Lenovo, Anyone?

[BoSoxGal]

I wish I could afford a MacBook at this time, but I can't. Hopefully if my practice goes well, I'll be able to go back to Apple in a year or two at most. For the time being, I have to be satisfied with my new (on order) iPhone 6+ to get my Apple fix.

After lots of reading online, I've decided to go with a Lenovo ThinkPad - I've never used one (had never even heard of the brand), but they seem to be uniformly well regarded by business people who use Windoze machines, including lots of lawyers.

Has anybody here used or owned one? Any recommendations about models (<$750)? Any wisdom anyone can share with me about the type of processor I should get? There are too many and I'm confused as to which is best and why are they all different, anyway? (Damn I love how streamlined Apple's product line is!)

I've never bought a Windoze machine before, except the notebook I'm typing on right now, which is a cheap Acer that I purchased solely based on price. I thought I might be able to get through the first 6 months of practice using it, but it's been acting very weird lately, including an episode last night when the screen went all buggy and I was panicked that it was about to crash (luckily, I'd just backed up all my important stuff to a USB storage thingy).

Any suggestions would be very appreciated - I am also willing to hear arguments for other brands, if applicable. I need something very reliable and which will stand up to frequent travel - I'll be taking my laptop on the road 2-3 days/week when I travel to other courts.

[Daisy]

Lenovo are well built and reliable.

I sold quite a few to colleges. They are tough as old boots and have decent battery life, I'd say go for it or get a refurb Mac on Black Friday.

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac

[MajGenl.Meade]

My wife's laptop was Lenovo - faithful service for six years and would have gone if 17 year old grandson hadn't decided to tip his glass of water into the keyboard last week. Motherboard fried but very clean

[BoSoxGal]

Just ordered:


Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E540 20C6008SUS 15.6" Intel Dual Core i5-4200M, 8GB RAM, 500GB 7200RPM, Win 7 Pro 64 Laptop Computer, 1 Year Warranty (+ additional year warranty through OEM Genuine, the re-seller)

Daisy, a refurbished Mac would've been nice, but I need to save my credit card balance for other business expenses and so for this, I'm using my open credit line with the Amazon store, which gives me a year to pay off the balance, interest-free.

I'll use this for two years or so, then I should be in the position to buy a shiny Mac.

[wesw]

does it have lighted keys?

do expensive laptops?

that my major complaint about my HP, I can t see the keys in the semi-dark

[BoSoxGal]

does it have lighted keys?

do expensive laptops?

that my major complaint about my HP, I can t see the keys in the semi-dark

This one doesn't - I think Lenovo offers that as an upgrade if you build your laptop through them, but again, I wasn't able to purchase directly from them.

I found a model that was upgraded from the standard 4GB RAM to 8GB RAM by the re-seller OEM Genuine, but still linked thru Amazon for actual purchase, so I could use my credit line.

The total cost of this laptop will be $55/mo. for 12 months - not bad. I purchased two years' of 'spill, drop, drive over' accidental replacement coverage, because who knows and the cost will be deductible as a business expense.

I've seen backlit keyboards and it does seem like a nice feature, but I don't travel much by air, which is the only time I think that would really be a benefit - and when I do travel I fly economy class, and anymore there is barely room to breath, much less pull out a laptop and work on it, lol. Beyond that, I type 85wpm thanks to my years as a secretary of one sort or another, so I can type largely error-free without looking at the keyboard anyway. I will be VERY grateful to be back on a regular size laptop keyboard - my Acer is a notebook and it's a squeezed keyboard configuration which cramps my hands and results in more errors than I would normally create while typing.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Get a remote keyboard, BSG. I'm using one right now - the laptop's over on the floor connected to the TV (so easy to read the screen and play Netflix!) and I'm seated on the couch with the keyboard resting on a pillow on my lap. A true laptop I guess!

[BoSoxGal]

I opened my Lenovo ThinkPad yesterday and got the initial set-up going; today I've been playing Christmas music on the DVD writer and downloading/installing software while also decorating the house/law practice for our big open house party later in December.

The ThinkPad is astoundingly nice; I wish I'd known about the brand before. For a work computer it's ideal - no shiny surfaces, tough exterior, terrific integrated mousepad/clickboard (why doesn't everyone use that???), etc. Quite decent speakers for a laptop, too!

I'm sold . . .





until the day comes I can pay Apple's premium without wincing.

[Gob]

terrific integrated mousepad/clickboard (why doesn't everyone use that???)

I hate them with a passion.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Me too - remote keyboards and remote meeces are compulsory in my home.

[Guinevere]

[quote="Daisy" get a refurb Mac on Black Friday.

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac[/quote]

My current MacBook Pro is a refurb -- three years in and still working beautifully, saved hundreds. I almost always buy refurb laptops, and I've always done very well by them.

[BoSoxGal]

I always use a remote mouse, but the keyboard on the Lenovo is nice enough I'm not sure I'll get a separate one - maybe at some point. I am ordering a 24" monitor, because these old eyes appreciate things in LARGE version whenever possible.

The biggest struggle I'm having with the new laptop is going back and forth from my personal notebook keyboard, which I've gotten used to, and the Lenovo's larger standard sized keyboard. 1st world problems.

On another note, I've spent the weekend setting my house up - unpacking books, art, etc. and also bringing out the Christmas decorations. It's funny how when it was just me, I was perfectly content living surrounded by boxes - I'm glad the home-based law office has forced me to decorate and polish all the woodwork in the formal rooms - everything looks BEE-U-tiful!

Anyway, things are coming together nicely and I have about 25 people on my client 'wait list' thus far - I think this will be a very successful venture!

[Jarlaxle]

Wait...is the Acer a laptop or a NETBOOK?

[BoSoxGal]

Yep -it's the Acer Aspire 1 - 4GB RAM, 500GB storage, built-in camera for Skype, etc., no DVD drive - it was around $250 when I bought it a few years ago; they are up to version 7 now with a lot more bells/whistles.

After transferring my 5400+ iTunes library to the cloud, I just reformatted the netbook back to factory original. Along the way somewhere I either got a bug or deleted a file I needed, so I was having all sorts of issues with accessing programs that are now resolved.

However, I think the biggest issue I realize now is that the AMD processor just isn't that fast - my ThinkPad's iCore 5 by comparison is lightning quick.

But I basically use this one just for web-surfing, email, and some basic personal correspondence - so it doesn't need to be too flashy. It came with a ton of games, though - I gather a lot of people spend their time on computers playing games? Not me.

Having just finished unpacking my books - many of which have been boxed since 2009's layoff - I'm very motivated to read more and compute less, except while working.