HP Chromebook €233

Kim Doh

Looks like a deal at Dabs.ie
HP Refurb Chromebook 14" Celeron 2955u 4GB 16GB €232.60 -
Grade A Refurb with 6 Month Warranty - Cheapest New is at Argos for €327.49

Can't post link (pita) but search for '14-Q010SA'

solomafioso

Here's the link.

unkel

Kim Doh wrote: »

Refurb

Or buy a brand new laptop from Dell for €249 shipped with a proper warranty

ActingDanClark

this chromebook was on hukd, followed by a lot of negative comments about DABS customer service

moodrater

unkel wrote: »

Or buy a brand new laptop from Dell for €249 shipped with a proper warranty

Horse for courses, you won't get a €249 laptop with solid state drive and 9.5 hour battery life and those dells have shiny shiny screens which I find unusable for work.

damian139 wrote: »

this chromebook was on hukd, followed by a lot of negative comments about DABS customer service

If you have an issue thats going to cost them money, wrong item received, items missing, returns, I have found its impossible to get someone useful on the phone, they don't answer emails and they try to drag things out / fob you off until you just give up.

unkel

moodrater wrote: »

Horse for courses, you won't get a €249 laptop with solid state drive

I hear ya, but in fairness a 64GB SSD (four times the size of the one in the chromebook) is only about €40. Sell the original SATA drive for close to that on adverts.ie after you do a quick (free) clone

And you wouldn't be as dependent on having to have the internet to access any of your files

And it would run Windows 8.1 :pac:

imitation

These are a very different beast to standard laptop, if your getting one its pretty much a chrome web browser and the limited selection of chrome apps (less than android). Its perfect for say somebody who just wants to surf. But the minute somebody sends a complex spreadsheet that needs excel or some random application your out of luck. More of a gadget than a serious laptop. Id be wary of its long term future, Google aren't afraid of cutting dead wood.

fdevine

imitation wrote: »

These are a very different beast to standard laptop, if your getting one its pretty much a chrome web browser and the limited selection of chrome apps (less than android). Its perfect for say somebody who just wants to surf. But the minute somebody sends a complex spreadsheet that needs excel or some random application your out of luck. More of a gadget than a serious laptop. Id be wary of its long term future, Google aren't afraid of cutting dead wood.

There are free Excel, Word & even Powerpoint apps available. Polaris Office is also available and I have never had any issues with that.

Bought two 13" Toshiba Chromebooks (€280 each) recently. Ideal for surfing & email but well capable of lots more. There are plenty of the apps can work offline too so contrary to opinion you do not need full-time internet access to use a Chromebook.

Agreed, you can get a 'proper' laptop for similar or less money but it won't necessarily perform any better.

unkel

With the likes of Dell now offering a "proper" laptop for €249, Chromebooks look ridiculously overpriced for what they are. €199 is a more appropriate price imho. Do these things sell at all? Anyone any link with stats?

Thegarlad

bought one of these recently and would recommend. It has replaced my iPad as my got-to device for surfing, emails, music, books etc, it also now has the ability to download torrents

54kroc

unkel wrote: »

With the likes of Dell now offering a "proper" laptop for €249, Chromebooks look ridiculously overpriced for what they are. €199 is a more appropriate price imho. Do these things sell at all? Anyone any link with stats?

It's worth having a google, I was reading up about them a few weeks ago and they seem to be selling quite a bit, they're been heavily pushed in the education system over in the US.

Atomic Pineapple

I have one (Got it from work for free) and it's a great little machine for browsing and light doc editing and things like that. I don't find a tablet particularly nice to sit down with and browse the internet, I find the Chromebook much better for this.

No waiting around for it to boot, no viruses, no windows to deal with, Google docs is excellent to use these days. They have a limited market but what they do they do really well.

beauf

unkel wrote: »

With the likes of Dell now offering a "proper" laptop for €249, Chromebooks look ridiculously overpriced for what they are. €199 is a more appropriate price imho. Do these things sell at all? Anyone any link with stats?

For me that Dell isn't a proper laptop its a 15" netbook with a atom processor.

Its a lot bigger than a chrome book though. Which make it either more suitable or less suitable depending how mobile you are.

good chromebook overview including recommendations on models.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/6/18/5817400/the-best-chromebook

chromebook advantages

light
decent battery life
cheap
good for browsing, email and video (although may need additional storage)

disad

not windows so no ms office etc.
limited storage

magentis

unkel wrote: »

I hear ya, but in fairness a 64GB SSD (four times the size of the one in the chromebook) is only about €40. Sell the original SATA drive for close to that on adverts.ie after you do a quick (free) clone

And you wouldn't be as dependent on having to have the internet to access any of your files

And it would run Windows 8.1 :pac:

Erm where are you getting a 64gb ssd for 40 lids?

kc66

moodrater wrote: »

If you have an issue thats going to cost them money, wrong item received, items missing, returns, I have found its impossible to get someone useful on the phone, they don't answer emails and they try to drag things out / fob you off until you just give up.

Glad I'm not the only one found this. Used to deal with them a lot for work but stopped ordering after having to deal with their customer service.

green123

magentis wrote: »

Erm where are you getting a 64gb ssd for 40 lids?

amazon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-SDSSDP-064G-G25-64GB-Pulse-Internal/dp/B007ZWLRSU/ref=sr_1_4?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1410271339&sr=1-4&keywords=solid+state+drives


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-Technology-Solid-State-2-5-inch/dp/B00A35X6GM/ref=sr_1_3?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1410271339&sr=1-3&keywords=solid+state+drives


free delivery to your door

JDxtra

I have one of these and use it all the time. Great little device. It's ready to go almost as soon as you open the lid. We don't use the tablet anymore to be honest.

If you do anything more than light work, probably better off with a Windows/Mac device. But for day-to-day (95% of the time) it's great.

New, it is £259 on the HP UK store (pay with PayPal, deliver via Parcel Motel).

unkel

beauf wrote: »

For me that Dell isn't a proper laptop its a 15" netbook with a atom processor.

Ah no, they do offer a proper full size laptop for €249 these days. 15" 1366*768 HD 16:9 widescreen, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, Intel Celeron CPU, Intel HD Graphics

beauf

unkel wrote: »

Ah no, they do offer a proper full size laptop for €249 these days. 15" 1366*768 HD 16:9 widescreen, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, Intel Celeron CPU, Intel HD Graphics

I see they've changed their site so it doesn't tell you what the CPU is. They (Intel) rebaged atoms as celerons. I would question why Dell don't tell you the CPU model no. I imagine people will be caught out by this. Sharp practise?

I assume its this latop (maybe they've changed the cpu but I doubt it).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dell-Inspiron-3531-Celeron%C2%AE-Processor-Black-textured-pattern/dp/B00L3JUF5W/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&sr=8-2&keywords=Dell+15%22+celeron

Intel® Celeron® Dual Core N2830 Look at the benchmarks. Its an atom.
http://laptoping.com/intel-celeron-n2830-n2820-specs-benchmark.html


its been discussed here before.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057259370

Its only got two USB 2 ports. No USB 3. No Bluetooth, and no Ethernet.

Nothing wrong with it, but its not same as a "normal" laptop.

54kroc

That Dell will do everything a cheap laptop is expected to do, I think it's well worth the money.
Saying that laptops direct do a refurbished chromebook for €190 which I'd prefer to the op.

imitation

beauf wrote: »

I see they've changed their site so it doesn't tell you what the CPU is. They (Intel) rebaged atoms as celerons. I would question why Dell don't tell you the CPU model no. I imagine people will be caught out by this. Sharp practise?

I assume its this latop (maybe they've changed the cpu but I doubt it).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dell-Inspiron-3531-Celeron%C2%AE-Processor-Black-textured-pattern/dp/B00L3JUF5W/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&sr=8-2&keywords=Dell+15%22+celeron

Intel® Celeron® Dual Core N2830 Look at the benchmarks. Its an atom.
http://laptoping.com/intel-celeron-n2830-n2820-specs-benchmark.html


its been discussed here before.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057259370

Its only got two USB 2 ports. No USB 3. No Bluetooth, and no Ethernet.

Nothing wrong with it, but its not same as a "normal" laptop.

The bay trail is actually quite a decent platform, while old atoms were really poor, often barely able to run flash video websites, the new models are just fine, you can even play old games without much issue on them. The probably have more grunt than last years 400 EUR amd laptops. It is probably a bit rich to call a tablet processor a celeron, but this is more because the quality of the tablet processor has made a huge leap forward.

I wouldn't replace my main machine with one, but if money is tight, those 250 euro Dells probably give you the best value, giving you a full capable second machine, providing you need windows over android for applications.

unkel

beauf wrote: »

it doesn't tell you what the CPU is. They (Intel) rebaged atoms as celerons. I would question why Dell don't tell you the CPU model no. I imagine people will be caught out by this. Sharp practise?

Ah, I wasn't aware of that. The least Dell could do is to specify the CPU model no. And I agree with you that renaming an Atom now a Celeron is pretty much sharp practicse (from Intel)

That said, the current gen dual core Atoms aren't the very basic low performance ones anymore that powered first gen netbooks at the end of the 00s

beauf

imitation wrote: »

The bay trail is actually quite a decent platform, while old atoms were really poor, often barely able to run flash video websites, the new models are just fine, you can even play old games without much issue on them. The probably have more grunt than last years 400 EUR amd laptops. It is probably a bit rich to call a tablet processor a celeron, but this is more because the quality of the tablet processor has made a huge leap forward.

I wouldn't replace my main machine with one, but if money is tight, those 250 euro Dells probably give you the best value, giving you a full capable second machine, providing you need windows over android for applications.

Sorry but I think you are wrong. Yes these are nice cpu's, but they aren't close to last years pentiums, never mind a i3. Look at the benchmarks. They are perfectly fine machines, but they are not the same as a regular laptop.

If people know what they are buying and know the limitations. Great. I'd prefer one myself over a chrome book. But I'd never buy one over a regular laptop. That said they are a lot cheaper.

beauf

54kroc wrote: »

That Dell will do everything a cheap laptop is expected to do,...

That depends on what you want it to do. Bluetooth is no loss. The lack of Ethernet though might be a problem for some.

beauf

Atoms are great. But it would be nice to know that's what you are buying.

54kroc

beauf wrote: »

That depends on what you want it to do. Bluetooth is no loss. The lack of Ethernet though might be a problem for some.

It's going to be fine for running office and browsing the web, if someone has to have ethernet I'm sure one of those USB to ethernet yokes would do.

beauf wrote: »

Atoms are great. But it would be nice to know that's what you are buying.

Is it marketed anywhere as an atom cpu?

beauf

It was on the Dell site the last time it was on bargain alerts. They've changed it now.

Also as I said earlier. Perhaps Dell are using something else. I noticed some dual and quad core atoms on laptops and desktops being marketed now as celerons and even pentiums.

I think those are these chips

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7314/intel-baytrail-preview-intel-atom-z3770-tested

Bay Trail, like all Atom platforms before it, will be available in multiple form factors. Unlike the Atoms of yesterday however, the SoC will carry Pentium and Celeron branding when used in notebooks and desktops. Intel didn’t disclose too much about its Silvermont plans in other form factors other than some basic naming:

Basically notebooks ship under the Pentium N3000 & Celeron N2000 series, while desktops will carry Pentium J2000 & Celeron J1000 branding. All Pentium SKUs seem to be quad-core, while Celeron SKUs will be available in both dual and quad-core versions.

Thankfully Intel shied away from introducing the same complexity with its tablet focused Bay Trail parts. All Bay Trail tablet SKUs carry Atom branding. There’s the quad-core Z3700 series and the dual-core Z3600 series.

I'm confused as heck now.

TerrorFirmer

I have used that CPU in a different laptop and it's perfect. I only browsed the web, watched 1080p files and that sort of thing but it was pretty much as snappy as my i7 for those purposes (I had an ssd installed.)

If you're just doing the average stuff then it's A1. Nothing wrong at all with the new Atom architecture. I don't consider it sneaky either, they've very clearly distinguished Atom-based Celeron and Pentium in the naming scheme from their regular counterparts. All anyone has to do is spend 30 seconds of their life googling to find out how good any cpu is for their purposes.

unkel

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

All anyone has to do is spend 30 seconds of their life googling to find out how good any cpu is for their purposes.

Eh yah, but that's a bit tricky when Dell doesn't specify what cpu it is

See my link. All it says is:

Processor
Intel® Celeron®-Entry

imitation

beauf wrote: »

Sorry but I think you are wrong. Yes these are nice cpu's, but they aren't close to last years pentiums, never mind a i3. Look at the benchmarks. They are perfectly fine machines, but they are not the same as a regular laptop.

If people know what they are buying and know the limitations. Great. I'd prefer one myself over a chrome book. But I'd never buy one over a regular laptop. That said they are a lot cheaper.

I have been using an atom 3740D tablet for a while, its pretty much flawless for anything I have thrown at it. While its not the same as an i3, your not going to get a new machine with an i3 for 250 euro, nor did I say that. The Bay trail stuff is great because it allows for even cheaper laptops, €250 is a new low, and you are getting a chip that gives you above acceptable performance. They chip provides much better performance than the AMD competition which was typical fare in the ultra-cheap market, which you can see in the benchmark you linked.

If it was me I would still pay the extra hundred quid and get an i3 minimum, but the fact is that still a good bit cheaper than before for an i3 because machines like this are pushing the price down further.

I wouldn't think Intel guilty of sharp practice with that in mind, although the reality of is that aren't doing it for our benefit, they are trying there usual tactic of out performing there competitors, in this case they are targeting ARM in the tablet market.

unkel

Not wanting to go too far O/T, but I bought a few cheap Lenovo desktops last week and although they came with quad core Pentium CPUs, their motherboard was the size of a laptop mobo, their PSU was external :eek: and they used a single DDR3 SO-DIMM

Laptop dressed as a Desktop

DjembaDjemba

i bought this refurbed samsung chromebook for €115 delivered off amazon warehouse a few days ago (seem to have jumped in price quite a bit since then)

Really like it. Much better than a cheap tablet and is handy in college. I use lots of cloud based products such as drive, gmusic etc. so its perfect for me

beauf

imitation wrote: »

I...I wouldn't think Intel guilty of sharp practice with that in mind, although the reality of is that aren't doing it for our benefit, they are trying there usual tactic of out performing there competitors, in this case they are targeting ARM in the tablet market.

I don't see what any of that has got to do with dropping the atom name.

The Celeron was always a cut down pentium. But very similar. This is a completely different chip, which a completely different level of performance.

Calling it a Celeron does nothing other than confuse the consumer.

When I see a Celeron, Pentium now I have no idea what it.

nc6000

Can any of you recommend a HP Chromebook?

I'm thinking of picking one up but would like do know how Skype etc performs on it and can it be used for watching Sky Sports online? Not sure if the Sky Go App can be installed or if Silverlight can be installed. Silverlight is required for watching Sky via a browser.

Mantis Toboggan

nc6000 wrote: »

Can any of you recommend a HP Chromebook?

I'm thinking of picking one up but would like do know how Skype etc performs on it and can it be used for watching Sky Sports online? Not sure if the Sky Go App can be installed or if Silverlight can be installed. Silverlight is required for watching Sky via a browser.

AFAIK silver light isn't available on chrome os!

moodrater

Buddy Holly wrote: »

AFAIK silver light isn't available on chrome os!

You can probably get sky go to work by installing Ubuntu and pipelight.