General Laptop for my kid's 16th Bday

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maurice

Posting Machine
Oct 21, 2015
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Before you go balls deep, check to see if the school district has levied chromebooks for next school year. Both mine have had them for 4 years. They're rolling out country-wide thanks to our pal Bill Gates who would love nothing more than to facilitate his little future drones.
This. ETA for my kids' school is about 2 years. In the meanwhile, I just bought a couple of Samsung Chromebooks for the house. They were something like $200 for the base model and $400 for one with a touch screen that converts into a large tablet. I'm posting from one right now. Very happy with this purchase.

Not good for gaming, but they have other stuff for that.
 

SongExotic2

ATM 3 CHAMPION OF THE WORLD. #FREECAIN
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Jan 16, 2015
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This. ETA for my kids' school is about 2 years. In the meanwhile, I just bought a couple of Samsung Chromebooks for the house. They were something like $200 for the base model and $400 for one with a touch screen that converts into a large tablet. I'm posting from one right now. Very happy with this purchase.

Not good for gaming, but they have other stuff for that.
I had a Samsung laptop that could convert into a tablet too. Loved it. Never used it tho so sold it
 

SuperPig

Enjoy yourselves
Aug 7, 2015
30,979
51,737
The problem that you're going to run into with that wish list is going to be the cost for a 1TB SSD and a secondard HD as well. Either the other components will probably have to be shite or You're going to need to switch to a traditional HDD for cost savings to stay around that $600 mark.

That said, ASUS makes good machines. Dell and HP both make good higher end machines but have sold their souls on the low end. I have a Lenovo and it's a monster. They've had some decent deals running on the 6th gen X1's recently so you may be able to find something close to what you're looking for in that price range.
 

Rambo John J

Eats things that would make a Billy Goat Puke
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Jan 17, 2015
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I purchased one - everything is already installed for you so all you have to do is power up and you can get going — there will be little things here and there you’ll have to do to add your own programs and make tweaks to how you want to run it ...but Hot Damn I love it!

Once you go Linux ...you never go back.
continue the sales pitch please
 

Never_Rolled

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Dec 17, 2018
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The problem that you're going to run into with that wish list is going to be the cost for a 1TB SSD and a secondard HD as well. Either the other components will probably have to be shite or You're going to need to switch to a traditional HDD for cost savings to stay around that $600 mark.

That said, ASUS makes good machines. Dell and HP both make good higher end machines but have sold their souls on the low end. I have a Lenovo and it's a monster. They've had some decent deals running on the 6th gen X1's recently so you may be able to find something close to what you're looking for in that price range.
I didn't type that right. I would like a 1TB SSD. I saw one with a smaller SSD boot drive and a 1 TB spinner for storage. I would rather have the first but the second option would also work. I have an Asus myself that has been pretty solid. I added memory and swapped out the spinner for an SSD. I am going to find the the dual drive and post it to see what you guys think. I probably need to order this in a day or so. The one Onetrickpony @Onetrickpony posted from the Chinese company looks OK but I don't know much about them. I think they are mainly a phone maker?
 

SongExotic2

ATM 3 CHAMPION OF THE WORLD. #FREECAIN
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I didn't type that right. I would like a 1TB SSD. I saw one with a smaller SSD boot drive and a 1 TB spinner for storage. I would rather have the first but the second option would also work. I have an Asus myself that has been pretty solid. I added memory and swapped out the spinner for an SSD. I am going to find the the dual drive and post it to see what you guys think. I probably need to order this in a day or so. The one Onetrickpony @Onetrickpony posted from the Chinese company looks OK but I don't know much about them. I think they are mainly a phone maker?
Phone maker from China you say? Lots of RAM!

OnePlus 7 Pro benchmarks reveal blistering performance
 

SuperPig

Enjoy yourselves
Aug 7, 2015
30,979
51,737
I didn't type that right. I would like a 1TB SSD. I saw one with a smaller SSD boot drive and a 1 TB spinner for storage. I would rather have the first but the second option would also work. I have an Asus myself that has been pretty solid. I added memory and swapped out the spinner for an SSD. I am going to find the the dual drive and post it to see what you guys think. I probably need to order this in a day or so. The one Onetrickpony @Onetrickpony posted from the Chinese company looks OK but I don't know much about them. I think they are mainly a phone maker?
Huawei makes some killer phones and laptops. They're getting an odd name because they basically build clones of Apple and whatever but do it much less expensive while keeping the same sleek lines and great specs. The only reason that I've been hesitant to buy any of their things is that there's a big chance that the Chinese gov't is using their devices to spy on you. I get enough spying from Facebook, Google, and Microsoft. I don't really want to add the Chinese into the mix.
But the reviews have been great for the vast majority of their stuff.
 

Never_Rolled

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View: https://www.amazon.com/VivoBook-Lightweight-WideView-i5-8250U-Fingerprint/dp/B0795W86N3/ref=sr_1_1?fst=as%3Aoff&qid=1556999853&refinements=p_n_size_browse-bin%3A2423841011%2Cp_36%3A2421888011%2Cp_72%3A1248879011%2Cp_n_feature_five_browse-bin%3A7817224011%2Cp_n_feature_fourteen_browse-bin%3A2057441011%2Cp_n_feature_two_browse-bin%3A5446812011%2Cp_computer_cpu_speed-bin%3A3+GHz+%26+Up&rnid=107455011&s=pc&sr=1-1



ASUS VivoBook Thin and Lightweight FHD WideView Laptop, 8th Gen Intel Core i5-8250U, 8GB DDR4 RAM, 128GB SSD+1TB HDD, USB Type-C, NanoEdge, Fingerprint Reader, Windows 10 - F510UA-AH55
  • Powerful 8th Generation Intel Core i5-8250U 1.6GHz (Turbo up to 3.4GHz) processor
  • 15.6" Full HD WideView display with ASUS Splendid software enhancement
  • 14.2" wide, 0.8" thin and portable footprint with 0.3" ASUS NanoEdge bezel for a stunning 80% screen-to-body ratio
  • 8GB DDR4 RAM and 128GB SSD + 1TB HDD storage combo; Ergonomic chiclet keyboard with fingerprint sensor
  • Comprehensive connections including USB 3.1 Type-C (Gen1), USB 3.0, USB 2.0, and HDMI; Lightning-fast 802.11ac Wi-Fi keeps you connected through any congestion or interference
 

SongExotic2

ATM 3 CHAMPION OF THE WORLD. #FREECAIN
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Jan 16, 2015
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View: https://www.amazon.com/VivoBook-Lightweight-WideView-i5-8250U-Fingerprint/dp/B0795W86N3/ref=sr_1_1?fst=as%3Aoff&qid=1556999853&refinements=p_n_size_browse-bin%3A2423841011%2Cp_36%3A2421888011%2Cp_72%3A1248879011%2Cp_n_feature_five_browse-bin%3A7817224011%2Cp_n_feature_fourteen_browse-bin%3A2057441011%2Cp_n_feature_two_browse-bin%3A5446812011%2Cp_computer_cpu_speed-bin%3A3+GHz+%26+Up&rnid=107455011&s=pc&sr=1-1



ASUS VivoBook Thin and Lightweight FHD WideView Laptop, 8th Gen Intel Core i5-8250U, 8GB DDR4 RAM, 128GB SSD+1TB HDD, USB Type-C, NanoEdge, Fingerprint Reader, Windows 10 - F510UA-AH55
  • Powerful 8th Generation Intel Core i5-8250U 1.6GHz (Turbo up to 3.4GHz) processor
  • 15.6" Full HD WideView display with ASUS Splendid software enhancement
  • 14.2" wide, 0.8" thin and portable footprint with 0.3" ASUS NanoEdge bezel for a stunning 80% screen-to-body ratio
  • 8GB DDR4 RAM and 128GB SSD + 1TB HDD storage combo; Ergonomic chiclet keyboard with fingerprint sensor
  • Comprehensive connections including USB 3.1 Type-C (Gen1), USB 3.0, USB 2.0, and HDMI; Lightning-fast 802.11ac Wi-Fi keeps you connected through any congestion or interference
My two year old one plus 5 outperforms this. I'll sell it you for 50 dollars less than this laptop in a month when I get the 7 pro
 

Never_Rolled

First 10,000
Dec 17, 2018
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My two year old one plus 5 outperforms this. I'll sell it you for 50 dollars less than this laptop in a month when I get the 7 pro
The one I posted doesn't have a backlit KB so going to be a pass. Make it $25 less and you have yourself a deal!
 

yuki2054

graded martial artist
Nov 8, 2016
3,226
1,773
I've got a Asus pavilion 240 gig sdd and intel i5 processor, 4th generation i think. With 8 gig of ram, and office. I think i paid about £750 for it, but have you seen the boot up speeds on these things? (Because of the solid state drive). I swear SSDs are the future man! They literally work with like a two second boot up time, if that?!
 

Atto

Chinese Virus
Feb 11, 2016
4,750
5,611
I've got a Asus pavilion 240 gig sdd and intel i5 processor, 4th generation i think. With 8 gig of ram, and office. I think i paid about £750 for it, but have you seen the boot up speeds on these things? (Because of the solid state drive). I swear SSDs are the future man! They literally work with like a two second boot up time, if that?!
I am getting ssd but if its slow then ill be @conor mcgregor nut hugger for u.
 

yuki2054

graded martial artist
Nov 8, 2016
3,226
1,773
I have an older SSD drive...what makes floating point better? or is it different at all?

Mine is crazy fast...prob 3 years old
SSD=floatiNg point. And as you know, they are the O G! The very best. I'm not going back to a HDD now
 

Rambo John J

Eats things that would make a Billy Goat Puke
First 100
Jan 17, 2015
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SSD=floatiNg point. And as you know, they are the O G! The very best. I'm not going back to a HDD now
I have both in my computer
operating system on SSD and some storage
Most of storage and backup is on a HDD

Floating point means?
 

Never_Rolled

First 10,000
Dec 17, 2018
5,798
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I just put the latest Samsung in my desktop. The model down from the pro 1TB for the boot drive and programs.