In need of a Laptop for the missus / travel? Needs to be well built!

Lfiend on 04/08/2014 - 15:53

Afternoon All,

I'm on the market for a new laptop for the missus.
She mainly uses her's for web surfing (I see her with 15+ tabs open in the browser at times) , word processing and plex / movies. No need for gaming at all. She doesn't want to go too small - 13-15" sizes should be ok I reckon.
Her problem is she likes to drop them from heights and throw it around a bit - it gets a fair workout.
ALSO
We are due to be travelling to Europe (thanks etihad/ ozb) in the next 4 months. If the laptop had a good battery and wasn't chunky, that would be great.

Budget - $300-600. Pretty much needs to be a well built windows machine that is nice to type on (and not gutless).

Thanks in advance.

Computing

Comments

  • StewBalls on 04/08/2014 - 16:35
    +8

    In need of a missus / Needs to be well built!

    Fixed! ;)

    • retiredfeline on 04/08/2014 - 18:53
      +2

      OP pls post address of builder. :)

      • fiend on 04/08/2014 - 20:43

        I know a few. Lays a great pipe.

    • fiend on 04/08/2014 - 20:42

      Oh come on! I'm trying to get her off my back!

      • jv on 04/08/2014 - 23:44
        +3

        I'm trying to get her off my back!

        Have you entered yet ???

        Maybe I'll see you there… We came 7th last year.

    • onlyletters on 07/08/2014 - 10:37
      +2

      Chromebook

      Hijacking first comment in an attempt you will see it.

      • fiend on 07/08/2014 - 12:41

        I hear you guys!.. I just don't think it'll be the right PC for her. Shes a Excel/Word kinda gal and I CBF teaching her the ways of google drive/ docs. They also seem a bit flimsy to me. Saying that, I've only looked at a few…

        I'll deffo be looking at the Chromebook in a few months for travelling.

  • Mooks75 on 04/08/2014 - 16:47

    mac book air

    • YOTR on 04/08/2014 - 17:15

      Notice the budget?

      • fiend on 04/08/2014 - 20:46

        Would one suggest holding out for a bit more $$$?

    • Eivad on 06/08/2014 - 15:45
      +1

      The $500 MBA would have suited this very well

  • mrmarkau67 on 04/08/2014 - 17:49

    Most new laptops in that price range are chunky - and not tough. "Plasticky" is the word that comes to mind. Maybe someone else here can suggest one, or you can wait for a special deal.

    If you can't afford a Macbook Air + Windows 8.1, I recommend a second hand Dell Latitude 13" model. Chunkier, and not great battery life, but tough and in your price range.

    • scrimshaw on 04/08/2014 - 18:36
      +7

      http://www1.ap.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/product…

      Grab the Latitude 7000 series, aluminium and magnesium alloy chassis, notebookcheck rates the build quality as high. There is a E7440 for $699, it's $99 dollars over your budget but well worth the price premium.

      The battery life is good too and is rated for 10 hours if Wifi is off. With wifi on expect 5 to 6 hours of usage.
      http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Dell-Latitude-E7440-Note…

      • PVA on 04/08/2014 - 20:10

        thats not a bad refurb, a little small on the screen size 12.5 inch for me but looks a deal.

        • mrmarkau67 on 04/08/2014 - 23:29

          I think an E7440 is 14".

      • Charlatan on 05/08/2014 - 09:03

        Is there anything to worry about when buying refurbished electronics? Is it only aesthetic issues that may be present or are other problems that might be associated with general wearing/slowing down of components likely present?

        • scrimshaw on 05/08/2014 - 09:59

          These are originally units that had faults very early on (for example, DOA's) and are returned for repair. Some dell laptops come out of the factory with a small %tage of them having issues right out of the box due to variances in manufacturing. Customers who buy these laptops typically get the laptops exchanged and they send the faulty ones back to dell where it is refurbed.

          From my previous (bulk order) experience with dell, roughly 5 out of 600 laptops ordered came in with faults ranging from non-working keyboards, faulty CPU fans etc., — we box them up in the original packaging and return them to Dell.

          Is it only aesthetic issues that may be present

          It specifies if the laptops are As new or refurbed, refurbished ones may be described as "Unit has minor scratches" (this is a generic description IMO). From what I've read in the WP forums, most people receive pretty much brand new units, so I don't think any of the laptops sold on the Outlet are heavily used.

        • Charlatan on 05/08/2014 - 11:54

          @scrimshaw: Okay thank you. The prices are extremely good for units that are essentially new or almost as good as.

        • fiend on 05/08/2014 - 13:18

          I'm in the same boat. I'm a bit iffy about refurb's and their shortened warranty period.etc

        • scrimshaw on 05/08/2014 - 13:54
          +1

          @fiend:
          Dell and Apple both offer 1 year warranty for refurbished units.

        • fiend on 05/08/2014 - 13:55

          @scrimshaw: thanks mate. I'll have a peek.

        • mrmarkau67 on 07/08/2014 - 08:34

          @fiend: I bought my missus a rwfurb macbook air in 2009. Hinge fixed under warranty in 2012, new battery and power pack last year at our cost. Still her daily drive after all these years.

  • PVA on 04/08/2014 - 20:06
    +1

    Even though I do not like Apple or OSX, see if you can get a Macbook Air. My son has had one for 2 years (school supplied) and it gets a workout every day. It has got a few dents in some corners (body and screen) from being dropped /knocked off desks and it still works fine.
    Battery life is great, they are not allowed to take the charger to school but the Air lasts all school day and then some at home.
    It kills me to say but it is a pretty great lappy.
    Surely you can get a refurb 13inch for a good price.

    I wish Toshiba or someone else made something as good and a bigger screen for me (and not osx).

    • fiend on 05/08/2014 - 13:25

      She's not a fan of Apple gear.. Is running Win on an Apple PC an issue for usability / stability?

      • scrimshaw on 05/08/2014 - 13:57

        No, Apple laptops all use Intel hardware, and either use Geforce or Intel graphics, all drivers work fine.

        • mrmarkau67 on 06/08/2014 - 09:54

          Macs don't have a Windows button and you need to use an extra finger to right click when using the trackpad. So it does take a little getting used to. But honestly unless you have very special requirements, nothing else comes close to the Macbook Air at around $1000.

        • StewBalls on 06/08/2014 - 11:30

          Apple laptops all use Intel hardware…

          Macs lost their charm for me when they abandoned the excellent PPC architecture…now they're just chock full of bland! :/

  • Damonator84 on 05/08/2014 - 07:42

    Surface Pro

    • fiend on 05/08/2014 - 13:27
      +1

      Touch screen and removable keyboard doesn't sit well with me… unless I'm getting my wires crossed?

      • chocky005 on 07/08/2014 - 09:34

        You can get the docking station with the Surface 3 and MS has discounts for most people with an education email address.

  • woodwa on 05/08/2014 - 08:07

    If you're dropping it a lot make sure you get one with an SSD(SOLID STATE DRIVE)… even if you install it after-market.. and besides it will drastically boost the performance(eg boot times) anyhows…

    I have killed 2 traditional style hard drives by dropping them whilst laptop on…. SSD has no moving parts unlike the magnetic drives..

    • fiend on 05/08/2014 - 13:15

      I'll be swapping out a samsung 830 from her current Toshiba!

  • MasterScythe on 05/08/2014 - 08:25

    My vote when not gaming will always be an Education Department refurb, Acer 1830T Timeline. They are rock solid, have long battery life, and in all honesty I cant fault them for the ususal uses.
    I see them commonly for sub $200 as the Education departments 'move on' and with an i5 chip, they're well up to the task of web and movies.

    • Charlatan on 05/08/2014 - 11:56
      +3

      Where are they sold?

    • fiend on 05/08/2014 - 13:35
      +1

      Prob a bit small for her … but it sounds just like what I need…. ;)
      Where are you finding these?

  • 1Dollar on 05/08/2014 - 16:22

    maybe try lenovos thinkpad. They are pretty much tanks.

  • Cocco18920 on 05/08/2014 - 19:05

    I've had my acer for 5 years now and I use it for playing games, live and downloaded streaming from both Web and off hard drive, Web browsing and it's still going. Cost me $499 and I bought better ram for it straight up which put the total to $560 all up. Dropped it heaps of times and still holding together. Or my other half has a hp that she got for $580 thanks to price matching, she rapes the crap out of the processing power with multiple Web pages open, downloads, live streaming and word docs etc open and it, somehow, is still with us haha. Really better off going in and trying them out in store hey.

    • zaddaz on 05/08/2014 - 19:47

      just fyi, most browsing, word docs and downloads don't use that much cpu power, although i guess some older/low power laptops might struggle.

      Its photo/video editing, databases, large excel and some games that really utilize cpu.

  • longislandicetea on 05/08/2014 - 23:41

    Have a look at the chromebook like the 15" HP or 13" Toshiba they are in your price range and will do everything that you want. Yes it is a new operating system but its extremely easy to use and extremely fast i have one from more than a year ago and it still gives me that 7sec start up and doesn't start lagging until i have about 30 tabs open. The prices are under $500 so thats a plus and its excellent for travelling because its really light. I carry mine to uni everyday and its much lighter than my macbook pro. Let me know if you need any more info about it.

    • fiend on 06/08/2014 - 10:09
      +2

      Howdy Abhii101,

      We went window shopping over the weekend and the one that caught her eye was indeed a chromebook.
      The price was right and it seemed fairly decent. The problem is she's a Teacher, I think it'll be a bit too much of a change for her.

      • Astro551 on 06/08/2014 - 17:55
        +2

        If she is a teacher, she may be interested in one that has HDMI output and are more than 13" (see below, there aren't really any 15" models that I'm aware of):

        Toshiba 13.3" Chromebook

        HP 14" Chromebook

        Chromebooks also have a lot of support for education in general and there is large community out there if she's interested in delving deeper.

        In regards to change, the whole ChromeOS is essentially a Chrome web browser. So if she's used to Chrome on Windows, it's pretty much the same thing. A few UI changes here and there, but more or less the same thing.

        One word of warning might be that the offline capability is quite limited. There are offline applications on the Chrome Web Store, but sometimes they're a bit tricky. On that note though, how much can you do with a computer/device without internet these days: not much. So if there's gonna be a decent amount of Wifi access during your Europe trip you'll be set (the battery life is also much better than a cheapo Windows you'll find).

      • longislandicetea on 06/08/2014 - 19:57

        Yeah completely understandable but in my personal opinion chrome os is probably the easiest operating system to use. Its easier to go from win7 to chrome os than it is to go from win7 to win8. I bought my mum one for mothers day and she isnt very tech savvy but she still got a hang of it in the first 15 mins of use and she uses it every single day. Plus if you are just looking to buy it for the things that you said in the description the chromebook would be a perfect device because you dont have to spend anything on antivirus or office as its all built in and the office suite on chromebooks (google sheets and google docs) are fully compatible with microsoft office.

        Chromebook Sales Figures 2014 This link will show you how popular chromebooks are actually getting and how their sale has increased heaps in the last few month.

        Personally I think its the best way to go for the things that you need it for. If you need any more convincing let me know :P

  • fiend on 06/08/2014 - 15:40

    What do you think of something like this - http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Dell-Latitude-E6410-14-1-Core-i5-… ?

    Back in the day it's had good reviews from what I can tell.

    • mrmarkau67 on 06/08/2014 - 17:35
      +1

      I have one of these. Would much rather have it than brand new cheapie. Runs especially well with an ssd upgrade. Beautifully built, but weight and battery life are not the strong points

      • fiend on 06/08/2014 - 19:07

        My thoughts exactly. I'd rather a well built older machine than a POS new one. She's using an old toshiba satellite (i5, 2gb ram i think)from back in 2011-ish anyway, i'll see what she thinks.

        I'd say i'll grab a chromebook for the travelling side of things in a few months.

  • matabuntu on 06/08/2014 - 18:19
    +3

    I can recommend the dell refurb from their outlet. Typing on it right now (ordered last monday and arrived today). The only 'minor scratch' I can spot is on the charger which is reeally not a big deal. The rest is simply like new. It's the latitude e5440 - specs are haswell i5 4310, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD 7200rpm, 6cell batt and Win 7 pro 64- for only $499. I also have similar e5440 for work - very solid construction and loongg battery life.

  • peterw1 on 06/08/2014 - 19:18
    +1

    Hey chief, as you are travelling overseas, you can increase your budget by 9%, as you will get this amount back via the trs scheme, so buy a 1000 dollar computer and get 9% back at the customs desk at the airport when you depart.

    • fiend on 06/08/2014 - 19:29
      +1

      Hey peterw1,

      TBH I'd rather spend on the lower side of the budget I've put up there. From what I could see window shopping at dick smith + JB (yeah we looked really hard), it was all flimsy plastic or solid looking gaming $$$ laptops. I know this may severely cripple the laptop… but you never know whats out there!

      Saying that, Great bit of advice. I never even knew you could do this.

  • chingy1788 on 06/08/2014 - 23:49

    I have an Asus VivoBook X202E
    http://www.asus.com/au/Notebooks_Ultrabooks/ASUS_VivoBook_X2…

    Its built quite solid. Solid metal frame like a macbook. Not the fastest thing in the world, but I got it for around $500.

    • scrimshaw on 07/08/2014 - 00:00
      +1

      Doesn't meet size requirement. It's also not very good value anymore, since it's Ivy Bridge and still selling for $500+.

  • calvink on 07/08/2014 - 11:14
    +3

    been rocking 4-5 different Dell Latitude for last 10 years, 1 keyboard, 2 battery swap with Dell Tech Support. IT IS THAT SOLID.

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