Electronics

[meezercats]

I'm shopping for a touchscreen laptop for a gift for a family member (personal use, i.e. emails, surfing the web, downloading photos etc.) preferably an HP or Dell in the $450.-$550. price range. Since I'm NOT tech savvy, what specs/features are important to consider?

Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[KJPA]

Based on what you said it will be used for I suggest you look at the iPads. You can get some for less than your price range if you find older models in stock. Even the newest model (iPad Air2) starts at $499 (16GB and WiFi only.)

Unless they need it for lots of work with Office products (Word, Excel, etc.) or some other special use they might actually prefer the tablet size. And you might be able to find the previous model for even less money!

[KJPA]

I want to say that I spend a lot of time on the Internet and own a desktop, two laptops, and three tablets, one of which is an iPad. The iPad is the one that I want to use as much as I can for surfing and reading. Typing is a little easier on the laptop and desktop but both are a lot heavier to carry around

[Nuttmeg]

You may want to look at Dell's Inspiron 7000 series laptops. They come standard with a touch display. You will have to increase your budget.

I agree with KJPA, an iPad would make a wonderful gift. You should check for deals at Best Buy,Target and Apple. I would check these sites daily.

[gabstoomuch]

The question you asked was "what important specs". Memory, memory, memory.

There are tons of laptops out there that only have 4 gbs of memory, and while yes, it will run the operating system, it will bog into *slow* once too many programs are open.

Get as much RAM (memory) as you can. That is my 2 cents

[Wackers3]

Check out Best Buy. I know when I was laptop shopping this summer, they had a few touchscreens $500 and under (think one was below $400 - it was an Asus) which is also a very good brand. Just not as well known but the quality is there.

I would look for a quad core and at least a 2 ghz processing speed. I made the error of buying an HP that was quad core and had decent memory/hard drive but the processing speed was only 1 ghz something. Luckily one of the Best Buy computer techies alerted me (I had picked that one up at Walmart but hadn't opened it yet) so I returned that for an HP with faster processing speed. I am not tech savvy so never even thought to check that out. I have found that BB employ some really good, young tech savvy associates who are very honest. Many are high school and college age kids who are bluntly honest, which I like. They really advised me well.

BB always has at least 4 or 5 at really good prices for laptops that will more than accommodate what you are looking for in one.

I personally would not like to have a tablet for emailing and such as I find them tedious to spend lots of time typing on. I do enjoy my tablet but when I want to do any amount of correspondence, etc, I always use my laptop. I do not store a lot on my laptop - basically use it for email, web, some photos but not much else so having lots of memeory was not a huge factor for me personally. I did want a DVD/RW which many now don't come with so think about that too. You can always add more memory later. I wanted at least a 500 hard drive or more too.

Tell whoever helps you, at any store, what your gift recipient is going to use it for the most and they can guide you to the best choice in your price range. I think you will be pleasantly surprised how much laptops have come down in price, especially for what it seems you are looking for ........ I know I was.

[ccassaday]

I would agree A ipad would work great for your needs. Apple sight has great refurbished models but gou could probably come close to your price range even with a new one. Plus they are so much easier to take from room to room.

[meezercats]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Since the recipient has "hinted" specifically for a laptop, I'm going to check Best Buy over the weekend, keeping in mind the info you've provided and some help from a knowledgeable salesperson, I think I'll be able to make the right choice.

Your help is much appreciated.