Time for a new laptop methinks

[Adela]

Well, it's not much of a laptop if I've been having to plug it in w/o a battery for the past year. I've had 3 batteries and two have nearly crashed the thing. (I'll never buy another Dell.) For the last couple days it tells me the cord won't charge the battery (what battery?) when I first turn it on.

Yeah, past time for a new one.

So, guess I'm asking, what do ya'll use? What works best with Word? I'm running Windows 10, so that's what I'm used to. I really miss NOT being attached to a wall, and Dell has just had too many issues and crummy customer support.

No Apples, please.

 

[Insolent Lad]

Would that I had an excuse to spend money on a new laptop, but my cheap-ish Acer still works perfectly well. Typing on it can be frustrating at times! I've been lusting after a better keyboard, like those (supposedly) on some Lenovos.

Anything running Windows 10 should work fine with Word, of course.

 

[Adela]

Thought about an Acer but I've heard their touchpads can have issues. I've def had issues with mine turning itself on and off whenever it wants!! What's frustrating about typing on it?

 

[CupofJoe]

I've got a 5yo ASUS that I think is more than adequate... Not too much bloatware and it is as tough as hell or I've just been really lucky, as I've knocked it off my desk to the floor more than once and it keeps on going [okay the HDD hums just a little bit if you are not typing]. One of the things I like is that the trackpad has separate buttons and not just an extension of the trackpad. For me, it means you can feel the button when you are writing with the lights low. Currently, it has Windows 10 and I run LibreOffice [latest stable release].
It comes a close second to my all-time favourite laptop, a Mac Powerbook 190 [yes I am that old]. A great grey-scale screen that was a pleasure to read and write on.
The Dell "no battery" warning is probably because it looks to see the state of the battery as it boots.
I hate to add to your worry, but when that warning happened to the older Dell laptops we had at work, they usually stopped working [permenantly without a battery installed] fairly soon after. But if you put a battery back in they would boot [but with a warning]. These were all European/ UK corporate spec machines, so things may be different elsewhere.

 

[Insolent Lad]

Thought about an Acer but I've heard their touchpads can have issues. I've def had issues with mine turning itself on and off whenever it wants!! What's frustrating about typing on it?

Mostly letter skips when I'm typing, This has been a problem from the start, and is probably a combination of my touch and cheap keyboards in general. And I dislike the general feel of it — I'm spoiled by having a mechanical keyboard on my office desktop. If I could, I would like to go mechanical on the next laptop but that seems mostly to be a feature of (expensive) gaming computers. I do have some touch pad problems too, but those are mostly from my own clumsiness. Accidentally moving the cursor to the middle of another line while typing is decidedly frustrating. Were it possible, I'd have the touch pad off to the side instead of under my hands all the time.

 

[FifthView]

I have an Asus laptop that is mostly devoted to writing, although I'll occasionally use it for other purposes. I've never loaded it with many programs, simply because of its intended purpose. I love it. The battery life is insanely long, it's lightweight, has decent specs for a fairly "budget" laptop. That said, I actually don't use it often, at least not in the last year or so, heh.

One thing I'd keep in mind when buying a new Windows 10 laptop is the fact that Windows started this year requiring more storage space on your system, and this also means that some system updates require more free memory to download and install. Generally, this shouldn't be much of an issue unless you intend to put a lot on your system. Budget laptops might not include much initial storage, and you could run into problems later if you buy a laptop with little storage. I bought mine with only 128G of storage, basically hardwired and not expandable, some years ago, but since I don't put much on it, I've not run into any problems updating Windows.

 

[Maker of Things Not Kings]

I'm going to preface this by saying that, for years, I was so anti-Mac that I would not consider anything that was not windows based. However. . .

Prior to the MacBook I use now, I went through, are you ready for this? 4 laptops and a desktop in 10 years.

Two Dell, one Acer and one mini thing I cannot recall the brand of. I admit, I am hard on laptops. The first Dell, I found out just after the warranty expired that the port where the battery plug went into the laptop had come loose but was told that it was directly hardwired to the motherboard. So the only fix was to buy a new motherboard which at the time (2003?) was near as expensive as just getting a new Dell. So I got one. That one lasted two plus years and despite the fact I never got on the internet for anything but email on it (I had a desktop at the time too) It became infested with all sorts of malware and viruses and no matter what anti virus I tried, it kept crashing and only got worse in time. (I know all of that is better these days but please, read on. )

On to the Acer, which lasted just under three years and was fine, but it too ended up giving out under the extensive wear I put on it lugging it around. Hard drive failure and screen issues. Then I decided to just get a 200$ mini because, at that time i had met my wife to be and she had a MacBook that I was able to use for home purposes. That little mini laptop actually worked great — until it got flung across the floor when I tripped over a battery cord one night and that was that.

So, after much debate and swallowing of pride about the cost etc etc. I bought my first MacBook. 2010. That is the laptop I am typing this on at the moment. I've since added a mini mac to replace my old desktop. Now, I can't sing the praises of Mac enough, though I totally get many of the reasons people don't want to buy them. Before this one, my reason was basically price. $1000 for a laptop? Ridiculous. It's vanity. Who would be so foolish?

Yet I went through over 1700 dollars worth of computers not counting repairs, init virus stuff etc etc from 2003 to 2009.

I am blown away but what is available now a days in a windows based laptop for so little money but I'll just say this. In ten years, I have yet to have a single issue with this mac. I upgraded the memory on my own and it runs like a cheetah. I run Scrivener, photoshop and Lightroom (for my work) and all my web applications just fine as well as my Etsy shop webstore etc etc and though I will, one day, have to upgrade as Mac has stoped providing certain updates for these older MacBook models, I will gladly do so at the time. And THIS was a 2009/10!! Imagine how much better the new ones are. No, don't imagine, I can tell you because my wife has a 2016 and its ridiculous how fast, sturdy and smooth it is! and I'm never against saving money, I use an Acer flatscreen for my mac mini and it has been wonderful (10 years old now, I think) so yay for that.

I'm still harder than I should be on my laptop. Yet I've never had an issue with the Mac's ports, plugs, hard drive, my the external HD and the battery is still the one it came with though it does run down a little too quick for me these days but I'll get around to replacing it if I don't buy a new one in the next year.

When I think back to the time I spent on Windows based laptops with problems and upgrades etc. Not to mention crashes, freezes, battery replacement, lost work, trouble with certain applications and on and on. And then I compare it to the Mac and the simplicity of everything I have ever done on it and the fact I have had zero problems, never have to worry about viruses or anti virus updates etc? I'm glad I went this direction. Of course, I am still ridiculed by my old "Windows forever" friends but I've seen them glaring at me when they are having a problem with their windows laptops (which they all do from time to time) and I am still sailing along on my ten year old beauty and smiling. . . : )

So that's my tuppence. . . Whatever you choose, may it live long and prosper!

 

[Adela]

WOW! I actually went the opposite direction. I still have my ancient iMac from 2002 (yes, one of those with the handle that looked so cool sitting on a desk). Unfortunately it crashed on me in 2009. I was devastated. It had all my graphic design software on it and a TON of family photos. The only reason I switched systems afterwards was because I wanted something that would run Microsoft Word.

My sister and brother-in-law are both die-hard mac users. They love theirs but they get them through the school systems they work for (elementary and middle-school, respectively). So, they get updated ones every year.

I've had two refurbished laptops, an off-brand tablet that's super glitchy, and now this Dell I'm currently using that's barely 3 years old. All of which I ran OpenOffice on until I bit the bullet and purchased Word.

It would be a crash course for me to use a mac again. What writing software is usable on them? If they're THAT durable, I would love one!

 

[Maker of Things Not Kings]

It would be a crash course for me to use a mac again. What writing software is usable on them? If they're THAT durable, I would love one!

Well, I use Scrivener which is fantastic on the Mac.

And I should say that my very first Mac Mini did crash. . . all files were recovered, but that crash was my fault (I did say I was hard on computers!) as I never turned it off which is not good for the Mac mini's processor. But that one was a gift from a good customer of mine who got it through a raffle at their holiday office party. : )

 

[Adela]

Is there a version of Word that's accessible on newer macs? I have so much research ahead of me.

 

[Maker of Things Not Kings]

Yes, there was a free Microsoft office preview for mac (2016) that ran on the Yosemite OS X, so I'd guess there is a newer one for the newer High Sierra OS X as well. You''ll have to look around but it won't be hard to find.

 

[Adela]

Thanks, I'll shop around on macs and pc's. Really appreciate everyone's answers so far.

Know of any places that don't give the sales pitch when you walk in the door? I don't want to be limited to amazon if I order online, but that might be my only option because reasons. If I do decide to go to a store I don't want to be pressured, like I have before.