Hunting for a new 2-in-1 for my daughter's birthday in about 10 days...

Nope, sorry. It's done, I ordered the Lenovo. I gave in to temptation, 0% interest financing for a year, the pressure sensitive pen, and it'll get here before her birthday now. :)

Thank you for all your help everyone, I'll let you know how it goes. :D
 
Pretty decent consumer protection, so yeah. Shouldn't be too bad, and I'm pretty good with dealing with support people.

I could believe that failure rate study, I was just curious if there was something particularly odorous about Lenovo but it doesn't seem so.

One more thing that makes me think this is the one is that it's only available in gold which is the one thing I wasn't too wild about, except this is my daughter's 17th birthday on the 17th so it's her golden birthday so I might just be able to wheedle my wife in to this one.

I agree. It's better to squeeze more money for it. Done be too stingy. Because it will be the computing device that accompany her life, every day, for lots of stuff.
 
Nope, sorry. It's done, I ordered the Lenovo. I gave in to temptation, 0% interest financing for a year, the pressure sensitive pen, and it'll get here before her birthday now. :)

Thank you for all your help everyone, I'll let you know how it goes. :D

Make sure to wipe it and install clean windows yourself. Lenovo have lots of boats
 
As long as it has a key it shouldn't be hard for me to find a clean copy of whatever version of Windows 10 it has and install it using her key, yes? (I've never been overly concerned with the legality of a windows install, but if we're getting one I"d like to keep it legal)
 
As long as it has a key it shouldn't be hard for me to find a clean copy of whatever version of Windows 10 it has and install it using her key, yes? (I've never been overly concerned with the legality of a windows install, but if we're getting one I"d like to keep it legal)

Starting from windows 8, the key is in the bios/uefi. The installation may or may not be able to automatically detect it. You can manually extract the key using an ugly app I uploaded in B3D ages ago (sorry I forgot the app name and the thread).

Starting with Windows 10, OEM install should be already tied to the uefi or something and clean install will work with no key (there is actually no key). Internet connection is REQUIRED.

But just to be safe... Do a complete backup before you wipe it.
 
Well, slight change of plans. I brought up the idea of picking up the Miix for $620 and she went bonkers, she doesn't want to spend over $400.

On a happy note I was able to cancel the order with her none-the-wiser, on the shit side I gotta find something for right around $400 within the next 4-5 hours that will make everyone happy.

Oh, but I must go cook dinner first since my wife is hungry.

FML, that is all.
 
Well, slight change of plans. I brought up the idea of picking up the Miix for $620 and she went bonkers, she doesn't want to spend over $400.

On a happy note I was able to cancel the order with her none-the-wiser, on the shit side I gotta find something for right around $400 within the next 4-5 hours that will make everyone happy.

Oh, but I must go cook dinner first since my wife is hungry.

FML, that is all.

Wow what a really great daughter! You also cook? Awesome father.

Now I really want to learn to cook.

Goodluck with the hunts!
 
Well, slight change of plans. I brought up the idea of picking up the Miix for $620 and she went bonkers, she doesn't want to spend over $400.

On a happy note I was able to cancel the order with her none-the-wiser, on the shit side I gotta find something for right around $400 within the next 4-5 hours that will make everyone happy.

Oh, but I must go cook dinner first since my wife is hungry.

FML, that is all.

Surface 3. And buy the keyboard. Maybe combine it with student discount??
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01A...efurbished&dpPl=1&dpID=51NuOAJOosL&ref=plSrch
 
Did you try some value for money talk or reverse psychology?

Seems to me your wife is hell bent on not spending more than 400 bucks even if that means you end up with a device that simply isn't sufficient for your daughters needs. In other words; a waste of money. That and a daughter that might be pissed the whole time because she has to work with a crappy device.

Assuming this device is supposed to last her at least two years and she uses it ~ 2 hours as day, that means over a 2 year period a 600 dollar laptop will only be 7.something cents more expensive than a 400 dollar laptop.

Sooooo maybe you should try asking your wife if her daughter's happiness is not worth 7 cents an hour to her ;)
 
I find it funny trying to use logic in conversations with a wife. All the married people warn me of the dangers of doing so.
Yeah, not only You need to use feeling instead of pure logic, also need to make sure to looks like you listens to her points. Letting the discussion settle for a night also helps.

At least that's my experience with my mom and my girl friends. I never had any girlfriend tho, so dunno...
 
Yeah, not only You need to use feeling instead of pure logic, also need to make sure to looks like you listens to her points. Letting the discussion settle for a night also helps.

At least that's my experience with my mom and my girl friends. I never had any girlfriend tho, so dunno...

You don't get it do you? You're supposed to just shut up and agree :LOL:

Try intercultural relationships and things get even better. My Japanese girlfriend is stubborn as fuck. There really is no point in arguing about anything because logic, facts and whatnot just don't apply. That said my ex was super easy going and Japanese as well. Than again, as it turned out she was 20 years older than me so that probably helped a bit :LOL:. Not that it was a problem for me... for her eventually it was and that's why she tried to hook me up with her (at the time) 19 year old daughter to the point where she introduced me to her and spent the whole evening bashing her BF :LOL:. Too bad she lives so far away.
 
Yeah, arguing over price and features is kind of useless with my wife on points like this. I've been looking for a few hours now and while it still feels hopeless I got a ride to the airport with my wife in about 3 hours that I can try and wheedle the budget up a tad on.

It's killing me trying to find something under $400, or hell even near $400. The best I've come up with is the Chi 300, but even that doesn't have windows 10 on it. (Yes, the spectre 2 for $30 more or so is looking f-ing temping again)

I'm giving up for the night, I gotta try and sleep for an hour at least before the cruise to O'Hare and back.
 
I don't know... I think that really is trying to fit the budget rather than trying to fit you daughter's needs. Anything more than browsing and some light office use will be hell on that thing.

If you really can't break 400 bucks how about a Android tablet? The Samsung tab A 10 has a pen (not sure how accurate), Android has office, it has an SD card slot and if she really needs an external disk she could use a micro usb to usb adapter. I know that isn't something she really wanted but at this price point some sacrifices will have to be made. Screen, specs and portability should be pretty decent.

The obvious caveat is no keyboard but I'm sure you can get a cheap bluetooth keyboard/stand somewhere but the tablet, keyboard and sd card shouldn't cost more than 400.

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Galaxy-Tablet-Black-SM-T580NZKAXAR/dp/B01LFV5SI6?th=1
 
You don't get it do you? You're supposed to just shut up and agree :LOL:

Try intercultural relationships and things get even better. My Japanese girlfriend is stubborn as fuck. There really is no point in arguing about anything because logic, facts and whatnot just don't apply. That said my ex was super easy going and Japanese as well. Than again, as it turned out she was 20 years older than me so that probably helped a bit :LOL:. Not that it was a problem for me... for her eventually it was and that's why she tried to hook me up with her (at the time) 19 year old daughter to the point where she introduced me to her and spent the whole evening bashing her BF :LOL:. Too bad she lives so far away.

Dude, I have no girlfriend. Of course I don't get it lol.

@digitalwanderer agh you surely are in a pickle. And as a tech person that truly understands her needs, it's even harder.
 
Seems to me your wife is hell bent on not spending more than 400 bucks even if that means you end up with a device that simply isn't sufficient for your daughters needs.
I don't agree with this. The usage that digitalwanderer described for his daughter would be perfectly fine with a machine under $400. It's the additional little less-important things like not wanting to use USB-C adapters + pen included + general looks + avoiding this or that manufacturer that is coming in the way of choosing a fitting model.
You can buy a lot for $400, but that money doesn't allow you to be picky. It's that simple.

If you really can't break 400 bucks how about a Android tablet?
Android tablets are pretty much dead in the water these days. Google themselves have done nothing to improve tablet UX since the Pixel C launched over a year ago.


Sounds like it ticks all the boxes. Here's a review:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/HP-Pavilion-x2-12-Convertible-Review.172077.0.html

Only thing that isn't great is battery life.
My suggestion is buy it fast and don't look back.
You're starting to get too close to Christmas and in no time you'll have to deal with supply shortages everywhere, and you might end up buying something worse than anything else suggested here for the lack of choice.
 
We're considering now. It's between the HP Pavillion X2 above or the Spectre X2...and I'm thinking she's leaning towards the Spectre X2 and I think it is probably worth the extra $25. (Plus she'll ask Gramma for a Wacom pen that's compatible for her birthday. ;) )


We have some time to decide, it's 2:35pm here now and I was up until about 2:40a last night looking at 2-in-1s and I had to get up at 4:30am to take my wife up to O'Hare to make a 7:00am flight...which we missed by 45 minutes due to an accident and weather and she had to reschedule her flight until this afternoon but she just spent her day at the airport since I had to run home and pick up the daughter for a doctors appt and some running around which I've just finished and now I think I'm gonna go faceplant into my pillow for a few minutes until my brain starts thinking clearly. Then I plan to sit down and talk to my daughter about which she likes and we'll take it from there.

Thanks again all, I'd never have gotten anything near this good without all your help. :)
 
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