored locally.
Having two machines is really nice because you have a backup if one dies. Since the files are on the Cloud, it’s a seamless transition.
Bought this one last July
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M4MEEZK/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
17” screen, 266 GB SSD (and you will want an SSD), 8 GB RAM
Unless you are needing a gaming machine this will serve you well.
looks nice. I will look up the difference between a sdd and a ssd
ty
have not checked lately, but Dell still ships Latitude laptops with WIn 7 Pro. Bought one last year. They had faster ones than what I got.
Two years ago I put a complete DOS installation set in her Christmas stocking... For some reason she didn't show much gratitude... I told her it is the thought that counts...
Including the stand alone drive with the ribbon wire in the back?
How did you guess?
had two of them stacked on each other Apple 2e
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