Ok.....need some advice.....I kind of stay behind the times with technology. I've only had a smart phone for about a year. I obtained my home computer from the Bank's "bone yard"....works fine for my purposes....just some Internet and email.

Sooooo....I want to replace the home computer with a good-size laptop. I don't want to spend a bunch of money, but I want plenty of memory and speed (does speed have to do with the computer or my Internet provider?...which is DSL).

I've been advised to get an HP....less expensive.
Not to get a Dell....they become obsolete too fast.
Not to get an Apple/Mac....too expensive.

Opinions please.

I would also like to get an ipad or kindle fire. At work, the system blocks just about EVERYTHING and sometimes it's necessary to access stuff....say during lunch or breaks. I don't understand how an ipad or kindle works. Do you have to be in a Wi-fi area?

Please advise and sorry for the obvious ignorance.

Please answer after you finish laughing. Go ahead....get it out of your system.

<isn't laughing and actually impressed with your technological savvy, so that tells you where i fall on all things techno. I still use dial-up internet, have a bank throwaway computer from about 8 years ago and have a plain old cell phone and no desire to read a book on anything but paper.

Keep in mind, laptops aren't generally 'long-term' computers.

DSL is not all created equally. Mine BITES. But yes, that's primarily driving the speed. (unless your puter is a dinosaur and other issues we won't get into).

Mac's are GREAT, but very different.

ipad's and kindles need wifi or a paid phone service to operate in a 4G enviornment. All Fires do not have this option, if memory serves me.

I'm not laughing...it confuses me all the time!

i have heard kindle fires arent that great for surfing the web even when wifi is available..

maybe someone can correct me

i am in the tablet market right now too, i have heard good things about the samsung tablets (tab2.0 $249-$399 and the samsung note notes $399-549) however they are android based and i am clueless on android operating systems (android doesnt sync with itunes well..so i have heard, dont kill me if i am wrong)

and then apple you get what you pay for

good luck

I read that the Fires are good for kids because they are cheaper to replace when they crack them.

Check the Google tablet if you want a tablet...probably a better deal for about the same money.

You can get a good laptop pretty cheap nowadays. I have an HP and it has been very reliable. Not sure about Dell laptops but the desktops seem to have problems slowing way down over time.

If you will be using it mainly for email and internet, processing power is not critical. More memory will help any computer.

iPads, Kindles, tablets, etc. either need WiFi or their own 3G/4G service. The problem with WiFi when you are out and about is that it is not secure (like it would be on a home network) so accessing online banking, shopping, etc. can be risky.

DSL by today's standards is pretty slow as compared to cable and 4G. But it is fine for regular web browsing and email. If you plan to download a lot of music and/or video, the internet speed is more of a concern.

In the past dell laptops only use dell ram so upgrades are $$$$

I'm not laughing...

I agree with the recommendations not to get dell (their customer service also SUCKS), and that a mac is probably too expensive for what you need. HP's aren't bad. I strongly recommend looking at toshibas--they may be slightly higher than the HPs, but they will probably also have slightly better features, and they are absolute workhorses. If you get one with the most memory and fastest processing speed you can afford, you should be able to keep using it much longer than most other brands.

There are several places where speed counts, but if all you're doing is reading email and internet, then the dsl speed will affect you the most. There is also the speed of the computer processor (will affect you a little, in starting up the machine, loading programs), and speed of the memory (you may not notice at all).

Right now toshiba is offering some pretty cool deals--look at the satellite series at toshibadirect.com

As for the kindle and ipad...I don't have either one, so I'll let someone else answer.

My Dell laptop is 5 years old and just now started giving me issues. Cooling fan was placed in a weird spot and had accumulated lots of dust, but our IT guy here does some side jobs and helped me get it working again. I just added more memory to it, and installed Windows 7. It's like a new PC. But I don't use it as much as my 9 year old.

I love my iPad. We use PCs for computers and Apple products (sorry Bimmer!) for everything else. And I have a router set up at home to use the Wifi. I have a satellite internet provider because where I live I can't get cable or DSL.

Good luck!

what??????????????

no!

really???????????????????

Also not laughing

Speed is a combination of your equipment and your ISP (internet service provider)

I'd agree, for your purposes, a Mac would be a waste of money. They're great, when you fully utilize their capabilities for intense photo/video editing and such, but otherwise you're paying for a lot you don't use.

Dell vs. HP vs. other brands...I wouldn't say any brand goes obsolete any faster than any other. When it comes down to it, the "guts" are very much similar from one brand to another with any of the name brand types. The differences are generally in customer service/tech support, which Dell doesn't have a great reputation for. That being said, my laptop (Dell) is about 7 years old now and I've had no problems with it that would require tech support and have only upgraded memory (RAM) once. My desktop is a whole different story, it's a custom built powerhouse that's about a year old and mostly a toy. The laptop is really just pulled out when I travel now.

My advice would be to shop around a bit, there should be some great deals for the holiday season and a perfectly acceptable laptop that should last you 5 years (at least) should be readily avialable for $350-$450 (yes, about the same price as a new iPad!) I would beg you not to go to Best Buy, their prices are really quite insane for what you get. I would advise going directly through the manufacturer's websites. One you may look into is Toshiba, my younger brother got one for college a few years back and has been extremely happy with it.

Check reviews, or Consumer Reports. You should have good luck finding articles for reasonably priced laptops, or top 10 listings, then go price shopping for your specific models.

You may want to check out the Chromebook laptops for about $250 if you mostly surf and e-mail. Because they are cloud based and are not windows machines, they are supposedly pretty fast. You store things in the cloud, not your hard drive, though you could use a flash drive if you want to store some stuff locally.

In place of MS Office, you can use Google Drive/Google Docs to do word processing, spreadsheets, and even presentations. I did a couple of powerpoint presentations with it for a couple of classes I was teaching this month and it worked just fine.

Next time I am looking to replace a laptop, I will definitely check one of these out.

Yes...feel free to laugh...everyone else does. Hey...it suits my purposes at home....i mean...i wish it was faster sometimes (ok, all the time)...but it still works.

Just a thought, but if you're leaning toward buying an iPad or tablet also and you'd primarily be using the laptop just for email/internet, could you forego the laptop and save a few hundred $s?

oh i'm not laughing...i'm cryin' for ya'!

you're much more patient than i am...i'm pretty sure i'd go postal if i had to deal with dial-up!

I don't know about that - the post office is only slightly quicker than dial-up

!!!!

The nice thing about dial-up is that viruses download much slower.

I've had a Dell laptop for about six years now and have not had any issues with it at all and it takes some abuse. The only experience I had with their customer service was when my puppy bit the power cord and zapped it. It was still in the warrantee period so they replaced the power cord for free.

Anyway, I bought an iPad this summer and LOVE IT! I don't hardly use my laptop at all anymore and when it goes I will not replace it.

We bought a toshiba a couple of years ago and are very happy with it. We (read my husband) also have a samsung galaxy tab 10.1 from last year, and I have a Nook tablet. While we use the galaxy tab a lot for simply cruising the internet, you tube, etc., there are a lot of things that it's not not great for, if you're going to do anything that requires a lot of using a keyboard, forget it. With the tablet, it really depends on what you want to do with it, for me, it's all about reading, which is why I bought the Nook tablet, it's a reader, but also a tablet, it requires wi-fi. However, the Nook tablet doesn't have all the same apps as the galaxy tab which is very frustrating and none of them are free, unlike the galaxy and phones, which many of them are free. If I had to do it over again, I'd seriously look at the smaller galaxy tab for myself, the large one we have is just not convenient for me for reading.

And sorry, I can't comment on anything Apple as I hate all things Apple.

You can't put the iTunes app on your android, but you can load the song files onto your phone/tablet via a USB and there are other music apps available that will play them.

also yells at kids to get off his lawn and drives the LeSabre to dinner at 4:00

I have a Toyota Tacoma....but the yelling at the kids part is pretty spot on

I've owned two LeSabres and they're great for running into people/things. Just saying...


I gave no tablet/e-reader input because I have no firsthand knowledge and don't see myself ever using one. I stare at a computer and read all day long, if I'm reading for fun, it needs to be a paper book!