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Need suggestions for inexpensive laptop

12 years ago

I have a toshiba Satellite that's aout five years old, seldom use it since getting an iPad a few years ago.

It's slooooooow, but now I've been asked to do a newsletter and take over the website for a small gardening group I belong to. I'm told it won't be difficult to learn, but first I must get a newer laptop. I'll check ads in newspaper tomorrow and start shopping next week. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

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Comments (7)

owbist
12 years ago
If you are only getting a new computer to do a newsletter and update a website occasionally you would likely find the Satellite you have would do the job.

Try Wordpad,
click Start
click All programs
click Accessories
click Wordpad and start typing.

Save your work as .rtf (Rich Text Format) and any other word processor will be able to understand it.

Will you be coding the web stuff or do they use a WYSIWYG program? (What you see is what you get, Drag and Drop.)

You could of course take the existing computer back to factory defaults which would improve performance
jane__ny
12 years ago
I saw this today. I know some people don't like Dell but we have 4 Dell laptops and 3 Dell desktops. The oldest are 7 years old and we never had a problem with any of them.

I was tempted when I saw the prices.

Here is a link that might be useful: Laptops
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I'd suggest Walmart. Some pretty decent utilitarian models there to be had for about 400 dollars. I just got a 1 terabyte external storage drive on Amazon for 99 dollars. I had to return the first one as defective. A week later I noticed a 79 dollar Toshiba 1TB drive at walmart. I should have checked there first. I also got a 16gb usb drive at walmart for 9.95 that day. For computer nuts and bolts basics walmart's not bad. And the returns are so much easier than the web. The way I've been computer shopping for the last 13 years is to spend 1000 dollars every five to six years. That's the sweet spot for my needs. It's astonishing how much more you get each year for the same dollar spent. I do some CAD and quite a bit of HTPC (home theater PC) so 1000 dollars is about the ball park for me and I'm due to upgrade in a couple of years. Your description sounds like 300 to 400 would give you something more than adequate for your needs. Don't let sales people or computer "enthusiasts" talk you up in price or needs. If your needs are simple, you'll discover that todays entry level machines can do extraordinary things. One caveat to that is speed and storage capacity. Obsolescence can sneak up on you when connectivity and web content continues to get more labor intensive for the CPU. My 10 year old Toshiba was retired to the family den for light browsing and email use, and I finally upgraded the harddrive to 40gb as an absolute minimum requirement for today's browsers, utilities, and common programs. It runs like the day I bought it, but that's saying that it generally just can't keep up any more when web connected. I'd call it a "dial up" class notebook. Most laptops in your price range will be set up adequately for today's needs. But if it comes down to A vs B at similar price, look closely at the quality and speed of the central processor and the storage capacity of the drive. They're the best indicators of future proofing a computer. You also might want to ask around among people you know who own Apple computers. Asking such a question on the web is just an invitation to information overload. But odds are good that someone you know uses an Apple and they may be a good source of encouragement or discouragement. My hunch however is that if you aren't excessively into social media like facebook and others, wireless file transfers, printing, and connectivity with cell phones, automobiles, etc,etc (good lord) all the latest gadgets and utilities, etc ,etc, a PC would be the more user friendly for you as a basic computing tool.
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Sheila
Original Author
12 years ago
After browsing ads and doing some research yesterday, I find myself leaning toward making my Satellite usable. I wanted a new 'puter, but don't know about this computer challenged Grannie learning to operate Win 8. My satellite is Vista.

I tried doing the restore to original defaults, but couldn't find where to do that. Looked at the Control & system maintenance pages....no clue.
zep516
12 years ago
Toshiba laptops from mid 2007 onwards dont have a recovery disc supplied with a purchase of a laptop. Instead, Toshiba has added a hidden partion on the hard drive which contains the same files on a recovery cd / dvd.

See link,

Here is a link that might be useful: reset-toshiba-laptop-to-factory-settings
luis_pr
12 years ago
I hear you. I got one T laptop too this year with W8 and, guess what, I rarely use it. I was too frustrated with W8 so I went back to the old desktop that the laptop was going to replace. Problem is... the desktop has XP Pro and Microsoft will soon discontinue its support so I may just try to install W7 in the desktop instead.
owbist
12 years ago
Luis just because MS will stop support for XP it does not mean the program becomes useless, you can likely continue with it for a few more years. Just be diligent with keeping safety programs up to date.

You need top ascertain whether your current computer will accept W7 and what kind of performance you might expect. Run something like Speccy (stay on the green for free) to list the components then Google the motherboard for drivers. Plus any peripherals like printer, scanner, webcam might not be compatible.

Personally I think anyone who does not self build is wasting money on a second operating system because it becomes useless once the older machine goes off to the computer happy hunting ground in the sky.

I feel you pain regarding W*, try having a look at this site offering 60 tricks and tips for W8, some are quite useful.
Sheila
Original Author
12 years ago
Thx for the ideas. I'm going to first try doing a system restore. I've one more question....actually since this is over a week old, I'll repost

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