value for money laptop, low budget

value for money laptop, low budget

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danlightbulb

Original Poster:

1,033 posts

105 months

Tuesday 26th April 2016
quotequote all
My laptop is in dire need of replacement. It won't even play a video file now without jumping around and the sound cutting out. the screen flickers green and white because it's fcked, and the thing gets red hot when in use. I estimate it's between 7 and 9 years old. I did ditch windows and install linux in an attempt to lighten the system load, which didn't work. The thing is screwed.

I use it for watching video, office applications, internet browsing, the odd basic game. Sometimes I have to encode video into an alternate format to play on the xbox, sometimes I manipulate some images in a basic way. So whilst I don't need anything overly powerful it would still be nice to have it a little future proof as I will want to keep it 5 years or more.

Although I want a laptop, it never moves, so I want a 17" screen with a decent keyboard and in built mouse pad. Weight is not important.

Regarding the budget, I really don't want to pay much. I just can't justify it given that I am trying to save for a house. So I'm looking for value for money, the best I can get for my buck, in the sub £500 range and ideally sub £400. I have heard reconditioned suggested but not sure about this nor where to get them from.

Does anyone have any value for money budget suggestions? There are so many suppliers all offering slightly different spec variations I am not sure where to go. Its also so tempting to keep looking at the next model or two up even though they exceed my desired budget.

I'm also thinking having it on finance would be better, as I'd rather pay £20 a month than outlay £500 in cash. Does anyone offer finance on laptops any more?


EDIT 2nd May - updated requirements

My original sub £500 budget was unrealistic for what I want. So I am now looking for a laptop around the £600 mark that meets these requirements:

  • full HD resolution 15.6" or 17.3" screen
  • minimum i5 processor
  • geforce 940 graphics or higher (want to run flight sims)
  • SSD storage preferred but ability to add one later if standard HDD equipped.
  • decent sound




Edited by danlightbulb on Monday 2nd May 14:29

l354uge

2,892 posts

120 months

Tuesday 26th April 2016
quotequote all
A used/refurb Thinkpad W series or HP elitebook.

Not very portable but very powerful and sturdy.

danlightbulb

Original Poster:

1,033 posts

105 months

Tuesday 26th April 2016
quotequote all
l354uge said:
A used/refurb Thinkpad W series or HP elitebook.

Not very portable but very powerful and sturdy.
Any links where to get refurbished kit from?



Thorburn

2,398 posts

192 months

Tuesday 26th April 2016
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My sub-£400 laptop of choice is the Lenovo B51-80 - has the latest 6th gen Core i5-6200U chip and a 500GB SSHD (hybrid of mechanical HDD and a small SSD style NAND cache).

Build quality is pretty reasonable - bit of keyboard bounce, but better than a lot of similarly priced machine. It only has a 1366x768 screen, but you won't find many 1080p at this price point.

Oh, and as a minor bonus it is also easily upgradeable if you want to spend £20 and go to 8GB RAM or a proper SSD.

Set up a bunch of these and its predecessor the B50-80 for customers and have a first impression/memory and SSD upgrade video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDDBSJLcRnA

danlightbulb

Original Poster:

1,033 posts

105 months

Tuesday 26th April 2016
quotequote all
Not sure if the link is correct but the description says its 1920*1080 display? It is a good price though, but I did really want 17" screen as it only ever lives in my living room.

I'm also wondering whether I should be looking for a graphics card.

RobDickinson

31,343 posts

253 months

Tuesday 26th April 2016
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You want a laptop that doesnt travel , ever?

danlightbulb

Original Poster:

1,033 posts

105 months

Tuesday 26th April 2016
quotequote all
RobDickinson said:
You want a laptop that doesnt travel , ever?
Yep. I don't have room in my house for a desktop. So the laptop lives on a small coffee table near my sofa when I'm using it, and folded up on the sideboard when I'm not.

RobDickinson

31,343 posts

253 months

Tuesday 26th April 2016
quotequote all
How about an intel Nuc thing and a screen with bt keyboard etc?

Thorburn

2,398 posts

192 months

Tuesday 26th April 2016
quotequote all
danlightbulb said:
Not sure if the link is correct but the description says its 1920*1080 display? It is a good price though, but I did really want 17" screen as it only ever lives in my living room.

I'm also wondering whether I should be looking for a graphics card.
The description on there is wrong, it is 1366x768.

I think under £400 you'll struggle for a 17" machine worth buying, 15.6" ones are simply more prevalent - likewise you won't be likely to get a discrete graphics card worth having, the GeForce 920M is no faster than integrated (although more compatible in some games), 930M a little, 940M is the first one worth considering but the cheapest laptop with it is ~£500.

Intel HD 520 can cope with basic gaming, I've actually got a lot of game videos I've made here showing how various games run on it: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmCC8789U9_...

Thorburn

2,398 posts

192 months

Tuesday 26th April 2016
quotequote all
RobDickinson said:
How about an intel Nuc thing and a screen with bt keyboard etc?
To be honest by the time you've bought a NUC + memory + SSD + Windows license it is quite a bit more expensive than just buying an equivalent laptop. Even more so if you then need to add a monitor, keyboard and mouse on top.

danlightbulb

Original Poster:

1,033 posts

105 months

Wednesday 27th April 2016
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Know of anywhere that might offer low rate or 0% finance? I looked at pcspecialist but their finance is 29% APR. At 0% over 3 years I could get something in the £500+ range for less than £20 a month which I wouldn't really miss. I thought Dell did finance but it would seem they don't any more.

I could potentially find a 0% credit card to put it on.

What would be the best option if I was to budget £500?



Edited by danlightbulb on Wednesday 27th April 00:20

RobDickinson

31,343 posts

253 months

Wednesday 27th April 2016
quotequote all
Thorburn said:
To be honest by the time you've bought a NUC + memory + SSD + Windows license it is quite a bit more expensive than just buying an equivalent laptop. Even more so if you then need to add a monitor, keyboard and mouse on top.
Really? well that sucks lol

Thorburn

2,398 posts

192 months

Wednesday 27th April 2016
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RobDickinson said:
Really? well that sucks lol
£285 for a NUC6i3SYH, £16 for 4GB DDR4 modules, £50 for a 240GB SSD or 1TB HDD, £80 for Windows 10 Home OEM. Or just £300-350 for an i3/i5 laptop with Windows 10 Home already installed.

Not to say they don't have their uses though, got a NUC5i7RYH, NUC6i3SYN and NUC6i5SYH here to test in the next few days.

anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 27th April 2016
quotequote all
'll get slaughtered for this suggestion but:
Second Hand

I saw a Dell Inspiron 17" laptop i7 processor 8gb Ram 1TB hard drive VGC all in at £249 recently
Sure you would be best to reset it/ recover it which would take a few hours then to upgrade it to Win 10 but it would do pretty much what you wanted

My own beloved Dell Latitude E7240 12" 128gb SSD 8Gb RAM i5 thingey was a steal at £300 late last year.
Just depends if you are prepared to do your research and take some time to reset/recover

Again I wanted something small for work use home use and happened upon another Latitude think its model 6220 at £125

I know thse are Dells but there are similar models from others if you look
There is also a load of crap stuff too that's why looking and doing yoir researching is useful

danlightbulb

Original Poster:

1,033 posts

105 months

Wednesday 27th April 2016
quotequote all
My current 7 to 9 year old laptop has a screen res of 1440x900. I really dont want to go lower than this nor for a smaller screen size as its going backwards. I only paid about 500 for that one so im kind of surprised at the prices currently around for decent screen resolutions.

andy-xr

13,204 posts

203 months

Wednesday 27th April 2016
quotequote all
danlightbulb said:
Know of anywhere that might offer low rate or 0% finance? I looked at pcspecialist but their finance is 29% APR. At 0% over 3 years I could get something in the £500+ range for less than £20 a month which I wouldn't really miss. I thought Dell did finance but it would seem they don't any more.

I could potentially find a 0% credit card to put it on.

What would be the best option if I was to budget £500?



Edited by danlightbulb on Wednesday 27th April 00:20
My Mrs got one from very.co.uk - it wasnt a great spec and it wasnt a great price but it's been more than reasonable for what she wanted. I think it was a fairly base spec i3 with a standard non glossy screen, 1000GB HDD and 4GB RAM for about £300. They do low rate finance as well

I think it was this one or one very similar to it http://www.very.co.uk/acer-e5-573-intelreg-coretra...

sgrimshaw

7,311 posts

249 months

Wednesday 27th April 2016
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How about using your TV as a monitor for a small desktop or nettop?

Plenty of choice within your budget on ebuyer.com

danlightbulb

Original Poster:

1,033 posts

105 months

Wednesday 27th April 2016
quotequote all
Gonna have to increase budget i think. Circa 500 to 550. I want at least hd resolution and a 17" screen with an i5. Preferably some graphics capability either the integrated intel or a budget card.

Dell are looking about the best at the moment. Went in john lewis earlier , selection poor.

wizzard67

139 posts

123 months

Wednesday 27th April 2016
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There's some refurbished ones at Laptops Direct within your budget - http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/st/17-to-19-inch-la...

ZesPak

24,421 posts

195 months

Wednesday 27th April 2016
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I know you specifically specify a laptop, but why is that?
Any similar spec desktop will outlast any laptop. It has less concerns for heat, more possibility for upgrades,...

These days, for your use, you could easily make your desktop last 8 years. A laptop (especially at your price point) will never do that. Add to that a decent screen, that could last two computers.

Anyway, using a laptop as a desktop feels like false economy to me.