UPDATED: August 8th 2020
New computer shopping can be as stressful as buying a car for some people. I know this to be true because I went though the exact same thing my clients go through when my car recently had to be replaced. You look at the obvious places and see brands/models you have hear of and others you have not, only to realize you really don't know if one is better then another.
Then you start to research only to be overwhelmed with the information on this and that. I was lucky enough to have a uncle and cousin in the car business that gave me a lot of great information and ultimately set me up with a new-to-me car in 2014. I want to help make the process of buying a new computer less painful.
Read on to see the plain English version of what I recommend when buying a new computer to avoid the stress it can cause.
All of the following information is my opinion. No computer is perfect or will last forever but here is what I have found to be the best for buying a computer today
Processor: Intel i5 or Intel i7 OR AMD Ryzen 5 or Ryzen 7
Ram/Memory: 8GB + Remember this is mainly what helps the computer multi-task. The more the better! 16GB is ideal
Operating System: Windows 10 is great!
Hard Drive/SSD: This varies based on what you will be using it for but I would go with at least 250GB SSD for normal every day use but if you plan on doing lots of pictures and media I would go bigger.
Brands to try to get: Dell, Lenovo, Asus, HP, Acer
Brands to stay away from for various reasons: Compaq, Toshiba
You can either shop online (Amazon.com) if you like or go to a store like Best Buy or Micro Center and look and see what ones you like that meet those minimum requirements.
TIP: If you want Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc...) you have to buy that separately or with the computer as an add-on. Most of the time a computer does NOT come with it pre-installed. I would recommend the Office 2019 Home and Student. It comes with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and One Note and DOES NOT include Outlook. It is around $160 for a "life time license". If you need outlook then you have to buy the business office package. That is more expensive.
TIP: Ideally you want to buy a business computer as they tend to come with less junk software on them. If you get a normal consumer computer we can always remove that software.
Use the Amazon.com links below to go to a pre-sorted list of computers that meet these specs.
Once you get your new computer make sure to schedule an appointment so we can set it up, transfer all your data like files, pictures, and other things over. This will save you some headaches and time and takes us only about 1-2 hours to do depending on how much needs to be migrated to the new computer.
If are are still having issues buying a new computer or need help with anything please contact us and we will help out.
Links provided to Amazon are referral links and Layer 2 receives a small referral commission the sale. This does not cost you the customer anything extra but gives us a kick back for reaching, writing, and putting this great information together.
