Ask Slashdot: How Do You Choose a Windows Laptop?

jfruhlinger writes "I'm a Mac guy. When our 2004-era Windows XP laptop, which was used primarily by my wife, died last summer, I got myself a new MacBook Pro and she inherited my still serviceable 2008 MacBook. But after about six months, she hasn't gotten used to it, and wants a Windows machine. I don't have an ideological problem with this — it'd be her computer, and we've got a bit of money stashed away to pay for it. But trying to pick one out is my job, and I find the the whole process bewildering. Apple's product differentiation is great at defeating the paradox of choice — you have a few base models, the difference between which is quite obvious, and you can customize each. The Windows world seems totally different. Even once I've settled on a vendor for a Windows laptop (something I haven't done yet), each seems to have a bewildering array of product lines with similar specs. Often models that you find in electronics or office supply stores that seem promising in terms of form factor are exclusive to those stores and can't be found online. Obviously people do navigate this process, but I'm just feeling out of my depth. How would Slashdotters go about picking a solid, basic laptop for Web surfing and document editing that won't be obsolete in two years?"

Re:Quick version of the laptop buying guide:

[turing_m]

Spending $600 every 2 years gets you a lot further than spending $1200 every 4 years.

Or spend $600 every 4-6 years. I guess it is laptops we are talking about here, but for a lot of people, most of what they do can be done well with processors 4 years old or more. And in the Linux world, the rate of bloat increase is slower than that of the Windows world, since features are added because they are cool and not to make your existing machine feel slow so that you want to upgrade.

Let her pick it out..but get one with support

[Tangential]

I abandoned Windows in the late 90's for linux and then went mac when they went intel. One of the greatest joys I've had as a result was being able to tell all of my friends and family that looked to me to support their Windows installations that I don't really know Windows and they should always buy systems that come with support.