Best Laptop for Zoom

[Joey]

Is there a laptop for around $500 for zoom that’s better than others? 
 

[Jeanie]

I use a Chromebook for work and the Ipad for the meetings from the Hall.  Both are under 500.00.  Both seem to work fine for me.  

[Joey]

I was told not to get a chromebook if your doing the muting and unmuting of the friends.

[Naith]

If you can get a laptop/machine with an i7 CPU, that helps to be able to see up to 49 participants per screen. A godsend if you're conducting a Q&A part!!!

[Joey]

I wonder if this is a good one? 

[Naith]

36 minutes ago, Littlecat said:

I wonder if this is a good one? 

The processor is fine. Check to see what the screen resolution is (this one is HD so most likely a low resolution). For a 15.6" screen best to go for a full HD one which is 1920x1080. Also, make sure it's an IPS panel, not a TN type. This doesn't have a SSD hard drive (at least I don't think it does). Far better to get a laptop with a SSD drive. Then see what the quality of the webcam is like. It makes a big difference when using Zoom and all the other video conference programs. 

 

Hope that helps a little 🙂

[Brother_Bliss]

3 hours ago, Littlecat said:

I wonder if this is a good one? 

It might get the job done. But screen resolution and webcam quality are going to be the key to a good Zoom experience (plus lots of LIGHT in your room). Unfortunately there is no information about these specs in your image.

 

Im running a Surface Pro 3. It has a dual core i5 processor, 8 GB RAM, and an SSD drive. It get's the job done, but the webcam is awful, so I purchased another webcam and use it instead.

 

 

[Joey]

2 hours ago, Dismal_Bliss said:

It might get the job done. But screen resolution and webcam quality are going to be the key to a good Zoom experience (plus lots of LIGHT in your room). Unfortunately there is no information about these specs in your image.

 

Im running a Surface Pro 3. It has a dual core i5 processor, 8 GB RAM, and an SSD drive. It get's the job done, but the webcam is awful, so I purchased another webcam and use it instead.

 

 

I think that’s more than I can afford. Do you know of a good resale shop in Ohio?

[Margaret]

I still haven’t figured out how to see more than 1 person at a time with my laptop

[Tbs77]

I still haven’t figured out how to see more than 1 person at a time with my laptop

Click on icon that will allow gallery....

Sign in to the Zoom client.
Click Settings, and then
click Video to display the video settings page.
Enable the option Display up to 49 participants per screen in Gallery View.Feb 26, 2020

https://support.zoom.us › articles › 3...
Displaying participants in gallery view – Zoom Help Center

[Naith]

3 hours ago, Tbs77 said:

Click on icon that will allow gallery....

Sign in to the Zoom client.
Click Settings, and then
click Video to display the video settings page.
Enable the option Display up to 49 participants per screen in Gallery View.Feb 26, 2020

https://support.zoom.us › articles › 3...
Displaying participants in gallery view – Zoom Help Center

But you only have the option to see up to 49 participants if you have an i7 CPU (or AMD equivalent I think). If not, it will be greyed out...

[carlos]

18 hours ago, Littlecat said:

Is there a laptop for around $500 for zoom that’s better than others? 
 

Nancy, any laptop of that price will perform well with Zoom.

 

There are some features that work better on more powerful processors, but for normal usage like attending the meeting, any modern laptop works fine.

 

The factor that has a most important weigh on your Zoom experience is the quality of your internet connection. With a poor connection, images will be blurred, sound will sometimes be interrupted or distorted, and there will be interruptions. If your your internet access is good, your laptop will work just fine.

[Naith]

What often helps to improve your internet connection is to disconnect all the devices (you won't be using during the meeting) in your home that are connected to your Wi-Fi before any Zoom meeting. Also, rebooting your router each week can help too.

[Tbs77]

But you only have the option to see up to 49 participants if you have an i7 CPU (or AMD equivalent I think). If not, it will be greyed out...

I just use the arrow > on the side of screen to see next 49...

There are several views I toggle the gallery... option on the main screen...you can even see friends during the speaker screen, too...hope that's useful...(Not a techie)

[Amygdala]

8 hours ago, Margaret said:

I still haven’t figured out how to see more than 1 person at a time with my laptop

 

6 hours ago, Tbs77 said:

Sign in to the Zoom client.

Does that mean Margaret needs to have a Zoom account to access her video settings?

 

Is there a way from when she`s in a meeting to access her video settings, cause that was a sort of similar issue that came up with me. I had to sign-in to change the noise on my monitor, as my daughter had set it as noisy while she was zooming with her friends on my husband`s account. When I was on a bible study with a sister, I was just in as a normal user and couldn`t change those settings. So I left the meeting, signed in with our account, changed the background  noise on my monitor, then re-joined the bible study as a normal user.

Edited May 15, 2020 by Lieblingskind

[.Ivan.]

I am using my 3 yrs old Acer F5 573G, added 8Gb more of RAM and one 512 Gb nvme SSD. Works good but webcam is bad, it is HD resolurion but quality of video bad. Had to buy some webcam of Logitech.
Cameras are bad on laptops. Only macbook have good camera and gaming laotops. Buy some webcam separatelly and it will work nice.
I use that built in camera. Brothers from cong knows how i look, and with bad cam it is hardly to notice am i freshly shaved or not

[Joey]

7 hours ago, carlos said:

Nancy, any laptop of that price will perform well with Zoom.

 

There are some features that work better on more powerful processors, but for normal usage like attending the meeting, any modern laptop works fine.

 

The factor that has a most important weigh on your Zoom experience is the quality of your internet connection. With a poor connection, images will be blurred, sound will sometimes be interrupted or distorted, and there will be interruptions. If your your internet access is good, your laptop will work just fine.

The laptop is for my son to handle his responsibilities at the meetings of muting and unmuting and giving talks.
I just use my iPhone for meetings.

Thats why I was concerned about what to get him.

 

[Myew]

On 5/14/2020 at 1:24 PM, Littlecat said:

I was told not to get a chromebook if your doing the muting and unmuting of the friends.

This sounds silly to me, perhaps they were using the Android version of Zoom on Chrome OS and not the Chrome Web Store version? You can also run Zoom right from the browser / website itself and that works fine. However, I haven't verified it myself that the Chrome Web Store version has the full gallery/participant functionality... I'd need to test Chrome OS off of a USB Drive. https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/213298746-Getting-Started-On-Chrome-OS
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/zoom/hmbjbjdpkobdjplfobhljndfdfdipjhg?hl=en

I have the Lenovo Flex 14 2-in-1 with a Ryzen 3500U, 12GB RAM, 256GB NVME, (also touch, stylus, and then some) which after several promos amounted to around $400 on Black Friday. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TWHYTSQ/ It can do a lot more than most people need, but you'd be hard pressed to find one for that price now due to the pandemic. There are some on eBay and the like however, you might be able to find a decent one. It can easily handle running a second monitor and streaming/screen sharing for the meetings. The camera on it is not bad, 720p, better than most I see on Zoom. You likely won't be able to find an i7 CPU in the $500 price range now unless it's much older. If you must have an i7, they're going to cost at least $700 for something new. I would recommend no less than a 4th generation i7, newer is very preferable, but you can find some older 4th gen ones around $300. You used to be able to find Microsoft Surface Books with a 6th gen I7 for $400-500, but alas. My Ryzen 3500U does not allow me to check the '49 participants' box in Zoom, but it would easily be able to handle that if only Zoom supported it. 😕 It's far more powerful than any older i7 up to around the 8th-9th gen. But I am fine with 'only' 25 people at once, the majority of conducting is done using the participants window. The best processors that you can find in the $500~$600 range at the moment is the newer Ryzen 4500U, but most are out of stock or very hard to find.

He would probably want at least a Ryzen 3 or Intel i5, 8GB of RAM, and an SSD or m.2 NVME storage. A 1080p IPS display would be great, at least 13", preferably 15". I posted some about buying used laptops here before:

I recommend watching https://www.reddit.com/r/LaptopDeals/ for current sales if you want something new. https://www.reddit.com/r/LaptopDeals/comments/gbh92u/best_gaming_laptops_updated_for_may_2020/ This will be the most frequently updated thread for people looking for gaming-grade laptops, which will naturally be inclined towards the best hardware performance in their price tier.

You can find my Flex 14 laptop and the Motile (Walmart brand) 14 Ryzen 5s on eBay for around $300-350. https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=ryzen+3500u+8gb+256gb+ssd&_sacat=0 The Walmart one has been on sale new for $300 before but currently is at $450, not quite worth that much. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Vega-HDMI-720p-Front-RAM-Rose-FHD-8GB-display-AMD-Tuned-Radeon-14-Ryzen-Gold-THX-Graphics-IR-SSD-Laptop-MOTILE-5-Spatial-256GB-8-Performance-Audio-HD/909076408?irgwc=1&sourceid=imp_3OJWOpVKmxyJUBWwUx0Mo3cwUkiwg334iy5RyE0&veh=aff&wmlspartner=imp_1883484&clickid=3OJWOpVKmxyJUBWwUx0Mo3cwUkiwg334iy5RyE0&sharedid=

A review of my laptop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nfz46HXvPLc

Edited May 15, 2020 by Myew

[dove]

I usually bring Zoom up on the app I have on my iPhone or iPad and then use mirroring to my  TV. 
it’s much easier for me to see and I get much better , louder audio from my TV sound   
 

[Joey]

I found a HP pro book with everything everyone suggested except it’s i5 like Bobs.He didn’t have i7. 

Its real HD 1920x1080 , SSD , IPS panel . It  seems great. $329.00 Refurbished. He bought it from a bunch of computers in a business sale. 
1 year warranty and the guys shop is in my town.

 

[Qapla]

Keep in mind that using a laptop keyboard is not always the easiest thing for everyone. You can get an inexpensive USB keyboard (or even a wireless one) from Walmart that gives you the use of a conventional keyboard while using the laptop.

[carlos]

15 hours ago, Littlecat said:

The laptop is for my son to handle his responsibilities at the meetings of muting and unmuting and giving talks.

Even if your son is a co-host and has to mute and unmute, any modern laptop will do.

 

Now if your son is the one who starts the meeting, then a bit more power is needed. Make sure the laptop has an i5 processor at least. (i7 is better but hard to find in a $500 laptop unless it's reaconditioned, which is a great option too.) There are plenty of options for that price with an i5 processor and 8 GB RAM. The rest is irrelevant.

[carlos]

On 5/15/2020 at 8:33 AM, Margaret said:

I still haven’t figured out how to see more than 1 person at a time with my laptop

@Margaret You are talking about a laptop, right? Not a tablet or phone?

 

When you are in a Zoom meeting on a laptop, in the upper right corner there is a text that says "Gallery view". If you click on it, you will see all the participants. If you want to go back to one person only, for example for the talks, in the same place will appear the text "Speaker view".

 

I prepared a short video to show you how to do this. Audio did not work but it's quite understandable.

 

 

 

[Brother_Bliss]

On 5/14/2020 at 11:07 PM, Littlecat said:

I think that’s more than I can afford. Do you know of a good resale shop in Ohio?

I didn't mean to imply that you should go out and get a Surface Pro tablet or Surface laptop. I was just saying that I am using one (an OLD one at that) and the camera is mediocre.

 

Both my kids have this...

 

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-ideapad-15-6-laptop-amd-ryzen-3-8gb-memory-256gb-solid-state-drive-platinum-gray-imr/6398120.p?skuId=6398120

 

... and it does just fine. The camera is also medicore, but improves with proper lighting. In fact, most cameras will look grainy in low light. Get daylight LED bulbs for the room you zoom in and it will help.

[DarinS]

Naith - your basically talking resolution.....

many watch it on TV and separate computer screens....

 

but as a side note - it is less productive to try and view 49 individual scenes in the GALLERY view

 

the better practice would be to use the raise hand feature - on the main screen and/or participant window

(that is ZOOM recommendations and some from the branch also - we have some letters)

 

we have 70-80 connections every mtg - the AV attendant can move left or right and see the individual attendees

 

The brother with the part doesn’t need to worry about seeing screens tho - he reminds friends to raise hands electronically

even the older ones get a hang of it — we have seen an increase in comments from those more reserved in the past

 

 

the raise hand feature moves that name to the top of the participant list and you can call on them...also helps AV Attendant mute/unmute them...if necessary......

as he does not need to look for them at all

 

 

Regarding the laptop and surface pro - i use both - and the Apple IPad & Mac laptops

you can find the surface pro 3 & 4 very affordable ($200-$300) on offer up ..eBay..pawn shops —- much cheaper than apple products usually

 

they are a good Windows laptop that acts like a tablet — very popular in the corporate environment. - Still has the windows platform that most people are comfortable with.... and you can use it like a laptop or tablet .. it does have many optional addons

 

i did use it a few times to run the meeting — with a secondary monitor

the sound servant ran the mtg off his surface pro 3 with an xtra monitor

i also use it or an iMac to run training classes on a regular basis - you can expand it with a nice dock...got that on special for $35 recently

lets me add 5 USB ports and a 3rd monitor .... I’m into the whole cost for a surface pro4 - surface pro keyboard, wireless mouse, Dock and xtra power cord and xtra tv/monitor for less than $500

 

dm me if you want more info 

Edited May 17, 2020 by DarinS