SJ. Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 Good morning Everyone! DH and I would will be giving DS his first laptop for his 12th birthday. The problem is we are not tech savvy and are feeling overwhelmed, second guessing our choices. We don't want to under buy and end up with a computer that doesn't do enough but we also need to keep costs under $300, preferably closer to $200. Last night we thought a Windows 10, 4GB RAM, 500 GB storage machine would be the best choice. We were looking at an Acer from Walmart with these specs that was $235 last night but is now $245. Now I am second guessing whether we should consider a chromebook with less storage. Or perhaps the HP Stream from Target; Windows 10, 4GB RAM, 32 GB Storage at $199. I am thinking DS will use the laptop for word processing, online classes, internet browsing, Minecraft, beginning coding, and maybe very basic photo/video editing (maybe). Any suggestions? Any experience with inexpensive laptops? I would prefer to be able to pick up in store since the birthday is this weekend. *shakes head* one day I will be better at not procrastinating. :glare: Thanks!SJ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pippen Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 We just bought a laptop for my mom and found our money went farther by watching for a certified refurbished at Dell Outlet. I wound up finding one with 8GB RAM and 1TB hard drive for $235. I did have to do some watching but there was inventory showing up. We haven't had any problems with Dell certified refurbished. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 My husband and his school use Chrome books. He initially thought the use of Cloud storage would be a good thing, but has since strongky changed his mind. It js just another place where a tech error can happen, another issue with trying to make everything work together often proves frustrating, and just plain another thing. We are not the most tech savvy household, but even the tech guys in his school district advise against them at this point. Have control over your data, know where it is, and you cakn then access it smoother. We are looking into getting a laptop as well. One for me though, so no MineCraft :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 I would strongly suggest that you consider doing what our family did: We bought (in different transactions over a period of more than a year) three (3) Refurbished Dell Latitude Laptops from Blair Technology Group in KY. Blair is a Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher. They put a fresh (and legal) copy of Windows on the box. I think the one year warranty, which covers everything except the battery is $5 extra now. The models we bought from Blair were Dell Latitude E6400, but those are older machines. BLAIRTG.COM They also sell on Amazon and on eBay. The first 2 machines we bought from them were on Amazon and then I discovered they sell on eBay and had more variety there. And, they sell on their own web site. I SUGGEST THAT YOU BUY DELL LATITUDE E6410 laptops. We have 2 of those that I won in auctions from an eBay Seller in PA, and this Dell Precision M4500 Mobile Workstation I won from them, which is like an E6410 on steroids. The machines we got from that Seller were "INCOMPLETE" so I had to spend some time and put some $ into parts (Battery, AC Charger, Hard Disk Drive) to get them up and running. They all work fine. These machines were designed for and sold to "Enterprise" customers (corporate and government). They have better design and higher quality components. If you need replacement components, they are readily available on eBay. They are easy to service. If you buy a "Consumer" grade machine, those are of lower quality and that is why the prices are so low NOTE: The machines we have are older and they do not have an HDMI Port. They have a "DisplayPort". I bought an adapter from an eBay seller for a few $ and my wife can recreate whatever is on her E6410 onto the SMART TV and the video and audio are perfect. GL with whatever you buy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ondreeuh Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 We bought an Asus notebook similar to that HP stream, same specs really. Both have a slot for an SD card, so you can easily beef up storage that way. I would much rather store files on the card than in the cloud. My son is using his for word processing, online classes, streaming videos, PowerPoint, etc. I needed it to play flash (so not a chromebook), have a big keyboard (the Asus is full size), have a long battery and be around 2 lbs. We're really happy for it. If the Stream is the same, then I think I would get it from Target. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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