Looking for new laptop for elderly neighbour

[piattj]

I've been looking after a neighbour's (Vista) Dell laptop but it's reaching the end of its useful life. I suggested she get a new laptop & she agrees. I think she'll be better off going from Vista to Win 7 (rather than the more radical jump to Win 8 which would be disruptive for her, at her age).

I have found 2 that I think fit the bill...both the same basic spec (Intel Core i5, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD etc) and I'm interested in the forum's view on which would be the best - reliability, ease of use, build quality count...

1. Samsung Series 3 300E5C Titan Silver Core i5-3210M Win7Pro 64-bit 4 GB RAM 500 GB HDD 15.6"

or...

2. Toshiba Satellite Pro L850-1L4 Core i5-3210M 4GB 500GB 15.6" Widescreen Win 7 Professional 64-Bit

Thanks for any opinions or experiences...

 

[linnemeyerhere]

They both will be very similar performing with the same processors, ram and screen size. It would be nice if you could check out customer feedback on both and compare. I've had Toshiba's before and they worked very well. It may just boil down to price and tactile features.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

I use a i3 HP 15.6 with maxed ram @ 8gb and it's great for business, web and email. Maybe the i5 is overkill?

 

[kado897]

That is my thought too. Also the larger the screen the better for us oldies.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Yes a 17" or 18.5" screen would be great but you can always drive a second screen from the vga port as well.
Like this:
Toshiba Satellite L875-S7209 Refurbished Notebook PC - 2nd generation Intel Core i3-2370M 2.4GHz, 4GB DDR3, 640GB HDD, DVDRW, 17.3 Display, Windows 7 Home Premium (RB-PSKBGU-01602RB) at TigerDirect.com

 

[indianacarnie]

I would , if I HAD to choose, probably go with the Samsung. The bloatware on Toshibas are TREMENDOUS! On the other hand their customer service is top notch. Easily the best of the laptops I've owned. Their hardware is very good also, except for optical drives for some reason. Probably the best would be to take your neighbor to a store with both, if possible, and see which layout she likes better. You probably couldn't go wrong with either one though. The comments about screen size are worth considering also.