WTB, 17" screen, win 11 laptop for an old lady

jojo69

jojo69

[H]F Junkie
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Sep 13, 2009
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It seems like I'm on here every couple years looking for a "new" laptop for myself or a close friend. This one is for a friend's elderly mother. The one she has will not support Win11 and the nagging about that bothers her. It is also pretty slow, though that may have more to do with cruft, ram, and spindrive than the base machine. Bottom line she is pretty stubborn and she wants something newer so here we are.

Really it is just used for internet, email and viewing documents so it doesn't have to be fancy fast, but it does need to support Win11 and it needs to have a 17" screen because her vision isn't great and she uses accessibility zoom so real estate is a plus, also a valid Windows key.

Seems like guys on here always have stacks of retired enterprise laptops.

Thanks in advance, this forum has never let me down.
 
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does she actually move the laptop around? If it is stationary, a desktop and a huge monitor might work for her. Or even better, a light small laptop with a monitor plugged in where she most often uses it. What is your/her budget?
 
She is pretty adamant about a large screen laptop, she uses it on the couch. In fact I am scrapping out 2 desktop systems from the house. I would think we could find something suitable between $2-300 don't you think?
 
jojo69 said:
She is pretty adamant about a large screen laptop, she uses it on the couch. In fact I am scrapping out 2 desktop systems from the house. I would think we could find something suitable between $2-300 don't you think?
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that is very reasonable. I have a huge very old gaming laptop but it is probably a downgrade from what she has. Also its quite heavy.
Have you checked Dell's refurbished section? They have been having 50% off sales recently. There is a thread in the hot deals forum here you should check out if you havent.
 
a few options offered, going to watch for a few days and see what comes up, bump
 
going to bump this a couple times over the weekend, quieter that it used to be in here
 
Are you looking for a 15.6", or 17" laptop? Those are basically your options. The bigger the laptop, the heavier it is, so make sure you make the "client" aware of that. Sitting on a couch with a 5+ pound weight (w/ 17" screen) might not be what she had in mind.
For Win11, you need Intel 6th Gen or up, or AMD Ryzen 2000 series or newer.
For sluggishness, your biggest issue is the hard drive. I bet if you put an SSD into the current machine that would solve the problem, but elderly people often seek attention anyway they can get it and having to have a "new" laptop is one of the ways.

Either way, I have a Dell Inspiron 5579 15" 1.8GHz i7-8550U, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, 1080p screen, fresh Win11 just installed last week. It is a 2-in-1 convertible touchscreen laptop, so can use it as a large tablet when on the couch. Very nice machine, charger included, ready to go.
I'm planning to throw it on eBay as soon as I get to it, but would be happy to offload it here. $200 I think is a fair price on here. Let me know.
 
probably the last bump, then I'll sift through the offers and make a decision, thanks everyone who has weighed in.
 
narsbars said:
You can bypass the check easily with a reg hack. You may have to do manual updates after that.
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With a hack, you can install W11 on some very old hardware. Intel 6/7 gen does not require a hack and is fully and natively supported by W11 with a clean install.
LFaWolf said:
Windows 11 requires Intel 8th gen and up for Core Processors.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/w...pported/windows-11-supported-intel-processors
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Except for it doesn't, unless you want to do in-place upgrade (8th gen and up is required then). But rarely is in-place upgrade a good idea if clean install is an option.
https://www.hardwaretimes.com/windo...via-iso-file-no-additional-workaround-needed/

I've successfully done a clean install of W11 on an Intel 6th gen laptop without any hackery myself. Just created a USB with MSFT official MediaCreationTool, and it installed.
 
slavie said:
With a hack, you can install W11 on some very old hardware. Intel 6/7 gen does not require a hack and is fully and natively supported by W11 with a clean install.

Except for it doesn't, unless you want to do in-place upgrade (8th gen and up is required then). But rarely is in-place upgrade a good idea if clean install is an option.
https://www.hardwaretimes.com/windo...via-iso-file-no-additional-workaround-needed/

I've successfully done a clean install of W11 on an Intel 6th gen laptop without any hackery myself. Just created a USB with MSFT official MediaCreationTool, and it installed.
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If Microsoft turns on the check after installation, then what do you do? The laptop specifically for an old lady who wants 100% windows 11 support and no hacks. Context is important here.
 
Not sure if you found something but I have an 8th gen intel Dell I just reloaded with Win 11 after enabling TPM etc. It's not blem free etc, but it's cheap. Feel free to PM me if it's something you are interested in.

Dell Inspiron 5570 Laptop
Fresh installation of Windows 11 Professional
i7-8850U CPU
12GB RAM
128GB M.2 SSD
1TB spinny HDD
45W Power Supply
Screen measures 15.6" diagonally
Missing screw for dvd drive locking mount
has small cracks around the security slot on the right side
has some wear on the wrist rest etc
 

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Thanks for the offer. I went over there with a tape measure and her current display is 17"...she wants 17", not smaller. I'm kind of surprised, been striking out here, plenty of 15.6 but nothing in 17.

Maybe I should start a new thread specifying screen size now that I have more information on her requirements.
 
jojo69 said:
Thanks for the offer. I went over there with a tape measure and her current display is 17"...she wants 17", not smaller. I'm kind of surprised, been striking out here, plenty of 15.6 but nothing in 17.

Maybe I should start a new thread specifying screen size now that I have more information on her requirements.
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That will seriously narrow the field for sure. I would just edit the thread and thread title.
 
Yeh, 11 installs, but I didnt want to fudge around finding drivers for all the missing items, Win10 works great on it, which is why I never suggested it in this thread
 
That Costco one looks nice. 17" laptops were historically gigantic. In specs and weight. A modern version of one with a relatively efficiant and light apu may be a far better solution then 17" laptops of the past.
 
hmmmm, extra $100 for something with a warranty and new car smell...thanks Kelvarr, I might be able to sell that.
 
jojo69 said:
hmmmm, extra $100 for something with a warranty and new car smell...thanks Kelvarr, I might be able to sell that.
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No problem. Price is good through the 13th though, so don't dally too long.
 
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