Suggestions for a laptop.

[John Schmidt]

Looking to pick up a laptop to use while traveling. After browsing various sources it appears the prices are all over the place and not being a 'puter nerd, most of the nomenclature looks much the same to me. Are there any brands to stay away from and what are generally the most reliable. I want something with W-10 so I can continue to use what I'm already familiar with. Any and all suggestions are appreciated.

We do have a local shop, Refresh Computers, that not only deals with new stuff but also will have some "reconditioned" units as well. I'm generally not afraid of reco stuff, been using a reco computer for 7-8 years now with nary a problem.

[bg]

don't know what you use your computer for but me i just use it for information and web stuff.....i don't a power house of a computer to do stuff i don't do so i've switched to a chromebook........been using this one for over 5 years......this works for me but your situation may be different......

[Gryphon Rider]

Chinese brand Lenovo has a history of security flaws preinstalled.
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/security-failings-demonstrate-avoid-lenovo/

[cookiedough]

take your chances on any of them to be honest.  I have had good and bad luck with hewlett packard my former 15 inch laptop HP was junk overheated under 1 year warranty but HP stood behind it knew the issues some 9+ years ago and sent me for free my choice of 3 to replace it so picked up an HP 17 inch still running windows vista still running, although keys are falling off and no support for windows anymore but still does what I need it to do for the most part anyways.

if you just surf and basic stuff then pretty much anyone will work for 200-300 bucks no sense in spending over double for something you will never use nor need and even the more expensive ones are no better and can have just as many if not more issues than the basic 250 dollar ones.

My ex neighbor an IT junkie nerdish type has spent twice now in 5 years over 1 grand each on new PC all in one systems top of the line or near top of the line even DELL eqmt. and seems he has issues every 2-3 years with them still working so keeps on buying new every few years at 1 grand or more, so not worth it, but to him it must be???  He has no hobbies and makes over double what we make so I guess spending 4xs the amount on a laptop is worth it to him every few years?  He also spends 700+ on up for big flat screen TVs every few years as well when my 199 dollar TV does near the same thing, watch TV.  Yah, the picture quality is BARELY noticeably better, but to him that matters so he spends 4xs the amount on same sized TV.  

I would suggest going to bestbuy or other places to feel the keyboard and other stuff to see if you like the design and function and then get that model number at best price and go with what you feel meets your needs since any mfg. nowadays is good or bad most parts all made in same place.  I never would spend over 500 bucks on any laptop nowadays since a 200-300 dollar one is just fine with me.

My mother in law spent around 450-500 on a nice ASUS 14 inch portable laptop and personally is not worth it was rated very well one of the best and has had to take it into Bestbuy now twice under warranty to get the thing working again.  I told her to get the cheaper 300 dollar one but she did not listen wanting the more expensive brand since supposedly was rated better, but has turned out am sure to be worse in the long run.  Money spent more does not always equal better quality wanting something reliable is the key that works and can be a crap shoot in todays world..

[bassman]

I know you asked about laptops for travel but you might want to look at a tablet which might serve your purpose depending on how you would use it - emails, searching the web, looking at pictures etc.  Only problem is if you do a lot of typing it can be a bit of challenge but an optional keyboard could help with that.   Here's a list of some purported good ones from PC Mag.  Could look into some refurbished models as well from Apple if you could get comfortable away from W10

https://www.pcmag.com/roundup/305922/the-best-tablets

[bassman]

But to stick to your original question here is a list of inexpensive / budget (to their way of thinking) laptops from PC Mag...

https://www.pcmag.com/roundup/256052/the-best-budget-laptops

[Pete]

If you just want to email/text and internet, you best bet may be a $39 to $59 Amazon Fire.
Small light weight cheap and it does email and web reasonably well.

It also can contain a camera and if you add a cheap memory card you can load files and pictures to your hearts content.

[cookiedough]

for me being old school,  those 10-14 inch size screens just seem too small for me, prefer 15.6 inch or 17 inch screens, but if using for portableness taking it with you,  go 14 inch or slightly smaller if you can stand usually NOT a full sized keyboard which I prefer.  My laptop stays at home 99% of the time being 17 inch size and prefer keying on full sized keyboard since do 99.9% of my keying sitting in my recliner like now watching TV.  smaller screen size usually means smaller print as well which I do not like as well.

go to bestbuy, etc. to try them all out is a good suggestion before buying sight unseen.

[gordonv]

For me, email, internet browsing, and viewing videos.

For travel, do you want to watch shows/movies on the display, or output to a TV? I got mine with an HDMI output so I can stream to my room TV. Either recorded shows or Netflix.

I wanted something no smaller than 15" screen. Gives a real keyboard size and a screen that's large enough to read.

Importing pictures from memory cards? Either a USB adapter or you need memory card slots, like an SD.

Play DVDs? Most don't have a drive anymore, "everyone" streams now. I forgot this when I bought mine. I bought lowest cost 15" from bestbuy, while on sale.

Tablet/Android, now you can do some other things too. But no keyboard, but a lot longer battery life.

[hubcapsc]

Chinese brand Lenovo has a history of security flaws preinstalled.
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/security-failings-demonstrate-avoid-lenovo/

There was so much bloatware loaded onto the consumer-grade lenovo computer my wife had, it would
barely run. Something inside of it melted eventually, good riddance...

My awesome lenovo x1-carbon laptop might have had some bloatware on it too, I don't know, I loaded
Linux right away...

-Mike

[John Schmidt]

Bought a Lenovo Thinkpad, has W-10 installed, had them remove the mechanical HD and install a 480g SSD so I don't have to worry much about shocks when traveling on the bike. It's a used unit, bought it from a company called Refresh Computers here in the Orlando metro area. They take good used equip. and go through them, clean out the HD and start fresh with a new install of the OS, then if anything seems awry it gets replaced with new. The unit runs quite good, only thing I haven't figured out just yet is how to get all my stuff on it from the desktop PC. There's no pictures, downloads, documents, etc., so will have to figure out how to copy and reload. I had to get a small mouse, the finger pad drove me nuts. Bought a carrying case for it and the accessories, should be all I need for the road.