Laptop Recommendation for Home - Budget $1,800

kloner on 25/01/2021 - 10:10

Hello OzBargainers!

Unfortunatley I've been made redundant and my work Dell Inspiron 7400 (15", i7 8th Gen, 1920 x 1080) will be reclaimed by my company in a few weeks.

I've been pretty impressed with the performance of this laptop over the past couple of years and will need to purchase a laptop for general home use (Office 365, web browsing, basic photo editing). I've also got the Dell Hub so I'd like to make use of reusing this to continue to use my two 27" monitors.

I've been looking at the Dell 2-in-1 Inspiron laptops and come across this Dell Inspiron-15-7506-2-in-1-laptop for $1,700. Dell are advertising this deal is 40% off, however I do wonder if this "laptop" is a worthy contender. Specs are:

  • 11th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-1165G7 Processor (12MB Cache, up to 4.7 GHz)
  • Windows 10 Home (64 bit) English
  • Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics with shared graphics memory
  • 16GB, 1x16GB, DDR4, 3200MHz
  • 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive

Should I be considering this as a good deal? Or are there other brands/models that I should be considering? Appreciate this communities advice.

Cheers

Computing Computer Laptop

Comments

  • Caped Baldy on 25/01/2021 - 11:05
    +1

    Sorry to hear you've been let go.

    Have you considered going the desktop route or is a laptop (and even a 2 in 1) necessary? You could get an ex corporate tower and save prob $1k.

    Edit: might be worth hitting this deal if you're super keen on a laptop https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/600086

  • DannyC on 25/01/2021 - 11:19
    +1

    $1800 budget can get you a lot these days. Spoilt for choice. Do you really need the latest core i7 for basic web browsing and light photo editing? I don't think it is necessary.

    Dell hub can be used with other laptop brands with a type C CTM connection so you are not limited to just Dell laptops.

    Another Ozbargainer linked a good deal with the Lenovo flex 5 14 Link here Lenovo

    Imported with postage is under $900. Spec wise using the Ryzen 4500, 16gb RAM etc etc. Only 256gb SSD but should be ok.

    Or I'm a fan of the latest offerings from the Asus Zenbook line.

  • kloner on 25/01/2021 - 11:27

    I've had towers before and I've been very comfortable with a laptop for portability and making use of the docking station. So yes, only considering a laptop. The 2-in-1 thing is not important. Just want a solid, robust, reliable laptop that'll do me for at least 3 years

  • dji1111111 on 25/01/2021 - 11:57
    +1

    I paid $1,589 for Lenovo Yoga 7i 15inch laptop recently for work/general use and very light gaming and couldn't be happier.
    Specs are: 11th gen Intel i7-1165G7, 16GB ram, 512GB M.2 PCIe SSD, Active Pen included, fingerprint reader, bright screen (from memory it was 450 or 500 nits), decent speakers with Dolby Atmos.

    Pros: Good screen, decent sound for a laptop, 2 x Thunderbolt ports, 2 x USB-A ports, fingerprint reader works well, tablet mode makes this extremely flexible in terms of transitioning from work to entertainment etc, feels premium with all metal body
    Cons: keyboard is off-centre to accommodate the ten-key pad which takes getting used to, on the heavier side due to the touch screen, Intel CPU runs hot compared to AMD and doesn't perform as well, ram is soldered on

  • netjock on 25/01/2021 - 12:09
    +1

    I've also got the Dell Hub so I'd like to make use of reusing this to continue to use my two 27" monitors

    This is probably why you want to go Dell again.

    15.6" screen. Depends on whether you would use it docked a lot. If so screen size probably won't matter just the 16GB RAM and 500GB SSD plus generation of processor.

    There might be cheaper alternatives such as Lenovo which deal comes up often for $1000 or so. Dock is probably $300 new. Most laptops will drive 2 monitors (DP + VGA/HDMI). So you could save yourself a $400 to $1k depending on what you really need.

    Personal opinion is that if you are using office apps then Intel 10th gen / 11th gen or AMD Ryzen 4000 series you won't notice the difference. It is features that allow you to drive your 2x 27" and how you use your device (mostly docked or mostly mobile) that would matter more.

    • dji1111111 on 25/01/2021 - 13:49
      +1

      This. if you plan on using it mostly hooked up to external displays, don't bother paying for a premium laptop with higher spec screens.

      I myself had the goal of finding something that I'd be happy to use away from the desk and be powerful enough to handle photoshop & light video editing so a 2-in-1 with good quality screen was a perfect fit. I thought the digitiser pen would come in handy for note taking and photoshop brush/masking work too. If these aren't important to you, you can save 300-400 bucks for a similar spec system.

  • JH100 on 25/01/2021 - 13:10
    +1

    Recent Metabox deal - https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/594980 - is still available here https://www.kongcomputers.com.au/catalogsearch/result/?q=met… and if you ask deal OP Kris for original deal xtra $100 discount s/he might still be able to oblige.

    I got the https://www.kongcomputers.com.au/metabox-edge-nl50ru-r7.html with a few mods for more or less the same as you, with some future proofing built in, and still stress testing before DOA return window expires, but it's looking good so far.

  • kloner on 01/02/2021 - 22:13

    Hey gang,

    Many thanks for your inputs. Can I get your opinion on the following?

    ThinkPad T14 AMD (https://www.lenovo.com/au/en/au/en/p/20UDS0L300)
    Web Price: $1,529

    Processor: AMD Ryzen™ 5 PRO 4650U (6C / 12T, 2.1 / 4.0GHz, 3MB L2 / 8MB L3)
    Operating System: Windows 10 Home 64
    Display Type: 14.0" FHD (1920x1080) WVA 250nits Anti-glare
    Memory: 16GB Soldered DDR4-3200
    Hard Drive: 512GB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe NVMe Opal2
    Warranty: 3 Year Depot
    AC Adapter: 65W USB-C
    Graphics: Integrated AMD Radeon Graphics
    Second Hard Drive: N/A
    Battery: Integrated 50Wh
    Camera: 720p with ThinkShutter
    Fingerprint Reader: Touch Style, Match-on-Chip
    Keyboard: Backlit, English
    Pointing Device: None
    Wireless: Intel AX200 11ax, 2x2 + BT5.1
    Integrated Mobile Broadband: None
    3Y Depot/CCI upgrade from 1Y Depot/CCI

    • chewchew on 02/02/2021 - 19:09

      Everything is on point except that display.

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