Laptop for Travel

[whistlepig]

What brand was the laptop with the black screen?

 

[sandyut]

My (old) laptop screen went black again, this morning ... this is the 4th or 5th time this has happened. I am going to have to buy a new one now. All is backed up into the cloud and to an external HD.

I am 18 months from retirement to "part-time" so I think I am going big with this purchase...decent laptop (does not need to be expensive - not pushing needy software), docking station, dual monitors, etc. If I see anything that jumps out, I will let you know. Probably start looking on Monday.

I picked up a solid Dell from Costco for 1200. It has been a very solid laptop. It replaced my power tower with two monitors and all the work needs. Pretty sure that is the same one there I linked. its a touch less now.

 

[uncle eddie]

What brand was the laptop with the black screen?

whistlepig HP Envy about 3.5 years old.

 

[mike243]

I went from a tower to a laptop due to the wife wanting the desk gone, I miss it but life moves on, I have been through a couple HP a Lenovo and currently running a Gigabyte. no disc drive on these last couple as they are all solid state and no hard drives, I bought a external reader and a burner, haven't burned any disc and that's probably going on 5 years. Look at what you will be using it for before you buy a fully rigged it might save you some $$

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

We travel with iPads, can download movies before you leave, nice and lightweight too. Probably last longer than a laptop that isnt used much.

you can project it to a TV wirelessly, or buy an HDMI adapter. both work great.

David, I still un-decided about getting a laptop for plane. Not sure I want to carry a 15" or not? Tom's tv is just a regular tv. My Tablet has casting but wont work on his. My tablet does not have HDMI capability. What kind of adapter would I have to use. Guessing it would be Bluetooth?

whistlepig HP Envy about 3.5 years old.

I have had two HP laptops and never again! Been happy with my Dells

 

[sandyut]

David, I still un-decided about getting a laptop for plane. Not sure I want to carry a 15" or not? Tom's tv is just a regular tv. My Tablet has casting but wont work on his. My tablet does not have HDMI capability. What kind of adapter would I have to use. Guessing it would be Bluetooth?

I have had two HP laptops and never again! Been happy with my Dells

We have "older" iPads and use the Apple brand lightening adapter.

but Amazon has many that are USB C for non-lightening adapters

Worded good.

 

[uncle eddie]

I have had two HP laptops and never again! Been happy with my Dells

BrianGSDTexoma Agreed. I just remember the HP was a cheap-purchase, secondary use, vacation-type, travel computer when I bought it and it turned into primary use when I retired my home desktop (a Dell).

I use Dell - mostly trouble free - at work with approximately 40 workstations and 1 big 'ole server.

If you buy the best - it only hurts once!

 

[sandyut]

If you buy the best - it only hurts once!

well said, and widely applicable!

 

[chopsaw]

It's all a crapshoot . I have Dells that never had an issue , and have Dells that puked after a couple years .
Got into the HP's and they've been solid so far , but that could change .
uncle eddie I had a dell that used to black screen . I was told it some " static " but I don't know .
I used to have to power it down .
Unplug the cord .
Remove the battery .
Then hold the power button for a certain amount of time .
Worked most of the time . Sometimes I had to restart the monitor itself with a button sequence .
You'd have to look that up .

 

[jcam222]

I went from a tower to a laptop due to the wife wanting the desk gone, I miss it but life moves on, I have been through a couple HP a Lenovo and currently running a Gigabyte. no disc drive on these last couple as they are all solid state and no hard drives, I bought a external reader and a burner, haven't burned any disc and that's probably going on 5 years. Look at what you will be using it for before you buy a fully rigged it might save you some $$

"Look at what you are using it for" first is excellent advice. I've coached quite a few people through buying PC's all of whom were originally going to buy more expensive rigs that were beyond anything they would do. Most folks are using them for the net, maybe some pics, music and video streaming and bill pay. Heck there are 5 year old rigs that will do all of that just fine. If that's the case I focus on a big hard drive and 16g ram. Sometimes even 8gb ram is ok if it's a bill pay and surfing machine.

 

[normanaj]

What did you end up doing?

Just spent most of today between coats on the fence getting everything from the wife's old laptop to the new one. Not a fan of Win11but that's it's own story.

It's 15" but it really is pretty slim and weighs not much for a $249 laptop.

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

What did you end up doing?

Just spent most of today between coats on the fence getting everything from the wife's old laptop to the new one. Not a fan of Win11but that's it's own story.

It's 15" but it really is pretty slim and weighs not much for a $249 laptop.

Not decided. My tablet is working so that be good for trip. The only holding me back was the 8 mb ram but 16 really drove up the price. Been looking at the NIMO but should probably stick with name brand.

 

[DougE]

Look at certified refurbs from the major manufacturers. They are recent enough to work just fine for quite some time and come with a decent warranty.

 

[jcam222]

Look at certified refurbs from the major manufacturers. They are recent enough to work just fine for quite some time and come with a decent warranty.

Pretty much all I buy

 

[DougE]

My most recent refurb is a Lenovo desktop that is new enough to have come loaded with windows 11 pro. It replaced my perfectly good last Lenovo that got fried by lightning. Before that, I got the wife a refurbished Lenovo laptop also loaded with win 11 pro.

 

[jcam222]

Dell has some crazy good discount coupons at times too

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

So I was using the wrong tablet and switch to the correct one and it worked good so I took that on trip. My brother and his wife and I going to Playa Del Carmen Mexico in November. Impossible to watch any TV there. I like to watch some Music Videos and maybe a good old comedy when hanging around the room. I want a cheap Laptop that I can put my VPN on so we can watch some TV. I also maybe play some games on air plane so I think touch screen be good. I looking at these Dell Latitude 7490 14 FHD Touchscreen, Quad Core i5-8350U, 16GB DDR4, 256GB Solid State Drive, Webcam, Bluetooth, Windows 10Pro on Amazon. Trying to get one in Refurbished - Excellent. Batteries are pretty cheap so that no big deal. What you think?

 

[jcam222]

Win11? If not I'd make sure the processor supports upgrading to Win 11.

 

[DougE]

Win11? If not I'd make sure the processor supports upgrading to Win 11.

There are workarounds. I'm running 11 on several laptops that are unsupported. They actually run better on 11 than 10.

 

[jcam222]

There are workarounds. I'm running 11 on several laptops that are unsupported. They actually run better on 11 than 10.

I may have to reach out to you on this at some point. I have a Dell laptop I use just for Bill paying and other personal business that I keep in the kitchen. The processor doesn't meet the qualifications so wouldn't let me upgrade.