Mrs. Grouch wants to buy herself a new lap top computer today. I told her she has better resources for advice than me because I know nothing. Today is going to be interesting.

I bought a MacBook Air in November and recommend it. Amazing machine.

If it's an Apple computer you want visit Apple's refurb site for at least a 20% discount on anything Apple makes.

All refurb units come with a full new warranty with new cases etc. to ensure the units are as good as new. I've bought nine Mac computers and an ipad from Apple refurb with not one problem in the lot!

https://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals

One point to note: If you see what you want there BUY IT NOW! since the churn is very fast.

You may have the results of my months of research! Final choice, Acer 15.6" Laptop, 2.4GHz Intel Core i5-2430M, 6GB RAM, 640GB HDD (AS5755-6832). Incredible specs for the price, nice build quality, and since movie rental outlets seem to be almost extinct, it has internal software to wirelessly transmit to TV (WiDi 2.0). If the latter is not important to you, model AS5750-6425 Acer 15.6" Laptop, 2.4GHz Intel Core i5-2430M, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD is about 90.00 cheaper.

I followed the advice that I give other people about buying bicycles. We went to the local computer guy who we've used for service in the past.

For our, relatively non-technical use he recommended an ASUS something or other and not the most expensive machine that he had in the store. My computer professional son-in-law is real high on Apple products but even he didn't recommend Apple for our use.

Bottom line, I doubt we got the bottom dollar price, but I feel we were advised by a competant person whom I trust. We're happy with the purchase.

FWIW

I have always bought the professional line of Toshiba laptops because of my line of work (before I retired). I have probably owned 7 or 8 of them over the years and never had to have one repaired. The drawback is that they do cost more than the consumer models that you find in the stores.

To be honest with you, I have never owned an Apple product until this Christmas when the wife and I got an iPad 2. However, I will say that if you aren't going to use it for business, they do make great products. They cost a bit more than a Windows based PC and you may not find as much free or shareware software for a MAC, but they are very good machines.

If you are looking for a Windows based laptop, it's like buying a bike. Find the one with the most bang for the bucks and go with it. If you do some homework, you can do some searching (if you want to spend the time) finding out who makes the motherboards for the laptops you are interested in and then see how they are rated. If you went out today and bought it today, this is all moot.

You say a "New" lap top so I presume that your old one was not running Windows 7. Been using W7 for a couple of months and it is good. Must be easy to use as I made the transition from XP easily with only a few hiccups. One problem is W7 uses memory so get at least 4gb of memory installed- more if you can get it. Fastest processor that you can afford within your budget and a screen size you are comfortable with. Other than that- Just open YOUR wallet and get the wife her next years birthday- anniversary and Christmas present all rolled into one. It will be cheaper in the long run.

+1 the best computer I've ever owned. You just have to get used to the idea that instead of putting software and other stuff into it by disc you download everything.

Ignore than man behind the curtain.
Get a Mac. You won't be disappointed.

Congrats on the new computer. I took the advice of a former co-worker several years ago and bought a HP laptop he recommended. He knew how I intended to use it and I'm still using it.

I followed the link by BluesDawg above, and got to this page after a couple more clicks.

https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2384243,00.asp

It was a bit surprising that the Macs had a 15% repair rate in the first year, compared to 5% for Samsung. For all that money I wouldn't expect that.

One of the guys in my office is a huge Apple fan and he says to always purchase the extended warranty.

You are trying to apply logic to a question of religious faith.

Check out the specials at tigerdirect.com. Lots of bang for the buck.

Funnily enough-My S-i-L who is involved with computers says the same thing. Part of his company deals with warranty and can repair most computers-But macs and they prefer to send back to apple. Software problems are OK but hardware and they cannot get the supply of parts from Apple. He still recommends a Mac even though the office run PC's and he has PC's at home. Think he just likes spending my money.

With a laptop, you should always purchase the warranty--especially a spill-proof warranty. Laptops have a far greater chance of physical damage than desktops.

i shifted to apple three years ago and you know what they say once you mac, you'll never go back.
but to be fair, i think other brand are more efficient for other purposes such as netbooks... if you are just going to use it for presentation and note taking, go for more affordable brands

Macs are over priced, and on some you cant even replace the battery yourself. Macs are usually connected with the education community. Everyone else uses Windows based machines, as they have tons more programs written for them.

Here is a good laptop list with specs

Interesting. Ours has a "drop it in the swimming pool and we'll replace it once" warranty.

I picked up a new computer about a year ago when the HP laptop I had since '05 went belly-up for the third time (three hard drives in it's lifetime). It was replaced with an ASUS K52F which has been running fine. It has the Intel Core i3 processor on it.

I spoke to the guy at the counter with Best Buy where I bought it, and asked him which brands were the best to go with. He said the two brands they see the least of on repairs are Asus and Toshiba. The ones they see the most of are HP and Acer.

FWIW,

Phil

My son had to replace his Mac Book this week due to his spilling juice on the keyboard and it was enough to soak the motherboard. Bad juju for him. He looked at the refurbished units at the Apple site and Best Buy had a Mac Book Pro for the same price that he snapped up. He really likes the new unit a lot. I think that Apple is in my future for a laptop and an iPhone (along with the mount and an app for bicycling.)


Bill

Here is what Consumer Reports found. Here's what they had to say this year:

The graph they talk about showed 10 or so different brands of computers, all of which scored in the 9% (Apple) to 12% (Sony, Compaq and Dell) range.

It was a few years ago now, but I read a consumer reports article about extended warranties. They basically said don't buy them. They are a big moneymaker for the seller.

I tend to avoid that type of stuff anyway. I like to sort things out myself as much as I can.