<p>Looking to replace my son’s laptop (thank God for AMEX extended warranty!) and will probably buy through Costco again if I can though thinking that there will be many deals out there Black Friday weekend. He is a senior in college and at this point we only want to spend around the cost of the warranty rebate - which is $500 - so maybe we’d go $600. </p>
<p>I see a lot of touchscreens out there. Wow, had no idea this was a “thing” now on laptops! I also realize they tend to cost more $$$. Honestly, he’s a basic bones guy and probably would think touchscreen is ridiculous. His major is education and he will be student teaching spring semester this year so his educational needs are not for anything fancy or specialized as far as a computer goes. He does no gaming on it. Just internet, email, some tv watching, word processing.</p>
<p>Without getting too technical (PLEASE!!! ), what should I be looking for???</p>
<p>Intel Core vs AMD Core???
Is 4 or 6 MB Memory enough???
500 GB hard drive enough???</p>
<p>He won’t want anything too large or too small - so I’m thinking 15 inch.</p>
<p>Any input appreciated (or suggestions of something you have bought at Costco recently that falls in this price range).</p>
<p>I don’t really think the processor itself matters. I’ve had both. Currently have an Intel. Memory you should shoot for the very most you can get. 500GB hard drive should be plenty for most people. I would definitely make memory #1 priority and then select from there…</p>
<p>I’ll ask the stupid question. What’s the difference between the memory and the hard drive? I mean I know memory is important, but what does a bigger hard drive provide???</p>
<p>That sounds like a good question for a CS exam. What is the difference- virtual memory is using your HD to make extra memory appear available and a SSD hd is essentially a bunch of RAM masquerading as a hard drive. </p>
<p>The reason I like the SSD hd is that it has a fixed access time, whereas hard drives have to spin around to position the head over the data. As information gets scattered around the access times get longer and longer. The trade off is that SSD hd’s are more expensive, so you’d end up trading off the total size of the disk. Maybe a 256 instead of a 500G.</p>
<p>Another SSD advantage is that they are less subject to hardware failure. This makes it a no brainer in a college laptop since its just a matter of time before they (or someone flopping on the bed) break it. </p>
<p>I would put an SSD at the top of the list- even ahead of RAM.</p>
<p>Costco has a Dell Inspiron 15R touchscreen laptop that has some good features. Although it doesn’t have a SSD, the HD is 1Tb, Intel i5 is pretty good (i7 is top of line). It has the dvd drive and 8mb memory. That’s pretty powerful for $600 (on sale until end of month).</p>
<p>The only issue I have with a Chromebook is that you cannot have skype on it…they have a skype wannabe called google hangout but you face an uphill struggle trying to get your friends and family to use it…also you can’t download any programs (exe.files). If there is a google app for whatever you need, then it’s fine but if not (like with skype) you are done for.</p>
<p>Doesn’t really matter for most office users. However, the recent intels offer a slight improvement in performance and energy savings compared with their equivalent generation AMD counterparts. However, this is a constant moving target and things may change in the next generation. </p>
<p>Is 4 or 6 MB Memory enough???</p>
<p>More is better, especially with move to 64-bit computing. 4 is IMO, the bare minimum. </p>
<p>500 GB hard drive enough???</p>
<p>Definitely unless your son has need for graphics/multimedia software(I.e. Adobe CS6).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>They’re getting harder to find as the trend has been to move away from internal CD/DVD drives in notebooks as they are increasingly considered “obsolete” and to make notebooks thinner/lighter. </p>
<p>As for getting computers from Costco, they have a great 90 day no questions asked return policy per a friend’s experience. However, he’s running into a snag with them recently when he tried mail ordering one not available in stores and it hasn’t shipped in over a week due to some shipping snafu and he needed it for a business trip after his previous costco bought notebook that he kept 3 years ago started having more severe issues.</p>
<p>you are fortunate that Black Friday’s coming up. Heard a story on today’s news about some guys already camping out in front of a Best Buy in Ohio!</p>
<p>Got my kids ACER laptops at Target for $300-325 each in spring 2012. D1s at college and hasn’t had any problems. S1 is HS student. No complaints from either.</p>
<p>Also look at Staples; that’s where my Acer is from.</p>
<p>justforthis, I’m a full convert to the world of google apps. I just find everything so much easier and the thing is just incredibly trouble-free.</p>
<p>S DEFINITELY needs to be able to Skype!!! He’s be heading to Chicago for student teaching and that’s more hours away from GF!!! So no Chromebook for him!</p>
<p>Thanks for the input so far. I saw the Dell - I have a Dell for work and honestly am not such a fan but it is one of the office versions, not a retail version - so has the dull screen,etc. Looks like HP could be another choice at Costco - any comments on HP???</p>
<p>Just bought a new replacement notebook for H for when more than an iPad is needed. I got a Toshiba with an intel i7, 8 GB RAM and 750 GB hard drive. (H hates Dell and not crazy about HP.) it was $699 at BJ’s.</p>
<p>I just bought the cheapest $199 chromebook and it is pretty handy as a spare computer, but I am not sure it would work well as the only computer. Google Hangout should be just as good as skype. I have found some websites that run Silverlight or some other plug-in to work that the Chromebook can’t handle, but mostly it is a good little web surfer. I like it. :)</p>
<p>I had a horrible experience with my HP. Hard drive crashed in just 4 months and they would only send an unformatted replacement. I had to load everything back on it and when their own software did not load properly they told me they did not support software. Never had that problem with Dell. Never buying HP again.</p>
), what should I be looking for???</p>