My late dear Mum bless her soul, who lasted until she was 98 said, "Getting old ain't for sissies".

Ain't that the truth! Geezerdom is NOT for the faint-hearted.

 

No.
I'm seeing good suspects in the $500 range.
And a lot of them come with SSHD.

I should have mentioned that all my laptops are preowned reconditioned. I don't have a problem with that. Good way to lower the price.

btw, SS and HD are mutually exclusive. It's either SSD or HD. If you choose SSD, you can always increase your capacity by inserting a memory card in the SD slot. I have an additional 32GB in the micro SD slot on my Asus.

 

Someone mentioned

I should have mentioned that all my laptops are preowned reconditioned. I don't have a problem with that. Good way to lower the price.

btw, SS and HD are mutually exclusive. It's either SSD or HD. If you choose SSD, you can always increase your capacity by inserting a memory card in the SD slot. I have an additional 32GB in the micro SD slot on my Asus.

Some of the larger laptops have two bays so you can have two storage devices. Can do hd+hd or ssd+hd or ssd+ssd.
Remember. CD rom drive are almost dead now so the cases now have space for second drive, ssd or hd.

 

Some of the larger laptops have two bays so you can have two storage devices. Can do hd+hd or ssd+hd or ssd+ssd.
Remember. CD rom drive are almost dead now so the cases now have space for second drive, ssd or hd.

So what do you need all that memory space for unless you are into storing a lot of videos.

 

Someone mentioned

Some of the larger laptops have two bays so you can have two storage devices. Can do hd+hd or ssd+hd or ssd+ssd.
Remember. CD rom drive are almost dead now so the cases now have space for second drive, ssd or hd.

What I meant was, it is not SSHD. It is SSD or HD. Agreed, you can have any combinations of SSD and HD on the same machine.

 

Thanks for the help, guys. I had a nice trip to Best Buy where I always thank The Geek Squad for condemning so many computers as, "unrepairable" that I've never bought one. Decided that 15" to 15.6" is the right size for me. 14" is a bit hard on the eyes and 16" is too heavy.

In general, the features are far in excess of what I need so I walked away from the "over $1000" computers and have a much better idea what I'm looking for in the "under $1000" range. I think I saw some nice 16" and 17" Lappies for $680 to $860. Knock that size down a notch or two and I can get a real nice computer, way under budget.

 

I picked up an off-lease HP with Win7 for $200 from a local store. it upgraded free to Win 10.
Never had a problem, except I am not fond of Win7-10.
Max.

 

My BIG issue right now is the trackpads. The new ones don;t even deserve to be called trackpads.

a) You seem to have to hit the left/right mouse clicks with a "hammer".

b) The "clickers" may not be separate. Two corners might sink, so when you go to click something, your finger moves and you end up clicking something not intended. They might even be where a portion of the trackpad is reserved as "touch clicking".

The next big issue is memory may not be upgradeable or is say 4 GB. So, the laptop is a big clumsy cell phone.

 

I find it easy to plug in a USB mouse and order a computer with at least 8 G of RAM. As for W10? M$ has steadily made the nuts and bolts harder to find, but I'll find them.

 

My problem is, the "Laptop" is a "chest-top" part of the time. A bed time distraction.

 

My BIG issue right now is the trackpads. The new ones don;t even deserve to be called trackpads.

a) You seem to have to hit the left/right mouse clicks with a "hammer".

b) The "clickers" may not be separate. Two corners might sink, so when you go to click something, your finger moves and you end up clicking something not intended. They might even be where a portion of the trackpad is reserved as "touch clicking".

The next big issue is memory may not be upgradeable or is say 4 GB. So, the laptop is a big clumsy cell phone.

I thought most modern laptops have ability to just tap the trackpad for the left click. My 2012 Acer Aspire One has the tap the trackpad thing. I think my sister's Apple Power Book G4 also has tap the trackpad. I can not imagine any modern laptop not to have that.

Now right click... yeah, that can be pain. I do prefer a mouse for that and highlighting stuff.

 

Tiger Direct have a few on for $200 - $250 right now, Lenovo etc.
Max.

 

Now right click... yeah, that can be pain. I do prefer a mouse for that and highlighting stuff.

A good trackpad would change your mind. The trackpad on my MacBook is excellent and I've never longed for a mouse. The trackpad actually simplifies some activities with multi-finger gestures and such. But when I have to use other people's cheap Windows laptops, I feel very clumsy, like my fingers have been broken. The trackpad on a typical cheap laptop is not nearly so sensitive and precise as what I'm used to. I'm not saying you have to get a Mac to get a good trackpad, only that there are good ones and cheap ones, and it matters.

 

A good trackpad would change your mind. The trackpad on my MacBook is excellent and I've never longed for a mouse.

Same here. When I travel and take my MacBook with me, I don't even bother taking along a mouse; the trackpad is that good. I'm sure there are Windows machines that have good trackpads, they can't be all bad.

 

I always have to disable the "tap the trackpad". Just putting your finger on it causes a tap.

I've been WANTING TO, but I just don't have the time or the ability to put the effort in.

A really want to get a thin piece of Titanium (have it), water-jet cut to fit over the normal buttons and possibly with a few holes.

Then build FSR (Force Sensitive resistors) to make the left click and Right click buttons with an appropriate overlay. Then plug it into USB.

I've got most of the parts to be able to do proof of concept for one button.

 

One more suggestion to the list :
- Get a laptop that runs the coolest. At the store, sense the demonstration units for the temperature they are, and are fans running ?.
- Get a laptop with replaceable/removable hard drive or SSD. Different operative systems and upgrades can be done replacing the drive and archiving the old healthy and alive drives with data in them if you have to go back.

 

My BIG issue right now is the trackpads. The new ones don;t even deserve to be called trackpads.

I can't stand them.
They are a real pain if you want to generate a schematic.
My old wireless mouse is like part of my hand.
And I don't care for touchscreens either.
I suppose I've just used a mouse for so long, anything else seem awkward.

 

I 100% agree with you. Productivity requires something other than a trackpad, but I use the lappy for browsing the forums the most with the lap on my chest.

 

Same here. When I travel and take my MacBook with me, I don't even bother taking along a mouse; the trackpad is that good. I'm sure there are Windows machines that have good trackpads, they can't be all bad.

I’ve been reading that Apple really may have an advantage on trackpads. They’ve got some key patents to prevent copying and apparently have the best trackpads on the market by a wide margin. I thought they might buy them from a supplier just like other components but I guess that’s not the case.

I don’t know any MacBook users that use external mice.

 

I 100% agree with you. Productivity requires something other than a trackpad, but I use the lappy for browsing the forums the most with the lap on my chest.

So how do you scroll on a trackpad without a wheel?