Decent laptop for £400
Discussion
My lenovo laptop is buggered, keeps crashing, impossible to update for some reason and the battery appears to last an hour at most. It cost over a grand a few years ago, but my laptops never last so I'm not spending that amount again.
Requirements - decent screen, it'll be a desktop for the most part as I work offshore
Ability to play some older, lowly games. Prefer a separate GPU
Optical drive for aforementioned games.
Ideally windows 7 but it's increasingly hard to find a laptop without 8/8.1
Not too fussy on brands, as long as it isn't lenovo as I've been unimpressed by this one
Requirements - decent screen, it'll be a desktop for the most part as I work offshore
Ability to play some older, lowly games. Prefer a separate GPU
Optical drive for aforementioned games.
Ideally windows 7 but it's increasingly hard to find a laptop without 8/8.1
Not too fussy on brands, as long as it isn't lenovo as I've been unimpressed by this one
PlankWithANailIn said:
ebay, same model or newer...bargins to be had. Ex business x240's look good.
Sorry just saw requirement for optical drive..seriously it is 2015 not 1995!
You obviously also didn't read the bit where he said he didn't mind about the brand as long as it wasn't Lenovo!Sorry just saw requirement for optical drive..seriously it is 2015 not 1995!
No idea on what would be best myself, I'm an Apple person unfortunately! I imagine some kind of Dell or Acer would be pretty solid...
I've just done the trawl on this, although my specs were slightly different than yours.
I came up with Dell 15 5000
15.6 inch screen
5th gen i5 or 4th gen i7, but same speed for each
8Gb RAM
1Tb SATA HDD obviously,
onboard graphics not separate
no optical drive - but I'm fine with a £30 plug in one.
Aluminium body and plastic internals
£450
TheD said:
The Dell which the doc is on about is a good bit of kit. I've bought a few for clients and all of them have been happy with it.
excellent, I was waiting for something intangible like a bird winking at me, or an unusually shaped cloud before pulling the trigger on the Dell. But now I will buy it.My third Vaio in 15 years has just about died and I need to move on. All my Vaios have been £~500
How about a refurb?
Lenovo ThinkPad T520 15.6" (1600x900) Core i5-2520M 2.40GHz 4GB 320GB DVDRW WiFi WebCam Windows 7 Professional 64bit
...and you'll have some change.
Only posted as a satisfied customer. Hope this doesn't break any rules.
Lenovo ThinkPad T520 15.6" (1600x900) Core i5-2520M 2.40GHz 4GB 320GB DVDRW WiFi WebCam Windows 7 Professional 64bit
...and you'll have some change.
Only posted as a satisfied customer. Hope this doesn't break any rules.
Maybe something like the Lenovo Z50-70 with an i3 and Nvidia G820M: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lenovo-Z50-70-15-6-inch-No...
Ordered a Dell 15 5000 with i7, 8gb RAM, 1Tb SATA Aluminium outer case. Radeon graphics chip. £479
I'll let you know what I think of it.
Managed to dodge the ridiculous Office 365 swindle too, somebody at Microsoft is getting their bonus this year for coming up with that. "We'll sell you some software, and after a year you have to buy it again from us even though it might be 100% functional"
I'll let you know what I think of it.
Managed to dodge the ridiculous Office 365 swindle too, somebody at Microsoft is getting their bonus this year for coming up with that. "We'll sell you some software, and after a year you have to buy it again from us even though it might be 100% functional"
Edited by The_Doc on Wednesday 18th February 20:17
[quote=The_Doc]
Ordered a Dell 15 5000 with i7, 8gb RAM, 1Tb SATA Aluminium outer case. Radeon graphics chip. £479
I'll let you know what I think of it.
Managed to dodge the ridiculous Ofice 365 swindle too, somebody at Microsoft is getting their bonus this year for coming up with that. "We'll sell you some software, and after a year you have to buy it again from us even though it might be 100% functional" [/quote
I would be interested in your views of this laptop. I am looking to replace a 6 year old Dell inspiron 1525. Ive goggled the model youve bought but what put me off were the number of people who said the mouse/tracking pad was inaccurate- i presume they mean no seperate right/left click etc from what i can gather.
It did get a five star review i think , in Computer Buyer , and they didnt mention any of those problems.
I am also considering an Asus N551 JK, which they said was the best laptop availiable for under £600.
Priced at £582 on amazon but seems to be a supply problem with none in stock and its much dearer elsewhere.
Ordered a Dell 15 5000 with i7, 8gb RAM, 1Tb SATA Aluminium outer case. Radeon graphics chip. £479
I'll let you know what I think of it.
Managed to dodge the ridiculous Ofice 365 swindle too, somebody at Microsoft is getting their bonus this year for coming up with that. "We'll sell you some software, and after a year you have to buy it again from us even though it might be 100% functional" [/quote
I would be interested in your views of this laptop. I am looking to replace a 6 year old Dell inspiron 1525. Ive goggled the model youve bought but what put me off were the number of people who said the mouse/tracking pad was inaccurate- i presume they mean no seperate right/left click etc from what i can gather.
It did get a five star review i think , in Computer Buyer , and they didnt mention any of those problems.
I am also considering an Asus N551 JK, which they said was the best laptop availiable for under £600.
Priced at £582 on amazon but seems to be a supply problem with none in stock and its much dearer elsewhere.
Dell inspiron: http://www.dell.com/uk/p/inspiron-15-5547-laptop/p...
Eat your heart out
comes with optical drive and discrete graphics. Only glaring spec issue (it is a corker, mind) is the 1366 x 768 screen (in 2015... are you f
king kidding me?). Oh and the hard drive, but that's upgradeable (remember that concept, ultrabook makers/apple? happy days...) - in fact there's even room for a second drive in these, so put an SSD in there when you have the money .
Oh, and from personal experience the AC adapter will probably need replacing after a couple of years. Not a big deal but if it suddenly starts running pig slow on AC power, that's the cause, it sort of defaults to limp home mode so you don't initially realise what's wrong.
Eat your heart out
comes with optical drive and discrete graphics. Only glaring spec issue (it is a corker, mind) is the 1366 x 768 screen (in 2015... are you fking kidding me?). Oh and the hard drive, but that's upgradeable (remember that concept, ultrabook makers/apple? happy days...) - in fact there's even room for a second drive in these, so put an SSD in there when you have the money .Oh, and from personal experience the AC adapter will probably need replacing after a couple of years. Not a big deal but if it suddenly starts running pig slow on AC power, that's the cause, it sort of defaults to limp home mode so you don't initially realise what's wrong.
paranoid airbag said:
Dell inspiron: http://www.dell.com/uk/p/inspiron-15-5547-laptop/p...
Eat your heart out comes with optical drive and discrete graphics. Only glaring spec issue (it is a corker, mind) is the 1366 x 768 screen (in 2015... are you fking kidding me?). Oh and the hard drive, but that's upgradeable (remember that concept, ultrabook makers/apple? happy days...) - in fact there's even room for a second drive in these, so put an SSD in there when you have the money .
Oh, and from personal experience the AC adapter will probably need replacing after a couple of years. Not a big deal but if it suddenly starts running pig slow on AC power, that's the cause, it sort of defaults to limp home mode so you don't initially realise what's wrong.
are you replying to my original post? Because that's what I've ordered, and of note the 15 500 chassis does not have an on board optical drive. I thought the 1366x768 screen would be fine on a 15.6 inch display. I've got a 27inch screen desktop to do photo editing at home...Eat your heart out
comes with optical drive and discrete graphics. Only glaring spec issue (it is a corker, mind) is the 1366 x 768 screen (in 2015... are you fking kidding me?). Oh and the hard drive, but that's upgradeable (remember that concept, ultrabook makers/apple? happy days...) - in fact there's even room for a second drive in these, so put an SSD in there when you have the money .Oh, and from personal experience the AC adapter will probably need replacing after a couple of years. Not a big deal but if it suddenly starts running pig slow on AC power, that's the cause, it sort of defaults to limp home mode so you don't initially realise what's wrong.
The_Doc said:
are you replying to my original post? Because that's what I've ordered, and of note the 15 500 chassis does not have an on board optical drive. I thought the 1366x768 screen would be fine on a 15.6 inch display. I've got a 27inch screen desktop to do photo editing at home...
Yup - crap, sorry for missing the lack of optical drive on newer ones, getting very hard to find on good laptops. On the upside, if you can bear to lose a port and cart it around USB DVD drives are cheap and plentiful.Holy st that Dell is a fking bargain! 5th Gen i7 etc and £549 delivered! I bought my laptop at the back end of last year at the wrong time it would seem!
Saying that, the cpu in my laptop is alot better, i7-4700MQ and it has a 1920 screen, but not sure that is worth the extra £250 I paid, though I am going to be running vms on my laptop and quad core etc is better at that.
t that Dell is a fking bargain! 5th Gen i7 etc and £549 delivered! I bought my laptop at the back end of last year at the wrong time it would seem! Saying that, the cpu in my laptop is alot better, i7-4700MQ and it has a 1920 screen, but not sure that is worth the extra £250 I paid, though I am going to be running vms on my laptop and quad core etc is better at that.
Edited by TheAngryDog on Friday 20th February 01:41
So, the Dell 15 5000 i5 8gb
Outside is very nice brushed aluminium, looks easily nice enough to shame a £1k laptop,
Inside: a bit plasticky, I think I've been flattered by Vaio build quality, this is all a bit..... Bendy.
Trackpad: adequate, no separate mouse buttons.
Keyboard: OK, again my £500 Vaio had an amazing keyboard for the price, I now realise.
Screen looks lovely, deep blacks.
No noisy fan, hope it doesn't overheat.
Speakers: CRAP, really tinny and poor.
The OS is Win8.1 so I'm migrating over, shame it doesn't want to source files from my last Win 7 backup (yesterday's) It seems plenty fast enough now that I've delete all the crap-ware that came with it..
Anyhow, I'm happy.
Outside is very nice brushed aluminium, looks easily nice enough to shame a £1k laptop,
Inside: a bit plasticky, I think I've been flattered by Vaio build quality, this is all a bit..... Bendy.
Trackpad: adequate, no separate mouse buttons.
Keyboard: OK, again my £500 Vaio had an amazing keyboard for the price, I now realise.
Screen looks lovely, deep blacks.
No noisy fan, hope it doesn't overheat.
Speakers: CRAP, really tinny and poor.
The OS is Win8.1 so I'm migrating over, shame it doesn't want to source files from my last Win 7 backup (yesterday's) It seems plenty fast enough now that I've delete all the crap-ware that came with it..
Anyhow, I'm happy.
Edited by The_Doc on Saturday 21st February 09:26
So I'm still happy with the Dell 15 5000
But what of my dying Vaio Laptop? (5 years old, 2GbRam, 300Gb HDD, i5 chip, Windows 7 slow as an old dog, I mean 10 mins to switch on)
It was losing time on the clock, so I paid £15 for a new CMOS battery to be fitted (under the keyboard)
The bloke who did this suggested switching to a SSD for £149.
I instead wiped it and installed Linux Mint.
It flies along now! Printers installed, loads of free software. Didn't need to replace it ! So it lives up stairs in the office as a desktop replacement.
Got 2 good laptops now
I have a Dell Latitude and have bought 3 HP Pavilion laptops for the kids and OH. Whilst I am not fussed about specs I had extended warranties on all 4 machines and all developed a problem at some point after the normal guarantee period. I'd say that the service response from both HP and Dell was excellent. With HP they replaced other bits ie missing keys and stuff although these were not the main fault. The Dell repair man came to my house and fixed the problem really quickly by swapping out the CD drive.
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