Advice on a new laptop.

[CHA0SXIII 408]

Well, because Micro$oft's updates to their OS has completely broken numerous features and apps on my computer - including Grammarly and the brilliant advice Microsoft's help center gave me was that they couldn't help, so I should contact their help center instead (and yes, a real human being told me this), and because I've got too much money/info wrapped up in Microsoft to go through the trouble of reformatting my current PC, I now have to get a laptop.

I'm not looking for a monster or anything, just one about $200 give or take that uses ANY OTHER OS THAN WINDOWS and is reliable. Any tips or advice (like an Amazon link to a good one) that any of you can provide would be HUGELY appreciated. Thank you.

[MangoFoalix 24,898]

Don't expect anything great at the $200-300 price range. There are options like these but it still seems like it would be pretty awful.

https://www.amazon.com/HP-15-6-Inch-Touchscreen-Pentium-DDR4-2400/dp/B07KDQW7Q1/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=laptop&qid=1553882396&s=gateway&sr=8-7

https://www.amazon.com/HP-Stream-Laptop-Office-Personal/dp/B07L49MY9H/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=laptop&qid=1553882396&s=gateway&sr=8-8

Yes, it has Windows on it but you can easily reformat it and install something like Linux on it. That's really your only other option than getting a Macbook, but Macbooks are expensive as hell, so that isn't going to work. There are chromebooks, but they are basically glorified browser machine since the only thing you can use on it is the Chrome browser.

I do recommend that if you want to get a different OS that windows than to go with Linux and look into something like Elementary OS or Linux Mint.

https://elementary.io/

https://linuxmint.com/

There are plenty of other distributions out there but these two I am the most familar with and are pretty user friendly.

[CHA0SXIII 408]

2 minutes ago, TheTaZe said:

Don't expect anything great at the $200-300 price range. There are options like these but it still seems like it would be pretty awful.

https://www.amazon.com/HP-15-6-Inch-Touchscreen-Pentium-DDR4-2400/dp/B07KDQW7Q1/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=laptop&qid=1553882396&s=gateway&sr=8-7

https://www.amazon.com/HP-Stream-Laptop-Office-Personal/dp/B07L49MY9H/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=laptop&qid=1553882396&s=gateway&sr=8-8

Yes, it has Windows on it but you can easily reformat it and install something like Linux on it. That's really your only other option than getting a Macbook, but Macbooks are expensive as hell, so that isn't going to work. There are chromebooks, but they are basically glorified browser machine since the only thing you can use on it is the Chrome browser.

I do recommend that if you want to get a different OS that windows than to go with Linux and look into something like Elementary OS or Linux Mint.

https://elementary.io/

https://linuxmint.com/

There are plenty of other distributions out there but these two I am the most familar with and are pretty user friendly.

Basically, I just plan on doing some writing on Fimfiction and need Grammerly (which no longer seems to work on windows) to help, so I don't need anything to extravagant. Thanks for the reply.

[MangoFoalix 24,898]

1 minute ago, CHA0SXIII said:

Basically, I just plan on doing some writing on Fimfiction and need Grammerly (which no longer seems to work on windows) to help, so I don't need anything to extravagant. Thanks for the reply.

From looking at the Grammarly site, it seems to just work in a browser like Firefox. You can easily get a cheap notebook like the one I mentioned above if you are just going to be using a browser. Those machines can't do much else except that though.

[CHA0SXIII 408]

1 minute ago, TheTaZe said:

From looking at the Grammarly site, it seems to just work in a browser like Firefox. You can easily get a cheap notebook like the one I mentioned above if you are just going to be using a browser. Those machines can't do much else except that though.

I'm actually thinking about this one. Thoughts?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0757FYPBK/ref=psdc_13896615011_t1_B01DBGVB7K

[MangoFoalix 24,898]

1 minute ago, CHA0SXIII said:

I'm actually thinking about this one. Thoughts?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0757FYPBK/ref=psdc_13896615011_t1_B01DBGVB7K

Ah yes, the dreaded chromebook. I have to warn you though. Chromebooks are very locked down and you basically are only going to be able to use the Chrome browser with a few other things in there.

[CHA0SXIII 408]

5 minutes ago, TheTaZe said:

Ah yes, the dreaded chromebook. I have to warn you though. Chromebooks are very locked down and you basically are only going to be able to use the Chrome browser with a few other things in there.

Do you think this one would be ok if I formatted it and put Linux on it?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CTKRPGK/ref=psdc_13896615011_t1_B01KR1BYCY

[MangoFoalix 24,898]

1 minute ago, CHA0SXIII said:

Do you think this one would be ok if I formatted it and put Linux on it?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CTKRPGK/ref=psdc_13896615011_t1_B01KR1BYCY

Yeah, that looks fine. Though be wary of the amount of storage on there since there is only 64gb.

[CHA0SXIII 408]

1 minute ago, TheTaZe said:

Yeah, that looks fine. Though be wary of the amount of storage on there since there is only 64gb.

Maybe get these with it? Maybe the microSD can offset the lack of memory?

[MangoFoalix 24,898]

3 minutes ago, CHA0SXIII said:

Maybe get these with it? Maybe the microSD can offset the lack of memory?

Yeah, doesn't look that bad. I don't see the problem since they are both flash memory.

[CHA0SXIII 408]

UPDATE: I just bought a really good Chromebook that usually goes for $400-$500 for less than $200 and it should get here Friday/Saturday. I'll keep this open for a few more days just in case, but as soon as I'm sure everything's fine I will be done with this topic. Until then, I will update this when needed, but I think my problems may be over!

P.S. Thank you @TheTaZe for all the help! 

[MangoFoalix 24,898]

3 hours ago, CHA0SXIII said:

UPDATE: I just bought a really good Chromebook that usually goes for $400-$500 for less than $200 and it should get here Friday/Saturday. I'll keep this open for a few more days just in case, but as soon as I'm sure everything's fine I will be done with this topic. Until then, I will update this when needed, but I think my problems may be over!

P.S. Thank you @TheTaZe for all the help! 

Yeah, no problem. Glad to help.