[NABS-L] Choosing a Laptop

Sat Mar 17 21:16:44 UTC 2018

I signed up for one of those credit cards Wells Fargo offers to students, and I do have a rewards card. I apparently have fair credit, so maybe someone will offer me a good payment plan as well. Hopefully you'll be able to get a good laptop eventually. My main reason for switching to a Mac was the fact that the PCs I used before weren't very reliable, but from what I heard, that has changed, depending on the manufacturer. 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 17, 2018, at 2:13 PM, Lanie Molinar <laniemolinar91 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I used to have poor credit, but I fixed that by paying on my last laptop with Conns, the only company that would approve me. I won't be buying from them again though. The warranty wasn't good even though I paid a lot for it, and I had nothing but problems with the laptop.
> 
> 
>> On 3/17/2018 4:08 PM, Santiago via NABS-L wrote:
>>    I agree. It's a bit pricey, however, if you can afford it, then it's a great choice. I really don't have good credit as of now, since I'm a student, and not working, so if I were looking for a Windows laptop, it would have to be less expensive. I do have a 2015 MacBook Pro with 16 GB of RAM and a 1 TB hard drive. It's a great computer, although in cases where I need Windows, I would like to get another computer, instead of using Bootcamp. Using things like a fingerprint sensor or encryption would be nice, since as students, we're always on the go, and we don't want to risk our information falling in to the wrong hands.
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>>> On Mar 17, 2018, at 12:34 PM, Joseph Hutson via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Laney, everything looks good. Except possibly the price tag. But I guess if you can afford it, it looks good.
>>> 
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>> 
>>>> On Mar 17, 2018, at 1:39 PM, Lanie Molinar via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> I just looked at the Lenovo website since several people recommended them. They have a 10% student discount on some of their laptops. I think I might have just found a good one for me. Take a look at this:
>>>> https://www3.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-x/ThinkPad-X380-Yoga/p/20LH000MUS
>>>> I like how it can be a laptop or a tablet and how it has a fingerprint reader. My mom said that I could get both a laptop and a Braille notetaker or display if I could keep the payments for each one under $100 per month. I did some calculations and found out that with this laptop, if I take 2 years to pay it off, the payments would be about $84 per month. It sounds like a really nice laptop. What do you all think?
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> On 3/17/2018 12:11 PM, Himanshu Neema via NABS-L wrote:
>>>>> Hi Lanie,
>>>>> 
>>>>> As a blind user and otherwise as well what makes sense these days is to buy a laptop with only a large SSD in it. I recommend a laptop with at least 1 TB SSD in it instead of regular hard drive. The reason is that a lot of time is spent not only in memory access but also on input-output, even if it is happening behind the scene by the application in temporary directories or even by the operating system at the core. You will see a very large improvement in speed as compared to the one with regular hard drive. For blind users screen readers are also resource hogs so having a laptop with only SSD in it helps a lot. Don’t get the one with hybrid drive either. If it is too expensive, a laptop with 512GB SSD might do it for you.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Also, you can always create a partition in the drive and install Linux no matter what the operating system (such as Windows or Mac OS) is installed originally. Another easier alternative is to install open-source software called “Oracle VirtualBox” and you can run any operating system in it such as Ubuntu Linux, Mac, etc.
>>>>> 
>>>>> I think Microsoft Surface Books are quite good. Another option is to consider Dell laptops.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Lastly, I found in the past that Office Depot might provide you a good deal on a pre-configured laptop. Also, Best Buy provide something on the order of $100 discount for students. Dell also has special website for computers for higher education folks.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Hope this helps.
>>>>> Best,
>>>>> Himanshu
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>> 
>>>>> On Mar 17, 2018, at 11:00 AM, Lanie Molinar via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> Hi, everyone. This is Lanie Molinar. I'm sending this to a lot of lists at once. Some are tech-related, some are related to software development, and some are for students. I might have to get a new laptop soon and have a few questions. First, let me give you a little background info to help you understand what I'm looking for. I'm a college student getting a degree in Software Engineering, so I'll be working with code and developing things. I also have several disabilities and health issues in addition to my blindness, so I can't do much physically and spend a lot of my day on the computer doing schoolwork, taking surveys for extra money, gaming, and doing lots of other stuff. I'm fairly sure that I want a computer with Windows 10, not a Mac, although I'm willing to look into a Mac if that seems better. I would also be happy with something running Linux. I definitely want something new, not used, with plenty of RAM. There are so many options that I'm just not sure what to look for or where to get it. Again, I also need something that can handle being used all day, gaming, and developing software. My family is low-income, so I need to get it from somewhere that offers good payment plans. Can anyone give me some advice on how to choose a laptop, good places to buy one from, and what I should get? For those on software development- related lists, I'm interested in what would be best for a developer. I would really appreciate any help. Thanks.
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
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