Need new Cheap LapTop
 

Hello,

I am in need of a new work laptop for when the power goes out or when my other pc's are busy or down. I am looking for something under $500 as this will hopefully not be used much.

This will be used for web site development mostly with some minor image editing.

I would be willing to go with Windows 8 or 7 but if I go with Windows 8 I would need a touch screen as a requirement. I also require an hdmi out put and usb 3 would be helpful. I do not need a dvd drive.

What do you guys think? I have been looking at some Think pads but not sure..

Thanks!

You would get a better one if you built it yourself it would work out better for you

A laptop? I always build my own pc's but never a laptop. I may look into that though.

There is no way I could build own notebook in my country Czech Republic, I had to buy Dell Vostro 3450 3 years ago for around $1100 ;-D

I don't know though. It seems the prices have come so low on laptops that building it may end up costing more. I don't think you could build a laptop for under $500 that would be better than the store bought models. The operating system alone costs more than $100 I believe.

I remember buying a laptop about 10 years ago for over $3,000... Funny..Today the specs in that would be worth crap. At the time though it was good..had a decent video card, top of the line cpu.. it was a Dell I believe.

Local craigslist.

Well look into it there are some good custom sites out there I got a nice custom desktop once yes it cost me ?2900 about $5000 from this site but it might work out cheap to just buy one

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http://www.bestbuy.com/site/computer...d=abcat0502000
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ch...en-US:official

Yeah, I was already doing that but there is a bunch of junk and scam artists to wade through.

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Thanks mate, I know where to buy them but just wanted opinions on what you guys think is the best for my uses and specs.

Depends where you buy it. You could get a cheap enough one if you looked around same as building it yourself, but I think the best way to go for you is to buy a cheap 2nd hand one or ex model

What do you reccomend? I was looking at the Thinkpads but there are some hp models and some Acers that do not look too shabby either. I have never bought one though at such a low price range. Something has to be given up and I am not sure what is best to give up, cpu, hard drive space.etc. I wold not settle for a Celeron but anything else would not be too bad as long as it has 8gigs of ram or more. not sure if that is possible though without going used.

For what you need it for 8 gigs is a bit over kill 4 should be more than enough. Try the Toshiba A660-18N model but make sure you get the 4 hour battery with it. Use this site for searching might help

Yeah, you are probably right. I am sort of spoiled with ram on my current units. I probably do not need more than 4gigs.

Thanks for the suggestion. i will check them out.

other post updated with a link

Thanks, I am in the USA though and I cannot find that model so easily. I may find it on Ebay though or something.

Here are a few I have my eyes on

http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-IdeaPad...productDetails

http://www.amazon.com/Acer-P2020M-NX...pr_product_top

http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-ThinkPa..._cd_al_qh_dp_t

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Honestly I would like to wait until i can afford more but my current laptop is almost dead and my pc's do not work when the power goes out and it is the season here for t storms, hurricanes etc.

When the power goes out I can run my phone and laptop for many hours using my powered back up battery and I use my phone for internet as a hot spot so that way I can still work, etc.

What exactly are you looking for in a laptop?
What are your specific requirements?

For what you need it for any of them would do, but ask yourself this at anytime would you ever need it for anything else if yes then think again before you buy. The one I said in the above post would do all and play most games as well its the one I use and I find it does everything I need if I want to play big end games then I go use my water cooled one

Love.... :D

Reliability, speed, and cost effectiveness basically.

--------------- Added 02 Jul 2014 at 15:06 ---------------

I have my pc's, Xboxs, Ps's so I probably would not need it for that. I guess the main factors would be reliability and speed.

I will search for that model again. I have never owned a Toshiba before.

--------------- Added 02 Jul 2014 at 15:07 ---------------

Requirements are mostly posted in the op.

--------------- Added 02 Jul 2014 at 15:08 ---------------

That Toshiba must be for Europe only..I don't see it here anywhere. I am trying to figure out what it's USA brother model is.

Seriously, what are you going to be doing on this laptop, whenever you use it?

Work? What sort of work? Photo Editing? Video Editing? Programing? Do you need stuff like IDE's or visual studio?
Do you need to run emulators/VM's ?

Thanks Zachary,

A little video editing, a little photo editing but mostly basic coding stuff.. Nothing really too processor intensive but the photo and video work and that is not a daily thing. I think the ram would be a bigger issue for me with many things going on at once, many browser windows, etc.

Vm's,emulators rarely but possible.

If you're doing photo or video editing, and want it to happen at any speed, you want a good processor. i3 or i5, if you're going to be doing a lot of it, i7.

You shouldn't get a machine with less than 6gb of ram.

I'd also highly recommend looking at a SSD, however, that will also increase costs.

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellsto...en&s=bsd&cs=04


though, I'd opt for Win8 at this point, but I am a big fan of their Kool-Aid.


I don't think you're going to get away with what you want until you bump your budget a bit.

True.. I may have to wait a little until I can afford something better.

I wouldn't mind getting Win 8 but only if there is a touch screen. Otherwise I would rather stick with Win 7.

I usually go with pretty powerful tech and I fear that I will regret getting something sub par. I will check out the Dell though. Inspirons are decent and reliable for sure.

Thanks

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This one didn't look bad. it actually has a decent cpu and 6 gigs of ram. it has windows 8 though and no touchscreen. I just cannot see using win 8 without touch. This one seems pretty powerful though for the money.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Dell-15.6-...-Home/28976173

Windows 8 without touch is fine. This is from someone who has Windows 8 on 3 devices: Surface (2pro), Lumia 925, and my main computer (also a few VM's).

I would love a Surface if I had the green for it right now.

I have only used Win 8 a little and have not yet tried 8.1. 8 seems optimized for touch screens but I suppose it would not take long to get used to it with a mouse or change it to suit.

These dells got poor reviews on Amazon but most on Walmart like them. seems like a decent package for the price.

I run 8.1 update 1 on all my x86-64 devices. I'm running the developer preview of 8.1 phone on my 925.

The biggest change in 8, is that your start screen is full screen. Once you realize that nothing else really changed, you can get over the "HORRIBLENESS" of windows 8 quickly.

8 has a lot of under the hood improvements for laptops/arm mobile stuff.

Surface's are very nice, esp if you do digital art, they're costly though, but about on par with a MacBook air.

I have only used Windows 8 a few times on other peoples pc's and laptops when fixing things for them and I am just not used to it. I can see how it would be awesome on a phone or tablet too. I currently have Android on my 2 tablets and phone. I considered a windows phone but I could not pass up the Nexus 4. Great specs, unlocked and cheap.

Is it true that Windows 8.1 was improved for use with a mouse over windows8?

There are think pads that do not have the detachable keyboard like the surface but the keyboard folds underneath somehow so it can be used as a tablet. I think those are up there in price though at least for the newer models.

I love the surface. Great tablet/other. I hate that they charge extra for that keyboard though which really seems like the whole selling point. I could not believe they charge for that as an accessories.

There was never really a problem without touch. Touch enhances the way you interact with the machine, but does not offer serious drawback without it.

The biggest things I think people got upset over, was that shutdown was hidden in the charms menu (win+C, or mouse on the side of the monitor).

Dell outlet has a 30% off sale right now with the coupon G9N7FR$MFHL1B9. I've bought a few things from them and everything has always looked brand new without any problems.

http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineS...96&lid=4635114

Nice affiliate link. :)

I ended up finding a good deal on an older Dell 6500. It was used commercially so pretty much an enterprise unit. It is from 2011 I believe but it has an i7 cpu, 8 gigs of ram upgradeble to 32 gigs, an ssd hard drive and a hybrid ssd drive. The resolution on this thing is very high.

It is a bit heavy and the battery life is maybe 3 hours at most but suits me well. Windows 7..Back lit keyboard.. Every port you can imagine and I can add more drive space if needed.

Got it for well under my budget of $500. Pretty happy with my purchase and I feel a little more secure now knowing I have another back up pc to use when my other units break.. I need to upgrade my main dev pc next. I have not updated it in years. It also has an i7 cpu and it has been over clocked to almost 4g from 2.9 for the last 3 years. It is still as solid as a rock.

Thanks for the recommendations!

That's not an affiliate link. :rolleyes: I noticed your thread, then happened to see the deal posted on slickdeals.net a bit later.

Dude, I was just joking. Didn't you see the :)?

Anyhow, thanks for posting it. I ended up going with a Dell after all. :)