New laptop?

[DC_MC]

Ok you tekkies I need some advice. My laptop is very old. Now use my IPhone for about everything. I want a new laptop that I can use to ‘surf the web’, use Tax Act for taxes, maybe to type a letter or something now and then, and maybe be able to check emails on my hotmail and gmail accounts. I’m seeing some in the mid to low $100’s. Is there something I need to look for to be sure I can do these things?

[BarneyS]

You might try loading a version of Linux (I use Mint now) on that old machine. I have a VERY old HP laptop that would barely run on Windows so I wiped the hard drive and installed the
Ubuntu version of Linux. Now that machine hums along very smoothly and I am able to do everything on it that I used to do with Windows. You can download the version you want on a thumb drive and then run it from that if you choose or you can load it into your computers drive. The install program gives you the choice.
Barney

[paulcardoza]

The tasks you mention as desired are possible on the very cheapest of laptops. Heck, your current old PC is probably perfectly capable of serving your needs as described!

Your budget is the biggest question. An iPad would be a great choice, because it will sync with your iPhone, but APPLE products carry a premium price.

[wa8yxm]

I use both Windows and Chrome books... The Chrombooks are fantastic for online and that's how I do my taxes. NO computer is hacker proof but Chromebooks do have a "Restore to brand new" (Powerwash) feature. ONLY warning any saved data goes POOF. (So I save data to a removable memory card)

My latest windows device is an HP about 600 dollars at Best Buy 250 Gig SSD (Solid state hard drive) quad core... I anticipated the standard all day set up of a new windows machine took about 10 mintues or less.

[AsheGuy]

A Chromebook would seem to be ideal for you. As has been mentioned in another post, Credit Karma is an alternative to Tax Act and it is free, I've been using it for several years and it does the job. Chromebooks run all Google apps so Google Docs is there for writing letters, etc. Google's Gmail will handle your email including from any other email accounts and sync with your iPhone Gmail. My wife has a Chromebook which meets her needs that are very similar to yours.

[Second_Chance]

I replaced my older, larger laptop (HDD, optical drive, etc.) with a Lenovo ideapad 330S. It has a solid-state drive (not a hard disc drive with moving parts), a good amount of storage, a reasonably fast processor, a nice screen, and a regular keyboard with a numeric keypad. The only thing it doesn't have is moving parts (no HDD nor optical drive). My wife has a late-model HP 17" with a large HDD, big screen, plenty of memory, etc... the ideapad boot/reboot about 20 times faster than her HP - all because of the solid state drive vs. the hard drive (similar processors). Being a Windows PC, it will run any of the Windows software your old one would. I couldn't be happier with it.

Rob

[Bill_Satellite]

Tax Act might be good but I have filed with Credit Karma the last couple of years. It's quick, accurate and free!
As to the actual laptop, the cheapies are likely Chromebooks which are great for accessing online content but not so good for software you might like to reside on your computer. I looked around for a few months and found a great deal on a Windows laptop at Office Depot (or Max) with touch screen (required) and a large SSD for the best speed. Using that today and it was less than $500.

[T18skyguy]

You can use a chromebook and do Taxact online. No need for a disc.

[wildtoad]

DC&MC wrote:
Ok you tekkies I need some advice. My laptop is very old. Now use my IPhone for about everything. I want a new laptop that I can use to ‘surf the web’, use Tax Act for taxes, maybe to type a letter or something now and then, and maybe be able to check emails on my hotmail and gmail accounts. I’m seeing some in the mid to low $100’s. Is there something I need to look for to be sure I can do these things?

Everything you want to do can be done on your iPhone, but I suspect it’s a bit too small for doing them comfortably. If I were you (and I already made the transition) I’d go get an iPad. The IPad and IPhone work well together, sync all kinds of stuff between them, and no more Windows required.

Both my wife and I have them, we share calendars between them, and do everything on them. We also both have some older Microsoft Surfaces which gather dust from lack of use. I use mine once a year to use my tax software and then it goes back into the closet.

[2oldman]

Chromebook is good with the possible exception of Tax act. You just can't install and run programs sans hard drive.

[rk911]

DC&MC wrote:
Ok you tekkies I need some advice. My laptop is very old. Now use my IPhone for about everything. I want a new laptop that I can use to ‘surf the web’, use Tax Act for taxes, maybe to type a letter or something now and then, and maybe be able to check emails on my hotmail and gmail accounts. I’m seeing some in the mid to low $100’s. Is there something I need to look for to be sure I can do these things?

if you're not familiar with Chromebooks you should read this:

https://www.cnet.com/news/laptop-vs-chromebook-whats-the-difference-and-which-is-best-in-2020/

[HappyKayakers]

DC&MC wrote:
Don’t know how to link this. Walmart has a Lenovo 3 11” celeron 4gb/32gb chromebook for $169.

With a ChromeBook, you're basically doing everything online so a locally installed version of TaxAct probably won't work. https://platypusplatypus.com/chromebooks/file-taxes/

[LadyRVer]

I have had 2 Toshiba's and last year had to get a new laptop... cocker spaniel stood on keyboard and locked the whole thing up! Yes, my fault. But, I bought a HP at WalMart for maybe 200. Needed one with a CD (or DVD) in it for pictures I had on CD's and other things. This one is now about 18 months old and is literally coming apart. As far as working, it does what I need it to. And that is about all I can say. You get what you pay for.

[DC_MC]

Don’t know how to link this. Walmart has a Lenovo 3 11” celeron 4gb/32gb chromebook for $169.

[2oldman]

post a link to one of these ultra cheap computers