Buying laptop help

[crash_6906]

I'm buying my wife a new laptop for mother's day, and am pretty computer illiterate when it comes to hardware and internals and such. So I could really use some help and advice from you tech guys. My price range is around $500, she'll just be using it for school, work and home stuff, so no gaming. I was looking at a lenovo flex 15 pretty hard, but I heard lenovo was crap, so any recommendations?

 

[BanjoJohn]

I have an Apple for about 7 or 8 years. I'm no computer whiz myself.
I had my son get me what he thought I needed. Kids have more knowledge with electronics than us old folks.
It's been dropped several times, and the battery doesn't last but about an hour nowadays, but it's served well by me.

 

[crash_6906]

I have an Apple for about 7 or 8 years. I'm no computer whiz myself.
I had my son get me what he thought I needed. Kids have more knowledge with electronics than us old folks.
It's been dropped several times, and the battery doesn't last but about an hour nowadays, but it's served well by me.

Yeah apple is well out of my price range

 

[BanjoJohn]

I thought I saw a couple for sale on here?

 

[crash_6906]

I thought I saw a couple for sale on here?

There might be, I'm learning towards getting a new laptop though

 

[William A. Ellis]

You can get a refurb on TigerDirect, I have gotten several over the years, so far all good, can't tell them from new. I would suggest a Core I5 to Core I7, at least 8 Gig RAM, at least 256 Gig Solid State Hard drive. (I have worked in the computer field since 1974)

 

[gh1950]

I'm using a Lenovo.

I work on it 8-9 hours a day, not including ODT time. About 3 years old which is about the most I get out of any laptop.

It's showing it's age - I'm about to get a Dell refurb directly from Dell. I want some features that I can't get on a Wally World laptop.

But the Lenovo has been very satisfactory.

The one thing I don't like about this particular model is that the battery is buried in the computer. I used to travel a fair bit, and a spare battery was a necessity. Never thought to look to see where the battery was, on other computers is was accessible and easy to remove.

Other than the initial aggravation, the battery hasn't really been an issue because I don't travel far enough that I'm away from a power source long enough for the battery to run down.

I purchased the Lenovo on the advice of a friend who is in the service end of the business. He said in the $300 -600 range, there is basically no difference other than different features at different price points. He recommended getting the best deal you can on any major brand.

 

[TresMonos]

I'm buying my wife a new laptop for mother's day, and am pretty computer illiterate when it comes to hardware and internals and such. So I could really use some help and advice from you tech guys. My price range is around $500, she'll just be using it for school, work and home stuff, so no gaming. I was looking at a lenovo flex 15 pretty hard, but I heard lenovo was crap, so any recommendations?

Buy her a Dell 2-in-1.....it's a perfect lightweight laptop that can also be flipped into tablet mode. I use mine more than any other PC in the house.

https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/sc/laptops?appliedRefinements=2,6084,6716,6087

You can get a nice brand new base model for 5 bills too....

https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/2-i...d/inspiron-14-5481-2-in-1-laptop/fncwbsv5015h

 

[aFarewellToKings]

I'm buying my wife a new laptop for mother's day, and am pretty computer illiterate when it comes to hardware and internals and such. So I could really use some help and advice from you tech guys. My price range is around $500, she'll just be using it for school, work and home stuff, so no gaming. I was looking at a lenovo flex 15 pretty hard, but I heard lenovo was crap, so any recommendations?

I don't think there is anything wrong with Lenova (just for info, they were formerly IBM). With any computer, especially laptops, it's more up to the specific model. Look for reviews; but as always take opinions with a grain of salt.
I think anything you find will be plenty enough for what you want. Reliability is the main unknown.

Reviews for the Flex 5 15 seem pretty good. Main complaints seem to be size (it's a laptop/tablet and large for a tablet), and that it's plain looking (which might be bad or good).

 

[coolformula]

Whatever you do get something with an "SSD hard drive" I have seen a couple in the 500-600 range with the SSD and its well worth it.

if budget is tight and she just does webstuff, you can look at chromebooks their a lot cheaper for the basic ones.