Buying advice for my final computer: laptop, all-in-one desktop, or what?

J&R electronics has a Sony VPCL137FX/R on sale for $1699.99 with free shipping. I am retired and just bought one and I am very pleased with it. It is fast and appears to do all the things you want. Their phone # is 1-800-221-8180 for sales or JR.com

Good Luck
Jaime

Brian, congratulations on your retirement! 1st of all, if portability isn't an issue, then definitely get a desktop. Much more bang for the buck, and it is much easier and cheaper to upgrade when the need arises. You are right to question whether an "all-in-one" is really necessary. Personally, I would stay away from them. It sounds like you have many devices that you want to hook up to your computer (cameras, video recorders, scanners, etc). A tower with lots of connectivity options sounds like just what you should be looking for. Without getting too technical, the thing that you should focus on mostly is RAM. Just about any mid-range computer should be able to handle what you want to do. Look for something around 4Gig or more of DDR3 RAM. Also, since you want to work with HD Video, a good video card is a must, but the good news is that if the computer you buy doesn't come with a good one, it is easy to upgrade a desktop. Next, should you get Windows or Mac? If money is no object, then the Mac is probably better suited to video editing, just because of the superior software over Windows, but Windows can handle it just fine also, at a much lower cost. My advice: Spend around $700-900 for a decent computer, take the rest of the money, and save it for upgrades later on down the line. Enjoy!

Hello Bryan,

The only reason that you should consider a laptop is if you need to use the computer outside of your home. Based on what you wrote, my recommendation would be an Apple iMac 27 3.2GHz. It has a fast Core i3 processor and 4GB of RAM. It sells for $1699 at the Apple store, which would leave you $301 to buy an Applecare extended warranty and a large capacity external desktop firewire drive to store all of your video files for editing. The iMac is a perfect choice for you because it is an all in one design with high performance specifications. It is extremely easy to use and it even comes with a built in video editing program called iMovie and a built in image program called iPhoto. If you need more sophisticated software, almost all of the higher end video and photo editing software packages are compatible too. If you would like to know more just find your local apple store or reseller and try one out. The staff there should be able to answer any other questions that you may have. Good luck and let me know if you post any of your photos or videos online.

But at 72 I'm a bit behind already:o) So far I've found the same basic landscape you report, but with new "cooling bases" for laptops and with USB's infinite possiblities present themselves. A friend who's interests are similar to your, uses a Dell "all-in-one" with 6 (SIX!) 500GB external HD's. Another friend uses a "desktop" replacement, I'd mention the brand but there are so many that are so similar it doesn't seem fair to do so!) but prefers "cloud" storage over the "clutter" of HD's on his desktop. I'm still looking for that amazing combination of power/speed/image reproduction/flexibility and ease of use (keyboard touch, size etc et al). Eager to hear the answers, and good luck to both of us!

With $2,000 I suggest that you not even think about your final computer -- but realize that that money will easily buy you at least two and probably three very good computers that with any luck should take you well into your 80s.

Assuming that you do not do serious gaming, photo editing, huge spreadsheets, or other cpu or graphics processor intensive tasks, there is no reason to spend even close to $2,000 on a machine today. (And I say that as someone who from the mid-1980s until the past year or two was a firm believer in the motto that the computer that I really want is about $2,500.) But for web access, word processing (even very serious stuff on book-length manuscripts), email, ordinary spreadsheets, ordinary photo editing, and similar sorts of things, you should be quite happy with a computer that ranges in price from $400-800 -- $1,000 absolute max.

Even if a desktop may last a bit longer -- and that is not obviously correct -- that certainly should not be a consideration. The question is what you want to work on and have in your house. It sounds like the clean simplicity of a laptop is attractive to you. So go for it.

Now you have to choose size. Your choices range for a 10 inch netbook up to a 17 inch behemoth that you will almost certainly leave fixed on a desk most of the time. The issues here really are 1) aesthetics, 2) readability/usability, and 3) the fact that the smallest boxes usually have somewhat less computing power. (I am ignoring portability and battery life, which seem not important to you.) But you will be surprised at the (pleasantly) size of hard drives on these machines. Unless you have truly immense music and photo collections, they will be adequate. And if you really do need half a terabyte or more of storage, and external drive will handle that easily and cheaply.

There are great laptops out there in the $600-800 range that blow away a five year old $2,300 machine that I have passed on to a relative who still uses it happily. And if you like the look of netbooks, for $400 how can you go wrong. (I did that six months ago, in part because I wanted portability and long battery life, and I have been very happy. But I suspect that you are probably going to be looking at 13-15 inch machines, where you do want to be in the $600-800 price range, I suspect.)

Which one. It really doesn't matter -- or, rather, there are lots of good choices. Get a good brand, from a reputable supplier, preferably when they are having a serious sale. And given that you are in Saudi Arabia, the availablity of local warranty support may actually be the single most important consideration.

Put away the rest of the money. When this one dies, do the same thing. And if you keep in the $600 range -- which is VERY doable in the US -- you can do it another time as well. Figuring five years as a reasonable average life for a computer of this quality, you should be working away on a very nice machine into your 80s for your $2,000. I assure you, though, that if you spend it all on one now by your mid-70s you will be dissatisfied.

i have gone to using laptops only. i do not like a desktop as they take up too much room and are too cumbersome to take in for repairs. i also do not like the fact you cannot move them from room to room. i have an ASUS "Republic of Gamers". i had my grandson remove the gaming partition and i have the whole computer for my photography. it has a lot of memory and will run my printers and anything else i choose to put on it without a problem. i did have a problem with it overheating. that was an easy fix. i put a chill pad under it and no longer have a problem. i think the chill pad for my particular size laptop was about 60.00 and worth every penny. there are smokers in our home as well as dogs and cats so i take my laptop twice per year for a squeaky clean for 30.00 and have absolutely no problems with it at all. i will never go back to the desktop with all the room they take up. this is my 4th laptop. the others are still going strong as i gave them to other family members. the oldest one is 10 years old.

Absolutely no question about...Defently Desctop with a good graphic card and high CPY
Recommended for photo editing, Adobe Photoshop genuine!older version of course!
This my opinion, from my little experience...
And dont forget a good anivirus(like Kaspersky!)

I'm 66 and think that you should spend somewhere around $600, get a laptop and you will get a great computer and probably a new printer also. I have an HP that does about everything and I got it for under $700. I also have a Dell laptop that I've had for approximately six or seven years and it works fine. I keep it for my grandchildren who love some of the games that only work on XP. You probably have enough time left to buy 3 or 4 new computers:), just keep up with the updates on any computer you buy.

First of all 69 is not old. You will probably live through at least 2 more Windows updates.

Laptop or desktop?
That will depend on your mobility requirements. If you do not need to work away from home get a desktop, otherwise a laptop.

How much should you spend?
You can buy a good quality desktop or a laptop and photo printer for around a $1000. As previously mentioned ram ram ram. You can't have too much. Save the other $1000 for your next computer/upgrade or for specialized software. In 3 years quite a bit can change with computer hardware. When you are 75 your computer will be obsolete.

Important: Don't let some joker at Best Buy sell you what you do not need. Any decent computer will do what you want. Make sure you do research on the software you purchase. The price, functionality and ease of use varies tremendously.

On Amazon.com, you can get it for $1,939, with no taxes and free 2 day shipping if you have Amazon Prime. I bought one a few months ago (from eBay, because Bing.com had a deal where you could save 8% off the price by searching for it on Bing.com). Anyhow, mine came with 3 year AppleCare, which can't be beat.

From what you described, it sounds like you don't really have a need to travel with it. I have a 17" MBP that I'm typing this on because I'm at a convention at the Gaylord National Hotel in Maryland, and my Quad Core i5 iMac is back at the office. However, I can access ALL of my files because I use Dropbox for cloud storage. That also means I can access them on my iPad and iPhone as well.

The 27" desktop quad core i5 iMac (all-in-one) will give you a beautiful display to edit videos and photos, and is a pleasure to use. if you can live with the 21.5" desktop model, you could actually cut the cost almost in half, and then use some of the savings to increase your RAM to at least 8GB which can be beneficial, especially if you're running multiple programs. AND, with the rest of the savings, you could buy the low end iPad ($499), and use that with Dropbox to show off all of your photos!

So I guess the recommendation I have for you is for you to really understand your needs - do you need the portability of a laptop? Or, what I truly believe would be the best for you, would be the 21.5" iMac, with 8GB and a $499 iPad. That way you can do all of your editing, etc., on your all-in-one desktop, and then show everything off on your iPad. Definitely, in my opinion, the best way to go for you. If you haven't tried an iPad, please try one before you make a decision.

Brian,

This is a no brainer: get a MacBook Pro. You can either buy a 13" display one and buy an external HD monitor, all well within your budget.

A 17" one is not bad either but it is at $2200, somewhat over your specified amount.

Oh yes, I forget: get a Mac and then be happy for the rest of youf life.

Antonio

Before you make a purchase for the long term, perhaps consider these things:

Laptop (Notebook) computers DO overheat *IF* the ventilation fails, gets clogged, etc. To disassemble and blow the dust from a laptop computer can be difficult and/or expensive. A desktop computer is simple......remove 1 cover, vacuum and/or blow out the dust, and put it back together.

Laptop computer batteries eventually die. In some cases a suitable replacement battery can not be found when you need it. Similarly, the small power converter (AC to DC) that most portable computers use can also die, and sometimes the connector that goes into the computer breaks. It can be very expensive to repair. The power converters go obsolete and can be difficult or impossible to replace.

Portable computers suffer from internal file storage failure more often than desktop computers. I base that statement on the number of each that come into the shop every week. The failures of portable computers outnumber the desktop computer failures by at least 10 to 1.

Because the internal disk can fail, ALWAYS MAKE BACKUPS! For your digital imaging storage, back up the files to CD/DVD and/or at least 2 external storage devices. So even if your computer suffers complete failure, your image files will not be lost.

Good luck with your purchase.