In need of a new laptop

Thanks Pete. My only issue with Dell is that I have one currently and it was a nightmare getting the hard drive out. It used to be so simple on older models. I don't know if its more or less complicated now a days to get the hard drive out.
 
Thanks Pete. My only issue with Dell is that I have one currently and it was a nightmare getting the hard drive out. It used to be so simple on older models. I don't know if its more or less complicated now a days to get the hard drive out.

I don't know about current Dells. I have 2 one is about 5 years old and that just has a side slide held in by 2 screws and the hard drive just slides out. The other one has the hard drive below a cover on the bottom of the machine again with 2 screws and a couple holding the hard disk carrier in but still not difficult to get at. That one is a few months old. They are both Inspirons. My newer one is a proper budget machine and has no CD/DVD drive although to be honest a CD/DVD drive isn't really needed in this day and age.
 
I would spend more money on the processor and upgrade the RAM and HDD myself. Something like this would fit the bill:
Open Box: ThinkPad Laptop Edge E440 (20C50052US) Intel Core i3 4000M (2.4 GHz) 4 GB Memory 500 GB HDD Intel HD Graphics 4600 14.0" Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit - Newegg.com

$50 for a 256GB SSD, an extra 4GB of DDR3L RAM is $18.

2x USB 3 ports as well as an Ethernet port and VGA port give you some extra capability.

I would NOT own a Dell or HP laptop to save my life. I have worked on too many and seen too many go bad to even consider owning one. We run 60 Lenovo laptops at work and have had good luck with them.
 
Ok these are all great suggestions. Thanks! I'll wait until my current laptop actually kicks the bucket to get a new one but when I do I know what to get!
 
I know it's been a while since you started the thread but since you said you hadn't bought anything yet, I'll let you know about my experience recently with a new laptop.

Before I started college in fall of 2009, I purchased a 16.9" Sony Vaio. It had a 1080p LCD (not LED), dedicated graphics, and a Core2Duo. I upgraded it to 4GB of RAM right out of the box, and toward the end, I upgraded to an SSD. The thing was a beast, and it only stopped ticking when I broke the charging cable off on the MB. (Too lazy to fix it...it's still in a shelf, so maybe another time.) However, when I bought that laptop, it was almost $1,400 with the accidental damage warranty. When it went kaput, I vowed to never spend that much in a laptop again. I had a desktop the whole time I had the laptop, and it just was way more power than I needed, too bulky and heavy, and the battery life was garbage, even with the extra cells. I told myself that if I ever bought another laptop, it would an "intermediate" device so-to-speak. A device that would help me make it in between sitting down at my desktop where I do my real heavy lifting.

Well, I ended up getting "spoiled" at my last job and ended up with close to the highest-end Surface Pro 3 you could purchase at the time. An i7, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, etc. It was close to $1,800 for just the Surface, but add in the dock, the monitor adapters (to do dual screens), the LAN adapter, USB adapters, VGA and HDMI adapters, etc., and the whole package was over $2,000. It was NOT worth it. Holy crap, I will never own one if those things personally. We had so many issues (our IT team had 6 of them). For the price, it was just not at all what it should have been.

But I left that job and needed to get another laptop. I looked for about a month before I settled on my laptop I'm suing currently, an ASUS Zenbook (UX305LA). Holy cow, this thing is amazing. It's a 13.3 inch 1080p LED display (IPS if I remember correctly). The battery literally seems like it lasts forever--I've never measured, but it lasts me all day. It doesn't have dedicated graphics, but I don't miss it; I'm not gaming on it. It came factory with an SSD and 8GB of RAM, and it's an i5 chip. Plenty of power for me. You can check it out here. Still at the same price I paid about 3-4 months ago.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B013K...us+zenbook&dpPl=1&dpID=51C1sNaz87L&ref=plSrch

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Computer Forums mobile app
 
Ok these are all great suggestions. Thanks! I'll wait until my current laptop actually kicks the bucket to get a new one but when I do I know what to get!

The problem with that sort of stratedgy is that by the time your present lappy kicks the bucket what we have suggested will be way way out of date. Computer technology moves so fast that even before computers hit the shelves thay are obsolete. New stuff, new operating systems etc have all overtaken what you buy.
 
The problem with that sort of stratedgy is that by the time your present lappy kicks the bucket what we have suggested will be way way out of date. Computer technology moves so fast that even before computers hit the shelves thay are obsolete. New stuff, new operating systems etc have all overtaken what you buy.

Yeah I know. I just now know what to look for GENERALLY I meant. Dude 56013 I appreciate that post a lot. It was really informative. That zenbook looks amazing. Maybe I'll buy it when I get my tax returns. My only question is if the ssd is easily removable or not. I want to put mine in.
 
So I guess my last question would be should I upgrade now? Or just wait till this thing finally kicks the bucket. Its almost 5 years old but I think its still got some life left in it.
 
Yeah I know. I just now know what to look for GENERALLY I meant. Dude 56013 I appreciate that post a lot. It was really informative. That zenbook looks amazing. Maybe I'll buy it when I get my tax returns. My only question is if the ssd is easily removable or not. I want to put mine in.

Sorry, I meant to include this in my last post but was typing on my phone and by the time I got done, I had forgotten about it.

It appears as though the SSD is pretty easy to get at, but...it looks like it's an M2 SSD device. So if you've got a 2.5", it's not going to work. (https://youtu.be/QLSD__TeakI). I actually had no idea it was an M2 device until I looked up videos tonight, but it doesn't surprise me. I figured there was no way to cram a 2.5" in that body. This this is super light, super fast, and super long-lasting on battery. It was worth every penny. It runs circles around my wife's Macbook Pro and was half the price.

Is there something super special about your SSD that you want to use it? I'm just curious. I mean, that's cool if you do. But don't shy away from a great piece of hardware for a great price if that's the sticking point.
 
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