Laptop Advice for my Mum

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memske

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#290834 8-Dec-2021 06:14

Mum is looking for a new laptop and I'm not really in the know. Chose some that look decent.

Does anyone care to weigh in to help? Either with alternative options or best of the bunch. No budget per say but she's only really going to be using it for Web browsing/Office/General stuff. She only wants to buy new and I remember people saying business level laptops were the way to go.

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NBKHNB ... D-IPS-AG-I
https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NBKHNB ... D-IPS-AG-2
https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NBKHNB ... orkstation
https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NBKDEL ... B-500GB-SS
https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NBKHNB ... D-IPS-AG-2

was looking at this but it's OOS until late Jan: https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NBKHNB ... 35G7-8GB-2

someone also recommended: https://www.computerlounge.co.nz/shop/laptops/lifestyle/asus-zenbook-um425ua-ki174t-14-fhd-ips-400nits-r5-5500u-8gb-512gb-ssd-w10h

Thanks anyone for the advice!

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#2826416 8-Dec-2021 06:42

MacBook Air is perfect for that use case…I’d choose it in a heartbeat over the other ones you linked in a similar price range.

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NBKAPP213125613/Apple-13-Macbook-Air-Gold---Apple-M1-chip-with-8co

( also available direct from Apple, NL, JB HiFi etc. )

Dynamic

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#2826427 8-Dec-2021 07:32

Is Mum an iPhone user or a Samsung/Android user? The Apple integration between the MacBook and iPhone is very nice.

If this is likely to be a 'buy a laptop to last her 5-10 years', I definately recommend something with 16Gb of RAM purely for longevity reasons. Does she specifically want small and light, which would perhaps mean a 13" screen is fine and the laptop can easily be put away? If not, I'd suggest the bigger 15" screen. Have a think about whether a 22" All-in-One machine might be more appropriate for her if she has a space for it. Minimal cable clutter, but not portable of course.

The HP 250 G8 is a fine machine for home use, but the ETA is currently mid to late January and lead times can slip significantly with the current supply chain issues. If you are happy to wait, ask PB if they can upgrade it to 16Gb of RAM (and ask for a price including labour to do it). The 250Gb SSD will be fine for general use but allows for storage of only a modest volume of photos.

We sell truckloads of the ProBook series machines to clients and get great feedback and longevity from them. Our clients are all long term, so if they gave trouble we would definately hear about it. We always sell them with a 3y next business day on site service warranty upgrade. For the ProBook 430 (13") or 450 (15") G8 machines the part number for this is UK703E.

Have a quick look at part number 4V4U6PA which is a ProBook 455 G8 machine with a Ryzen 5 processor, 16Gb of RAM and a 500Gb SSD. UK703E is the 3 year warranty upgrade for this series as well, and UK718E is the 5 year on site warranty upgrade code. Intel is the most well known CPU (processor chip) manufacturer but their main rival AMD have pulled a rabbit out of a hat and their Ryzen series processor chips are better bang-for-your-buck over the last couple of years. Not a big deal for your average home user though.

In the early 2021 lockdown we sold out first ever ASUS laptop to a client for his wife to use to work from home, and this was because ProBooks were all sold out. They returned it six weeks later as it kept having a boot error and we replaced it with a ProBook that was back in stock by then. I sent the ASUS away for repair and it came back three weeks later with a new SSD. I've been using it since then as my work laptop and it's been fine. I like it, but could not sell them to business clients who would have a fit if their latop was away for three weeks being repaired. Search PB for X515EA for the 15" models which are quite good value, especially the one with 20Gb of RAM.

Good luck!

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timmmay

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#2826441 8-Dec-2021 07:58

Probooks have been reliable for me, my wife has one, if I needed a personal laptop I'd look at that first. I have a work Elitebook, I find the fan noise annoying. The Surface laptops are a lot quieter, not sure many people would notice though. Lenovo and Dell also tend be be good brands. We haven't had good luck with Asus, screen failed.

The new Apple laptops are pretty nice, though I read somewhere a bit fragile. I've never been a mac person though.

xpd

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#2826467 8-Dec-2021 08:39

+1 for the Probook route - they generally just keep going.

Going for "consumer" level laptops these days tends to end in tears, they're cheaply made and dont perform well at all IME.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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#2828460 8-Dec-2021 09:11

Consumer level notebooks are OK, Ive sold plenty of them (due to lower cost) .
They use the same CPU & similar SSD , so she wont notice any REAL WORLD speed difference if its spec'ed the same
They do the job , just dont go too low spec . And they can & do last if looked after .
Sure, Probooks are nicer , but theres a cost to that .

So, it depends on how much you want to spend .
Does she want something light small & portable.
Or something that will sit on a desk & never be taken out of the house ?

Is she going to use an external keyboard & mouse , external monitor ?
Will she need larger 15" laptops kb, or will a 14" or 13" kb & screen be OK

Perhaps even consider a Mac ?

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#2828469 8-Dec-2021 09:17

Depending on budget, macbook air m1 with 16gb ram

josephhinvest

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#2828496 8-Dec-2021 09:54

Agree with the above, new M1 MacBooks Air are really really good, and just work ™, especially if the user is already familiar with using an iPhone.

Cheers,
Joseph

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#2828503 8-Dec-2021 10:04

i have used PCs for the last half a century and when iphone 11 benchmarked faster than my brand new PC, i knew it was a matter of time.

the matter of time was 2 years. this year I bought my first mac.

surprisingly they have mastered the art of copying android and Windows so most of the transition was seamless

memske

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#2828505 8-Dec-2021 10:07

Dynamic:

Is Mum an iPhone user or a Samsung/Android user? The Apple integration between the MacBook and iPhone is very nice.

If this is likely to be a 'buy a laptop to last her 5-10 years', I definately recommend something with 16Gb of RAM purely for longevity reasons. Does she specifically want small and light, which would perhaps mean a 13" screen is fine and the laptop can easily be put away? If not, I'd suggest the bigger 15" screen. Have a think about whether a 22" All-in-One machine might be more appropriate for her if she has a space for it. Minimal cable clutter, but not portable of course.

The HP 250 G8 is a fine machine for home use, but the ETA is currently mid to late January and lead times can slip significantly with the current supply chain issues. If you are happy to wait, ask PB if they can upgrade it to 16Gb of RAM (and ask for a price including labour to do it). The 250Gb SSD will be fine for general use but allows for storage of only a modest volume of photos.

We sell truckloads of the ProBook series machines to clients and get great feedback and longevity from them. Our clients are all long term, so if they gave trouble we would definately hear about it. We always sell them with a 3y next business day on site service warranty upgrade. For the ProBook 430 (13") or 450 (15") G8 machines the part number for this is UK703E.

Have a quick look at part number 4V4U6PA which is a ProBook 455 G8 machine with a Ryzen 5 processor, 16Gb of RAM and a 500Gb SSD. UK703E is the 3 year warranty upgrade for this series as well, and UK718E is the 5 year on site warranty upgrade code. Intel is the most well known CPU (processor chip) manufacturer but their main rival AMD have pulled a rabbit out of a hat and their Ryzen series processor chips are better bang-for-your-buck over the last couple of years. Not a big deal for your average home user though.

In the early 2021 lockdown we sold out first ever ASUS laptop to a client for his wife to use to work from home, and this was because ProBooks were all sold out. They returned it six weeks later as it kept having a boot error and we replaced it with a ProBook that was back in stock by then. I sent the ASUS away for repair and it came back three weeks later with a new SSD. I've been using it since then as my work laptop and it's been fine. I like it, but could not sell them to business clients who would have a fit if their latop was away for three weeks being repaired. Search PB for X515EA for the 15" models which are quite good value, especially the one with 20Gb of RAM.

Good luck!

Android, I mentioned MacBook to her and she said "too old to learn new things". ;p Thanks for that re ASUS, yeah she would probably get frustrated with 3 weeks of no laptop also, unlike me haha. I did try float a NUC at her and but she likes the ability to be portable with it.

4V4U6PA appears to have not have full specs but seems great value with 16gb/512gb. assuming the comparison for photos etc would be this: https://support.hp.com/nz-en/document/c07006088 ? Very detailed and thorough post! Thank you!

Thanks everyone for the replies! She has no real budget as someone not me, is paying for it on her behalf. Isn't too concerned with screen but MOST of it's use will be at home. Hasn't stated re KB/Mouse but I assume will use the onboard keyboard and maybe a wireless mouse?

alasta

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#2828525 8-Dec-2021 10:44

xpd:

Going for "consumer" level laptops these days tends to end in tears, they're cheaply made and dont perform well at all IME.

This is really interesting. I would have thought that consumer focused computers would be targeted towards non-technical users and therefore more user friendly? Is this not the case?

I have a consumer grade laptop and it's generally very reliable. In contrast my father has stupidly purchased a corporate desktop and has spent hundreds of dollars for a technician to repeatedly come over and help get it working properly.

Dynamic

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#2828531 8-Dec-2021 10:47

I like the HP z5000 bluetooth mouse, and most of the ProBooks we sell go out with these.

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Dynamic

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#2828539 8-Dec-2021 11:07

memske:

4V4U6PA appears to have not have full specs but seems great value with 16gb/512gb. assuming the comparison for photos etc would be this: https://support.hp.com/nz-en/document/c07006088 ? Very detailed and thorough post! Thank you!

My pleasure.

Specs for 4V4U6PA are:

AMD Ryzen 5 5600U 2.3GHz 16MB Cache Six Core Processor (the Intel laptop processors are typically quad core)
15.6" Wide LED Full High Definition 1920X1080 400 Nit Screen (typical laptop screens are 250 nit brightness)
AMD Radeon Shared Graphics
16GB DDR4 3200MHz 2 Slots 32GB Max (1X 16GB) (so there is one slot free for upgrades where some consumer laptops come with both slots populated and you have to toss half your RAM to install any upgrades)
512GB M.2 2280 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive
Realtek RTL8822CE 802.11ac Wireless LAN
Bluetooth 5.0
Finger Print Reader
720P IR Webcam
Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit
3 Cell Battery
1 Year Parts and Labour Onsite

“Don't believe anything you read on the net. Except this. Well, including this, I suppose.” Douglas Adams

Referral links to services I use, really like, and may be rewarded if you sign up:
PocketSmith for budgeting and personal finance management. A great Kiwi company.

memske

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#2828543 8-Dec-2021 11:14

Dynamic:

memske:

4V4U6PA appears to have not have full specs but seems great value with 16gb/512gb. assuming the comparison for photos etc would be this: https://support.hp.com/nz-en/document/c07006088 ? Very detailed and thorough post! Thank you!

My pleasure.

Specs for 4V4U6PA are:

AMD Ryzen 5 5600U 2.3GHz 16MB Cache Six Core Processor (the Intel laptop processors are typically quad core)
15.6" Wide LED Full High Definition 1920X1080 400 Nit Screen (typical laptop screens are 250 nit brightness)
AMD Radeon Shared Graphics
16GB DDR4 3200MHz 2 Slots 32GB Max (1X 16GB) (so there is one slot free for upgrades where some consumer laptops come with both slots populated and you have to toss half your RAM to install any upgrades)
512GB M.2 2280 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive
Realtek RTL8822CE 802.11ac Wireless LAN
Bluetooth 5.0
Finger Print Reader
720P IR Webcam
Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit
3 Cell Battery
1 Year Parts and Labour Onsite

Thank you very much! Looks like the best bang for buck!

qwertee

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#2828554 8-Dec-2021 11:44

A bit pricey though from this supplier😀

Dynamic

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#2828558 8-Dec-2021 11:56

lol

FYI this is a brand new model that arrived in the country only a couple of weeks ago. The distributors have over 100 in stock. Supply chain issues likely mean that when the stock is gone, restocks will be a wee while away.

“Don't believe anything you read on the net. Except this. Well, including this, I suppose.” Douglas Adams

Referral links to services I use, really like, and may be rewarded if you sign up:
PocketSmith for budgeting and personal finance management. A great Kiwi company.

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