Buying a Laptop: The current Generation

AlmightyCushion

Mars Bar wrote: »

This is where my shallowness kicks in and I say that's an ugly as fudge laptop! It's also heavier than my current Mac.

For some reason, gaming means a laptop has to be gaudy as fúck so looks wise for a gaming laptop, it's surprisingly low key. But each to their own. As for weight, if you're looking for something to play games then weigh, heat, size etc are gonna take a bit of a hit. The graphics card and cooling have to go somewhere. You have a 13" laptop with a dual core processor and integerated graphics. Any thing with a decent graphics card is gonna be heavier than that.

It's the reason my last laptop wasn't a gaming one. I'd rather a smaller, lighter, cooler laptop overall and just save the games for my desktop.

Mars Bar

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

For some reason, gaming means a laptop has to be gaudy as fúck so looks wise for a gaming laptop, it's surprisingly low key. But each to their own. As for weight, if you're looking for something to play games then weigh, heat, size etc are gonna take a bit of a hit. The graphics card and cooling have to go somewhere. You have a 13" laptop with a dual core processor and integerated graphics. Any thing with a decent graphics card is gonna be heavier than that.

It's the reason my last laptop wasn't a gaming one. I'd rather a smaller, lighter, cooler laptop overall and just save the games for my desktop.

My sister has an MSI and it's a brick of a thing!

I guess I really need to sort out my priorities. It's the graphics that's letting Civ Vi down for me.

My laptop is my only computing item. I'd love to commit to having a light cheap laptop and a separate desktop someday!

AlmightyCushion

Mars Bar wrote: »

My sister has an MSI and it's a brick of a thing!

I guess I really need to sort out my priorities. It's the graphics that's letting Civ Vi down for me.

My laptop is my only computing item. I'd love to commit to having a light cheap laptop and a separate desktop someday!

Another thing to note is that a high performance laptop (quad core CPU and good GPU) will produce more heat, which can be annoying and the power adapter can be a brick of a thing. Gaming laptops have gotten a lot better than they were a few years ago but there are a few compromises you'd have to make coming from your macbook.

Could you spend the €1200 on a desktop for gaming and keep your macbook for portability?

Mars Bar

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Another thing to note is that a high performance laptop (quad core CPU and good GPU) will produce more heat, which can be annoying and the power adapter can be a brick of a thing. Gaming laptops have gotten a lot better than they were a few years ago but there are a few compromises you'd have to make coming from your macbook.

My MacBook gets fierce hot and is so noisy that I'm kind of used to it now.

Could you spend the €1200 on a desktop for gaming and keep your macbook for portability?

Not really as I plan on moving abroad again when the opportunity comes up.

To be honest I'm really fancying that Recoil II from pcstation!

Mike Litoris

That Asus is seriously good value. It has a 1060 too!! 2.5kg is light enough for a gaming laptop. That's one of the better looking gaming laptops too. Some can be quite industrial looking.


The worst thing about them is the noise and the need for a laptop cushion or something if you're gaming with it on your lap. The vents need plenty of clearance.

Mars Bar

Mike Litoris wrote: »

That Asus is seriously good value. It has a 1060 too!! 2.5kg is light enough for a gaming laptop. That's one of the better looking gaming laptops too. Some can be quite industrial looking.


The worst thing about them is the noise and the need for a laptop cushion or something if you're gaming with it on your lap. The vents need plenty of clearance.

I have a cooling stand for my lap so that's sorted

AlmightyCushion

Mars Bar wrote: »

My MacBook gets fierce hot and is so noisy that I'm kind of used to it now.




Not really as I plan on moving abroad again when the opportunity comes up.

To be honest I'm really fancying that Recoil II from pcstation!

You can upgrade from a 1050 to a 6GB 1060 on that laptop for €125. I know that's over your budget but it's a pretty good upgrade.

Mars Bar

I can be quite impulsive so I'm trying to keep doing research to stop me pressing the buy button.

Spotted this

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-pavilion-power-15-6-intel-core-i7-gtx-1050-gaming-laptop-1-tb-hdd-10164665-pdt.html

What do you guys think?

The same laptop in Currys in Ireland is €1,350.

My parents are going to Liverpool tomorrow so I could have them pick one up in Sterling for me over there.

AlmightyCushion

Mars Bar wrote: »

I can be quite impulsive so I'm trying to keep doing research to stop me pressing the buy button.

Spotted this

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-pavilion-power-15-6-intel-core-i7-gtx-1050-gaming-laptop-1-tb-hdd-10164665-pdt.html

What do you guys think?

The same laptop in Currys in Ireland is €1,350.

My parents are going to Liverpool tomorrow so I could have them pick one up in Sterling for me over there.

Looks good to me. Only big downside is the lack of an SSD drive but apparently that model has an m2 slot so you could buy one and add it in. It wouldn't cost much. A good 250GB model would be less than €100.

Mars Bar

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Looks good to me. Only big downside is the lack of an SSD drive but apparently that model has an m2 slot so you could buy one and add it in. It wouldn't cost much. A good 250GB model would be less than €100.

Amazon are doing the same laptop at the same price but with an added 128gb SSD!

AlmightyCushion

Mars Bar wrote: »

Amazon are doing the same laptop at the same price but with an added 128gb SSD!

Do you have a link?

Mars Bar

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B0733B54SZ/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new

Although I went for the £928 option that was direct from Amazon. The £899 was from a store and Amazon are only fulfilling the delivery. My sister said it would be easier if I had any issues to deal with Amazon directly. She's getting it delivered via Prime and my parents are bringing it home with them on Tuesday!

h0neybadger

Hi guys,

The Mrs wants a laptop.

She’s got her heart set on a 17”, but I have suggested she looks at 15.6” ones.

No gaming requirements.

Just a solid fast, snappy machine with a backlit keyboard and a good trackpad. I’d also like a great display on it, as she does like movies etc.


I’ve also got a spare stick of this

Crucial CT16G4SFD824A 16 GB (DDR4, 2400 MT/s, PC4-19200, DRx8, SODIMM, 260-Pin) Memory

If that’s any help in finding something solid!

Any help would be great!

Budget is max €800.

Mars Bar

Mars Bar wrote: »

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B0733B54SZ/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new

Although I went for the £928 option that was direct from Amazon. The £899 was from a store and Amazon are only fulfilling the delivery. My sister said it would be easier if I had any issues to deal with Amazon directly. She's getting it delivered via Prime and my parents are bringing it home with them on Tuesday!

My sister pulled a big one out of the bag and found the black version of the one quoted above with 4GB VRAM as opposed to 2GB VRAM in John Lewis for £880. That leaves me a tiny bit of change from €1,000 which is amazing! My sister turned it on and checked that everything is ok on it, although, I'm a little bit sad that I don't get to do the unboxing.

Thanks a million to everyone who gave an opinion and guided me to different laptops! Can't wait to get it now.

IrishPhoenix

Anyone seen any deals on laptops with a 512GB SSD or a smaller SSD + HDD combo please? Looking for an i5, preferably 8th gen, processor with it. I mostly have seen ones with 256GB SSD and that's just not sufficient storage for me.

TerrorFirmer

Be cheaper to buy a laptop with 8th gen i5-8250 or whatever with a 128GB SSD for €450-500 and just upgrade it yourself. A prebuilt laptop with 512GB SSD would be likely obscenely expensive relative to the actual price difference between a 256 and 512GB SSD.

sean61

Hi all,
I'm looking for a new laptop with a budget of about 700. It will be used for spreadsheets, streaming video, some 3d modelling and occasional video and photo editing. I may also do some gaming but probably not a lot.

Due to the 3d modelling and video editing I lean towards laptops with dedicated graphics and I've just seen the following laptop online: https://mekonmobile.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=726

Does this seem like a good deal?

AlmightyCushion

sean61 wrote: »

Hi all,
I'm looking for a new laptop with a budget of about 700. It will be used for spreadsheets, streaming video, some 3d modelling and occasional video and photo editing. I may also do some gaming but probably not a lot.

Due to the 3d modelling and video editing I lean towards laptops with dedicated graphics and I've just seen the following laptop online: https://mekonmobile.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=726

Does this seem like a good deal?

Spec wise it's pretty good. Although I've never heard of them so might want to do your research on them and also, that price is excluding VAT. Assuming your budget includes VAT then adding VAT and converting to euro probably brings it closer to €900.

sean61

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Spec wise it's pretty good. Although I've never heard of them so might want to do your research on them and also, that price is excluding VAT. Assuming your budget includes VAT then adding VAT and converting to euro probably brings it closer to €900.

I've never heard of them either so I might want to look into that.
For the VAT, I went as far as the shipping with the purchase and no VAT was added on so I'm not quiet sure what's happening there. For outside EU maybe?

Mrdata.

Sorry don't know how to post links on mobile.

https://www.dell.com/en-ie/shop/laptops/inspiron-13-5000-2-in-1/spd/inspiron-13-5379-2-in-1-laptop?view=configurations

Can get this for 527 with the 12% discount Dell are currently running.
Looking around but can't see any alternative?
Anyone got this model or opinions on build quality etc?
Would upgrade the ram in the near future.

Same model with 8250u and 8gb ram is around 700 but don't know if could stretch to that.
The laptop would just be for general use but would like it to last a few years so don't know if should just stump up the cash now and go for the 8250u.

MarkY91

Hi guys.

Currently in the market for a new laptop. My currently one is a Lenovo z580. Good 5 years old no and the HDD is ****ed. Takes 30 mins of powering on and off before it comes on properly.

I'm only getting one for upcoming assignments on s course I enrolled in. It would be handy too for travelling around Asia watching movies and transfer stuff over from a go pro.

I'm really liking these flip/touch screen laptops I seen in shops as I'm really used to touchscreen devices these days (it would be really handy for movie apps) and being able to bend it into a laptop shape would be good for airplanes I guess.

The one below looks handy but I'm hoping you experts can find something better for less. Really don't want to be spending over €450..ish.

So what I'm aiming for is small enough screen below 15", lightweight, assignments, typical web browsing like YouTube and watching movie on when traveling to replace using my phone.


ASUS ZenBook Flip UX360CA-C4030T 13.3-Inch 360-Degree Touchscreen Notebook (Intel Core-M 6Y30 Processor, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD, Bluetooth 4.0, Windows 10, Cortana Ready)-Grey https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01HIWOTJ0/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_OcvqBbGMR1Z81

y0ssar1an22

hey guys,

i'm currently in the market for a new laptop so am looking for a few recommendations or recommendations of where to get a good a laptop.

have 2 criteria only...SSD and 15.6" screen. budget of €350 or less. it will only be used for internet, Netflix, nothing too onerous.

i did recently buy an internal SSD so that is an option to put into new laptop, however I banjaxed my current laptop installing it so a bit apprehensive about this.

Thanks very much.

y0ssar1an22

y0ssar1an22 wrote: »

hey guys,

i'm currently in the market for a new laptop so am looking for a few recommendations or recommendations of where to get a good a laptop.

have 2 criteria only...SSD and 15.6" screen. budget of €350 or less. it will only be used for internet, Netflix, nothing too onerous.

i did recently buy an internal SSD so that is an option to put into new laptop, however I banjaxed my current laptop installing it so a bit apprehensive about this.

Thanks very much.

15.6 inch screens are being phased out a lot due to the preference for lighter laptops, especially at the budget end.

here is a decent option only 10 euro above your budget

it's 14 inch but that size screen does not seem small

ssd and cpu that is perfectly fine for your uses.

it says 4 hours battery life but I think that that information is not correct as that cpu is very power efficient.

https://www.currys.ie/ieen/computing/laptops/laptops/asus-vivobook-f407ma-14-intel-pentium-laptop-256-gb-ssd-grey-10181701-pdt.html


user reviews here

https://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/asus-vivobook-f407ma-14-intel-pentium-laptop-256-gb-ssd-grey-10181701-pdt.html

one user said that it used 20% battery life in 90 minutes so that would back up the incorrect battery life suspicion.

y0ssar1an22

thanks glasso. was very close to purchasing that today!

dont wanna jump the gun too quick so was doing some more research. what do you guys make of the following?

https://www.laptopsdirect.ie/refurbished-hp-pavilion-15-cw505sa-amd-ryzen-3-2300u-4gb-128gb-15.6-inch-ra-a2-4aw19ea/version.asp

or indeed that website in general and refurbished laptops?

thanks

y0ssar1an22

y0ssar1an22 wrote: »

thanks glasso. was very close to purchasing that today!

dont wanna jump the gun too quick so was doing some more research. what do you guys make of the following?

https://www.laptopsdirect.ie/refurbished-hp-pavilion-15-cw505sa-amd-ryzen-3-2300u-4gb-128gb-15.6-inch-ra-a2-4aw19ea/version.asp

or indeed that website in general and refurbished laptops?

thanks

have never bought from them. most have ok experiences I believe. some bad. refurbished usually ok.

Maximus Alexander

y0ssar1an22 wrote: »

thanks glasso. was very close to purchasing that today!

dont wanna jump the gun too quick so was doing some more research. what do you guys make of the following?

https://www.laptopsdirect.ie/refurbished-hp-pavilion-15-cw505sa-amd-ryzen-3-2300u-4gb-128gb-15.6-inch-ra-a2-4aw19ea/version.asp

or indeed that website in general and refurbished laptops?

thanks

I bought a new laptop from them a 2 years ago and they were a little slow to ship if I remember right, but other than that everything was in order and the price is hard to beat.

I also ordered a refurbished Samsung Galaxy S7 from them last year (Grade A1) and it was brand new in the box. Shipped in a timely fashion. As far as I could tell the box seal had been broken, but the phone had never been switched on and still had all the little bits of protective plastic on it etc.

I'd use them again.

y0ssar1an22

thanks for the comments and suggestions. in the end this is what i went for

https://www.currys.ie/ieen/computing/laptops/laptops/acer-aspire-3-a315-51-15-6-intel-core-i3-laptop-128-gb-ssd-black-10180988-pdt.html


glasso, you may have been right about the 15.6" screen. its a tad bulky but it'll be grand.

thanks

y0ssar1an22

y0ssar1an22 wrote: »

thanks for the comments and suggestions. in the end this is what i went for

https://www.currys.ie/ieen/computing/laptops/laptops/acer-aspire-3-a315-51-15-6-intel-core-i3-laptop-128-gb-ssd-black-10180988-pdt.html


glasso, you may have been right about the 15.6" screen. its a tad bulky but it'll be grand.

thanks

not pretty at all but decent specs for the money. maybe upgrade to 8gb ram down the line.

edanto

y0ssar1an22 wrote: »

https://www.laptopsdirect.ie/refurbished-hp-pavilion-15-cw505sa-amd-ryzen-3-2300u-4gb-128gb-15.6-inch-ra-a2-4aw19ea/version.asp

or indeed that website in general and refurbished laptops?

thanks

I recently bought a refurbished laptop from them and am now about to return it hoping for a full refund.

The laptop arrived with a non-English keyboard (it's a QWERTY keyboard, but has many non-english letters and all the symbols are in unusual places) and the battery is in terrible condition.

It's frustrating since I've gone to the hassle of migrating to this new laptop and will now be repeating that after I return this one and purchase a new laptop elsewhere. That new purchase is why I'm in this thread.

Their customer service were friendly but unyielding. I wanted them to send a UK Keyboard and a new battery or else pay for same but all they would offer is half what those parts would cost.

I won't be using them again.

Balmed Out

edanto wrote: »

I recently bought a refurbished laptop from them and am now about to return it hoping for a full refund.

The laptop arrived with a non-English keyboard (it's a QWERTY keyboard, but has many non-english letters and all the symbols are in unusual places) and the battery is in terrible condition.

It's frustrating since I've gone to the hassle of migrating to this new laptop and will now be repeating that after I return this one and purchase a new laptop elsewhere. That new purchase is why I'm in this thread.

Their customer service were friendly but unyielding. I wanted them to send a UK Keyboard and a new battery or else pay for same but all they would offer is half what those parts would cost.

I won't be using them again.

What class was the refurb?