Need help picking out a laptop

[Disneyplanners]

Hi! We are getting DS's 13 & 11 their own laptop to share for Christmas and I'm having trouble choosing. I actually already bought one on Black Friday because the price and specs seemed good, but I noticed some poor reviews after I bought it, and then Office Depot took those reviews off! So now I'm not too enthusiastic about it and would like to return it while I still can.
This is the computer here:
http://www.officedepot.com/mb/a/pro...-Laptop-156-Touchscreen/fromLocalBrowse=false

So, if there is anyone on here with knowledge in this department, do you have any recommendations? Top of the budget is $600 and there seems to be some good sales right now. The boys will be using the laptop for watching videos, minecraft, steam games, web browsing and will need it to be pretty portable. Any suggestions on what tech forums I could check out for further advice? Thanks!

 

[tvguy]

Looks like you got a good one and a good price. I'd keep it.

Reviews on other sites give it top marks.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-pavi...odern-gold-ash-silver/5386503.p?skuId=5386503

 

[KarenAylwood]

Here's more reviews on it... it looks like a good deal for the price: https://www.amazon.com/HP-15-ay018nr-15-6-Inch-Laptop-Intel/dp/B01GFYP8II

 

[SMD]

It's a laptop model that was made for Office Depot, so the reviews on Best Buy and Amazon are for different laptops. Reading the reviews on Office Depot, a lot of the negative reviews are about battery life and screen quality. If it will be used at a desk, mostly plugged in, and you plan to add a monitor (probably a good idea for gaming) then you only have to worry about processor and RAM, really. If they're going to be using it unplugged and at various screen angles and lighting situations, you might want to specifically look for laptops that are reviewed well in those areas.

 

[tvguy]

It's a laptop model that was made for Office Depot, so the reviews on Best Buy and Amazon are for different laptops. Reading the reviews on Office Depot, a lot of the negative reviews are about battery life and screen quality. If it will be used at a desk, mostly plugged in, and you plan to add a monitor (probably a good idea for gaming) then you only have to worry about processor and RAM, really. If they're going to be using it unplugged and at various screen angles and lighting situations, you might want to specifically look for laptops that are reviewed well in those areas.

Very minor differences in a good brand.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I love my Dell Inspiron 13. It's the 7000 series and is touchscreen. It can also switch from a laptop to a tablet. I've had it a year now and can't imagine having a different laptop.

 

[mom2t]

I bought the same one at Best Buy Black Friday. Only difference is mine has 16gb and a better video card. I paid $200 more but we were looking specifically at the card too. A friend helped me. My DS will be 15 soon. Our old one is 7 years old. I am pleased with my choice. Yours looks like a god price to me and I did a lot of research.

 

[SMD]

Very minor differences in a good brand.

The brand name doesn't matter if the internal components are not right for what you're going to do with a laptop or how/where you're going to operate it. Personally, I'm not a giant fan of HP. Their case design and features leave something to be desired in their laptops. I've had issues with Dell durability and their support leaves something to be desired. Two companies that aren't talked about as widely outside of the laptop market that are worth looking at are Asus and Lenovo. But again, you have to know what you plan to do with a laptop and look for one that excels in that.

All that being said, a $400 laptop is probably going to outlive its useful life as a gaming machine before an 11 year old gets to high school and might need it for something else, so I wouldn't worry too much about the one the OP bought not being adequate for it's lifespan. The only thing is the short battery life in the reviews might be a concern since she mentioned it needs to be portable.

 

[tvguy]

The brand name doesn't matter if the internal components are not right for what you're going to do with a laptop or how/where you're going to operate it. Personally, I'm not a giant fan of HP. Their case design and features leave something to be desired in their laptops. I've had issues with Dell durability and their support leaves something to be desired. Two companies that aren't talked about as widely outside of the laptop market that are worth looking at are Asus and Lenovo. But again, you have to know what you plan to do with a laptop and look for one that excels in that.

All that being said, a $400 laptop is probably going to outlive its useful life as a gaming machine before an 11 year old gets to high school and might need it for something else, so I wouldn't worry too much about the one the OP bought not being adequate for it's lifespan. The only thing is the short battery life in the reviews might be a concern since she mentioned it needs to be portable.

My son is an IT consultant. His firm has had no issues with Dell durability or support. He calls Dell, gives them the tag number, they verify the warranty, and either overnight the part, or if the client has the upgraded "critical service" warranty, have the part there in 4 hours! He literally had a client lose a power supply to a server on a Saturday night, he called Dell at 10 pm, and a courier was there 4 hours later....at 2 am on SUNDAY morning with the part from a warehouse 100 miles away!
I've only had one warranty repair on a Dell at home, and their contract tech was here the next day with the part
DW and I both work for major corporations who use Dell exclusively due to their strong support and durability.
Friends with HP have had good luck. I have no experience Asus and Lenovo. DD is on her second, and LAST Apple. Not sure what she will do next, but she is done with them after hardware and software issues.

 

[SMD]

I've replaced 5 hard drives on 3 different Dells. It's an easy DIY, but I'm done doing it. My family has had 4 Dells and 3 had failed hard drives within 2 years. I also had the power supply fail on a desktop after less than 2 years and it took 6 calls over 4 days to get them to acknowledge the extended warranty that I paid for. For a customized machine that I ordered directly from them. Then it was a holiday weekend and I had to wait for service. I was taking CS classes at the time, so over a week without a working PC didn't work for me. And then, the hard drive failed on that PC about 2 months later. That was the final straw for me. There was another machine were the battery on the motherboard needed to be replaced within 90 days. At least the sent the in home tech out 2 days later for that one. And those are just my personal machines. I can't say for sure how all the work machines I've had were treated before they were assigned to me, but they're hardly hardware issue free.

I haven't had too many issues with Apple lately. Early on (10+) years ago the Genius Bar were like gatekeepers that you had to convince to get a repair done. But they've improved a lot and for my products that fall under Apple Care they've been great. I do have an issue with the decline in upgradeability and customization (the industry seems to be headed that way, but they're leading the charge) and what can be a short product life outside of Apple Care. But in my experience you get full support from them for a lot longer than other extended warranties.

But again, the brand name doesn't matter if the internal components aren't enough to handle what the user intends to do with the machine, or if the case/monitor/keyboard/touchpad aren't built to be used how the user intends to use it. For example, a laptop with a known keyboard flex isn't going to work very well or for very long if it's actually used on someone's lap. It doesn't matter what brand is on the outside of the case. You need to read reviews on that specific laptop model and/or get hands on with it and see if that will be an issue.