Suggestions for a new, not to expensive, laptop for retiree.

[khaepmu]

I need to get a new laptop not  too pricy. I don't do much on it except YouTube, emails, google searches and download an occasional torrent or document to print.  No graphics or detailed spread sheets etc.

[KhunHeineken]

Can you post some information about your old, or current laptop.  That way, members can gauge what you may call "pricey."  

[maesariang]

Laptops are all very similar at the same price point. 

[dddave]

Pretty much every brand has it's fans and detractors.  Locally, ASUS seems to have a good reputation for build quality. 

 

If you are an older person, then display size may be more important to you than portability. 

The cheapest laptops have Intel Celeron processors which are their lowest end processors.  They will do what you describe pretty well but for not too much more money, a laptop with a 7th or 9th generation Ryzen or Intel I-3 or I-5 will give far better performance in the long run. 

For now, 8gb of RAM is sufficient but may not be 3 or 4 years from now as applications get hungrier and hungrier for memory.  16gb of memory would be a good investment.  If you like to download torrents, then a 512gb SSD is ok but if you download anything 4K, it can use a lot of space so a 1 terabyte SSD will again, make you more future proof.    A 15" laptop with a Celeron processor 8gb Ram and 512SSD will be between B12,000-B16,000.  Upgrading to a Ryzen-7 or Intel I-5 with 16gb ram and 1TB SSD will be 20,000+

Both Banana and Advice computer stores in many malls have decent reputations.   If you want to shop at  a very reputable online store who will give you excellent advice if you ask,  I personally recommend: www.invadeit.co.th   

LAZADA sells a lot of laptops but beware as many of the lower priced units are refurbished corporate machines, often 6 or 7 years old.  They would actually do what OP wants but may not be very dependable in the long run.

Edited August 17 by dddave

[howto]

Very good reply by DDave.  I concur. 

Yes use www.invadeit.co.th, for an ASUS with a Ryzen-7, 16gb ram and 1TB SSD. 

I'll not go into what OS to use. 

[bkk6060]

Get a Chromebook.

[jaywalker2]

6 hours ago, dddave said:

Pretty much every brand has it's fans and detractors.  Locally, ASUS seems to have a good reputation for build quality. 

 

If you are an older person, then display size may be more important to you than portability. 

The cheapest laptops have Intel Celeron processors which are their lowest end processors.  They will do what you describe pretty well but for not too much more money, a laptop with a 7th or 9th generation Ryzen or Intel I-3 or I-5 will give far better performance in the long run. 

For now, 8gb of RAM is sufficient but may not be 3 or 4 years from now as applications get hungrier and hungrier for memory.  16gb of memory would be a good investment.  If you like to download torrents, then a 512gb SSD is ok but if you download anything 4K, it can use a lot of space so a 1 terabyte SSD will again, make you more future proof.    A 15" laptop with a Celeron processor 8gb Ram and 512SSD will be between B12,000-B16,000.  Upgrading to a Ryzen-7 or Intel I-5 with 16gb ram and 1TB SSD will be 20,000+

Both Banana and Advice computer stores in many malls have decent reputations.   If you want to shop at  a very reputable online store who will give you excellent advice if you ask,  I personally recommend: www.invadeit.co.th   

LAZADA sells a lot of laptops but beware as many of the lower priced units are refurbished corporate machines, often 6 or 7 years old.  They would actually do what OP wants but may not be very dependable in the long run.

IMHO 16gb of ram is a must as WIndows 11 and many browsers tend to be memory hogs. 1 tb ssd is probably excessive unless you store a lot of high resolution movies on your computer. Even then you're probably better off with a portable ssd drive for storage and backup. Finally, I'd recommend an OlED 15.6 display.  Cost all in for an Asus vivobook maybe around 20,000 baht

[KhunLA]

You should be able to find one in the ฿16-฿20k price range.   I've seen them advertised with decent spec for that price.  I'm an ASUS fan, though edit vids & photos, so need better specs.   Specifically a bit more RAM & graphic card that isn't integrated, as those 2 requirements, push the price pass ฿20k to ฿30k.  

 

Doesn't seen you'll need the extra specs, though does make things run a lot smoother.  Make sure you buy from a manufacturer's site or an authorized reseller of.

 

From another thread, found this laptop, and would be well worth spending the few extra baht for it, even though better specs than you really need.   I'd get that, if I could find a vendor that still carries it, if not out of your budget.

[khaepmu]

Thanks guys great advice. I am presently using a Lenovo Ideapad. I bought it about 6 years ago at Bananas at Pattaya Festival.  Lots of little things seem to be going wrong with it. 

[petermik]

5 hours ago, khaepmu said:

Thanks guys great advice. I am presently using a Lenovo Ideapad. I bought it about 6 years ago at Bananas at Pattaya Festival.  Lots of little things seem to be going wrong with it. 

The little things maybe easily cureable....what exactly?

[KannikaP]

6 hours ago, khaepmu said:

Thanks guys great advice. I am presently using a Lenovo Ideapad. I bought it about 6 years ago at Bananas at Pattaya Festival.  Lots of little things seem to be going wrong with it. 

Try a reset.

[ronster]

Last 2 laptops I bought were Asus and both very good . Large screen but very light in weight and do everything I need it for in general use . Powerbuy or Lazada usually have good deals on them but if buying from Lazada try make sure it's either from Asus direct or one of the sellers like Banana IT etc.

Think I paid 12000 bht or near that for my latest one from Lazada.

[LALes]

Check out Real Me from China.  A relatively new brand that offers  a lot of bang for your buck.  I bought their earbuds a few years ago and was very impressed with their sound quality for only a thousand baht.  Last year, my pricey Microsoft Surface laptop bit the dust and I found a good replacement in the first line of Real Me laptops.  Only available at IT City in Tukcom.

16,000 baht for a good looking machine with a lot of the features you need.  512 GB, too.  This is not Red Mi.  That is totally different.

My friend just bought the new Real Me phone at Banana.  Again, nice phone at a great price.

Edited August 21 by LALes
adding info

[newbee2022]

On 8/17/2024 at 12:44 PM, khaepmu said:

I need to get a new laptop not  too pricy. I don't do much on it except YouTube, emails, google searches and download an occasional torrent or document to print.  No graphics or detailed spread sheets etc.

What is pricey for you??? More than 50.000 or 80.000 ?

What are you looking for? Good brand-new laptops available at Lazada from 10.000 onwards. Have a look. 😳

[SAFETY FIRST]

On 8/17/2024 at 12:44 PM, khaepmu said:

I need to get a new laptop not  too pricy. I don't do much on it except YouTube, emails, google searches and download an occasional torrent or document to print.  No graphics or detailed spread sheets etc.

If you are not experienced keep away from Lazada, lots of vendors advertising Lenova factory, Asus factory etc. these are fake Chinese crap. 

 

Where are you located, I've bought a couple of laptops from Tukcom, Pattaya Tai, Wattana, JB, all original brands and fair priced. 

 

 

Edited August 21 by SAFETY FIRST

[gargamon]

You could also consider a mini pc. Connect it to your TV, get a keyboard and a mouse and Bob's your uncle. Not sure if it would work for your needs but it's an option and would be cheaper.

[petermik]

54 minutes ago, LALes said:

Check out Real Me from China.  A relatively new brand that offers  a lot of bang for your buck.  I bought their earbuds a few years ago and was very impressed with their sound quality for only a thousand baht.  Last year, my pricey Microsoft Surface laptop bit the dust and I found a good replacement in the first line of Real Me laptops.  Only available at IT City in Tukcom.

 

Not true....was being sold on Lazada at a discount to the IT City store when I was interested in one....

[dddave]

This looks like a pretty good buy. ASUS with excellent specs.

I don't know the seller but it's ratings are not too bad.  Always with a grain of salt, though.

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/asus-2024-laptop-ram-16gb-1tb-ssd-156-ultrabook-intel-core-i7-windows-11-5g-wifi-i3947737144-s16793357864.html

 

 

 

 

[petermik]

5 minutes ago, dddave said:

This looks like a pretty good buy. ASUS with excellent specs.

I don't know the seller but it's ratings are not too bad.  Always with a grain of salt, though.

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/asus-2024-laptop-ram-16gb-1tb-ssd-156-ultrabook-intel-core-i7-windows-11-5g-wifi-i3947737144-s16793357864.html

 

 

 

 

HDD drive not SSD....not good.

[dddave]

1 minute ago, petermik said:

HDD drive not SSD....not good.

ASUS 2024 Laptop ต้นฉบับใหม่ RAM 16GB + 1TB SSD 15.6 นิ้วแล็ปท็อปโลหะ Ultrabook Intel Core i7 Windows 11 แล็ปท็อปการเล่นเกม 5G WiFi

[petermik]

States HDD in the fine print.....mistake????

[Albaby]

6 minutes ago, petermik said:

States HDD in the fine print.....mistake????

Windows 10 and only 3h battery. Run Forrest run. OP ,get a Lenovo ThinkPad, can't killem. Reasonable price. Make sure you get windows 11. https://www.lenovo.com/th/th/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpade/thinkpad-e16-(16-inch-intel)/21jncto1wwth1?cid=th:sem:qnv4nl&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw_ZC2BhAQEiwAXSgClj9RQ51Vxa7dMfdwT076CSbSFaGitlf_JdhScQ40KwOkObCX3bpIlhoCv6EQAvD_BwE

[NoshowJones]

On 8/17/2024 at 12:44 PM, khaepmu said:

I need to get a new laptop not  too pricy. I don't do much on it except YouTube, emails, google searches and download an occasional torrent or document to print.  No graphics or detailed spread sheets etc.

In my experience Asus, HP, etc, but avoid Acer.

[NoshowJones]

On 8/17/2024 at 11:47 PM, dddave said:

Pretty much every brand has it's fans and detractors.  Locally, ASUS seems to have a good reputation for build quality. 

 

If you are an older person, then display size may be more important to you than portability. 

The cheapest laptops have Intel Celeron processors which are their lowest end processors.  They will do what you describe pretty well but for not too much more money, a laptop with a 7th or 9th generation Ryzen or Intel I-3 or I-5 will give far better performance in the long run. 

For now, 8gb of RAM is sufficient but may not be 3 or 4 years from now as applications get hungrier and hungrier for memory.  16gb of memory would be a good investment.  If you like to download torrents, then a 512gb SSD is ok but if you download anything 4K, it can use a lot of space so a 1 terabyte SSD will again, make you more future proof.    A 15" laptop with a Celeron processor 8gb Ram and 512SSD will be between B12,000-B16,000.  Upgrading to a Ryzen-7 or Intel I-5 with 16gb ram and 1TB SSD will be 20,000+

Both Banana and Advice computer stores in many malls have decent reputations.   If you want to shop at  a very reputable online store who will give you excellent advice if you ask,  I personally recommend: www.invadeit.co.th   

LAZADA sells a lot of laptops but beware as many of the lower priced units are refurbished corporate machines, often 6 or 7 years old.  They would actually do what OP wants but may not be very dependable in the long run.

Do not buy a second hand or "refurbished" laptops from Lazada, I have just sent mine back, full of faults.

[NoshowJones]

On 8/18/2024 at 6:39 AM, jaywalker2 said:

IMHO 16gb of ram is a must as WIndows 11 and many browsers tend to be memory hogs. 1 tb ssd is probably excessive unless you store a lot of high resolution movies on your computer. Even then you're probably better off with a portable ssd drive for storage and backup. Finally, I'd recommend an OlED 15.6 display.  Cost all in for an Asus vivobook maybe around 20,000 baht

I bought an Asus vivobook 15.6 screen from IT City for 10,900 Bt, 2 year inhouse warranty.

[cjinchiangrai]

22 hours ago, khaepmu said:

Thanks guys great advice. I am presently using a Lenovo Ideapad. I bought it about 6 years ago at Bananas at Pattaya Festival.  Lots of little things seem to be going wrong with it. 

My Lenovo was being really flaky with frequent BSOD's. I replaced the RAM chips and it went back to normal. Under 1k repair for 16 Gb.

 

My only concern with computers here is getting a working license for the OS and Office. I use Open Office now that I am retired. You can get a real license cheap enough but if you reinstall the OS, do it early so you do not wipe out a lot of good stuff. 

[petermik]

7 minutes ago, cjinchiangrai said:

 

 

My only concern with computers here is getting a working license for the OS and Office. I use Open Office now that I am retired. You can get a real license cheap enough but if you reinstall the OS, do it early so you do not wipe out a lot of good stuff. 

There is no need to reinstall the OS when registering the licence.....

[cjinchiangrai]

51 minutes ago, petermik said:

There is no need to reinstall the OS when registering the licence.....

IFF you are using the exact same release. Maybe the OP does not want 10 Home? Maybe it comes with Linux or Android?

[superal]

On 8/17/2024 at 11:52 PM, bkk6060 said:

Get a Chromebook.

I use a hp Chromebook 11 mk g9 ee and use it every day for the last 3 years without any problems . Bought it on Lazada for 7000 baht , now 8000 baht and up . It is really aimed at students who are on a budget . It is a basic laptop that can fulfill all of your quoted needs as my needs are the same as yours . No need for all the bells and whistles .With the Chromebook OS , which is offered by many manufacturers , there is one important factor . That is to look up the Chrome update policy which varies according to the model and includes high level security etc . My model has automatic updates run to 2031 .

[khunPer]

On 8/17/2024 at 7:44 AM, khaepmu said:

I need to get a new laptop not  too pricy. I don't do much on it except YouTube, emails, google searches and download an occasional torrent or document to print.  No graphics or detailed spread sheets etc.

Banana has a good variety of laptops from affordable prices from around 15k baht, for example an Asus laptop with Solid State (no moveable parts) hard-drive.