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[Glloyd]

Basically, my dad is fulfilling his life's dream and retiring on his 55th birthday in a couple weeks. However, he's worked for a company for 37 years, and when he retires, he won't have a company laptop or phone. So, he's looking into buying a laptop, and he asked to to figure out the particulars for him.

So I came here, because I don't really know where to look to find cheap, simple laptops.

Basically, all I'm looking for is something that:

1. Is running Windows 7. 8 would be just way too confusing for him after using normal Windows for 20 odd years.
2. Has WiFi, and possible Bluetooth functionality.
3. Isn't outrageously expensive.
4. Is possibly decently durable as far as laptops go?


And that's about it. I've never really bought a laptop before, the one I'm using now I bought secondhand off a cousin of mine, and besides that I've only ever owned desktops that I built. Also, brick and mortar stores are bad because apparently they only sell Windows 8.1 laptops now. Any idea where to start looking, or even better, any suggestions for laptops?

[Thief^]

Windows 8's not as different as people seem to think, the only real change is that the start menu is now full-screen. That said, there are numerous third-party programs (e.g. Stardock Start8 that put a real start menu back. I just got used to it, especially as with Windows-7 style pinning of applications to the task bar I rarely even open it. If you really want, it shouldn't be that expensive to just *buy* Windows 7.

What would you use bluetooth for? It mostly used to be used for connecting to phones (or more obscure peripherals), but they all have wifi hotspot abilities now.

[gimlet]

There's a LOT of choices nowadays, so think carefully about his use cases.  Where is he gonna use it, and what programs will he want to run?

Does he want something to carry around all or most of the time?  A standard laptop, even an 11" "ultrabook" is kind of big for that, almost always requiring a backpack or messenger bag.  Even a 9" tablet is uncomfortable, you'd have to pick clothes to accomodate it if you didn't want the hassle of an external bag.  A 7" tablet can fit in *some* jacket pockets, cargo pants, etc.  Is a 7" tablet + maybe a keyboard enough for what he wants to do?   If it's just "check/respond to email, check the news, surf the web a bit, listen to music, play a few games" then a tablet will be very adequate. 

If he needs to run big Windows programs at all times, then the absolute minimum is probably gonna be an 11" "ultrabook/ultraportable" type, just be warned these are pretty anemic, and expensive for what you get.  13" gets a bit beefier, 15" has a huge range of models and pretty good bang-for-the-buck, 17" is like a desktop equivalent but to me it feels like carrying a whole damn desktop around too.  If he wants to run very demanding games, that means expensive 15"+ gaming laptops, although there *are* a few very expensive smaller ones if you can stand the tiny screen size for gaming.

My current 2-tier solution is a 7" tablet to carry almost all the time, for email/ebooks/news/surfing/games/videos and a cheapish 15.6" laptop for the few times I need to lug it around to do something beefier or to use around the house when I don't want to sit in front of the desktop.  A tiny bit over $400 total, and it covers a reasonably wide range of uses, but I don't currently need to run demanding games or big programs when mobile.  My use-case limitation is "what do I do with it when I'm in the bar and playing pinball or darts" - anything bigger than 7", I either have to have the bag or an uncomfortably full pocket slapping against me.  I guess I should get a cable lock, but that looks really dorky and often there's nothing to secure to.

Tablet OS are Android, iOS and Win8, they're really pretty easy to pick up.   You're gonna be pretty hardpressed to find anything recent that runs Win 7, or drivers for it even if you buy your own Win 7 to install.  If you *absolutely insist* on Win7, maybe buy a refurb of a slightly older model, or look for lists like this http://blog.laptopmag.com/best-windows-7-laptops-still-available-for-sale

I'm kind of looking at the new 8.3" and 10" thinkpad tablets, they run windows (8 only, alas) and are reasonably beefy (and expensive, alas again) for their size.  The 8.3" will fit into fewer of my pockets than the 7" though, I might just go up to the 10" and accept carrying a man-purse or wearing a vest with a back pocket.  Ahh decisions...

[Glloyd]

Thanks Gimlet. I don't own a tablet myself, so I don't really know their strengths and weaknesses. From the sounds of it though, that's what will work best for him. I'm assuming you can get half decent keyboards for most tablets? It's hard for me to imagine him attempting to type on a touch screen. Following up on that, what kind of tablet would you recommend?

[gimlet]

I would say start with something relatively cheap, try it out, and then he will see what features he really wants.  IE is a 7" screen OK to watch videos on, or will he think it's too small.   Is a camera important, how much will he use the keyboard, or want HDMI out, etc.   If you buy Android apps, you'll generally be able to use them on any later devices you buy.   And yea, almost all of them should have Bluetooth and be able to use a Bluetooth keyboard, doublecheck each model to make sure and to find the ones that work the best with it.

The oldest tablet I have is the one I still carry the most, a Kindle Fire 7" 8G.  If I were gonna get one now, I'd probably go for the Kindle Fire HD 7" 16G or even 32G, 'cause 8G is just too little.  $130 (I think that's a sale price?) + $25 for the fast charger.  Then get the Amazon Prime trial, and if he likes the movies and TV on there (and the free Amazon shipping) it's $99 a year.  The big limitation is that it's a custom Android OS, and you're limited to getting stuff from the Kindle store which has a smaller selection than Google's Android Store.  There *are* ways to "sideload" apps, and you can jailbreak it and put regular Android on there and be in the regular Android universe, but then it's a LOT harder to watch the Amazon Prime stuff - otoh there's always Netflix or Hulu+.   I'm pretty sure it can use a Bluetooth keyboard, but they're all bigger than the 7" Kindle.  There is a 8.9" Fire HD that would fit well with a 9" bluetooth keyboard and case, if that size works for him, but more $$$.  I read on this a lot, there's a *lot* of free books from Amazon although a lot of the free ones are kind of crappy.   Oh, if you don't buy the Kindle from Amazon, or buy a refurb, be careful because Amazon changes the models but keep the same name - the 2012/2013 "Kindle Fire HD" has very different features from the 2014 one.

For a "regular" 7", also consider the Nexus 7.

I recently got a refurb 9" Nook HD+  and it's pretty nice too, but JUST a little too big for me to carry all the time.  This is a 2013 model but still a screaming deal.  It has a really high-res display (1920x1280 pixels) and access to the Nook Store AND the Google Android Store for apps/books/video/etc.  I got a combo case+bluetooth keyboard for it that's adequate, but makes it kinda fat (this one $35 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AV1UWWY).  I'm thinking of just carrying the keyboard strapped to the nook instead of the fat case, although I hardly ever use the keyboard but it would protect the screen a bit.   I use this around the house a lot to watch videos (netflix mainly) and do quick voice google searches.  This has a micro-SDHC card slot, so base storage isn't as important.  I caught a good sale to get the refurb for $100,  but I just saw some on Amazon for about $130.   

Last year I got a ASUS TF-201 Transformer Prime 10.1".  This has a GREAT form factor, but was a little pricy with the add-on keyboard (which also has a battery which is nice, but a bit heavy).  But it has AWFUL wi-fi reception, and the one I got had a problem with the charger cable that repeatedly popped up "I'm charging" "You're using the battery" icons.  I didn't decide it was driving me nuts until after the return period   I think the next model has a plastic case and better wifi.  I got a fair amount of use out of it but mainly it was too big to carry and annoying.  I rarely use it after getting the Nook.  A refurb was like $300 with the keyboard.

There are a bunch of other good 9-10", Galaxy Tab, Kindle Fire HD/HDX, etc.

I'm kind of eyeballing a Lenovo Thinkpad 10 - just came out, 10", Windows 8, 2G of ram, 64G storage, but it's like $600 and another $120 for the keyboard :p   I'll wait a few months and hope there's a massive Black Friday sale.   There's also an 11" Dell Venue or the Microsoft Surface, but they're pretty pricey too.   I'll probably wait and see what's out next year, I'm not *dying* for a 10" Windows tablet.

OH yeah, it's worth thinking about iPads, they have a TON of apps, but the tablets are kind of pricy for the specs.

My problem is the 7" are a little too small to do spreadsheets/office stuff, or seriously watch movies, but the 9" are too big to carry handily.  I have a SCOTTeVest (vest with pocket for a laptop) but I don't want to wear it *all* the time, especially in summer.  I'm looking into alternatives - a holster, or some form of thin fanny pack, or some guys say a very slim case with a neck strap works for them.

Anyway, read reviews of the ones you might be interested in, compare features, keep your eye out for sales.   The google search to get going is variations of "best tablets 2014", that'll get you comparison articles, then look for more reviews of the models you're considering.  Good luck

[nenjin]

Re: Windows 7. You can still find laptops that have it pretty easily. They're all OEM licenses, but since you're not going to be putting new hardware in that thing, it's a non-issue. I'd recommend Newegg, they have never done me wrong and they have a pretty good search filtering system.

If you're not going to spend more than $500, I wouldn't sweat it that much. Just think hard about what your dad's needs will be, how tech savvy he is and you can probably pretty quickly pare down to the laptop that fits. For example, does he want to hook up a monitor to the laptop? Find something with HDMI out. Does he have older monitors? VGA hookups required. Does he really want to fuck with technology? If not, don't get the ones with the fancy thumbprint or camera log-in BS. Is he going to store media on it? Get a big hard drive. Just word documents and family pictures? You can skimp on the hard drive space.

[Tellemurius]

Be aware of the tradeoffs with tablets, smaller you go the less processing power you have. I dunno if your dad complains with computer speed but even with the new Atom processors, combined with the lack of storage space and it can go downhill. Also check if he would be ok with the form factor, companies are still churning out netbooks so if the tablet is bust you can still get a decent netbook nowadays.

[Bumber]

That said, there are numerous third-party programs (e.g. Stardock Start8 that put a real start menu back.

I'd personally recommend Classic Shell. It's completely free, unlike Stardock, and highly configurable. You can even have the old XP-style start menu.

[Tellemurius]

That said, there are numerous third-party programs (e.g. Stardock Start8 that put a real start menu back.

I'd personally recommend Classic Shell. It's completely free, unlike Stardock, and highly configurable. You can even have the old XP-style start menu.

Its a 5 dollar software with a UI design matching Metro, you aren't breaking the bank with it.