Tablets, eReaders, Media Players - 2016

[BearMountainBooks]

There wasn't a category for laptops this year, but mine is about to give up the ghost--anyone have any rec's on laptops that are good (15-ish inch screen, full keyboard--mine takes a POUNDING, reliable. Hard drive needs to be large enough to dual boot linux and some form of windows. I will happily take a Windows 7 unit, but am realistic about it having to be windows 10). I do travel some with the laptop, but am considering traveling with a tablet instead just for ease and portability. I rarely do writing, uploads or artwork on travel.

Any recs, let me know what you think!

[cromag]

I'm a big fan of Lenovo, going back to when they were branded IBM. I currently have a few Lenovo laptops. If you can live with a 14 inch screen I would recommend a Lenovo Thinkpad T410. This was a big seller with commercial users and you should be able to get a good deal on a refurbed or used one.

They are physically rugged, so good for travelling. They originally shipped with Windows 7 -- mine dual boots with W7 and Ubuntu. I don't know about Windows 10 compatibility for future upgrades. Eventually I plan to go Ubuntu only on mine.

Check carefully if you need a webcam. Many of these don't have cameras since they were intended for the business market. There is a place to install a camera, and the wiring is in place, so it can be added. I spent about $15 for the (tiny) camera module and it took me less than half an hour to install it on the kitchen table.

Hard drive capacities will vary.

Check Newegg, Amazon, etc.

[BearMountainBooks]

Thanks Cromag! We went to Best Buy today to play "process of elimination" and I decided on...Lenovo! I tried out the keyboards and the mouse buttons/look feel/etc. I despise the extra number pad because of the way I type. I need to be centered and those things throw that off. But the keyboard that felt best was Lenovo by a fairly large margin (it was really down to Lenovo or HP unless some other brand like Toshibo showed up. But there weren't any on display there or OfficeMax.)

I'm currently browsing sites for mainly the 520 because I'd like 15 inches, but I'm seeing better deals on the 410 family. Good to know it's a worth a look. I'm not sure about going 14 inches because my eyes are bad and I already have to zoom on a lot of pages so I'm leaning toward 520 and getting an 11 inch for travel (those can be had for 100 dollars in the used market from what I"m seeing.)

Thanks for the input. Husband is pretty leery of buying used, but that is where I"m seeing the most bang for my buck. The 410 and 520 series are only occasionally showing up at Frys and newegg as refurb'd and they aren't "loaded" with much memory or HD for the prices.

[BearMountainBooks]

I don't need or even want a webcam. I have had to use mine for two or three interviews where the interviewee insisted (what's up with that???) but I will keep this machine for various reasons so in a pinch I'd still have one.

[Blossom]

I love my Samsung ATIV Book. Not much bloatware and they keep all drivers updated.

I bought it in 2012 I think. It had Windows 8 which ran crappy but after the free upgrade to Windows 10 it runs perfect now. I'd buy Samsung again.

Sent from my XT1528

[BearMountainBooks]

Thanks, Blossom! The only Samsung ones we saw in the stores were the Chromebooks. They were competitive with everyone else, but there weren't any in the range I'm looking for (size and price). I just did a quick ebay search and the 15 inch ones ran 260 but all had keypads. I type with the thing on my lap so a centered mouse is pretty key and a smaller mousepad is ideal (I rest my hands on the computer itself. WHen I tried the ones with huge mousepads at the store, I was very worried about inadvertent clicks, mouse moves and so on. I know the active area can be "set" but I didn't love the large mouse). I'll keep an eye out on prices and models just in case. Thanks for the input.

[Blossom]

You can disable the touchpad with a key when typing. Not that I have a problem with it. My old laptop had a small touchpad and was horrible.

You will find a larger touchpad to be more precise and only work if your fingers are on it. I've never had an issue while typing with it. Touchpads have have come a long way since my old Acer which I loathed to type on. Any pressure would set it off.




Sent from my XT1528

[tubemonkey]

Happy New Year

The new thread for 2017 is now available.

Tablets, eReaders, Media Players - 2017

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by cromag

I'm a big fan of Lenovo, going back to when they were branded IBM. I currently have a few Lenovo laptops. If you can live with a 14 inch screen I would recommend a Lenovo Thinkpad T410. This was a big seller with commercial users and you should be able to get a good deal on a refurbed or used one.

They are physically rugged, so good for travelling. They originally shipped with Windows 7 -- mine dual boots with W7 and Ubuntu. I don't know about Windows 10 compatibility for future upgrades. Eventually I plan to go Ubuntu only on mine.

Check carefully if you need a webcam. Many of these don't have cameras since they were intended for the business market. There is a place to install a camera, and the wiring is in place, so it can be added. I spent about $15 for the (tiny) camera module and it took me less than half an hour to install it on the kitchen table.

Hard drive capacities will vary.

Check Newegg, Amazon, etc.

Went with a Lenovo t520 (used, but in great shape so far. We're putting it through its paces). So far so good. Looks like a great little machine. I haven't loaded much of my typical software yet, but I like the keyboard, mouse options and the overall look and feel of the machine. It has more ports/functions than I even recognize...

[cromag]

Good luck! And have fun!