Help choosing a new laptop

Hello everyone,

I’ve been in the market for a new laptop. I’m looking for something smaller than a traditional laptop. I’m not going to be gaming on it mainly just internet access and watching YouTube. I used to have a netbook when I was younger and I did like it. I’ve been out of the PC game for sometime now and don’t really know what’s up on currently tech. Seems like when you Google top rated things you get 50 different sites for paid promotions of products.

I’m a ironworker and I’m on the road all week and I camp out instead of a hotel so something that would be able to charge off of a portable battery would be great. I’m weary of a tablet because I’m not the easier on equipment and space is rather limited in my rig. If anyone has some suggestions or could point me in the right direction it would be much obliged

a reply to: Liquidiron
Lenovo IdeaPads .
Start there .

a reply to: Liquidiron

IF you're not planning on Gaming any new laptop will suit your needs....

get one with an oled screen

a reply to: Liquidiron


lenovo good screen color , light weight, but battery is on your plugin

Lenovo, if you want something portable and easy to charge idea or yoga. Something portable and durable, resistant to the elements, we use thinkpad carbons in the field quite a bit. I think the thinkpads could pose a problem with portable charging so definitely research that and if a Anker Powercore or a heavy duty portable battery will work on it. We usually have generator power so I’m not sure on the charging requirements.

a reply to: Liquidiron
Whatever you buy, make sure it has an SSD in it, a minimum of 8GB of ram and either an i3 i5 i7, or a Ryzen 3 5 7. Everything else is personal preference. Just my two shillings.

Lenovo is owned by the Chinese government, don't buy Lenovo anything.
Get yourself an ACER.

For internet and YouTube, it’s hard to beat an iPad Pro in a good case. It’s small, tuff, good battery life and you can recharge It nearly anywhere. That about all I use any more.

a reply to: Liquidiron

I bought an acer AO-725, 12" screen, stuck a spare 2 TB drive in it and dual booted to Win7 and Kali. Tails is on the flash drive, so really I have 3 boot options. It only has an AMD C70, but then again, it only cost me $20 (I bought a slightly earlier version of the same machine for $7 lol). I use the AO-725 for hacking, penetration, exploits, you know fun stuff. I use the other one for burning cell phone firmware, building custom ROMS for phones, programming and BIOS repair with a CH-341, etc. Two little workhorses, not fast processors, but they turn the trick ;-)

Nice thing is, they're cheap, they work and if you break one, their cheap lol

Cheers - Dave

originally posted by: Gothmog
a reply to: Liquidiron
Lenovo IdeaPads .
Start there .

I'm typing on one right now. Thin, light, great battery life. Be sure to get a giant micro SD card to put apps, downloads, docs, videos, etc. on. The SSD is on the small side but the computer is pretty inexpensive.

Brands matter far less than specifications. There are laptops currently on the market with high profile brand names ( and prices to match ) out there, being promoted by algorithms that are absolute trash - just as there are white label / no name laptops here and there that have incredibly good specifications for highly competitive pricing.

IMO a few things to consider:

1) Make sure the processor is at least 4 cores with hyperthreading / SMT and of a fairly recent generation. A lot of laptops on the market right now have really bad CPU's in them that only have a couple of cores running at relatively low speeds and that will struggle with even basic use cases ( web browsing, video streaming etc ).

2) A decent amount of RAM is integral to a good experience. At this point 8 GB is baseline and, IMO, 16 GB is preferable.

3) Storage is another consideration. There are a fair few laptops currently being pushed that have Chromebook levels of internal storage - as low as 32 GB in some cases. I would recommend not even considering anything with less than 512 GB.

4) In terms of both RAM and storage I'd recommend doing a bit of research to ensure that there is an upgrade path - IE that the RAM and storage drive are removable and replaceable as opposed to being soldered to the motherboard.

5) Display resolution is another gotcha I've seen on lower end hardware lately. Some machines out there ( low end HP models come to mind ) have adequate processors and RAM but then couple that power with a low resolution screen that is ultimately going to compromise the experience. 1080p is something I'd personally make mandatory in my considerations.

A final consideration could be the upcoming release of Windows 11. If you plan to use Windows and would want to upgrade to it next spring when it releases then that also factors in as many current prebuilt PC's and laptops don't currently meet minimum specifications for Win 11. Off hand I believe you'd want to look for a current gen Intel or anything better than second gen Ryzen for compatibility.

Mostly, at least in my experience, patience is key. Deals come and go and the really good ones tend to be short lived ( flash sales ). You might consider creating a temporary email address dedicated to the laptop hunt and then use that address to sign up for alerts and notifications from all the retailers and manufacturers you are interested in shopping with. This approach can yield some pretty good results and keep you informed of temporary price reductions and sales.

Good luck with the hunt!

Thanks for all the advice and info everyone! There are certain hobbies I would like to get into once I get a decent one. It’s just a pain using a cell phone most of the time for certain things. I have always been a fan of AMD even through certain applications where intel was considered supreme. It may be a good idea to wait for windows 11 to release. I don’t have much experience on other operating platforms. All things to consider for sure.

a reply to: Hefficide

Dunno about that. I've got a dozen dead Dells in my basement. Wouldn't take one if it was free. Same with HP.