Shopping for a new laptop

[IZ]

It's been a few years since we've bought one.
$700-800 price range.
Needed for office work, gaming and movies with the GoPro. 
Any suggestions?

[ducpainter]

Just got this one for T... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232132

It went up a bit since, and is just outside your range

It doesn't have MS Office, but it works for everything she needs, and there are all sorts of free office suites. She's not a gamer.

It does have a DVD/R and a SD card slot.

[DarkMonster620]

Well below your range but commplete
http://m.tigerdirect.com/products/9126288?SRCCODE=WEBBP2428&cm_lm=b5a37d7b3697500b3edf23ce97f5fe82&cm_mmc=email-_-Retro-_-WEBBP2428-_-tigeremail2428&utm_source=EML&utm_medium=main&utm_campaign=WEBBP2428

[lightspd]

http://www.logicbuy.com/deals/hp-envy-15-core-i7-laptop/14729.aspx

Not a bad deal, plus a good website to find deals overall.

[IZ]

Great! Thanks for the suggestions.   

[Privateer]

my 14 and 11 year old use chromebooks at school, so I was thinking about getting one for home to stop the fighting over who needs the laptop to do homework.

to my layman's eye they all look the same, is there one that is 'better' than the others?

[DarkMonster620]

~~~~
to my layman's eye they all look the same, is there one that is 'better' than the others?

it all depends for what you are going to use it . . .

latest processor with hi speed and many cores with most RAM and hi end graphics > gaming
good processor with good speed and "avg" RAM[4GB] > multi use: word processing, web surfing, music, streaming video . . .
basic processor with "minimal" RAM[2GB] > as above but, much slower

[NAKID]

my 14 and 11 year old use chromebooks at school, so I was thinking about getting one for home to stop the fighting over who needs the laptop to do homework.

to my layman's eye they all look the same, is there one that is 'better' than the others?

Chromebooks are usually good performers, but smaller screens, obviously using Google Chrome OS as opposed to Windows, and typically have a solid state drive for storage. Most seem to have about 16GB SSDs.

[duccarlos]

Chromebook is fine for your normal web browsing. Think of it like a tablet with a keyboard. For gaming, not so much.

[MendoDave]

I always used to get Dell's, they make a good machine. Alternativly you could check out the refurbished laptops at your local computer store. You can usually find something pretty decent for under $500

[DarkMonster620]

Chromebook is fine for your normal web browsing. Think of it like a tablet with a keyboard. For gaming, not so much.

a friend got one[new] on the cheap for his wife and she has some issues running Office365 . . . so he installed Office2010 and runs better but still some nuances . . .

Only thing that I have always looked for, due to the software I run(diagnostics w/graphics) on the main PC AMD mobo and GFX in laptops is a bit more dicey . . . most are Intel and few use the NVidia gfx . . .

IZ must sit down and within his range choose whatever he feels might work for him . . .

I have already chosen my replacement laptop based on usage and storage

[IZ]

IZ must sit down and within his range choose whatever he feels might work for him . . .

I was thinking that I'd actually start playing all of the games my wife gets from work.  It won't happen though so we'll probably just get an Xbox1 to play the ones we get for that.

[duccarlos]

I gave up on PC gaming a while ago. You constantly have to upgrade the hardware to keep up with the graphics. Pretty much all the games I enjoy can be played on one of the consoles and it eventually I will be able to cut the cable.

[DarkMonster620]

I usually/most of the time don't play games . . .

I like to have a good "in the middle" graphics/video card to stream netflix and youtube and other video sources . ..  the rest of the computing power goes to my diagnostic softwares and graphics . . .

[IZ]

Ok..so gaming computer will be out.  Wife said the graphics for Overwatch will be crazy anyway and require a laptop worth more than I want to spend.
So just need it to do paperwork, web and use with GoPro.