John Benediktson – Benediktson Computer, Inc.

Convenient Single Chip Computers

I have worked with Raspberry Pi computers and consider the 400 to be an excellent choice for a second or third machine in a house. It browses the web well, reads email like a champ and can do wonders with word-processing or spreadsheets. This year, there is a new inexpensive general purpose computer on the block (from a competitor), the orange Pi 800 featuring the Rockchip RK3399 System on a chip processor.

Where the Raspberry comes with Raspian Linux, the Orange comes with Orange Pi OS (both will run various versions of Linux). Orange Pi OS is a variant of Android that can be set to look just like Windows 11 or Mac OS or IOS, or, presumably, just like your smart phone. Early reviews of the Orange 800 indicate it is a bit faster than the Raspberry 400 and offers a great platform for those whose needs can be met by internet based access. Both of these can be had for around $120 (with shipping) and are designed to connect to your modern Television.

Throw into the mix a variety of Chromebook choices in the $100-$300 range and this is a great year for upping the flexibility of your TV. Any of these three types of devices can stream video from your favorite service, browse the web, etc.

There is a subtle difference in color, maybe not obvious in the above photos, along with a few different ports on the two devices; though, both devices provide ethernet, USB 3, camera card port, and a keyboard (computer located inside using the keyboard case as a heatsink). In addition, both provide wifi and bluetooth.

No longer recommending HP

And, again, I am fighting with Microsoft store trying to get software for an HP printer loaded on an up to date, smooth running Windows 10 computer. I avoid using Microsoft store as much as possible. If I want a program from a particular author or production house, I go the their website to get it; it really is much safer that way. Apple Store and MS store are just too attractive for hackers and thus too dangerous to use. Unless it is absolutely necessary, I avoid them like the plague.

HP, in its infinite wisdom, forces you to use MS store in order to get (among other apps for their products) HP Smart. Unfortunately, I have had real difficulties trying to get this software through the store ( so far 3 of 10 freshly setup machines and 5 of 23 established machines have refused to load the software) and now that I don’t have a choice, it gives me a strong reason to stop recommending HP printers and scanners.

I guess what frustrates me most is that it is simply one program (in this case) which is both necessary and problematic to load from the MS store. They (HP) could simply resume including it on their website and distribution media and resolve this problem while simultaneously removing the need to sign into a Microsoft account and have a good internet connection for the printer and the host computer.

Apple and the M1?

Now that Apple corp has started the migration to M1 architecture, one of the few really interesting features of Macs may be gone, the ability to run Windows business apps on a Mac. When Macs were based on the same Intel chips that Microsoft wrote Windows for, it was a simple matter of installing Windows on your Mac (via Parallels, dual boot, VM’s, etc.). Now that Macs are using the M1 (ARM) family of processors it isn’t near so straightforward.

Yes, I have read the articles reviewing Parallels 17 and all the great features it has (apparently including the ability to mimic an Intel system), you still have to load (thus far) Windows for ARM after you load Parallels in order to run windows x86 software. Before you go looking to buy a copy of Windows 10 for ARM, let me warn you there is no retail version so far (even though Microsoft sells a few products running Windows for ARM).

So, why did Apple make the jump to ARM architecture when it meant their machines would lose access to an extremely large library of professional and business software? Well, among current product families, the ARM family produces the least expensive to build computers with far less power consumption for a given level of performance. With Unix and a few flavors of Linux already ported to ARM, it had to look like an obvious choice for Apple. And, they could wrest back development and advancement control from Intel who has not been performing up to Apple’s expectations for a few years (Apple may have a number of other reasons to want to use chips and architecture that they are involved in the development of).

In conclusion, I would like to say this: Once you decide which software you are going to use, select from among computers that run that software best, most affordably, most reliably, and most easily maintained. Ignore (in this initial step) the Apple vs Microsoft or M1 vs Intel vs AMD questions until you have selected the software and determined which machines best suit your needs running that software. Then you may or may not have brand choices. A quick bit for the future, as more and more software (apps) are run from the cloud, you may find that ChromeOS products may start attracting a lot of attention (My initial testing of Chrome products using a variety of chips and chip-sets has shown performance to be markedly better than that of systems running Unix, Linux, Windows, Mac-OS, etc.).

New Scam (to me)

Aha, a new scam, well new to me. Support specialists claiming that the version of windows on your computer is a promo version or demo version or for some other reason not a valid version and it will stop working soon or on some fictitious date ( a real date but not one when your version of windows will stop working). With Windows XP, Microsoft learned its lesson and so does not make promo versions of windows available to system builders and refurbishers.

To my knowledge there are 4 kinds of windows 10, OEM Windows (available to small volume Original Equipment Manufacturers), Volume license Windows (available to a variety of large volume system builders, retailers, etc.) and retail Windows (widely available to most everyone). That leaves the type of Windows available to registered refurbishers.

Code wise they are all supposed to be identical, though all 4 are moderately customizable and I have encountered some differences when working with versions provided by Dell and HP. I have also encountered a few counterfeit copies of Windows 10 in the last couple of years; but, they failed licensing and initial updating,a trait my sales training with Microsoft taught me to watch out for.

So, if you have an existing machine that has been licensed and getting updates, you can be fairly certain that any pop-up messages or phone calls “alerting” you that your version of Windows 10 is about to stop being supported are SCAMS. For that matter, any copy of Windows 10 that makes it through the OOBE (original owners beginning experience) which includes activation, is a valid, fully licensed, legal copy of Windows.Ignore the scammers who want to fix your unlicensed copy of Windows (because it is licensed) and do NOT give them your money in any fashion.

What should a retail copy of Windows 10 cost? Home: $135 and Pro: $199 and you will find older copies reduced on occasion to $100 and $170 but Microsoft insists that these are not priced any lower than that for retail copies, copies priced lower may not be legitimate.

When will we see Windows 11? I have not seen any fixed date yet; but, we can hope it will be later this year. Initial word from Microsoft is that Windows 10 users will automatically be updated to the new Windows 11 shortly after the official rollout.

System Maintenance

General maintenance of modern computing devices can involve both the hardware and the software (I’ll include data in the software) and is an important part of owning a computer. It can be performed by the user, a designated individual in the company or family, or by a paid professional; but I will reiterate, it is important that it be done and regularly.

Hardware maintenance often consists of cleanliness; both keeping the computer and its functional peripherals clean and cleaning them when they collect dust, grime, fingerprints, etc. Many CPU units use air flow to keep cool during operation and this can lead to dust accumulation which needs to be removed periodically (6 months in some environments, yearly, or even every 2 years in very clean environments). Monitors tend to collect dust and some may build up a haze, glasses cleaner is appropriate for most, some of the early plastic screens have special requirements (check with manufacturer). Keyboards and mice can often be spruced up by inverting and removing any debris, dust, etc. If sticky stuff gets into a keyboard, it is often best to replace but normal surface cleaners may be used in an attempt to clean, again, do so with the keyboard inverted to avoid getting detergents, solvents, and so forth onto the contacts of the keys.

Software maintenance amounts to determining what needs to be updated and getting those apps updated in addition to running storage backups (your files and data) and garbage file removal before finally getting the storage drives defragmented. Some commercial software utilities will perform these tasks for you; but, at least once a month, these operations should be done manually to ensure that they complete and do what is expected of them.

Regularly: keep underside of mouse, surface of keyboard, and touch-pads clean.

Annually: check air intakes and clean if warranted. Check cooling system and clean if necessary. Remove any build up of debris or dust in the interior of the CPU case.

Monthly: perform or verify backup of important data. Remove excess files, temp files, etc. Run a defragment of all storage devices to verify error-free operation and optimize file access speed.

Weekly: verify versions for operating software (check that auto-updates are working as expected) and check on versions of security software (should never be more than 3 days old); manually update as necessary.

Example: Once a week, check that Malwarebytes is up to date and that Microsoft updates have been loading (settings, updates). Have Auslogics defrag set to run weekly and Ccleaner set to run continuously. Once a month, run Ccleaner manually to clean files and the registry; then run Auslogics defrag and have it defrag and optimize. Every six months (at the beginning of summer and winter) visually inspect the case (CPU box) and if any dust buildup is evident anywhere on the outside, open it up for cleaning or contact the person or service responsible for that service to schedule and perform a thorough cleaning.

Unintended tasks for your device?

I have been thinking lately about how to describe (in English) why modern computers don’t feel a thousand times faster than the computers from a decade ago or more (at heart they are more like 10,000 times faster). So, why aren’t these new machines just instantaneous in responding to all of our requests?

To start with, many of us are hooked on these lovely graphic user interfaces which eat oodles of system resources and performance. Add to that all of the really nice little accessories (alarms, calendar features, spell checking, grammar checking, etc.) that we all love and load without a second thought. What? you didn’t load any of that stuff? Well, if you are running an Apple IOS or Microsoft Windows, then they are already there (part of the package).

Does it seem like your computer is real busy at times but not responding to you? You are probably correct, your computer is busy doing “background” tasks. It could be updating, synching a drive, or the cloud, or to another device or two. It could be running a security scan, indexing files, fixing file errors, or searching the web for advertising items to match your interests (inferred from your web activity, searches, etc.).

Much of this is “stuff” that users have little control over, some of it is stuff you can remove from your computer’s to-do lists, and still other stuff can be removed by a good anti-malware program (which may also eat up some performance and resources). Carefully choosing which tools to use and which ones to avoid can make a big difference. In the long run, modern computers are usable by a much wider range of users because of these conveniences (called bloat and other negative terms); but, the price we pay might be well worth noting the next time you wonder why your 6-year-old computer seems incredibly slow.

Another cause for poor performance can be an aging storage device. Yes, hard drives and even SSD’s suffer some performance reduction as they age. A 3-year-old hard drive is likely to show a 30-50% decline in performance compared to a new one of the same type while a 5-year-old SSD may show a 20% reduction in performance when compared to its self when it was new. At some point, you may wish to consider replacing your primary storage device simply to regain that performance level from when the device was new. This will also improve the odds of avoiding catastrophic storage failure or simple data loss.

Shame on you Apple

Well, while the rest of the industry sleeps through the spring doldrums, Apple has once again announced their new lineup of computing devices. I have a number of issues with this latest announcement and a few well-done’s to go with. First, those who predicted what Apple would release back in February, well done, most of you were right on. Second, now that we have official pricing, shame on you Apple for doing what was predicted which was, in part, to use your improved control over components to artificially overprice second-rate products. Looking at the new iMacs, I see the entry-level product at $1299 which lacks important connectivity options, utilizes (reportedly) an underpowered graphics chipset, and no ethernet connector or USB connectors. Pony up $1499 and you get an improved graphics chip, a couple USB 3 ports, and an ethernet port. Remember these are entry-level units with a display that would have been mainstream a few years ago and most everything is similar too but NOT industry standard.

Apple also announced a tracking “chit” that is small, has a limited range and reminds me a lot of the first “Tile” products. They also released a new pair of iPads using the new M1 chip architecture at ridiculous prices.

I really had hoped that using the M1 SOC architecture would give Apple the impetus to release reasonably priced units with state-of-the-art capabilities and features; so far it looks as if I will be disappointed on both of these points if and when Apple actually starts shipping these units. You see, normally reviewers would already have a few of these new units in hand to test, take through their paces, compare with previous products and competing products, etc. However, no such preview devices have been forthcoming and the order date for these products is upon us with supposed delivery dates one month away. I begin to suspect that this delivery date (already pushed back once) will be pushed back because the products really don’t seem to be ready for prime time let alone mass production.

On another front, will the M1 perform as promised? Initial testers of the MacBooks using the M1 have been reporting a wide range of performance from far slower than the intel predecessors to nearly as fast as the intel predecessors when pre-testing promise was for a new era of much better performance. Mind you, this is a brand new chip in a brand new architecture running software arguably tuned for the intel chips and architecture and it may take some time before we see what this new processor can do (it is the big brother of the chips driving Raspberry Pi units, so it is actually unfair to call it new). Time will tell; but, so far, not ready for prime time.

My personal stand on the performance issue is that Intel can and will provide processors and architectures superior to whatever Apple actually markets to continue their dominance in the processor industry. That AMD has thus far been able to sneak past them many times in the performance / $ category still causes me to smile. It is this kind of competition that keeps the industry fresh and the frontiers pushed back as our demand for raw processing power continues to grow.

Word Processing?

ZDnet recently published a story on “Laptops we love” and I was struck by a number of things. They asked a number of their journalists what was their favorite machine to write on and their responses surprised me. The majority spoke up for a relatively mid-range model of laptop ($1600ish) but then confessed that they used something else; several admitted using a tablet with an addon keyboard to type in their columns for publication.

Additionally, the choice of operating system seemed rather random, some chose Windows, some IOS, and a few went with ChromeOS and one even chose Linux. I had expected professionals to choose devices with full-sized keyboards, relatively large screens (15″ or larger) and either Windows or MacOS.

Having had my eyes opened up a bit, I realized that word processing isn’t demanding of even the least powerful of modern devices. All of the current products on the market are capable of being good word processors and it is up to the user to decide the balance between portability, ease of typing, ease of viewing and a variety of other criteria.

Earlier I kind of dismissed Linux as an obvious choice for the OS of a word processor; but, with Libre and Apache office (Open Office) being native coded and compiled for various Linux versions, the user has the same quality of tools available for many kinds of word processing tasks as the user of Windows or MacOS. I have been using a Raspberry Pi400 (linux based computer) to do some graphics work, spreadsheets and yes, word processing.

So why, when asked, did the majority of those journalists suggest a mid-range of laptop? I think they and I are all caught up in the numbers game and we have forgotten the real criteria; does the machine do all the things we use, and in doing so is it fast enough that we don’t have to wait for it? Then again, it wasn’t long ago that even expensive laptops were slow enough to force us to wait on occasion; and, you can still buy those laptops. (a quick reminder, solid state storage makes a huge difference as does a good processor like the i5, the i7, Ryzen3,5, or 7 and so forth. The days of the Celeron and the i3 should be over, long over)

A brief look back on Electronics

I have recently watched a few NOVA episodes on the planets. This lead me to consider the changing electronics we have developed for and used in the various space programs. Numerous advances that we now take for granted were developed to improve the likelihood of successful missions.

From the beginning, the space programs had a need for more durable components. Improved materials to mount switches (transistors) on was an early improvement just as silicon transistors replacing vacuum tubes (relatively fragile by nature) made taking electronics to space possible. Then the development of integrated circuits (a single piece of silicon providing multiple transistors in an even more durable package) further advanced the ability of electronics to survive as well as igniting the race to ever smaller components.

Smaller had an amazing benefit; smaller was intrinsically faster, lighter, and required less power to operate thus reducing the need to dissipate heat. An amazing synergy if you think about it. Difficulties in reliably producing IC’s (integrated circuits) were overcome in the process of each leap to smaller devices. Similarly, smaller size allowed the inclusion of more and more transistors in a single component.

A separate series of advancements was leading to the inclusion of ever more complicated and varied components (circuits) in the silicon (nand gates, op-amps, T-bar, etc.). At some point, the complexity of the IC made a sidestep and the result was the microprocessor. The microprocessor evolved in multiple paths resulting in ever more complicated processors bringing us to current processors and System On a Chip (SOC) packages.

Remember those Apollo missions? the combined computer power (speed, computational capacity, memory, storage) of the computers onboard the missions is easily eclipsed by that in a single $30 cell phone, and mission control’s computers are easily eclipsed by most smartphones.

Imagine The difference in quadrupling computer capacity while lowering the weight from a few hundred pounds down to 1 lb while reducing power consumption from a few thousand watts down to less than 100 milli-watts.

Raspberry Pi 400

The Raspberry pi 400 I ordered has arrived and working with it has opened my eyes to what I have come to expect and accept from Microsoft and Apple. In the Microsoft & Apple world, computer owners and users are a source of income as well as a pool of alpha and beta testers. How wonderful is it to get paid to have folks test your software instead of having to pay a team of programmers and randomized users to test that software!

Compare that to what happens in the Linux world (the Raspberry Pi 400 runs a version of Debian Linux, or any other OS you care to load that supports ARM processors). Software is developed mostly in the public domain, tested and improved by volunteers driven by a love of the products, the environment, and the community that has grown up around Unix, Multix, and Linux (among a few others – I prefer OS-9) all tracing back to the work of Kernighan and Ritchie.

Back to the Raspberry Pi 400, like previous Pi computers it is comprised of a System On a Chip (SOC) with some interesting peripherals (USB ports, mini-HDMI ports, socket for a Micro SD card, Bluetooth, 802.11 a/c, gigabit ethernet port, all built into a compact keyboard. Provide power, a mouse, and an HDMI display and you have a complete computer more than adequate for all web services, video streaming, word processing, spreadsheet work or play and much more.

This version debuts a 1.8ghz processor with nice video support. The “kit” I purchased came with a power supply, a USB mouse, a mini HDMI to HDMI cable, a 16GB memory card with linux pre-installed, and an easy to read book to introduce you to the system, its OS, and some of the included software. Libre Office is preloaded along with Scratch (a beginners language), Python, and Java IDEs (integrated development environment). A web browser built in Chromium gives good access to the web that behaves very much like Google Chrome. On top of all this, the system boots up into a Graphical User Interface any Mac or Windows user will find familiar if a bit less confusing.For the $120 (including shipping) how wrong can you go for a school access computer, a teaching tool, or a home computer for browsing the web, watching streaming videos, reading and writing email, etc.

Traveling and using cell service for Internet Service

I have been traveling again and my phone reminded me of an important lesson. I carry a prepaid cell phone these days and rely on it (and a prepaid unlimited plan) to provide me with internet service while on the road. Motel wifi tends to be way too iffy at best and downright useless all too often, so my phone becomes a hotspot and usually provides good service.

Now, I am not going to say that 4G or LTE is fast enough to compete with the office internet and wired network connections tend to be much more trouble-free than wifi; but, when away from the office, my phone provides the next best thing. 5G service, when available, is darned close; but, I rarely find myself in 5G service areas. Just the same, I find I can stream movies, videos, tv shows and the like just fine with 4G or LTE (branding affects what it is called and I tend to get 4G LTE service in most areas while in some towns the carrier just has 4G or just has LTE, in all cases my phone works it out for me)

So, back to lessons learned or reminded of. In medium-sized metropolitan areas and larger towns, cities, any given location may be within range of towers owned by a variety of carriers; and not all carriers provide the same quality of service. My phone automatically selects which tower to use based on the phone carrier signal quality; generally, the one with the best signal quality is chosen to provide connectivity. The automatically chosen tower may not provide the best internet service for you. I was reminded this week (by my phone) that it helps to go in (into settings in your phone) and manually select your service provider when multiple providers are available.

In this lesson, the difference was remarkable with one carrier providing insufficient speed to get an address before it timed out and my “home” carrier providing 72m / 72m service that has been an absolute delight. My phone had auto chosen AT&T for service which for whatever reason (heavy loads by contracted users and I was a roaming user) provided almost no service; but, T-Mobile had a tower providing half the signal quality to my location but clearly had no load on it and provided a tested 72m up and down speed. A Verizon tower also provided decent service with 5m download speeds, but in this specific case T-Mobile was the best choice for me. Which carrier is best will be different in every location. The best choice for you may vary depending on your phone contract as well as location.

It can be helpful to talk with your cellular retailer or tech support to get their hints and recommendations for how to get the best service when you are away from home or the office. Oh, and don’t forget to set your phone back to automatic carrier detection once you are on the move again (assuming that is the default with your carrier and contract).

Some help with computer lingo

The Computer age has spawned some interesting additions to our vocabulary and some of this new vocabulary can be real difficult to properly understand. So, I offer the following to help real people understand some of this new, yet arcane, lingo.

First, some context so we are all firmly planted in the same world. Internet service is provided by an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and may be delivered in several ways; but, in all cases it is still just Internet Service. In your house or business there will be a Point of Provision (POP) and from there Internet service can be provided on a cable (Cat5 or Cat6) or through radio transmission (WiFi) to an assortment of devices (computer, phone, tablet, etc.).

The POP (point of provision or point of presence) is often referred to as a modem (modulator + demodulator) because it converts (modulates) the signal from the ISP into a signal that all of your favorite devices are designed to work with. It may also (in addition) be called a router. A router has the job of assigning addresses to all of your devices so you can request information (over the internet) and receive responses to your requests (and not everyone else’s), direct your requests (traffic) out to the internet and direct responses back to your device. In addition, it may have 1 or more (often 4) RJ45 (big phone plug) ports built-in for connecting devices via a wired connection (Cat5, Cat6, etc.). This router often provides wireless connections to the internet (WiFi) in addition.

WiFi (wireless fidelity) was a term coined for a family of wireless connection types to a Local Area Network(LAN). It was a term picked by the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (now called the Wi-Fi Alliance) to refer to any of the protocols developed to provide wireless connectivity within a LAN. Thankfully, there is little reason to understand the protocols used in any given WiFi connection, rather it is only important to match them up (802.11 n connects to 802.11 n or 802.11 ac can connect to 802.11 n, g, or ac). In most cases the user of WiFi has no knowledge of which protocol is in use; it is simply WiFi.

LAN (Local Area Network) is the simple network in your house or business that connects your various devices to the internet and to each other. This network is often automatically administrated by your router. The casual user has no control or impact on how the LAN works, the router takes care of all of that including assigning addresses (a unique address for every device 192.168.0.2 for example), directing traffic in and out, and between devices as necessary. The LAN may be composed of a combination of wired and wireless (WiFi) connections.

WAN (Wide Area Network) generally refers to everything outside of your LAN, this is what your ISP connects you to (the internet). Connections in the WAN can be via satellite links, radio links, WiFi links, wired links, fiber optic links, and a few others. The important thing to remember is that all of this (the WAN) is beyond the user’s control.

A Wired Connection is most commonly done with twisted pair cable either Category 5(Cat5) or Category 6(Cat6); for networking, 2 twisted pairs are required and usually a cable consists of 4 twisted pairs with the rate of twist varying along the length of the cable. The twisting of a pair of wires is done to prevent interference in the signal carried by the cable. Both outside interference bothering the signal in the cable and the signal in the cable interfering with the outside world (televisions, cell phones, cordless phones, etc.) are greatly reduced or prevented through the twisting of wire pairs. In Category 5 not only are the paired wires variably twisted upon each other but, each pair in the bundle is also twisted with the other pairs in the bundle. The use of 4 pairs in a bundle (cable) that we see in Category 5 is the result of developed standards for cabling in businesses back when network and telephone were carried together on a single cable, one pair for the voice (phone), one pair for control (phone – choose a line, put on hold, etc.), and 2 pairs to carry network signal. Now, the third and fourth pairs are used to bypass a broken pair or carry a second network signal most often with commercial phone systems using a separate cable run.

A Switch is a common component of a wired network and simply provides a point of fan out for the cabling; that is, one cable in is replicated to a number of outgoing cables. The signal from any cable connected to the switch is sent to all the cables connected to the switch. This comes in very handy when you have more devices than your router has ports; a router with one port can connect to an 8 port switch and connect to 7 devices. If you have a single cable port in a room and want to connect to a printer and 2 computers, connecting a 4-port switch to the cable allows you to directly connect to those 3 devices.

Tiny Computers for students or as a second or third machine

Hello out there, this week I want to discuss or even propose the purchase of tiny computers to fill out your computer needs as the need for remote computing causes the desire for another computer or two. Generally, I think of tiny computers as using a television for its monitor instead of a dedicated monitor, though either choice works equally well. One of the benefits of tiny computers is that they can hide behind the display unit and not clutter up a workspace or family space.

Various providers have a considerable backstock of tiny computers and you can find them “new”, “refurbished”, or “renewed” usually with Windows 10 installed and a variety of “ports” built-in so you can accessorize as necessary. The one drawback to any of these small devices is that they tend to be too small to include an optical drive (cd, DVD, blueray, etc.) which can be dealt with by transferring content onto USB drives or pushing it up to the cloud or by acquiring a USB-DVD device. This backstock can make the price quite attractive with renewed Intel i5 based units with 8gb of RAM and 240gb of SSD drive going for under $200.

For scale, tiny computer shown with golf balls — small enough to tuck away behind almost anything

It is this pricing for a so much more capable machine than a stick computer that makes these tiny computers so attractive. One additional cost involved with the tiny machines is the video cable to match /connect the computer to your choice of a monitor ($20 or less) and then it is all the same as setting up a stick computer (wireless keyboard + mouse, etc.).
If you don’t already have a spare TV hanging around, you will find that 27″ – 43″ televisions are quite affordable in HD and even UHD configurations. Some advantages of a TV over a monitor are the built-in speakers and the tuner which can allow it to take on multiple roles (supporting gaming consoles, over air broadcasts, etc.).

Another approach is to get a low-end Laptop or even consider a refurbished or renewed mid-range laptop (notebook or similar). This is where some guidance can be assistive; because laptops tend to use low-power components that negatively affect overall performance choosing a CPU like an Intel i5 or AMD A-series or even a Ryzen5 will go a long way towards a good overall experience with a laptop. In addition, choosing a model with an SSD for main storage will provide a better user experience and longer quality service. Intel and AMD both produce lower-end CPUs with other family names (N2000, E3500, etc.) and while these have applications where they are appropriate, they can be frustrating slow when asked to support distance learning and other interactive applications.

Tablet / laptop — Intended for a wide range of uses, this low end laptop doubles as a tablet