Laptop Recommendations for Sister - Budget below $1700

Dr Techno on 18/12/2021 - 10:49
Last edited 18/12/2021 - 10:57 by 1 other user

Hi All,

My sister wants to upgrade her 10 or 15 year old chunky HP Laptop.

She doesn't have a clue what she wants. She wants something a little future proof, fast and portable (to take out on the road). She's definitely a low end internet and Office apps user.

I was thinking of her just sticking with i7 with at least 16GB of ram for future proofing. Yes its probably overkill.

A thin light Asus Zenbook seems like a logical choice I'm guessing @ $1679 Asus (think might be at the top of her budget)

I might be a little biased since I've had good experiences with i7 desktops and my works AMD laptop is pretty disappointing.

What's some other makes/models do you guys think she should be looking at ? She doesn't care about touchscreen, just wants something that's fast and lasts for awhile.

Thanks in advance

Computing Computer Laptop

Comments

  • nubix on 18/12/2021 - 10:54
    +7

    macbook air

    • Yorkshire-Man on 21/12/2021 - 06:21

      this. Im not mad on Apple but this is the best value in this budget

  • Diverse on 18/12/2021 - 10:55
    +1

    Seems like your budget is $1600, could look at M1 Macbook Air. Could also wait a little bit until school starts again and they might add the back to uni promo that adds free airpods.

  • raisinberry777 on 18/12/2021 - 11:44
    +2

    If Mac is an option, an M1 Macbook Air fits the use case very well. Light, very fast, exceptional battery life, great build quality, and the amount of them out there means that replacement parts/support will be available for a long time to come.

  • Dr Techno on 18/12/2021 - 12:20
    +1

    I can see OzB favourite is the M1 MacBook Air. Issue is she has never used a Mac before and running Windows within Parallels will probably just frustrate her. It will need to be x86 artitecture.

    • GordonR on 18/12/2021 - 19:26
      +2

      It is just as easy to open Word, Excel, Chrome, etc with a Mac as with a PC and largely similar once they are open.

      But then you get a much faster chip, a silent, cool-running laptop and all-day battery life due to much lower power consumption.

      A light user who mostly opens standard apps is exactly the sort of person who doesn’t need x86, but can easily swap.

      (I bought my daughter an M1 MBA for first year Uni, and she says it’s fantastic, never needs to take her charger etc).

      • Dr Techno on 19/12/2021 - 12:01

        Yep fully understand, I may pick it myself for personal use. My sister (in her 50s) has only used straight up windows, adding a new OS to learn on she wont be too thrilled by it.. She also has a few x86
        custom apps related to work as well. Once my wife nagged me for a Apple laptop, I got her a great deal on a Macbook Air.. she used it for 30 mins and just stand this isnt like windows and never used it agian.. now its mine and sons laptop.

  • sam567 on 18/12/2021 - 14:45
    +3

    MacBook Air. No contest. Don't use Parallels, use the Mac or web version of Office.

  • freefall101 on 18/12/2021 - 15:06
    +2

    If you know a student, https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/670712

    Ticks all the boxes, Ryzen is faster than that Intel chip, $500 under budget.

    If she hasn't upgraded in 10 years and just does light office work she wouldn't notice the difference with a 5600U either, probably plenty of $1k laptops that would more than do the job. Then go spend the $500 on a christmas present for you for being such a great sibling.

    • Dr Techno on 18/12/2021 - 16:09

      I'll check out the reviews. If I buy it for her then she would expect me to buy her a 2nd hand car next. :-/

  • flyflytea on 20/12/2021 - 15:31

    I am a windows/android user and I went with the M1 Macbook Air and no regrets. For the price, it is just such a solid laptop. I got use to the OS in about 30 minutes. Once you are in an application it makes no difference. The battery life is just so good, I never have to worry about charging it.

  • [Deactivated] on 21/12/2021 - 00:52

    Macbook Air M1

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