Ask Slashdot: Which Laptop Should I Buy For My First Employee?

vikingpower writes: Until now, yours truly has been running a one-man freelancer show. However, since January 1st the first employee is here, and of course I'm mighty proud of a stellarly clever young person working for me. She works remotely (I'm in one European capital; she is in another) and I need to buy her a laptop. Since she's straight out of college and a non-techie, she basically only knows one OS: Windows, although she could get comfortable with macOS. However, as a long-time (server-side) programmer, I feel Apple hardware is seriously overpriced. Also, my brilliant first employee will mostly do research and hardly needs anything more than a browser, Office or Office-like software (yes, I'm looking at you, Libre Office, and I love you!), and bibliography software. Should I get her a Chromebook or a mid-level laptop running Windows? Any thoughts?

Comments

Re:Let her decide

[pigwin32]

No - she's a "non-techie". Don't just ask her to do it herself - if you've got a budget and there's some hardware you like then suggest that's what you're considering and ask for her feedback/confirmation. As a new employee out of college, you will gain a lot of kudos as an employer by buying her a decent laptop. How would you feel if your new employer bunged you a second-hand laptop or a chromebook? I'd be checking the job boards. When we hired we used to buy refurb Apple laptops until we needed more current hardware so shelled out for new MacBook Pro's. The employee we wanted to keep has been with us now for 8 years and we are stoked.

Do not let her decide!!! good laptop with VMs

[williamyf]

She is a Non-Techie. And she is in another country. That says it all.

She is a non-techie, she will not be able to choose the best laptop. And she is a non-techie, she will not be able to administer and mantain the laptop (whanna bet on the "toolbars upon toolbars in the browser" Scenario?). And she is another country, so going to you (the boss) for help with the machine is out of the question.

Buy her a nice looking laptop, good build quality, decent specs. Which supports *virtualization*.

Put on the bare metal whatever Windows or Linux you feel confortable administering and lock it down as hell. Set up remote access. Choose a VM solution with good 3D acceleration. Then set up two windows VMs.

One is her "WorkVM" with the web browser, WhatevurOffice, and any other program/app/whatevur she needs for work purposes. Lock it down as hell. Set this machine up to save all work related stuff to a folder shared with the host OS. Set up a decent backup solution for this guest.

The other VM will be her "do whatever you like with it" "personal" VM. Do not lock it down that much.

Keep two golden masters (one for each machine) if push comes to shove.

Enjoy.

Unlike dual-booting, this solution eases your administrative burden, trust me.