Need a little help!

[Jim Creech]

SWMBO has let it be known that it would be in my best interest to provide her with a new laptop. She currently has an HP Pavilion Entertainment (or something to that effect), and that she would like a newer "up to date" HP. Having little technical knowledge in the way of puters I am in need of advise, suggestions, etc. Any HP laptop gurus out there?
PS: She is not a gamer. Mostly used for church work, surfing and general puter stuff.

[Joe Angrisani]

As a pont of reference, what is the current computer not doing adequately?

[David Weaver]

I am not a HP guru. I am cheap, though, so I have an HP laptop.

the last laptop I got was earlier this year, an HP laptop (the same big size as the one you're using) with a core i7 quad core, 8 gigs of ram, 3/4ths of a terabyte of hard disk..

It was $680 delivered, refurbished. About $100 less at the time than new.

I had the same issue your wife probably does, the older HP laptops were kind of weak in the video department and rendered a lot of stuff brute force. Flash was a major challenge for my machine, as was the overhead that exists with the bloatware all-encompassing virus scanners.

Presume your wife's machine has some sort of AMD turion in it, and it could be 5 or more years old. She would be pleased with the same upgrade I made. In another 5 years, I'll probably do it again unless something has changed significantly in the world of computing.

[Tim Boger]

Have you considered an ipad ..... my wife absolutely loves hers.

Tim

[Eduard Nemirovsky]

I would recommend a iPad or any other tablet. Much lighter, easy to use. Small size, do everything, or most what your wive can do on laptop.

[Steve Meliza]

Two years ago my wife walked in to where I was and said "my laptop just died". Sure enough, nothing I tried would make the 6 year old HP come back to life. I just couldn't see repairing it so we got into the car and drove the the Apple store. After poking and prodding all the available models she picked a 13" MacBook Air that cost just under $1k. For these past two years she's enjoyed having it and you don't hear the phase "Have you tried restarting it yet?" in our house any more. Battery life is still about 6-7 hours and thanks to the solid-state drive the computer goes to sleep and wakes up seamlessly and in the blink of an eye.

My own laptop is getting long in the tooth so I asked a friend about switching to an iPad since he had one as well as a laptop. He advised me that while he enjoys his iPad, he'd not be getting rid of the laptop any time soon. My take on what he told me is that while it was usually pretty good for reading websites and watching videos, it just wasn't a very good platform for creating content like emails and documents.

[Troy Turner]

Walmart (if they're still open ;) ) is having a black friday starting at 10pm Thurs. I believe it's a Compaq for like $179. Thought it was a netbook at first, but realized it's actually a good laptop. Looking at getting one for the boys who like to play games and such, so it should suit her needs.

[Brian Elfert]

Walmart (if they're still open ;) ) is having a black friday starting at 10pm Thurs. I believe it's a Compaq for like $179. Thought it was a netbook at first, but realized it's actually a good laptop. Looking at getting one for the boys who like to play games and such, so it should suit her needs.

That Compaq laptop at Walmart is absolute bottom of the barrel. It probably has something like the AMD E-300 processor which benchmarks at barely faster than my Pentium 4 from 2005! You don't need the latest i5 for most things, but something faster will last longer before being obsolete.

[Jerome Stanek]

Pretty any new laptop will be a huge improvement over what she has now but I would take her with you to let her try a few. each laptopbhas a different feel. We have three toshibas and all three feel differently same for the HPs and Acers that we had.

[Keith Outten]

Jim,

I agree with Steve go straight to the Apple store or Best Buy and purchase an Apple notebook. You'll get a machine that works reliably for a very long time.
.

[David Weaver]

I have to use an ipad for work sometimes. I wouldn't trade the same price HP laptop for it any day soon. The battery life on my new HP version of the same other laptop is about 6-7 hours also, and it runs cooler than the prior generation.

Everyone can do what they want spending money on a mac, but I personally wouldn't do it. They want over twice as much for similar hardware (compare a macbook with a quad core processor and 8 gigs of ram), and unless you're hooked on the way macs engage a user, there is no extra value in the experience. I haven't had a PC die in over 10 years, and the only one I've ever had quit was one that I built out of parts and abused - it quit after 7 years.

[David Weaver]

That Compaq laptop at Walmart is absolute bottom of the barrel. It probably has something like the AMD E-300 processor which benchmarks at barely faster than my Pentium 4 from 2005! You don't need the latest i5 for most things, but something faster will last longer before being obsolete.

Ditto that. Get something with 8 gigs of ram and a decent processor. Ask on here if you need to, but anything with a core i7 should be fine for a while.

the low speed CPUs and cheap video hardware, etc that come on the PCs that sell for $200 will choke on flash in web applications, and if they don't now, they will very shortly. They are probably only suitable as a terminal for linux.

[Jerome Stanek]

At the place I cut for they use apple for their design work but the designers have PC for personal stuff the PC blow the Apples away and were about half the price.

[Jim Creech]

To the best of my knowledge there is nothing wrong with her laptop, she just wants a new one. I suppose her reason for wanting another HP is so that she can use her existing docking station. (I assume they will be compatible). Also, I think she wants to take the old one to church and leave the new one home and work from a flash drive for church stuff. I did look online at the Apple selection and they are a bit out of my price range at this time. I guess the safest thing to do is to follow Jerome's advise and let her pick out what she wants.

[James Baker SD]

To the best of my knowledge there is nothing wrong with her laptop, she just wants a new one. I suppose her reason for wanting another HP is so that she can use her existing docking station. (I assume they will be compatible). .

I would not make that assumption. Check the specs.

[David Weaver]

To the best of my knowledge there is nothing wrong with her laptop, she just wants a new one. I suppose her reason for wanting another HP is so that she can use her existing docking station. (I assume they will be compatible). Also, I think she wants to take the old one to church and leave the new one home and work from a flash drive for church stuff. I did look online at the Apple selection and they are a bit out of my price range at this time. I guess the safest thing to do is to follow Jerome's advise and let her pick out what she wants.

Jim - what's the price range? Presume that somewhere on her PC, it says DV7 as the model number, perhaps with a bunch of other numbers?

[Greg Portland]

To the best of my knowledge there is nothing wrong with her laptop, she just wants a new one. I suppose her reason for wanting another HP is so that she can use her existing docking station. (I assume they will be compatible).
The docking station is probably not compatible.

[Jim Creech]

The docking station is probably not compatible.
Oh no., here we go with the add-ons. This just gets better and better.
David,I was hoping to keep it around $600.00. Her current model is a DV6000.

[Brian Elfert]

HP's Envy series of laptops sold to home users do not have a docking station available. They have a port replicator available instead that plugs into a USB port on the laptop. Price on HP's website is $150 for the replicator. Their business laptops do have docking stations available.

[Jim Creech]

HP's Envy series of laptops sold to home users do not have a docking station available. They have a port replicator available instead that plugs into a USB port on the laptop. Price on HP's website is $150 for the replicator. Their business laptops do have docking stations available.
She has the Pavilion and her "docking station" does plug in but it is not a USB. The cable ,as I recall, looks more like a printer cable. A large wide connector that plugs into the left side. I told you guys that I am technically challenged when it comes to computers.

[David Weaver]

Oh no., here we go with the add-ons. This just gets better and better.
David,I was hoping to keep it around $600.00. Her current model is a DV6000.

Look on ebay at DV6 and DV7 computers. I've bought both of my last two laptops on ebay, the last one refurbished (I couldn't tell) and it's saved me a couple of hundred bucks each time. You're protected by paypal and ebay from crap vendors, and anyone who is an authorized seller on ebay still gives you the same warranty you'd get elsewhere.

I don't see why you couldn't get a machine with 8 gigs of ram and a core i7 processor for about $600 delivered.

[Jim O'Dell]

I bought an HP Probook 4530S. It has an I3 processor. I upgraded to 8G of Corsair memory, and HP upgraded the Win 7 Pro 32 to the 64 bit version for free with one call. I'd like a better video processor, wish there was a way to upgrade. But the I5 and I7s may have a better version. I know the 3rd generation I5 for the desktop has a newer built in processor that is supposed to be much better than my I3 desktop has. But for what I do, which is watch video online, currently in the final year of the 10 years of the TV show JAG, it does a very good job. I also download some music and music videos in 1080P and can play them on the big screen via the HDMI port via the home theater receiver. Works great, has a wonderful picture and great sound. Beyond that it is basically for back up in case the desktop has an issue. I spent about 450.00 on the laptop a year ago Sept. Another 35.00 for the memory on sale, and another 55 for a cooling pad with fan, larger antenna for the wifi and a carrying case. With the add antenna I get a full 5 bars on signal strength out in my shop. Now if I just had money to put a stereo receiver in that I could hook up for sound. :rolleyes: Since the old car stereo I'm using has a cassette deck, I've thought about getting one of the adapters that plugs in and gives a 1/8" type jack hook up that I could hook into the headphone output of the laptop. Hmmmmm. Jim.

[Myk Rian]

Why don't you ask her why she wants a new one, instead of guessing.

[rogers kevin]

I would recommend you to try a Microsoft surface RT. I have a nice experience of it.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I would probably purchase a laptop that runs Linux, because I prefer Linux. Some people recommended that you purchase a MAC. Some even recommended a pad instead. I assume that you have software that you will run (that you are used to running) on this new computer. If you have a significant corpus of software and you have no desire to change, switching to something else is probably a poor choice. Before a recommendation can be made, you must identify what you need and desire from the laptop. Here are items to consider:



What operating system? Are you ready for Windows 8? Do you want Windows 7? For me, it would be Linux. So, start by defining the OS. Off hand, my preference (if I stayed in the Windows world) would be 7 for now. Sadly, all the new laptops look like that are pre-installed with Windows 8. I suppose that I have seen a few people write that they liked it. Have not yet met anyone that makes that claim.
How big? How Heavy? Size matters. If this is a desktop replacement, then you want a larger laptop with a good size display. You probably also want a docking station, and in HP world, I think that means that you must go with a business laptop. So, define the size that you want. If you carry it around a bunch, then perhaps a smaller unit, but then you can connect an external monitor.
The lowest I would go on a CPU (assuming Intel), is an i5. WIth an Intel i5 in mind, I looked at HP, because that is what you specified. There are some in the Envy line with that. I saw only one in the Pavillion line. In the business line, you needed to go with the ProBook 6570b to get an i5.


Why do I care so much about the i3 compared to the i5? (and note that my desktop has an i7)
The i3 is a decent processor, but it is slower (and has only 2 cores). If you are simply reading email and surfing the web, well, I guess that it just does not matter. If you think you may do something a bit more complicated (like edit graphic files, edit video, play a game more complicated than solitaire), then move up to the i5. Same clock speed, the i5 beats the i3. Same is true for the i7.

http://helpdeskgeek.com/how-to/intel-core-i7-vs-i5-vs-i3/
http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/386100/what_difference_between_an_intel_core_i3_i5_i7_/

Moving on


Hard drive size? Well, how much to you use? I have a couple of hundred GB of virtual machines, same for video that I recorded. That does not fit on a small drive. My Mother, however, uses less than 100 GB for real data. Check the free space on your current computer and use that as a guide as to how large the drive needs to be. You can always use an external drive if needed or desired.
Choose a computer with USB 3 if possible. It is much faster for certain applications (such as an external hard drive).
Screen size. Well, only you can say. Lugging through an airport so that you can read email when you get there. Think small and ignore that whole i5 thing, who cares. For use at home writing that book on woodworking, get a big screen.
How much RAM against depends on what you want to do. I have 16 GB in every computer that I use, but you are not likely to need that much. I have seen good performance with 6 GB with home use. If the machine has only 4 GB, you can probably get by if you don't multi-task or do complicated things, but if you go with 4 GB, make sure you know what you need to do to add more RAM. Specifically, how much does the ram cost, and are you able to add more yourself. If you add more, must you remove what is already there, or just add more. The difference is that if it comes with 4 and you can add more without removing what is there, then you can buy a few more and just drop it in. If not, well, it is kind of like saying "to fill your gas tank you need to drain what is there and throw it away and start over". May not be a problem depending on the ram prices, but look at it anyway.
The final consideration is the warranty. Most warranties do not cover things like a cracked display, which is easy to do if you lug it around. I watched sales and purchased a decent laptop a year back that came with a 3 year no matter what warranty. The final cost was about $500 (it was an ASUS). A few months back, I watched the sales and purchased a computer on sale, and then I purchased an extra warranty that provided a 3 year no matter what warranty, total cost was $600 (don't remember the brand). I watched sales for a few months before I found the deals, but they were good deals.



Sorry I did not choose a model for you, I would rather tell you which features to look for, especially when I have no idea as to the answers to the questions posed above. Oh, and if you go MAC, I have no idea. have not used them since I taught a particular programming course that used them at The Ohio State University. If you go Linux, I expect you would get a DELL (because they are the only major manufacturer that sells a Linux box, not that there are not others that do). If you want Windows 7, you will probably need to hurry and buy something with existing stock (but that is a guess).