laptop suggestions New or reconditioned???

logie101

Hi, I am looking to get a laptop for the home. Just for assignments, Internet and music (fairly light use really).

I have a budget of €400.

Should I buy a budget laptop from a high street store or would it be better to buy a reconditioned HP Elitebook with i5 processor?

Any ideas?

degsie

Maybe post on the 'Laptop' sub-forum. I'm sure you'd get some advice there.

Recurve360

Funny enough my sister asked me to pick out a laptop for her earlier today with the same requirements and budget.
I always believe its better to buy new because you have peace of mind.

Heres what I suggest:
http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/3958647/c_1/1|category_root|Office%2C+PCs+and+phones|14418968/c_2/3|cat_19780850|Laptops+and+netbooks|14419039.htm

Its available in a few different colours. Its only a pentium so not as fast as an i5 but you have no real need for it with the tasks you will be doing.

bonzodog2

If I wanted to spend that much, I'd go for something like this
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/14-Dell-Latitude-E6430-Core-i5-3360M-2-8GHz-500GB-HDD-8GB-RAM-w-Windows-7-Pro-/141938168657?hash=item210c2c9351:g:j6IAAOSwBnVW8tlv

edit - or this
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Dell-Latitude-E6530-15-6-Core-i5-3210M-2-5-8-1TB-Webcam-Win-7-Business-Laptop-/272217767768?hash=item3f61717f58:g:zGcAAOSwKtlWoXjB

I really would stay away from the new budget machines in the shops.

Personally I use laptops a lot older and cheaper than the item above (earlier model Dell E series) and for day-to-day use - browsing, basic office work, downloading and watching video, etc, they're just fine. Maybe add some RAM or change to SSD.

My 0.02$ anyway ! Newer ones probably are lighter, with better batteries/battery life, but you say its for home use.

Recurve360

Worth noting that both of those machines would be better than the one I linked but the fact they are in America you will be paying import charges which means these €350 laptops will cost over €500 by the time you get them.
Also worth noting is that you only get a 60 day warranty incase it breaks and im sure a student wants something a little more reliable as they dont have money they can just throw away.
Buying outside of the UK/IE means your keyboard layout will be different and can be disorientating when trying to speed type.

I still mantain that a lower spec model is more than sufficient for the users needs and they would have peace of mind and an easy returns process if anything went wrong with it

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Recurve360 wrote: »

Funny enough my sister asked me to pick out a laptop for her earlier today with the same requirements and budget.
I always believe its better to buy new because you have peace of mind.

Heres what I suggest:
http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/3958647/c_1/1|category_root|Office%2C+PCs+and+phones|14418968/c_2/3|cat_19780850|Laptops+and+netbooks|14419039.htm

Its available in a few different colours. Its only a pentium so not as fast as an i5 but you have no real need for it with the tasks you will be doing.

€20 more gets you way better specs online: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057587848

logie101

Thanks for the advise guys.

But just curious on you thoughts on a reconditioned HP elitebook 3rd generation, 8g Ram, i5 processor for around €250???

bonzodog2

Sounds decent enough. Hopefully HP don't have the cooling/graphics chipset issues they used to.