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

Posted by BeauHD on from the suggestion-box dept.

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?

5 of 304 comments (clear)

  1. Let her decide by CohibaVancouver · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Tell her your budget and requirements (e.g. "Windows") and let her go buy what she likes.

    I would automatically say Microsoft Surface, with pen + dock + monitor + keyboard + mouse, but empower her.

    1. Re:Let her decide by bernywork · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Absolutely, it's not like you've got to manage 20,000 of these things. It's just another laptop, ignore the price tag (You still own it) just get her whatever she feels comfortable using.

      In previous experience, whatever it costs for mice or keyboards or whatever else is nothing compared to employee satisfaction and keeping staff (And when they're good, you want to keep them!)

      --
      Curiosity was framed; ignorance killed the cat. -- Author unknown
    2. Re:Let her decide by pigwin32 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      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.

  2. Neither Windows or Mac? by bjwest · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Since she's straight out of college and a non-techie...

    For a safer environment, I'd give her something with Linux on it. It's not totally immune, but one hell of a lot more so than Windows and OSX, with the plus side of not reporting back home everything she does (Win10, not OSX as far as I know). If all she needs is email, web access and office (you've already said LibereOffice will suffice), she should have no problems with it, and can open just about any email without infecting the thing.

    --

    --- Keep the choice with the user..
  3. Easy choice by grumpyman · · Score: 5, Funny

    Of course it is Raspberry Pi with Slackware. This encourages and tests your employee's problem solving skill!