AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

My five year old HP has suited my needs well, but the hard drive is starting to act cranky, and replacing it with a new SSHD while I have only a 2.2Ghz processor and 4 gigs of RAM seems like a big investment in an old machine. I'd like to price out under $1,000, preferably under $600, if possible. My wife is retired and I'm getting close, and we're providing some ongoing financial support for some of our kids and grands. I'd rather get a lens than a laptop that does more than I need it to.

I run MS Office on it, proprietary construction management software (very undemanding), and AutoCAD viewers and annotators, but not full blown AutoCAD software. I don't game, I don't watch many videos, and pretty much everything but Lightroom and PS work just fine on my old, slow machine. I'm seeking a faster and better photo experience as my primary motivation for upgrading.

So here are the priorities I think I've figured out after some research:


Light weight and relatively small size - I haul this unit with me everywhere, for both work and play, including field offices, construction job sites, presentations, and vacations. My HP weighs in at about 4.5 pounds and I'd like to stay there or go down. A 14 inch screen is PLENTY for me, I could actually go smaller. I have a quality monitor available both at work and at home when I need it.


Memory of at least 8 Megs - I can manage PS and Lightroom on the 4 Megs I have, but I'd like to go at least to 8 and have capacity for 16.


64 bit speed - although I can probably make it through one more generation of 32.


I'm not a LAG gear guy, in cameras or computers. I want a competent workaday product that will do what I need it to do, be reasonably durable, and last me as long as possible if I take care of it, which I do. I use this unit a LOT, it's probably on more than it's powered down in an average day.


I've had great luck with HP products in the past, but I've had Dell, Lenovo, Asus, and Microsoft suggested to me in the last few days. After looking at specs and comparison charts on Amazon I'm more confused than ever.


Any techie oriented Hoggers want to further confuse me?


Andy

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

For what it's worth - I've been real pleased with my Toshiba Satellite for the past six years. My wife has a Satellite also. I'm not sure if hers is older or younger than mine though. Both are 15" screens.

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

I liked them too.

The Toshiba Satellite is the brand and model I replaced this one with. It's a little big and heavy for my daily carry. There don't seem to be any comparable lightweight Toshibas available at the moment, at least from my surfing of Amazon.

Andy

Wingpilot Loc: Wasilla. Ak

I'm a Mac guy, but I used to have a Toshiba Satellite and really liked it. It just got old and there was nothing I could have done to it to speed it up or get it to work right again, so when I needed a new laptop, I went to a Mac. But if you want to stay with a PC, the Toshiba is a good choice, in my opinion.

Kuzano

Have worked on computers, teching and networking near 30 years. I have never sold clients over the past 20 years anything but Toshiba. You can configure your own machine at ToshibaDirect.com. My personal desktop is a Toshiba AIO, and my best laptop is a Toshiba Satellite. i5 Intel, 2.5 Gh, 750 Gb spinning HD. No SSD's for me. 8Gb RAM. Consumer Reports rates Toshiba high, often best buy award. I sell my clients on them, because they are the laptops I have to service the least.

Dell next, having been Dell on-site tech for 6 years.

Lenovo Good

HP, if they every make up their mind to continue in computers, perhaps. But my biggest service requests on laptops is HP. They break more often, inspite of claims to be reliable/durable. At one time, I had 9 HP DV9000s and a couple of DV6000's on my bench. The Graphics Chips overheated and melted solder joints on all of them. Had to send the motherboard in for special repair to reflow the cold solder joints. Class actions still pending last I heard.

All computers today are 64 Bit. Intel and AMD fairly competitive with each other, but the only reason any laptop uses AMD processors is the lower price point for using them in their products.

Price out a laptop with minimum i5, perhaps i7. Stay away from gaming machines. They are not faster in the ways you need routine computing and post processing to be fast. Also twitchy based on their percieved missions-Games!

Good luck. I say Toshiba Satellite.

You said small. Remember that under 14 inch screens are not routinely built with CD/DVD devices. But optical disks are the worst backup systems still being used.

Wingpilot Loc: Wasilla. Ak

One thing I miss on my MacBook Pro 13" laptop is a CD/DVD drive. It's a bit of a hassle to break out the external drive to plug in before I can view a CD or DVD. I really liked my Toshiba Satellite. It was a real work horse, but was long before i5 or i7 powered computers. When it finally gave up the ghost, I was sad to see it go.

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

Thanks - very helpful. I am very afraid of spinning drives in my frequently dusty or dirty work environments. My tech guy advised me to switch to SSHD. I'm not concerned about the lack of a CD/DVD built in - I can always use an external drive if I need to burn or upload. About 99% of what I transfer is done online, and for the rest, the high capacity thumbs and sticks serve just fine. So I'm thinking compact and light as a better profile than bigger with spinny things. The one gripe I have about my HP is that it's not really very well sealed.


I'll check out the Toshibas - they don't seem to be featured very highly on Amazon....


Andy

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

Toshibas getting a lot of love here!

I can't switch to Mac as some of my proprietary stuff only runs on Windoze. Not an option for me unless I want to buy and haul TWO computers.

Andy

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

FYI - Spin drives are sealed. No dust can get in.
The computer itself cannot be sealed as it requires air flow for cooling the components.
(Your tech guy probably likes SSHds.)

Wingpilot Loc: Wasilla. Ak

One thing about the Mac is you can partition the hard drive and run Mac OS on one side and Windows on the other. Makes for a pretty versatile machine.

Sunnely Loc: Wisconsin

I'm no computer savvy. I have Dell Inspiron 17, 1TB. I think it's 6 or 7 years old. I use it for every computer chore including posting here as I'm doing now. Still works well; no complaints. I still have Windows 8. Afraid to switch to 10. I hate change or learning new things but open to switch if forced to by Tech-dom. Don't have extra brain neurons to spare. Having more senior moments. So, until then, reserving them for unforeseen but more important late-life, challenging cognitive events.

BTW, love your avatar. Don't yiu change it for anybody.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

For a laptop that can handle complex photography and video editing, look at a Dell XPS-15, the model with 32 Gb RAM, 1 Tb SSD and touchscreen. I needed the touchscreen to get the 32Gb of RAM out of the box. The screen, besides being touch enabled, is 4K with a very, very thin bezel that almost looks like its not there. Price is comparable to a MacBook pro with 32 Gb, 1 Tb SSD but without the touchscreen.

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

Twice my price range, unfortunately. I don't think I need 32 Gigs anyway as I only work on one project at a time and don't do video editing. Other than photo editing, my needs are relatively simple and low use. I don't mind working a little slower than ideal with Lightroom / PS as I don't generally do batch processing or ginormous files. It's actually working fine on my current unit, albeit slowly. I'd like to get to the full 64 bit version, though.


Andy

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

Yes. I'm aware that they're sealed - it's pretty obvious. He thinks the SSDs run much cooler and that the airflow cooling volume required for a spinning drive is responsible for many evils. I'm certainly no expert, but he's the one responsible for fixing broken things at work.


Andy

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

True, the SSD will run cooler, logically it follows, but the fan and air is still required for the processor. I'm not sure how much of an affect in reduction in overall air flow an SSD would have. Every week or two I check/clean the dust buildup on the bottom of my laptop entrance vent. (Smaller vents on the laptop. Every month or so for the desktop. Once a year I open the desktop and clean it out. Dust is a thermal insulator and inhibits heat transfer.)