Cheap Latops

[IrishLax]

Hey guys so I've been doing some research on a cheap laptops (that are still fully functional). The idea is that I would have a machine for kicking around downstairs that doesn't need to be "powerful" but needs to be able to do everything a laptop is supposed to do. My problem right now is that my laptop is a work machine so I can't install anything on it, and it's really overloaded with engineering software and such and takes forever to even boot up (AND it's huge).

I've looked into Chromebooks, but they don't seem to be able to run Windows programs unless you do serious modifications to the OS?

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good bargain laptop that can:
1. Web browse.
2. Install programs and applications designed for Windows.
3. Play media, and have the ability to play media to a TV through any of the various methods (i.e. HDMI, or Chromecast, or Apple TV, or whatever).
4. Word process.

Reps and vBucks to be had for good suggestions.

 

[Emcee77]

Hey guys so I've been doing some research on a cheap laptops (that are still fully functional). The idea is that I would have a machine for kicking around downstairs that doesn't need to be "powerful" but needs to be able to do everything a laptop is supposed to do. My problem right now is that my laptop is a work machine so I can't install anything on it, and it's really overloaded with engineering software and such and takes forever to even boot up (AND it's huge).

I've looked into Chromebooks, but they don't seem to be able to run Windows programs unless you do serious modifications to the OS?

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good bargain laptop that can:
1. Web browse.
2. Install programs and applications designed for Windows.
3. Play media, and have the ability to play media to a TV through any of the various methods (i.e. HDMI, or Chromecast, or Apple TV, or whatever).
4. Word process.

Reps and vBucks to be had for good suggestions.

I need exactly the same recommendation. I can pile on the reps and vBucks.

 

[Veritate Duce Progredi]

What's the price range and preferred screen size?

 

[ClausentoTate]

Also when you say "for everything a laptop should be able to do" do you just mean browse the internet and open excel/word?

Edit -- I should read the entire post in the future, carry on.

 

[IrishLax]

What's the price range and preferred screen size?

I'm honestly very flexible on screen size and weight, considering my current lug is 15.5" and 6ish pounds.

Price is the main driver. I want something as cheap as possible that 1) does everything I want reliably and 2) doesn't totally suck.

 

[GoIrish41]

Bought this for my daughter for school, and she loves it. She says it can do everything she needs it to do -- which may or may not vary from what you are looking for. Good luck.

https://www.amazon.com/HP-15-ay011n...er-20&linkId=03952157fcf2265d91ea19fc04ce4662

This is cheaper than I bought it for, but there are certainly cheaper laptops available. A lot of them don't come with a DVD drive, though. That was a feature she wanted.

 

[IrishLax]

Also when you say "for everything a laptop should be able to do" do you just mean browse the internet and open excel/word?

Edit -- I should read the entire post in the future, carry on.

Yeah basically I want something where I'm not going to run into an issue of "oh, you can't do that on this computer" type of thing like you would with certain tablets or Chromebooks.

 

[IrishLax]

Bought this for my daughter for school, and she loves it. She says it can do everything she needs it to do -- which may or may not vary from what you are looking for. Good luck.

https://www.amazon.com/HP-15-ay011n...er-20&linkId=03952157fcf2265d91ea19fc04ce4662

This is cheaper than I bought it for.

Bam. That looks pretty good. And I can order it with Prime... so dangerous...

 

[ClausentoTate]

My sister got this one, which she loves mainly because it can fold and become a tablet.

https://www.amazon.com/HP-Pavilion-.../B014X4UAUI?ie=UTF8&ref_=cm_cr_pr_product_top

I think 400-600 is about what you're going to have to pay for one that does basic applications.

Overall I have three recommendations:
1) The OS needs to be loaded on an SSD drive, you will notice a huge difference
2) at least 4gb of ram
3) at least 2 cores, preferably at least an i5 equivalent but honestly nothing you do will be limited by your CPU

That should do everything you need easily. Screen size is up to you and is honestly the biggest jump in price.

 

[IrishLax]

My sister got this one, which she loves mainly because it can fold and become a tablet.

https://www.amazon.com/HP-Pavilion-.../B014X4UAUI?ie=UTF8&ref_=cm_cr_pr_product_top

I think 400-600 is about what you're going to have to pay for one that does basic applications.

Overall I have three recommendations:
1) The OS needs to be loaded on an SSD drive, you will notice a huge difference
2) at least 4gb of ram
3) at least 2 cores, preferably at least an i5 equivalent but honestly nothing you do will be limited by your CPU

That should do everything you need easily. Screen size is up to you and is honestly the biggest jump in price.

Does this one do the touchable thing with the stylus? For drawing and such?

One of the main things I like to fool around on is Inkscape (think Adobe Illustrator but freeware) and it would be cool to be able to use a pen to draw. A primary driver in my decision to buy an additional computer is that it was bothering me only being able to do Inkscape on the desktop upstairs which is a joint computer and removed the family room area.

 

[irish1958]

Cheapest solution: purchase a portable hard drive and download onto it everything you haven't used in the past week (About $50 for 1 Tb at Frys), run a scan and delete duplicate files, clean up your computer (CCleaner) and stop loading at startup any program you don't need.

 

[IrishLax]

Cheapest solution: purchase a portable hard drive and download onto it everything you haven't used in the past week (About $50 for 1 Tb at Frys), run a scan and delete duplicate files, clean up your computer (CCleaner) and stop loading at startup any program you don't need.

Nah, that's not my problem. My problem is that my current laptop is a work issued computer... so I need a separate machine for personal issue. I'm literally not allowed to download any external program on my computer, and I also can't change boot settings.

This all came to a head when I was in France for the finale of a certain popular show and needed a way to download a certain video player for a certain video file. I say it this way because the company is notorious litigious, and despite being a paying customer you can't even use their apps/web service abroad. I couldn't download the video player, nor download a torrent program to go find one playable by Windows Media Player. This is when I realized that trying to double a business laptop for personal use at home wasn't going to cut it anymore.

 

[IrishLax]

Clausen, do you know if that tablet thing come with any sort of built in Microsoft Office? Kind hard to tell how it comes packaged from looking at the Amazon link, or maybe I'm just being dumb.

 

[calvegas04]

Bought this for my daughter for school, and she loves it. She says it can do everything she needs it to do -- which may or may not vary from what you are looking for. Good luck.

https://www.amazon.com/HP-15-ay011n...er-20&linkId=03952157fcf2265d91ea19fc04ce4662

This is cheaper than I bought it for, but there are certainly cheaper laptops available. A lot of them don't come with a DVD drive, though. That was a feature she wanted.

That is a very good price for a very good(spec wise) laptop... Just checked best buy and they don't have anything close to beating that price. Do you really want a dvd drive? Can't remember the last time I used mine

 

[GoIrish41]

That is a very good price for a very good(spec wise) laptop... Just checked best buy and they don't have anything close to beating that price. Do you really want a dvd drive? Can't remember the last time I used mine

My daughter watches a lot of movies on her laptop, so I think that's why she wanted it. She can also upload things from disc, I think. Most of the lower end laptops don't have a CD/DVD drive.

 

[calvegas04]

My daughter watches a lot of movies on her laptop, so I think that's why she wanted it. She can also upload things from disc, I think. Most of the lower end laptops don't have a CD/DVD drive.

I worked at best buy a few years ago, and out of the 50 laptops or so we sold I would say 10 of them had dvd drives. Most of the high end laptops din't have a drive, the trend was to going small and light.

 

[GoIrish41]

I worked at best buy a few years ago, and out of the 50 laptops or so we sold I would say 10 of them had dvd drives. Most of the high end laptops din't have a drive, the trend was to going small and light.

This was one of only a couple on the low end I could find with a drive a few months ago. I assumed the trend was laptops without drives and having to go into online stores to purchase/renew software. But I am not very up on tech matters, so I'm not certain.

 

[RDU Irish]

I just replaced our home computer with a laptop from Staples. Find the ones on deepest discount and sure to find something with adequate specs. I had to check local inventory and it took the store twenty minutes to track it down but they had it, brand new unopened. Seemed like I was paying less than half price to similarly decked out models but hit the sweet spot of clearing out discontinued.

Wasn't much more than $200 for an HP with 17" screen, 750GB HDD, 6 or 8 GB and either an i3 or i5 processor. Plenty for net surfing, iTunes, DVD/CD burning and excel/word install and won't cry too much if the kids screw it up in a year or two.

 

[Ndaccountant]

be careful to read the specs. We went thru this a few months ago and wanted to have a cd/dvd drive for a few reasons. Long story short, there weren't that many in the "cheap" laptop space that matched what we wanted once we looked closely.

 

[TDHeysus]

check online at spots like newegg and look for refurbished machines. You can browse refurbs and find a config/price that suits you. I know your looking for a laptop, however I recently purchased a refurb desktop from newegg, and it cost $102 delivered to my house. I use the machine as a database server for my gaming box.

 

[IrishLax]

Alright I'm gonna buy either GoIrish's link (cheaper, normal laptop, bigger hard drive not SSD) or the 2-in-1 (SSD hard drive, cool tablet function, stylus potential for drawing).

Anyone want to vote or give final input?

 

[goldandblue]

PCM | HP Inc., ProBook 650 G1 - Core i5 4210M / 2.6 GHz - Win 7 Pro 64-bit - 4 GB RAM - 500 GB HDD - DVD SuperMulti - 15.6" TN 1366 x 768 ( HD ) - HD Graphics 4600, T3L54UT#ABA

With Windows 7 installed (still upgrade rights to 10) and DVD

 

[calvegas04]

PCM | HP Inc., ProBook 650 G1 - Core i5 4210M / 2.6 GHz - Win 7 Pro 64-bit - 4 GB RAM - 500 GB HDD - DVD SuperMulti - 15.6" TN 1366 x 768 ( HD ) - HD Graphics 4600, T3L54UT#ABA

With Windows 7 installed (still upgrade rights to 10) and DVD

I like the one GoIrish posted more, more ram larger hdd

 

[IrishJayhawk]

I've had good luck finding local tech guys who do refurbs. Worth checking out the offerings at Newegg. That's a good resource.

 

[Irish YJ]

HP HD 15.6" Notebook 15-ba037cl, AMD A10-9600 QC Processor, 8GB Memory, 1TB Hard Drive, Windows 10 - Sam's Club

Take a look at the one above. $379
This A10 (and most A8s) will outperform most i5s, and the graphics will be better.

For the money, take a look at Samsclub and Costco. Typically great prices, but they also have great extended warranties.

My advice, more bang for the buck with an AMD A8 or A10, put your money in DDR (min 8GB), and upgrade to a SSD (will shorten your start up speed dramatically, and speed things in general).

 

[Irish YJ]

CPU Benchmark scores below comparing the HP I suggest A10 (4214) and the I5 (3932)

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+A10-9600P&id=2793

PassMark - Intel Core i5-6200U @ 2.30GHz - Price performance comparison

you could take the money you save, swap to a SSD, and have a screaming machine for under 500

 

[Armyirish47]

Alright I'm gonna buy either GoIrish's link (cheaper, normal laptop, bigger hard drive not SSD) or the 2-in-1 (SSD hard drive, cool tablet function, stylus potential for drawing).

Anyone want to vote or give final input?

My only input is to wait until the 12th and get some Prime Day love (potentially).

 

[Irish#1]

As an IT guy, I can tell you memory is your number one consideration. I would get 8GB minimum. Then processor speed. There are a lot of off brands that do pretty well, so look at those along with Toshiba, Samsung, HP and Dell. Get a SSD. Laptop will boot up in a flash. Just don't try to defrag it.

 

[ClausentoTate]

My only input is to wait until the 12th and get some Prime Day love (potentially).

This. Also if it's not something you need this second they say the best time to buy is back to school sales so like mid-July through early August.

As for the stylus option I honestly don't know, my sister bought it and lives in a different state so I've never physically seen it. She just said it was working great and she is definitely what I'd call a normal user (mostly netflix / word). The reviews say it doesn't come with a stylus but any normal stylus can be used (I assume this would be a USB accessory).

 

[IrishLax]

Forgot about Prime Day. Gonna wait it out, thanks for all the input. My main problem is that there are SO MANY CHOICES that it makes it really hard to compare/contrast.

Back in the day, I just built my own rig and I have a pretty great desktop still... but these fully packaged laptops just have so much going on I'm scared of making a bad buy.