value for money laptop, low budget

value for money laptop, low budget

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Discussion

GlenMH

5,204 posts

242 months

Wednesday 27th April 2016
quotequote all
ZesPak said:
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.
And the rest - I am using a 2nd gen i5 desktop that is at least 6 years old. Added SSD 3 years ago and it still flies. I can't see me needing to upgrade for another 3-4 years.

danlightbulb

Original Poster:

1,033 posts

105 months

Wednesday 27th April 2016
quotequote all
Space is the constraint im afraid. I dont have room to keep a permanent table with a desktop on it, and i dont want to tie up the tv with a box that uses that.

danlightbulb

Original Poster:

1,033 posts

105 months

Wednesday 27th April 2016
quotequote all
wizzard67 said:
There's some refurbished ones at Laptops Direct within your budget - http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/st/17-to-19-inch-la...
These dont seem good value to me. Savings from new are only between 10 and 20%, and they seem to only come with 3 months warranty. Alot to risk on a small price reduction.

INWB

896 posts

106 months

Wednesday 27th April 2016
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Thorburn said:
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
Would second this. My old business supplied loads of these and we never had one fail or cause user problems. Recommend ensuring you take off any bloatware esp if it comes with home edition. Suggest ESET for your antivirus as well

Good luck

danlightbulb

Original Poster:

1,033 posts

105 months

Wednesday 27th April 2016
quotequote all
Any quick thoughts on acer e5-773 in pc world £529.99? Sorry cant link from phone.

Its 17.3 screen full hd. I5 6200u. 1tb hdd. 8gb ram. Intel hd 520 graphics.


Link added: http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/la...

Edited by danlightbulb on Wednesday 27th April 21:28

danlightbulb

Original Poster:

1,033 posts

105 months

Thursday 28th April 2016
quotequote all
Decided against the acer. Am now looking at a bit of a budget increase to around the £630 mark and this has revealed two options so far:

1. Toshiba Satellite P50-C-18K: 15.6" IPS display, i5-6200U, 16GB ram, 930M graphics, 256GB SSD. http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/la...

or

2. PCspecialist Cosmos IV: 15.6" IPS display, i5-6300HQ, 8GB ram, 940M graphics, 250GB SSD. http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/cosmosIV-1...


Anyone got a view on which is better for the money, or any alternatives now Ive upped my budget a bit?

mike9009

6,918 posts

242 months

Thursday 28th April 2016
quotequote all
Try here

http://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/SecondaryInvent...

17" 1080 screen, i5, 8Gb Ram and less than your original budget.... means a decent SSD could be installed to make it fly...


Mike

dmsims

6,450 posts

266 months

Friday 29th April 2016
quotequote all
HP Envy 17

danlightbulb

Original Poster:

1,033 posts

105 months

Friday 29th April 2016
quotequote all
dmsims said:
HP Envy 17
These are 800+ i dont want to spend that much, and prefer new.

The dell link doesnt work but ill take another look at the outlet. I dont know which will be better, a 17" hd screen or a 15" hd ips screen.

The toshiba i posted above has a few bad reviews about screen going black, so im leaning toward the cosmos iv now. Has anyone any experience with pc specialist?

PositronicRay

26,957 posts

182 months

Friday 29th April 2016
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I had one of theses about a yr ago

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00OA4YJZO/ref...

It's been fine albeit its £20 dearer now.

dmsims

6,450 posts

266 months

Friday 29th April 2016
quotequote all
danlightbulb said:
These are 800+ i dont want to spend that much, and prefer new.
nearly new ?

£599

HP Envy 17-k201na Laptop (Intel Core i7 2.4 GHz, 12 GB RAM, 1 TB HDD)

"Same Ultra high specification as listing and also includes NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M Graphics card and complete with genuine HP charger. In an almost perfect condition. Includes Windows 10 with license. Also includes £1000's worth of pre-installed and fully working versions of Microsoft Office 2013 (Latest version), Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Latest) and the popular Action game Far Cry 4 . No license or keys included with the latter products"

danlightbulb

Original Poster:

1,033 posts

105 months

Friday 29th April 2016
quotequote all
Hmm im unconvinced tbh. Thats alot of money for second hand equipment. 740m graphics vs modern 940m? Presumably an older gen i7. Software installed with no licence keys available dodgy too. May have been dropped at some stage who knows.

dmsims

6,450 posts

266 months

Friday 29th April 2016
quotequote all
Maybe you could update your original post with your new requirements

jesta1865

3,448 posts

208 months

Friday 29th April 2016
quotequote all
hi i'm actually not going to recommend a machine as it's evident that others have come up with some excellent ideas, and only you truly know what you need.

my suggestion is about the OS, you mentioned in your OP that you had installed Linux to lighten the load, so I am going to take it that you are ok with Linux again as a possibility?

I was going to suggest http://ubuntustudio.org/ as an alternative to windows, it may be over the top i'm not sure, but you should be easily able to encode for the xbox with that, and also it should deal with most video and audio feeds for you.

It would save on the windows licence and so knock down the price by at least £80 (iirc).


AyBee

10,522 posts

201 months

Friday 29th April 2016
quotequote all
danlightbulb said:
Decided against the acer. Am now looking at a bit of a budget increase to around the £630 mark and this has revealed two options so far:

1. Toshiba Satellite P50-C-18K: 15.6" IPS display, i5-6200U, 16GB ram, 930M graphics, 256GB SSD. http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/la...

or

2. PCspecialist Cosmos IV: 15.6" IPS display, i5-6300HQ, 8GB ram, 940M graphics, 250GB SSD. http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/cosmosIV-1...


Anyone got a view on which is better for the money, or any alternatives now Ive upped my budget a bit?
Your main complaint with the Lenovo was the screen size, so now you've increased your budget and both those examples above are the same size as the Lenovo?

AyBee

10,522 posts

201 months

Friday 29th April 2016
quotequote all
Thorburn said:
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_...
Quite a few places list that Lenovo as 1920x1080...confused

danlightbulb

Original Poster:

1,033 posts

105 months

Friday 29th April 2016
quotequote all
Jesta - i only installed linux to try and speed up my aging laptop. It didnt work and i dont really like it either, so back to windows for sure.

Thanks to the poster above for the links. Back to 17" is a positive, but there are sacrifices in other areas. I dont know which way to go. For the sake of £50 I dont mind but all these little additions are meaning im now considering 700 laptops instead of 500 ones.

I take it there is not much experience with the pcspecialist brand?

I think the core of the issue is screen size. I wanted 17 because it is essentially a psuedo desktop, but maybe i could live with 15.6". Its hard to tell by looking at them in the shop whether i will find that too small later.

danlightbulb

Original Poster:

1,033 posts

105 months

Friday 29th April 2016
quotequote all
AyBee said:
Your main complaint with the Lenovo was the screen size, so now you've increased your budget and both those examples above are the same size as the Lenovo?
Initially yes, but then i found out about ips screens and was swayed towards needing that.

Then i found out about ssd drives and was swayed that way.

Then i wondered whether integrated graphics was good enough so swayed again. Lol.

danlightbulb

Original Poster:

1,033 posts

105 months

Friday 29th April 2016
quotequote all
boxxob said:
Unless you find a clearance laptop on amazon, or argos etc... or move to an allinone, then 600-700 seems like the area.
Its trying to get the best spec for that 600 to 700 though isnt it.

For a 17.3" ips screen (optimus vii) on pcspecialist im up at 750 ish, but that also includes the 960m graphics which is higher than i probably need. Still no ssd. Id rather have it with a lower graphics card and an ssd but thats not an option. The lower spec cosmos iv 17" is not ips.


The hp envy £700 that someone above linked to does have an ips screen but a lesser and older processor and a lesser graphics card. The pc specialist one therefore seems better value for money even though its £50 more.

Do i need an ips screen?

Edited by danlightbulb on Friday 29th April 13:53

danlightbulb

Original Poster:

1,033 posts

105 months

Friday 29th April 2016
quotequote all
boxxob said:
...the best spec for your needs, yes

Have made your mind up about either what you need or the budget?
I think the problem is that id like a mixed combination favouring the screen and drive. But the models at this end come with better graphics by default increasing the price over what i really need.

Id like:

17" ips screen. Ssd drive. I5 quad core, 940m graphics.