value for money laptop, low budget

[danlightbulb]

Difference between at 17.3" IPS screen and a 15.6" IPS screen is about £160.

1. 15.6" IPS Cosmos IV, i5-6300HQ, 8GB ram, GT 940M graphics, 250GB samsung SSD - £645

2. 17.3" IPS Optimus VII, i5-6300HQ, 8GB ram, GTX 960M graphics, 250GB samsung SSD - £805

3. 17.3" IPS Optimus VII Pro, i5-6440HQ, 8GB ram, GTX 965M graphics, 250GB samsung SSD - £850


or if i go for non-IPS displays:

4. 17.3" non-IPS Cosmos IV, i5-6300HQ, 8GB ram, GT 940M graphics, 250GB samsung SSD - £739


Its quite annoying actually, that if you look at item 2 and item 4, its only £65 more for both the IPS screen AND the better graphics card. All these little increments. Then its only another £45 more for the pro, although I don't think the spec increase there is worth the extra. So I would top out at item 2 I think. However item 1 may do just fine and is £160 cheaper - but the screen size is the only thing! If I add the GT 950M graphics to item 1 that makes it £725.

Ive been using a 17" screen running 1440x900 for years, would a 15.6" screen running 1920x1080 be that much of a difference for me? Its hard to tell when in the shop looking at them.


In comparison, the HP envy in pc world is a 17.3" IPS screen with an i7-6500U, GT 940 graphics, 12GB ram and a 1TB drive, and is £899.

Edited by danlightbulb on Friday 29th April 22:02

[wilbo83]

With a similar budget (started at £500 and now crept up to c.£600), I am looking at similar machines, and your option 1 is high on my shortlist. Would like to know someone who has bought one of their laptops though, although saying that I have always purchased custom desktops.

The only other branded alternatives I was recommended to look at (from a thread on here) were Dell 7559 with 6700hq or lenovo y50-70 i7 4720hq. 16gb ram, ssd and a 4k display both with a gtx 960m.

[danlightbulb]

wilbo83 said:

The only other branded alternatives I was recommended to look at (from a thread on here) were Dell 7559 with 6700hq or lenovo y50-70 i7 4720hq. 16gb ram, ssd and a 4k display both with a gtx 960m.

From a quick google search these appear to be a few hundred pounds higher than our rough price range?


It's very difficult to gauge what the good buys are. The market is flooded with branded stuff that is lower spec for the money. The toshiba I was looking at has some bad reviews also. I'm liking the look of pcspecialist in terms of spec and price but do I trust the brand?

[wilbo83]

You may have found this already but I found the below a good balanced review. Its never going to win any beauty awards but the spec is hard to beat at the price.

http://www.rsbport.com/pc-specialist-cosmos-iv-rev...

[daemon]

danlightbulb said:

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?

Ebay is your friend....

Another vote for a used HP Elitebook.

This is as much laptop as most people need....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-Elitebook-8440p-i5-M5...

Stick one of these in it, and it will run like a dream.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-Technology-Solid...

Edited by daemon on Sunday 1st May 10:07

[papercup]

Dell Inspiron 17 5000 Series?

[Jinx]

Have you looked at the Dell Outlet ? Plenty of half decent machines (don't forget to add VAT though) for around the 400-500 mark.

[danlightbulb]

wilbo83 said:

You may have found this already but I found the below a good balanced review. Its never going to win any beauty awards but the spec is hard to beat at the price.

http://www.rsbport.com/pc-specialist-cosmos-iv-rev...

Thanks for the link, i hadnt found that one before. A mix of pros and cons though, but of a shame especially about the sound.


Thanks also to those posting links above. I just think a 2nd hand laptop for 120 quid with stated damage or wear is a bad idea.

There are some good laptops on dell outlet but i wouldnt say it is that cheap really. Plus i still have the issue about them not being ips displays. I cant decide whether i need this or not.

[danlightbulb]

Just looked at this one on pc world. HP envy but using AMD A10 instead of intel, with onboard radeon r6 graphics. HD display too (assume non-IPS), 2TB HDD. However its got bad reviews, saying it freezes up and needs to be kept rebooting. Don't make sense as the spec is reasonable for £449. http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/la...

Edited by danlightbulb on Sunday 1st May 17:09

[moleamol]

Just out of interest, why do you think you need IPS?

[danlightbulb]

Well I'd never heard of it before I started looking, but did want a HD display from the outset.

Only that I intend to keep the laptop at least 5 years, and use it for all sorts including watching videos. The kids use it too for their school work. So i'm just thinking it would be better.

[moleamol]

To be honest for the advantages of IPS I'd rather just go for a higher res HD screen. IPS was developed years and years ago to try and overcome limiting factors of old LCD panels. Granted, Apple use it in their Retina display but they are super high resolution. I don't think it's essential for a decent display.

[RobDickinson]

IPS screens tend to have better colour ranges and much better viewing angles. But slower refresh times and more expensive.

Not really needed for the OP I suspect.

[Thorburn]

danlightbulb said:

Just looked at this one on pc world. HP envy but using AMD A10 instead of intel, with onboard radeon r6 graphics. HD display too (assume non-IPS), 2TB HDD. However its got bad reviews, saying it freezes up and needs to be kept rebooting. Don't make sense as the spec is reasonable for £449. http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/la...

Edited by danlightbulb on Sunday 1st May 17:09

I have one of those I had to buy for a project last year, avoid. Big, slow, mechanical hard drive and ignore the fact the A10-8700P is a quad-core, it is an awful processor. 4 slow cores is worse than 2 fast ones.

The graphics is hobbled by the fact they only have single channel memory, and in my testing was generally slower than Intel HD 520.

HP image is FILLED with junk, out the box it is terrible. Clean install of Windows and it is usable, just £150 or so overpriced.

[Fore Left]

Has anyone suggested MSI yet? If you're happy with a 15" screen this is £599 on eBuyer. £737 on Amazon and £899 on CurrysPC World.

9.6/10 on Reevoo.

[moleamol]

RobDickinson said:

IPS screens tend to have better colour ranges and much better viewing angles. But slower refresh times and more expensive.

Not really needed for the OP I suspect.

That's my point, the IPS might as well be sacrificed to get better bits elsewhere in this situation.

[Funk]

dmsims said:

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"

I have an earlier HP Envy 17, very pleased with it (and so I should be given the price!). I specifically wanted backlit keys and this was one of the few at the time to offer it.

Highly recommended if you have the budget.

[danlightbulb]

Fore Left said:

Has anyone suggested MSI yet? If you're happy with a 15" screen this is £599 on eBuyer. £737 on Amazon and £899 on CurrysPC World.

9.6/10 on Reevoo.

This looks very nice. If i could go and buy this today from a store i would.

Also considering this one from pcworld.
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/lap...

But for 50 quid more that msi is the better machine i think. For 50 quid more i can also get thst lenovo with an i7 though, but still dual core not quad.

Damn why dont pc world stock reasonable 600 quid machines.

[moleamol]

danlightbulb said:

But for 50 quid more that msi is the better machine i think. For 50 quid more i can also get thst lenovo with an i7 though, but still dual core not quad.

Most laptops run dual core but with quad core hyperthreading. A lot of this is due to heat and bulk, it shouldn't be a problem unless you are doing something like gaming and genuinely using all 4 cores.

[danlightbulb]

moleamol said:

Most laptops run dual core but with quad core hyperthreading. A lot of this is due to heat and bulk, it shouldn't be a problem unless you are doing something like gaming and genuinely using all 4 cores.

I don't really play games as such (i.e far cry or halo whatever). We have an xbox for games anyway. But I did used to like flight sims. Cant run them now on my current laptop, nowhere near, not even a basic freeware flight sim will run. I also used to run the orbiter space sim, if anyone is familiar with that. So I would like my new laptop to run those.

Does this influence the spec I should be aiming for, or the price point I'm looking at?

Edited by danlightbulb on Monday 2nd May 13:01