Computer problem= Help Requested.

[imref]

Well, it's time for a new laptop.  I've had this one longer than I've been married.  Does anyone have any suggestions as to what to look for ?  Or to avoid ?

Apple MacBook Air with the M1 processor and 16GB of ram.

[Natsinpwc]

Apple MacBook Air with the M1 processor and 16GB of ram.

I’ve had a MacBook for seven years. No complaints. Like it more than other laptops I have had.

[HalfSmokes]

I wouldn't go M1 is you're not heavily into the Mac ecosystem. First product year apple owners tend to be willing guinea pigs with the second and third gen owners getting the refined product

[Mathguy]

While all factors like battery life, processing speed, and disk space are to be considered, the #1 factor for me is getting a large screen size, such as 15 or 17"

[Mathguy]

I have to admit I'm only familiar with Windows OS

I wouldn't go M1 is you're not heavily into the Mac ecosystem. First product year apple owners tend to be willing guinea pigs with the second and third gen owners getting the refined product

[DCFan]

Screw all that. You're probably doing the basic computing that a retired senior does - web browsing and Office. Go to Costco, Sams, or Best Buy and get whatever big screen laptop they have on sale. The technology has progressed so much you won't be able to tell the difference among them. If you spend more than a $1k you've been taken. Also I've bought so many refurbed units over the years and none of them have outright failed me. We have 2 now, a laptop and a desktop. My wife likes a desktop so I got a refurbed HP that's the size of a large paperback. Hook up a keyboard, mouse and monitor and she's a happy camper.  The thing to consider is if you want to make the change to an iPad instead of a laptop. They offer the ease of portability and if you want the feel of a traditional laptop you can get bluetooth keyboard and the works.

[dracnal]

Screw all that. You're probably doing the basic computing that a retired senior does - web browsing and Office. Go to Costco, Sams, or Best Buy and get whatever big screen laptop they have on sale. The technology has progressed so much you won't be able to tell the difference among them. If you spend more than a $1k you've been taken. Also I've bought so many refurbed units over the years and none of them have outright failed me. We have 2 now, a laptop and a desktop. My wife likes a desktop so I got a refurbed HP that's the size of a large paperback. Hook up a keyboard, mouse and monitor and she's a happy camper.  The thing to consider is if you want to make the change to an iPad instead of a laptop. They offer the ease of portability and if you want the feel of a traditional laptop you can get bluetooth keyboard and the works.

DCFan is on point. Macs are indeed nice laptops, but not worth the boutique markup for most folks.

[HalfSmokes]

DCFan is on point. Macs are indeed nice laptops, but not worth the boutique markup for most folks.

I buy them for the build quality (we are branching out into surfaces now). I’ve had so many dells and hps fail within a couple of years that I don’t bother even looking at them anymore

[imref]

I wouldn't go M1 is you're not heavily into the Mac ecosystem. First product year apple owners tend to be willing guinea pigs with the second and third gen owners getting the refined product

I've had my M1 MacBook Pro since about December now.  At this point the only issue I've had is that on occasion my external monitor doesn't wake from sleep and so I have to unplug it from the Mac and plug it back in.  I'm loving the 12+ hour battery life and I've had no issues running any apps. They keyboard is vastly superior to the older butterfly keyboards Apple used in the previous MacBook generation.  The only other complaint is that the MBA and MBP base models only include two USB-C ports so I had to purchase a cheap hub.

I recommend the Air over the MBP for most because for about $300 less, you get essentially the same machine. The Pro has a built in fan that allows it to run a bit hotter and a bit faster, and it has 8 usable cores instead of 7, but unless you are doing heavy graphical editing, you won't notice the difference.  I'm buying MBAs now for all my staff.

[imref]

While all factors like battery life, processing speed, and disk space are to be considered, the #1 factor for me is getting a large screen size, such as 15 or 17"

in that case, and given you are already in the Windows ecosystem, I wouldn't recommend a Mac. The larger Mac laptops are still running Intel chips and they will be replaced with Apple-native hardware models later this year.

[imref]

I buy them for the build quality (we are branching out into surfaces now). I’ve had so many dells and hps fail within a couple of years that I don’t bother even looking at them anymore

My son uses an eight-year-old MacBook Air as his school computer, only complaint is that he can't do Zoom virtual backgrounds.  We usually replace our office Macs after 4 or 5 years of all-day use.

[Mathguy]

I do a little more than that in some of the work I'm doing, so speed and disk size to hold datasets are a small factor.

Screw all that. You're probably doing the basic computing that a retired senior does - web browsing and Office. Go to Costco, Sams, or Best Buy and get whatever big screen laptop they have on sale. The technology has progressed so much you won't be able to tell the difference among them. If you spend more than a $1k you've been taken. Also I've bought so many refurbed units over the years and none of them have outright failed me. We have 2 now, a laptop and a desktop. My wife likes a desktop so I got a refurbed HP that's the size of a large paperback. Hook up a keyboard, mouse and monitor and she's a happy camper.  The thing to consider is if you want to make the change to an iPad instead of a laptop. They offer the ease of portability and if you want the feel of a traditional laptop you can get bluetooth keyboard and the works.

[DCFan]

I do a little more than that in some of the work I'm doing, so speed and disk size to hold datasets are a small factor.

All my advice still stands. The thing you really want to think about is transitioning to an iPad. I'm sure you have one. Could you see doing everything on there instead of a laptop?

[HalfSmokes]

All my advice still stands. The thing you really want to think about is transitioning to an iPad. I'm sure you have one. Could you see doing everything on there instead of a laptop?

You want someone working with data sets to consider an iPad?

[DCFan]

You want someone working with data sets to consider an iPad?

Piece of cake for an iPad.

[imref]

You want someone working with data sets to consider an iPad?

it's all ball bearings nowadays anyway.

[HalfSmokes]

it's all ball bearings nowadays anyway.

Expect the almost worthless file system

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Well, it's time for a new laptop.  I've had this one longer than I've been married.  Does anyone have any suggestions as to what to look for ?  Or to avoid ?

find one that's into a range of brews and not  just IPAs.

Oh, you were asking about computers.  Never mind.

[imref]

Microsoft is having yet another big Azure outage. This one took down Teams and Xbox Live. It has been down since about 4 PM

[bluestreak]

Well, it's time for a new laptop.  I've had this one longer than I've been married.  Does anyone have any suggestions as to what to look for ?  Or to avoid ?

Mac or PC?

[Mathguy]

I ordered a PC

Mac or PC?

[CALSGR8]

What Skippy said!

When all else fails reboot!