Searching for a fresh laptop to gift this holiday season.
Searching for a fresh laptop to gift this holiday season.
Hello everyone,
I’m thinking about purchasing a new laptop for my mother this Christmas. To be honest, I’m not very familiar with budgeting for PCs—I usually opt for the most expensive options when I can.
This time, however, there’s a set budget in mind. Here are the points from the pinned discussion:
1. What is your budget? A limit of $500 or less is ideal; a bit over that is acceptable.
2. What notebook size are you considering? A 17-inch screen is preferred, but a 15.6-inch model is acceptable if no better options exist.
3. What resolution do you want? 1080p would be great, unless higher resolutions are necessary.
4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop? I don’t think so—she doesn’t have a desktop and doesn’t take her current one with her.
5. How much battery life is important? The usual usage is sufficient since she doesn’t rely heavily on it outside the house, and it can be charged when needed. No extreme promises like “two days battery life or refund!” are necessary.
6. Would you like to play games on the laptop? If yes, please list the games you’d like and your preferred settings (Low, Medium, High).
No, she doesn’t play any games; she mainly uses her phone for Candy Crush.
7. What other tasks should the laptop handle? Web browsing, daily chores, light photo editing (not detailed design), occasional Photoshop, YouTube, and some minor tasks. No heavy rendering or high-end gaming required.
8. How much storage do you require? A large hard drive isn’t necessary, but more than 200GB is better. She already uses an external drive, so an SSD would be ideal for speed.
9. If you have specific sites in mind to buy from, please share their links.
Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart are good options.
10. How long do you plan to keep the laptop? As long as possible—she doesn’t use it often and rarely upgrades.
11. What type of optical drive is needed? Standard DVD ROM, not Bluray.
12. Please mention your preferred brands and any brands you dislike, along with reasons.
I tend to avoid ACER due to past battery problems. I’m unsure about Toshiba because of an HDD issue I experienced.
I’d prefer something reliable for storage and battery life.
13. What country are you from?
USA
14. Any other details you should know? I’m not familiar with Chromebooks, so if one is available, I’d like a brief explanation of its pros and cons.
Laptops with bigger screens usually weigh more, but you still get a full-sized keyboard for work. If she prefers to run the laptop on an external display and doesn’t need a heavy keyboard, a smaller screen model would work better. You’ll rarely find many of these models from ODD because they’re often the biggest parts that aren’t used much except for installing the operating system. Manufacturers avoid them to leave more space inside for important parts like bigger batteries or more SSD storage. It’s wise to note the apps she uses regularly, as a few extra programs might need more memory or a larger SSD for performance.
I will review the list, thank you.
Beyond Photoshop, the most common programs seem to be Microsoft Suite, web browsers, and similar tools.
Other options are limited, but Photoshop would likely cover the broadest range.
Skipping the ODD wouldn’t be a problem; she occasionally uses old CDs for reference material, though we have alternative ways available.
Regarding physical components, she doesn’t connect it to a TV or monitor, nor external keyboards—her own mouse is used instead.
She probably chose a 17-inch laptop mainly because of the screen size, making it more comfortable for her.
In terms of detail, her Photoshop work would mostly involve straightforward tasks.
I’d also like to discuss whether an i3 or i5 processor would be suitable for long-term use.
I’ve never used anything under an i7, so I’m unsure how they compare in performance and reliability.
If feasible, purchase from the manufacturer's "corporate" or "business" section instead of the "consumer" option.
Plan ahead before making a purchase to determine what you plan to use it for, especially regarding warranty or post-sale support. Who will handle repairs?
At that price point, you might need to adjust her expectations—either lowering them or considering alternatives.
I wouldn't mind if the device ran on Windows 11.
Hope she possesses some reasonable skill and a willingness to perform basic hardware maintenance, along with an understanding of the Windows Update process.
Choosing not to buy Acer seems wise.
Perform some research on Passmark.com about the CPU performance of your selected processor. Avoid getting distracted by terms like "i-3", "i-5", or "Celeron".
If uncertain, focus on the CPU's capability. If you plan to upgrade later, that could be a good investment.
Assure her that laptop screens are crucial, though it might be hard to assess before buying?
I'm uncertain, but I'd expect at this price level a quad-core processor in a laptop.
Hope she recognizes the limitations of laptops.
Steer clear of spinning drives, but don't get overly caught up in NVMe, SATA, or M.2 discussions.
Encourage her to make backups if the storage device holds important data.
The HP shows a noticeable improvement; it offers 6 cores compared to 2, achieves a Passmark score of 13273 versus 4020, and supports a larger display size. Overall they seem quite alike at first glance. However, the HP includes Windows S mode, which is essentially Windows 10 in S mode—a streamlined version focused on security and performance, restricting apps to the Microsoft Store and mandating Microsoft Edge for safe browsing. This feature might be appealing, but it likely won’t change your opinion much.
Could you maybe go into detail on this S mode?
Like what normal usage it would exclude?
This isn't making it impossible to download applications, like adobe suite or Discord, for example?
And requires Edge for safe browsing meaning incognito mode or something else?
edit: quick look up of a video, So it's basically a handicap/childproof version of Windows OS. For people who may not know how to stay secure themselves on the internet.
I'll look into Windows S mode as a whole in the meanwhile.
Is this something that can be overwritten with a fresh install of Windows?
It looks like most of the laptops linked are running Windows 11 in S mode. I'll continue searching for alternatives.
I believe Windows S Mode could be quite troublesome, so I’d probably steer clear of it if possible.
I’ve discovered alternative choices on Amazon.
If someone could take a look at them and share their thoughts, that would be great.
HP 17.3" Full HD (1920 x 1080) Laptop, Intel Core i5-1135G7, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, Windows 10 Home
New 2022 HP 17.3" FHD IPS Display, 11th Gen Intel Core i5-1135G7 (Beats i7-8500), Windows 11 Home, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD
Dell Inspiron 15 5515, 15.6 inch FHD Touchscreen Laptop - AMD Ryzen 5 5500U, 8GB DDR4 RAM, 256GB SSD, AMD Radeon Graphics, Windows 10 Home
Lenovo Ideapad 3 15.6" FHD Touch Screen Laptop|Intel Core i5 11th Gen |12GB RAM, 256GB SSD
Two models run Windows 10, while the other two are on Windows 11. I think this difference won’t be significant for my mother, and she should be able to switch to Windows 11 if needed.
According to Passmark, the Ryzen offers better performance than the i5-1135G7 found in all three laptops. However, aside from that, I’m not very confident about their overall specs.
Storage capacity isn’t a major concern; if she runs out, she can store files online or on an external drive.
She doesn’t frequently browse the web with many tabs open, and unless she uses resource-heavy software like Adobe Suite, the most demanding tasks should be manageable. I’d say 8GB should suffice, though I’m not sure whether the integrated GPU in the Dell is as strong as the Radeon in the others.
If I had to choose, I’d likely go with the two 17.3" models first since she mentioned wanting a bigger screen. But if performance is more important, the 15.6" ones seem worth considering.