Home Laptop. $400 to $500 for Internet and Stuff - Asking for a Friend

grang on 14/04/2020 - 18:51
Last edited 22/04/2020 - 12:15 by 1 other user

Friend is looking for a laptop for home.
Price sensitive. Not tech sensitive.

Order of preference.
Will stay working into the future as home laptop. (translates CPU can deal with future website loads)
Screen a bit bigger.
Touchscreen not important
Weight lighter preferred but not crucial.
keyboard.

No preference on SSD vs HDD.
Kids don't game.

Here are a few of the ones they were looking at

https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/lenovo-15-…

https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/lenovo-ide…

Timing is flexible. Before June.

• 

  SharedSugar on 14/04/2020 - 19:07

  +4

  Have you considered 2nd hand? Resellers like Amazon, reboot it, renewed and many more and also the makers sometimes sell them like Dell.

  The processor and memory on the 2nd Lenovo is not enough for today. The processor on the first is poor.

  If you can get them to double the budget there is a deal on a better Lenovo https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/529838

  • 

    grang on 15/04/2020 - 11:29

    Agree. Also thought the CPUs would struggle.

    these guys are probably not going to see the pixels of a 7xxp resolution like we do (and they are happier ). But I digress

    I know the Dell outlet. Bought an XPS laptop 5 years ago that still runs well there.

    Any other suggestions for outlets ?

• 

  scrimshaw on 14/04/2020 - 19:25

  +7

  first laptop

  This laptop has a 15.6" IPS display with a resolution of 1366 x 768.

  second laptop

  It features a 14" LCD display with an HD 768p resolution.

  You will regret getting a laptop with such low resolution displays. Try second hand or refurbished laptops from IT resellers specialising in the stuff, or the Dell Outlet.

  • 

    Blue Cat on 14/04/2020 - 20:23

    +1

    Agree - do not buy anything lower than Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution and make sure the screen is atleast IPS (OLED is better but expensive) and strictly no TFTs or TNs!

    • 

      Slippery Fish on 14/04/2020 - 20:50

      I'm fine with my laptops th panel.

      • 

        Blue Cat on 14/04/2020 - 21:00

        +1

        May I know what laptop you have? Not all TN panels are the same (older gen Macbook Airs have very high quality TNs that I would say are on par with IPS) but all IPS panels are better than TNs.

        • 

          Slippery Fish on 14/04/2020 - 21:13

          @Blue Cat: Just a Asus tuf 707dd or something like that. Not a fancy pc, but I'm happy

• 

  The mikky on 14/04/2020 - 21:09

  +1

  I think you would not want either.

  They will be slow. But obviously they are built to a price point.

  I recommend trying second hand

  Try the dell factory outlet, might get some better deals there as well.

• 

  qwerty-4321 on 14/04/2020 - 21:17

  What about a Chromebook?

  https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/c/technology…

  • 

    Danstar on 15/04/2020 - 05:49

    Don't do it man! lol

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 15/04/2020 - 07:35

    most of the more decent spec chromebooks are the same price, if not more expensive, than the comparable PC.

    the only advantage is a lighter OS, but someone thats not tech savvy might find the difference off-putting (my old lady didnt use her laptop due to windows 8 when going from windows XP).

  • 

    WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot on 19/04/2020 - 21:41

    I have a Acer Chromebook 14 and couldn't be happier. I always had macbooks and then I couldn't afford one so I got a chromebook. Super quiet, doesn't overheat.

    If you don't need to install Microsoft office or photoshop, get a chromebook. Great for watching netflix, browsing, email. You can even ssh into AWS EC2.

    • 

      Danstar on 20/04/2020 - 05:13

      If you literally only need it for that and only that, those are fine.

      Anything beyond web browsing and youtube….I wouldn't bother.