Cheap vs expensive laptop

After some months of agonizing on what to buy - laptop or desktop - to replace his old desktop at home, my husband has finally decided on a laptop. The next evaluation now is the cost of the laptop vis-a-vis the quality. As per his canvass, the quality is not much of a factor than durability. A computer that conks out often is a hassle especially when you regularly use the computer. With a cheap laptop, using it for 2 years is already worth it while an expensive one will need 5 years of service to get even with the cost.

For now, he is inclined to get a cheap one.

 

Two years ago I purchased a Chromebook. I needed a laptop and didn't have the funds to buy my preferred laptop. It cost around $200. I was very surprised at how much I really liked it. Yes, there are some trade offs. My Chromebook doesn't have a physical hard drive. I have to save everything to a flash drive or the cloud. Now, Chromebooks come with solid state drives.

 

I once bought a laptop for $480. It has been six years and I am still using that laptop. Apart from replacing batteries, I have not done anything with my laptop.

 

If you want a laptop to be durable, it should be one that doesn't run too hot and is very easy to upgrade and is physically accessible. Many of the new systems are purposely designed to be hard or impossible for users to replace hard drive, ram, or batteries on because they seem to expect people to throw away or send the old system back to them to recycle and make more money on at the buyer/user's expense.

If you can find a model that is well-made, easy to upgrade, does not run too hot on the CPU or GPU, and is not physically restricted by the manufacturer...then you will have a durable laptop that can last you longer than usual. I don't really like chromebooks at all, but if you can find one with an SSD drive in it, especially one that can be replaced when you need it to be, that would be better than the ones that force you to use an unsafe cloud storage of private data. I would never use one of those or be ok even logging in with online credentials to one of a sensitive nature.

 

My Toshiba Satellite was quite cheap, it's still with me after 7 whooping years. I say not bad considering Toshiba Satellite laptops are cheap.

 

Expensive laptops are expensive because they use better hardware, for example, better processor, better display, better memory etc. Cheap laptops are cheap because they use cheaper hardware. If durability is your main concern, always go for expensive laptop.

 

I really have mixed feelings on this one. I have had good and bad experiences with both, and really somewhere in the middle might just be the best way to go, but it also might be the worst way to go, if that makes sense. I like the cheaper, lighter ones for carrying around and not really caring too much about their state, but I also like have a good, solid reliable computer. So I just have both...one to carry around, a little chromebook, and then a nicer one at home.

 

I am not sure which laptop to recommend because I have had two HP laptops already. One lasted 7 years, and one lasted only 2 years. My son's laptop is a Toshiba Satellite and it has lasted him about 6 years now. I believe they don't make anything to last anymore; and it depends on what your husband like to have on his laptop and what he uses it for. It is a tough decision, so good luck to you!

 

The thing about Laptops is that you don't get double the features of a standard Laptop if you send double the price. It is always important to prioritize over spending money for the right things rather than cosmetic feel. For example, it is always wise to choose an i5 with an SSD over an i7 with a traditional Hard drive. This way you are putting less bottleneck on the components and you can achieve better performance. IIf you want better a battery choose a Laptop with an ordinary Display. If you want a better display you will have to sacrifice on the battery life. It all depends on your preferences. Thank you.