Need A New Laptop

I know there's some considerable knowledge on this board in a variety of categories, computers being one of them. I recently changed employment and had to turn in my 15" Apple MacBook Pro w/ Retina display that my previous employer provided. It was a 3 year old machine and I had the Microsoft Office software for Mac on it as well. I'm not a power user by any means, but my new firm will expect me to use Sales Force (a customer relationship management program that I'll get trained on), in addition to Word and PowerPoint, which I'm comfortable on.

My new employer will allow me to purchase what I want. During my final interview in Chicago a week ago, I looked around the room and didn't see a single Apple... mostly Dell's and Lenovo's. I'll be traveling 6-8 days a month to major cities on the west-coast and working from home the rest of the time. While my business is about client relationships and doesn't necessarily "revolve" around the computer, I'll need to communicate effectively with the offices in Chicago and DC. I never was or am a "wiz" on the Apple or my home window's- based HP PC and no longer have an IT guy down the hall to trouble-shoot things for me. I really enjoyed the feeling of quality the Apple provided.

Sooooooo... what would you recommend for me? I also need to get a companion printer at the house to work with it.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

 

I love my Samsung Series 9's.

although I like the one without the touchscreen better.

I never use it and it just adds a little bit of weight and also glares worse in the sun.

 

Same with the Dell XPS 13 (2015 version). Got one for my wife too. Skipped the quad hd touchscreen after reading plenty of reviews citing glare from the glossy screen.

 

I have had a Lenovo for a couple of years. Love it, great laptop.

 

I am NOT a techy and don't laugh, but if you are thinking about at Dell, TODAY QVC has as its "Today Special Value" Dell 15 and 17 inch laptops. Seems to be a very good deal. Indeed, I am typing on my Dell 17 inch laptop (clearly not for travel as it is heavy), that I bought on QVC almost 2 years ago. Haven't had one issue with it and the price was spectacular. The sheer volume of product that QVC sells enables it to offer very strong prices on many products. The promo is on now and I think is the featured product for an hour starting at noon EST though you can get the scoop online as well at qvc.com. (And no, I do NOT work for QVC; I'm just a big shopper there. ) Also, I just saw that you can pay with it with six easy payments over six months (no interest) with free shipping as well. (Just realizing work will pay for your computer but passing on in any event for others.)

 

I have a Lenovo that I am very happy with. Well built computer and I have found no issues with it.

 

Wow! I just went online and the deal is still available for another 10 hours, the 17" with Office is $629.

 

I work at a Software company in SF, and for our new machines we use Lenovo T450s (for WIndows machines; with 8.1 on them)
and 13" Macbook Air, or 15" Macbook Pro (For the Mac people; usual users gets the 13" Airs, but engineers get 15" Pro's)
I have a custom ordered 13" Pro myself, with an i7 and 16Gb of RAM.
The NUMBER ONE thing you can do for performance, is get an SSD. PERIOD.

 

I personally didn't like Lenovo, which is what used to be the IBM PC division. IBM used to do a few things different from the rest of the pack and Lenovo continues the trend. Those little things tend to drive me crazy. I highly suggest you play with one and make sure you like the keyboard layout and the like. I like HP and Toshiba. Dell is good but make sure you are getting something designed for business use - they don't standardize the parts they use for their personal stuff and I was never comfortable with selling them to people who needed a reliable product.

 

Yeah. Any major promos they have run to end of of that day, midnight EST. I used to laugh that my godmother watched it so much, but I've gotten my Dell computer, a Bose player, Vitamix mixer, and a bunch of other stuff there for prices that were better than big store sale prices. Sometimes the price is closer but having it shipped wherever, often at no cost, makes it much easier to shop. You can also easily comparison shop online while watching the tv or comparing other prices with the QVC info you can get online from the QVC website.

 

Stick with window.

They are cheaper and will smoothly run all the programs you need with any fancy figuring or work arounds.

Just be sure to get a full version of windows. Probabiy going to be 10 as that is what they are shipping now. i use salesforce every day as well with no troubles on my windows machine.

If you are going to be using a vpn then get as much ram as you can get, at least 8gb.