Recommendations for New Work Laptops

Lizard Spock on 24/12/2022 - 00:14
Last edited 25/12/2022 - 22:59 by 1 other user

I currently have 4x HP Probook 4520S laptops for my business which runs a basic physiotherapy practice diary program (connected to a main server computer which is a Dell OptiPlex). These laptops are running windows 7 and trying to update them to windows 10 has been a nightmare (error after error). I figured it's been 10 years now so it's time for an upgrade of 4 "new" [Refurb] laptops. I'm not and expert on processors and would like the OzBargain community's input on recommendations on purchasing these laptops. My minimum requirements are: i5 processor, 15.6'' screen (i.e. keyboard with numb pad), windows 10/11 on an SSD hard drive. I came across this on eBay: Dell Latitude 5590.

Will this laptop last well with future updates? Are there any others anyone would recommend (~$600 budget per laptop)? I have been put off all HP products recently mainly due to their bloatware and the problems they cause, so any other brand would be fine.

My other question is, if I purchase 4 identical laptops, will I need 4 separate cd keys for programs such as Microsoft Office or even malwarebytes or will one suffice due to the laptops having the same hardware?

TL:DR What laptop would you recommend for a physio practice to run a simple daily diary program for $600 or less (preferably with a 15.6'' screen and decent processor with windows installed)?

Thank you all on advance.

Computing Computer Laptop

Comments

  • jv on 24/12/2022 - 01:25
    +2

    will I need 4 separate cd keys for programs such as Microsoft Office

    it's per user, not per computer.

    • Lizard Spock on 24/12/2022 - 08:39

      In the past (with office 2007) I was able to install it on 7 PCs with just the one activation key/ licence (7 computers- 4 where identical laptops and 3 identical dell computers).

      • freefall101 on 24/12/2022 - 10:39
        +1

        You were able to do it, but it was a breach of the license terms. Thanks to everything being web activated these days you can’t reuse keys across multiple devices.

        • Lizard Spock on 24/12/2022 - 17:03

          I see. Maybe I should consider Office 365.

        • jkim on 14/01/2023 - 01:56

          Wrong.
          You can.
          It depends on the type of license you bought.

          An enterprise license will allow multiple activations.

          • freefall101 on 14/01/2023 - 10:27

            @jkim: If you're going to reply to something 3 weeks old you should probably think of something to contribute past "wrong" then a scenario that definitely doesn't apply here.

            Enterprising licensing would let you install (the same as a normal key will let you install), but you still need to pay per license. Plenty of organisations were still in breach of the license terms when it came to office licensing back in the day. It's why Microsoft used to do audits (before moving everything to web verifications.

            • jkim on 14/01/2023 - 15:30

              @freefall101: You said "You were able to do it, but it was a breach of the license terms. Thanks to everything being web activated these days you can’t reuse keys across multiple devices".

              I said that's wrong, as:
              1. It wasn't a violation of license terms with a volume license.
              2. It still isn't a violation of license terms with a volume license, and web activation hasn't changed this.
              3. Whether you need to pay a different amount of money isn't relevant because I said:
              "It depends on the type of license you bought."

              Do we know for sure if he had a standard license or whether he had a volume license? No.
              If you were to ask whether it was likely, I'd agree that it's highly unlikely, but that's beside the point, since I'm just dealing with the knowns and not speculation.

              On an additional note, I don't even understand why we're telling him to buy Office, when he can potentially transfer his existing license from his old machines (assuming either retail license or volume license, both of which are on a per-device basis).

      • AustriaBargain on 24/12/2022 - 13:57
        +1

        Why not get Office 365, it's what Microsoft wants everyone to move on to. Comes with 1TB one drive so you can backup all your stuff too. Also comes with six accounts and each account can install the apps on multiple computers.

        • Lizard Spock on 24/12/2022 - 18:54

          6 accounts being 6 separate installs?

          • AustriaBargain on 24/12/2022 - 19:23
            +1

            @Lizard Spock: Five devices simultaneously. So six accounts times five is 30 devices at the same time. Devices include PCs, Macs, phones, or tablets. The install is the same on all devices, you just sign in with one of the six accounts. You can log out and sign in with another of the six accounts no problem. Cloud sharing isn't automatic between accounts, you'd need to save them all to a common storage, or share a folder in one of the 1TB one drives to all five other accounts.

            • Lizard Spock on 24/12/2022 - 20:38

              @AustriaBargain: Looks like I'll be subscribing to Microsoft 365. Thanks for that info. Now I just need a recommendation for a decent laptop.

        • jkim on 14/01/2023 - 01:59

          Microsoft wants everyone on Office 365 because it makes them more money.
          If you buy Office, how long do you use it for?
          I've used my Office 2016 since… 2016.
          That's 7 years.

          Office 365 would have cost me $700, and I'll be using this for another 3 years before upgrading to whatever is newest then.

          I suggest buying standard Office and using it for a decade at a time.

          • AustriaBargain on 14/01/2023 - 02:03
            -1

            @jkim: If you split the cost with five other people and make use of the 1TB OneDrive it works out to be a lot better value than $100 a year for Office.

            • jkim on 14/01/2023 - 02:17

              @AustriaBargain: If you split the cost with 5 other people using the 5 device limit to share instead of 5 subscriptions, you'd be violating ToS, so what's the difference between that and DL a pirate copy of Office?
              If we're talking about buying, why not just limit the discussion to legitimate usage, not piracy or borderline piracy?

              • AustriaBargain on 14/01/2023 - 02:20
                -1

                @jkim: Oh no well you wouldn't want to break the ToS. OP would have trouble sleeping at night if he broke the ToS.

                • jkim on 14/01/2023 - 02:23

                  @AustriaBargain: He's running a business. Why don't you suggest he download a pirated Office torrent? What exactly is the difference between that and what you're suggesting with the "split the cost" thing… except it will save the OP $100 / yr compared to Office 365?

                  • AustriaBargain on 14/01/2023 - 02:48
                    -1

                    @jkim: Why not go a step further and break into Bill Gates' mansion and hold his family hostage and demand that old mate Bill gives OP free licenses to everything. It's practically the same thing as breaking the ToS.

                    • jkim on 14/01/2023 - 03:35

                      @AustriaBargain: Dude, I'm not the guy here promoting piracy.
                      The ToS is the terms of the license that you bought - i.e. the license is invalidated the moment you break the ToS.
                      Once you break it, it's piracy, no matter if you paid some money or not.
                      So there's absolutely no difference between what you are suggesting with the "sharing" idea and downloading a pirated copy of Office, since under both scenarios, you're running unlicensed software.
                      Whereas your stupid scenario adds criminal charges of kidnapping, assault, etc.

                      BTW, I'm telling the OP to buy his transferrable Office licenses, and not buy the BS that is Office 365 if you didn't understand.

            • jkim on 14/01/2023 - 03:46

              @AustriaBargain: It's not $100 / yr for Office.
              It's $100 / yr for Office 365.
              Office is $200 once off without Outlook (Home and Student) or $350 once off with Outlook (Home and Business). I don't think anyone uses Access so won't talk about Pro.
              So my cost is $35 / yr (when using for 10 years), as opposed to $100 / yr for Office 365.

              • AustriaBargain on 14/01/2023 - 10:12

                @jkim: Your cost is for a single license. If OP has 30 employees then you would need to get 30 volume licenses.

                • jkim on 14/01/2023 - 15:35

                  @AustriaBargain: Nope. My cost is for a single license, which allows unlimited number of users on a single machine to share it. the license is tied to the machine, not the user. Office 365 ties the license to the user instead of the device.

                  If OP has 30 employees, he'd still only fork out for 7 licenses, since there are only 7 machines.

                  Office 365, on the other hand, are 1 subscription per user, and upto 5 devices for that 1 user - i.e. 30 x $100 for 30 employees, with each of the 30 employees having access to 5 devices. If he wanted all 30 employees to have access to all 7 of his machines, he'd need to pay for 2 subscriptions per employee, giving them access to 10 devices each.

                  • AustriaBargain on 14/01/2023 - 15:45

                    @jkim: But the Microsoft police are never going to check that multiple users are using the same accounts. I bet even if OP ran into Bill Gates and asked if it were okay, that Bill would give his official seal of approval.

                    • jkim on 14/01/2023 - 22:16

                      @AustriaBargain: It's not about getting caught or not.
                      It's not like the real pirates are getting caught by Microsoft either.

                      Either you are licensing, or you're not.
                      If you are, Office is cheaper than Office 365.
                      If you're not, then Office pirate is cheaper than Office 365 (break ToS to share).

                      Office 365 is not a way to save money.

                      • AustriaBargain on 14/01/2023 - 22:48
                        -1

                        @jkim: I'm holidaying in Redmond at the moment and I did actually just bump into Gates. I posed the question to him and he said it's fine, doesn't bother him at all.

                        • jkim on 14/01/2023 - 23:23

                          @AustriaBargain: OK I'll stop feeding this troll.

                          • AustriaBargain on 14/01/2023 - 23:34
                            -1

                            @jkim: I should have given you a heads up that I was in Redmond, in case you had any questions for Bill.

  • boomramada on 24/12/2022 - 01:29
    +1

    You are buying $600 laptop, it be hardly be future proof. However, since it's for work, you probably can get tax benefit, just talk to your accountant.

    You could also buy a smaller laptop then plug into a bigger monitor.

    • jv on 24/12/2022 - 01:31
      +3

      just talk to your accountant.

      I doubt an accountant will know what specs he needs.

    • Lizard Spock on 24/12/2022 - 05:23
      +1

      I am happy to buy brand new, but is it worth the price for the few extra years of service?

      • Leo Getz on 24/12/2022 - 11:07
        +2

        Yes, yes it is.

  • alexlim2000 on 24/12/2022 - 07:00
    +1

    Note that Windows 10 is marked end of life in 2025 - so if you're buying cheap non Windows 11 laptops, you're going to be replacing them in ~4 years anyway.

    Also re: Office:
    - do the laptops follow your employees? (i.e. one laptop dedicated to a physio?) or do they stay in the consultation room and are shared by the office?
    - would your office benefit from an Office 365 small business subscription? - dedicated email? shared and cloud storage? - shared calendars?

    There's a lot of info that would help us understand what works best for your practice;
    - do you find the current laptops slow? or 'adequate'? - your current laptops are horrendously out of date, a refresh to something at least 8th generation Intel i7 (at least 4 cores) with at least 16gb ram + SSD would see major improvements.
    - do you NEED laptops? Do they stay put in the office? Or are they moved around as your physios work with customers?
    - more than likely your server is due for an upgrade as well
    - have a think about how you backup business data as you upgrade your server as well

    • Lizard Spock on 24/12/2022 - 08:36
      • Laptops stay in the consultation room and are shared by the office
      • The current laptops are still surprisingly good (2 are running i3 and the other two i5). I managed to upgrade one to windows 10 and now it's extremely sluggish.
      • Majority of the time the laptops stay put (they occasionally get moved to other rooms. They are then packed away off the desks when setting up for weekly Pilates (the desks are just floating wall mounted and removable).
      • The server is also due for an upgrade and I am looking at newer dell systems for and for the other 2 PCs (2 for admin and extra for physios).
      • I need to streamline a more efficient way of backing up as it's all daily internal backing up (nothing cloud based).

      So with regards to your recommendation of 8th generation Intel i7 laptops, what do I look for in the CPU numbers that indicates that it is 8th gen?

      • CrispyChrispy on 24/12/2022 - 10:32
        +1

        Core i5-8250u

        @alexlim2000, if I'm not mistaken, the laptop that OP listed in the post can officially run Windows 11?

      • Leo Getz on 24/12/2022 - 11:29
        +1

        Your 'server' being a Dell OptiPlex is interesting yet concerning.
        What is it 'serving' in relation to the staff/laptops?

        Would a NAS be better for data/records storage?
        Maybe cloud storage would suffice.

        What do you backup and how?

        What are the technic specs for the Physio Practice Diary program?
        Can you move from a locally installed instance to an online/cloud instance?
        Does the vendor of the software offer that option?
        Have you looked at other vendor software offerings, maybe better, cheaper options out there?

        As others have mentioned Office 365 online, yearly subscription, and you still can get licenses for the locally installed version.

        This is your business and while the technology requirements may not be great you need devices that are robust enough to last for example a 5-year replacement cycle. Talk to your accountant about depreciation, etc as a business expense as you really need to spend a bit more money than your budget.
        You can stagger that replacement cycle like Year 1: Admin/Extra PCs, Year 2: 2 Laptops, Year 3: 2 Laptops, Year 4: Server/NAS, or whatever order based on priority.
        Let 10-year-old hardware be someone else's problem, buy something new with warranty.

        • Lizard Spock on 24/12/2022 - 13:20

          I'm probably using the word server incorrectly. The OptiPlex runs the main data that the diary and invoicing software that all the other computers run off (via the network). I will look into new as well, thank you for your recommendations.

  • MrBr0 on 24/12/2022 - 07:32
    +2

    Move to office 365 for your users and then office licensing is not an issue for any operating system.

    If you are just using office and a diary system do you even need a laptop? Would a tablet cover your needs?

  • JoeBogan on 24/12/2022 - 10:25
    +1

    Hey mate, why don't you go with cliniko and get 4 cheap desktop computers which will easily handle it as it's web based?

    You can get something like a Lenovo tiny PC for around $200 each.

    • Lizard Spock on 24/12/2022 - 17:04

      Thanks for the suggestion, I'll look into that.

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