Laptop Or Tablet? Opinions?

maglib · Dec 16, 2015

Which brand and specs should I go with? Is there any deals? Best place to buy from that doesn't have non-English speaking support?

I think I like the laptop better so I'll start there. I have some older discs that my kids still use, I know I can get a external drive though for a tablet.

Basically we use laptop now for QuickBooks Pro 2011, TurboTax, excel, word, picture editing, and gaming by my sons.

I'm looking for lightweight as I hate lugging my laptop around. My kids are not liking my thinking of a surface pro as they said it's awful for gaming.

I do financials and taxes for free for not for profits, scouting, disabled, and senior citizens. Hence the need for something easier to carry around.

Currently I have a very heavy HP DV7T-4100 with intel i7 processor, windows 7 64 bit. Has been an awful laptop for sure. HP support has been nothing but horrendous. I own it and so does 2 mainframe tech friends and we've all had to replace the hard drive and the power cord and battery at different times, it runs obscenely hot and always cooling, while HP claims nothing was wrong, what's the chances that 3/3 all had same issues using same for different purposes? Prior I had Dell but their out of country support was useless with telling me to format the hard drive for every thing..... thank God for majorgeeks.

Any suggestions and also where I can get a deal or what I should be paying for item?

Thanks for always being there!!!!!

DavidGP · Dec 16, 2015

Hi

Tech support from the majors has always been hit and miss, depends on who you get one the phone, but thats random in getting that tech geek that works for them over someone reading a script.

If it was just your usage on what you mentioned then a Surface Pro 3 or 4 would be superb, plus you can plug them into larger screens and connect Wireless mice and KBs, when not on the move, I have a Surface Pro and they are super quick. NOW the part issue is you need to sell your kids! nah just joking but the gaming aspect I part agree with as they will not play high end games too well like Star Wars Battlefront, but they play some games ok. What games do they play on the current Laptop?

What kind of price would you want to pay, would you want same level of CPU as in an Intel i7 again? (good CPU so I'd stick with one)
What kind of screensize would you want as larger typically adds to weight and being less portable?

I have always had good luck with ACER, LENOVO in the past, had more ACER's though, but would need a few of the questions answered before looking for a possible solution for you, as the gaming aspect is the tricky part as in reality not many Laptops are good for gaming unless they come with dedicated (discrete) graphics GPU and not onboard GPU. ASUS laptops are getting a great name and as a OEM maker their hardware is generally good, I always use their motherboard in my desktops,

Few that stand out to me are
Asus ROG GL552JX
Lenovo Y50 Ultra HD (only issue is this one used SSD drive thats 256GB, would need external HDD for saving large data, movies and music) does have a 4K screen though.

But with some of the questions replied to of mine and others who may follow we may be able to steer you in a good direction, but I would always see if you can try one out before buying to see real world personal usage.

maglib · Dec 16, 2015

SW Battlefront is one of the games they play, World in Conflict, Age of Empires are some they play. I'm fine with a small screen like on the surface pro. My current laptop is huge and heavy. Someone else mentioned a Dell XPS today.

Price is not a great concern but of course I'd like to be under a grand with an external drive if needed or other things.

I did forget my one son is heavy into videos on Youtube. He has a gopro so storage is a must.

Thanks for the suggestions. I don't want another headache like the HP I have, never worked right.

DavidGP · Dec 17, 2015

I think the ASUS ROG is worth a look but it maybe over $1K could be a slightly cheaper on in the range but that model series will play games and from the specs is a little lighter than the one you have already.

maglib · Dec 18, 2015

Thanks.
Im starting to think if I can fix my laptop give it to the kids and I wont have a problem. Hopefully that can be a solution. I was donating it to aenior center. I hate sharing.

I did find out that Turbotax has had issues with tablet hybrids so I will stay away from surface pro.

There are a number of asuscrog out there. I have kearned not yo buy old technology. Which one do you suggest if I cant get my laptop working ?

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Laptop Or Tablet? Opinions?

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DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

maglib Private First Class

DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

maglib Private First Class