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Harry Potter and the Skittering Spouse

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I use a hp probook for work, and that's lasted me 5 years so far with no issues. That's 40 hours a week, 5 days a week, for 5 years plus.
 
SongOfDiscord said:
If you take away one thing from this post, let it be this:
Regardless of other factors, do NOT get less that 16gigs of RAM. 32gigs is better, but not essential for what you want.
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I'm currently running 16GB of RAM, and my CPU meter says I'm using 88% of it right now. That's why I've got an order in for as much RAM as the motherboard will take (128GB). Should have it in a week. New graphics card in the order as well.
 
Stahor said:
I use older notebook for reading, and Windows 8 + Chrome with dozens of tabs eats 5 GB (out of 8). So depending on what you want from the notebook, i doubt you need more than 8.
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My machine is a Win10 Ryzen 7 desktop that I had custom-built almost 4 years ago. I'll keep running 10 for as long as I'm physically able to.
 
I use Macbooks, and no, they're not worth the price. I just hate Windows and am accustomed to MacOS. My next computer, I hope to finally bother to learn how to make a Hackintosh.
 
Warclam said:
I use Macbooks, and no, they're not worth the price. I just hate Windows and am accustomed to MacOS. My next computer, I hope to finally bother to learn how to make a Hackintosh.
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If you want another option, here's a Linux distro somewhere that was deliberately designed to look and behave almost exactly like MacOS, I think it was Elementary OS that's considered the most user-friendly on that alley but I'm not quite sure.
 
yeah Linux is superior so long as you know how to even somewhat code and are not used to Windows
I have win 11 and have been using windows since windows 93 to give you some perspective
 
Rajvik_wolfboy said:
yeah Linux is superior so long as you know how to even somewhat code and are not used to Windows
I have win 11 and have been using windows since windows 93 to give you some perspective
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From my experience, coding is no longer necessary, just the ability to Google things up, read and copypaste things into the command line every now and again.

And if all you're doing is writing and internet browsing, you are extremely unlikely to run into any of that so it'd be basically seamless.

Also, there are distros that are designed to look mostly like Windows out of the box as well.
 
...Is this really the space for questions about PC purchases? I am sure you can make a dedicated ask thread outside the User Fiction section.
 
Sivantic said:
...Is this really the space for questions about PC purchases? I am sure you can make a dedicated ask thread outside the User Fiction section.
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Probably not. But you folks know my continuing to write is dependent on having the necessary equipment and have incentive to keep me writing. I could just go ask reddit instead, but I'd much prefer asking people I can trust to steer me right… write…. One of those.
 
If you're going to build (or have a guy build) a min/max system for writing, focus on RAM first (you'll need a minimum of 32 gig but you'll probably want more than that, web browsers are getting beefier recently.), CPU (look for Multithread number, the higher that is the easier it is to look stuff up.), and Graphics a distant third (unless you're an artist too, in which case you might need to worry about the GPU of your machine.)

Straight up avoid Apple. They've actually been backsliding in recent years on the quality of their stuff.

Windows is usually secure enough with Windows Defender, several of the tech guys I watch on YouTube say that most of the Antivirus programs are more on the Malware side of the spectrum anymore.

I genuinely would not bother with Linux unless you want to use an underpowered machine and time capsule (do not connect it to the web.) it for security.

I'd generally aim for the 500 to 750 dollar price bracket for this.
 
Fencer said:
Yo, I could use some tech advice if anyone's got some time? My laptops slow and old and cheep. It might last another four years but given the projected spike in tech prices for those of us living in America that's not exactly something to bet on. So uhhhh yeah.

I really only use my laptop for writing at this point so I don't need high end. So yeah basics, is an apple actual worth the extra money compared to hp? Is buying the cheapest of either a no go for any reason? Because again I don't need it for much. And since I'm asking tech questions anyway. Is there a decent antivirus company that exists? Like, life lock makes me feel like I have some security, though who really knows. But Norton slows my computer down then tries to extort me for another hundred something dollars a year for a program that will clear out junk and make it run faster.
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For a decent antivirus Malwarebytes, install the free version and only pay if you want the extras and preventatives that you get for paying otherwise just ran a scan every couple months
 
Fencer said:
Is there a decent antivirus company that exists? Like, life lock makes me feel like I have some security, though who really knows. But Norton slows my computer down then tries to extort me for another hundred something dollars a year for a program that will clear out junk and make it run faster.
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You might want to look into Surfshark vpn, they offer a service that also scans your device on request for existing viruses, unlike most other antivirus nowadays. But generally everything on a windows machine today can be protected by Windows Defender without much issue.
Also, maybe look into Snapdragon cpu laptops, they're supposed to be very power efficient.
 
I have a MacBook Pro because there are two programs I use that have the absolute best versions available for MacOS - that's the ONLY reason.

I've been using an old Lenovo IdeaPad 3 for a year or so now, and like it. But it's showing it's age, so I'm replacing it. NEVER Dell again, though - I owned one, and the keyboard stopped working THE DAY AFTER THE WARRANTY RAN OUT. Toshiba always served me well, though.
 
SongOfDiscord said:
Since it seems most people have specific advice down, I'll cover some basic stuff instead.


If you take away one thing from this post, let it be this:
Regardless of other factors, do NOT get less that 16gigs of RAM. 32gigs is better, but not essential for what you want.

Windows is a RAM hog. If you get 12 or 8gb of RAM, most of that (sometimes more than 50%) is going to be used just running Windows, with far less left over for other programs. This will cause slowness day 1. Since that is why you are replacing the laptop...

The other thing. SSD, or solid state drives, will reduce your boot time to literal seconds. BUT will probably reduce your drive size by half compared to traditional HDD drives in the same price range.

If you are fine with a small drive (any gamer will tell you a 256 or 512gb drive is painfully tiny for today's games, or even serious picture storage) then go SSD. It may not seem like much when written out, but quick boot times are an enormous quality of life change, especially on a laptop that will get turned on/off more than a tower.

If you want to backup lots and lots of pictures, video, and/or music, consider an HDD instead. It is fairly easy to get a 1 Terabyte HDD drive for cheap. In fact, don't get less than 1TB if you decide to get a HDD drive. The price difference should be minimal, and you probably don't want a laptop that is trying to cut costs that much anyway, since other parts will likely be similarly cheap. The only real downside to HDD is that it will take the 'normal' time to boot and finish running all the startup programs found on a normal computer.

I personally would never get less than a 512gb drive regardless of what you plan to use the device for. The price difference just isn't worth the loss of future ability to store data on something you payed hundreds for.
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This was an insanely helpful breakdown thank you so much I checked against it before buying anything

BigBadBen said:
My current model has a ryzen 7. got it for 600 from bestbuy
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Crazily enough this ended up being the winner in my search using the above advice.

Seriously thank you all for the information and suggestions. Between how old and slow my existing laptop is and the projected price increases in the coming years having this sorted out now is a weight off my mind.
 
Fencer said:
I really only use my laptop for writing at this point so I don't need high end. So yeah basics, is an apple actual worth the extra money compared to hp? Is buying the cheapest of either a no go for any reason? Because again I don't need it for much. And since I'm asking tech questions anyway. Is there a decent antivirus company that exists? Like, life lock makes me feel like I have some security, though who really knows. But Norton slows my computer down then tries to extort me for another hundred something dollars a year for a program that will clear out junk and make it run faster.
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I have a personal macbook, and one from my work (I'm a software engineer, so we all use unix--you can't even build our stuff on windows).
My employer wouldn't be paying for macs if they weren't worth it at some level. Granted, 'worth it' is probably just 'employees want them'.

I've never had a real problem with hardware or malware on a mac (or a chromebook). One time I had a swollen battery, but it was a known issue and the Apple Store replaced it for free. Admittedly, I don't do any malware-risky things.
The only real advice I have on the malware front is to aggressively use the activity monitor/task manager, both for the laptop and your browser(s). And use an adblocker, and google any sufficiently sketchy sites you want to go to.

But ultimately it really depends on what you use your laptop for. I have a chromebook literally 1/20th the cost of my mac laptop that I use a lot, for just reading and writing in Google Docs, and it's fine.
Chromebooks are also fairly immune to malware due to being an entirely new OS having a tiny market share and limited ability to run applications.
But if you're fine with a potato for browsing, why do you need a new laptop?
 
Dunno for laptops; anything reconditioned will probably work for your stated use case. Heck, your current laptop might be okay if you run a factory reset or took it for a reconditioning. Actually, if you just want to use it for writing, a tablet with a Bluetooth keyboard could work.

For antivirus, I suggest ESET NOD32. It's decent, regularly updated, non intrusive, and doesn't try to incessantly upsell.
 
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If all you do is write and browse then tech stuff is irrelevant for you since basically anything would do it.
Only thing I would actively recommend is making sure that your new laptop has an SSD drive, it makes the booting go so much faster that it's a real Quality of Life improvement.

[edit] okay, after thinking about it a bit more, I realize that's not entirely true.
You will also want to check these QoL factors:
-screen size: A bigger screen is definitively better. And moving around with a bag for a 13" or a 17" laptop is... kind of the same thing.
-battery-time: assuming it's not a desktop replacement (that you'll always keep plugged in), then having more than an hour or two of battery time is kind of a big deal.
-heat: I heard horror stories (from a friend of a friend of a friend... you know how it goes...) about someone's laptop getting so hot it literally could burn you.
-noise: the quieter the better. Having your laptop fans going off all the time is an annoyance of course, but keyboards can be noisy too sometimes.
 
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