Hi, I am after something under 1.5k with a decent graphics card and an i5-10th gen processor at the very least.
Looking to spend under $1300.
So far, I have looked at Dell Outlet with the g3 gaming laptops and they seem promising.
Also found this for $874.
Just posting this in case someone else has any recommendations where I could get a better deal. I also have access to Unidays. My goal is to spend the lowest amount possible for the best specs.
Thanks
I think the best one so far was this one
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/611240
or
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/600754
Wouldn't get a 1650/ti, wayyy underpowered.
I'm sure the 3060 offers will be repeated/bettered
Probably a 1660 Ti or RTX 2060 is a minimum for a decent gaming machine. 3060 is definitely going to be even better.
Hopefully a deal pops up in the next week or two because I need the laptop in a month.
Hi, I suggest grays.com, they've been putting up batches of refurbished laptops, mostly Lenovo but other brands too, for some months now, and they come with a years warranty.
I just bought an entry level gaming laptop from them. It's an auction of course so you have to bid and perhaps be patient for the price you want. But they put new ones up it seems like a few times a week, so there are always more to choose from. There are many different speeds and sizes of laptops including a number of advanced and mid-range gaming ones.
What I did was simply search the site for the keyword: geforce and that would show me just laptops with a graphics card, and won't show the dozens of other laptops.
Anyway I'm very happy with mine, just finished setting it all up and it's working great, very nice. I paid about half of what a new one goes for, but I was patient and waited for a month or two for the best price. Since your budget is much higher you could easily win one much faster, and for still much less than a new one's price. You could bid on the ones with the exact specs you want, your budget should I expect easily get a mid-range to more advanced gaming laptop on there. The specs go up to quite high.
If you make a login with them you can watch laptops and get a feel for what price they go for. I just searched for that word geforce every couple of days and watched the ones I was interested in, and after some weeks started bidding up to my limit. Don't forget to factor in their 20% premium, and shipping costs to your bid. The site makes it pretty clear that it will add those to the bid price. That half of new price I mentioned above was for the total including those extras. I'm very happy with what I got, best purchase I've made for a good while.
Yeah I am familiar with grays and will definitely look into them.
Most of the time, the buyers premium kills the deal.
Can you tell me what lenovo means by refurbished?
I know thar dell refurbished is pretty much open box units which are next to brand new or have been used for a very short period of time
I can't tell you but I've bought three refurbished and one new from them over the years and they have all been in good condition. The one I just bought recently even said there was minor marks and scratches but I consider it to be nothing.
I've had the opposite experience. 2 out of 3 laptops faulty (one had an RGB zone that didn't light up and the other laptop died within a month)
Return service was decent though. That was a while ago and probably got unlucky
@FireRunner: I hired my son (14, nice way to help him earn extra pocket money) to check everything on the laptop when it first arrived before I set it up. Checked all the ports worked, keys, device manager was happy, no dead pixels etc.
I told him to open Notepad and test pressing all the keys, but I guess I'm old school because he googled and found a site called keyboard checker that checks all your keyboard keys for you in one go.
@FireRunner: Actually in 2012 I did buy one refurbished one from them that arrived and two of the keys didn't work. They refunded promptly and I decide instead to bid and buy a new Lenovo one from them and it's still going from 2012 which is great.
They have been putting up so many in the last few months that I doubt they can be demo models. I would guess ex-company laptops perhaps? But if so it must be a company which turns them over fast because they don't look used or worn.
That $874 HP is a bad buy. GPU is a GTX 1050 which was an entry level GPU when released in 2017
Thanks for the info, will steer clear of that
$1500
https://www.harveynorman.com.au/acer-nitro-5-15-6-inch-i5-10…
or maybe a 2070 laptop somewhere else, if they start trying to clear those out.
Now thats a deal.
And from HN of all places
Any method I could shave off $200 from that price?
Its kinda over-budget.
@thriftysach: Doubt you'll be able to take that much off. You get get $50 off through Latitude Pay or buy discounted gift cards if you've got a suncorp account, I don't think they stack.
Wasn't your budget was $1500?
@FireRunner: No, i put 1300 in the description, i think one of the mods may have put 1500 in the title
@thriftysach: They must have based it off your opening sentence, lol
Hi, I am after something under 1.5k with a decent graphics card and an i5-10th gen processor at the very least.
@FireRunner: yeah, my bad. Accidentally wrote 1.5k and 1.3k which obviously contradicted each other.
@FireRunner: Alright, missed the Latitude Pay deal, but I do have access to suncorp rewards for the giftcards.
Now, I have decided to open myself up to spending $1430 for the RTX3060, however just have a few more questions before I pull the trigger.
However, this is still above the budget I had in mind.
My primary use with this laptop is running really basic engineering software liked CAD, etc.
I won't be gaming much and even if I am gaming, it will just be stuff like COD, GTA V and maybe Forza.
So is it worth the extra $200 for the RTX3060 or the RTX2060 is just fine?
How bad is the GTX1650?
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/265101620089?epid=12044206253&ha… - $959 with eBay plus. I know this is only 256gb and GTX 1650, but I am assuming it will be sufficient for my needs?
@thriftysach: Ok, well I think the 3060 is about twice the performance of the 1650, probably more in newer titles. The 2060 would be about 60% more performance than 1650.
Seeing the types of games you're wanting to play I think the 1650 is sufficient, you may need to drop some of the graphics settings but it would still be a good gaming experience. That's also the 1650 Ti which is a more powerful variant.
I'm not too familiar with CAD but I believe the CPU+GPU combination will handle it easily.
You'll probably want to upgrade the storage with only 256GB and also you'll want more RAM, 8GB really isn't enough.
12GB is the minimum I'd recommend. I think this is the Acer Nitro laptop which shows it's quite easy to do the upgrades
@thriftysach: https://www.harveynorman.com.au/acer-nitro-5-15-6-inch-i5-10…
The 2060 version is $1300
Look at https://www.metabox.com.au/
I have one personal, bought one for an employee at work and one for a family friend. Great value and good machine!
Very happy with mine!