Whats the scoop on good brands these days? Previous go-to was Toshiba but they'r out of the consumer game these days. Before we get started, no $2000 uber gaming platforms. This is for web browsing, music storage, easy shit, so sub $500. Aaannnddd, Go!
Acer is my go to. I've had Asus (okay), low end HP (for my kid and it's junk) and I keep going back to Acer.
Nothing from Best Buy / Staples. Acer / Asus / HP in the PC realm. Latest (2020) MacBook Air for light duty on the other side, but that's out of your budget. Wouldn't touch a Dell or a Lenovo with a 10' pole. I've seen decent machines come across the block here: https://www.woot.com/category/computers/laptops
I picked up a Lenovo Ideapad S340 at Costco for 400. Works great for what I (and it appears you) need. 15 inch, touchscreen... looks like they don't stock it anymore but if you can find it, seems like a good deal.
Agree 100 percent....just out of the OP's price he's willing to pay. But worth every damned cent every time. http://bestreviews.com/best-laptops-under-500
I have a very gently used, 15 month old Dell 15.6" HD laptop available. It is back to new-in-box state, so I would suggest adding an SSD and a bit of RAM … it comes with a single stick of 4GB (or was it 8?), but also has 16GB of Optane memory, so it is not too bad as is. I ended up with a nicer laptop a few months later, so I put it back in the box. Just haven't put any effort toward selling it. If interested, I can get more info to you. I need to see what its current value is to determine a fair price for you. It will be more than adequate for the tasks you mentioned.
Currently using a Lenovo (that I bought and barely used as I hated Win. 8 , and went back to my 7 machine..) . Dug it out, updated, and it's buggy as hell, slow, and won't even rip CD's half the time. Also, I don't worship at the alter of Apple..
Just save yourself some time and go over to newegg and look at Acers. Pick one out with the specs you want and buy it. I love their travelmates and I'm typing this reply on a 10 year old travelmate that's a bit worn out but still kicks ass.
Being a certified tech of all major brands I was constantly asked what's a good laptop to buy. My answer was, right now. No idea. They all change models on a monthly bases. By the time I knew what sucked they quit making them. The good brands, I didn't service much. So yes, apple tends to be very good and expensive. If your used to windows there is a learning curve, not much worse than going from windows 7/8 to 10. The brands I consistently HATED to work on was Lenovo and HP, tended to favor Dell for commercial. Asus and Acer tend to be consistently decent machines, what many don't know they make mother boards for many other company's. From what your asking for, Max the memory and yes a SSD drive will take a OK computer to pretty dam good. Most new SSD drives come with a program to transfer the data from old disk to new, just get a bigger SSD than your regular disk. That makes a Intel I5 with 8 gig and 256 gig disk fine. Get the laptop, add memory and install a SSD disk. You have a great OEM recovery disk and more than likely have a computer that will last 5 years at least before the OS is obsolete. My opinion and 2 bucks will get you a coffee at Mc'Dee's
I just went through this and decided to try a cheap Dell Chromebook. It was about $150 and does what I need. The best part is that it isn't Windows or Apple. It has some drawbacks potentially as I don't do much with music, video or photos.
Apple is retarded. Their pricing for their phones is offensive. The pries for the new pro 16" is just full on retarded. Went to check their prices using airline miles to burn mine up and it was more then a Rolex. Fuck Apple!
I've got an old dell D600, it's yours for shipping. Will send a second for parts if you need them. LOL