Buying from saveonlaptops or laptopsdirect

bonsai_73

I'm currently looking at laptops on both saveonlaptops.co.uk and laptopsdirect.ie, and I'm wondering should I go ahead and buy now, or is there likely to be any sort of sale or discount between now and Christmas?

I've never bought from either site, so I'm not familiar with their sales patterns (if any). Also, if anyone can recommend one over the other I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

saveonlaptops probably has a better reputation than laptopsdirect. I've used saveonlaptops a couple of times
to be honest I think that you get a better deal in a lot of case new from e.g. dell.ie (when they have a discount going)

bonsai_73

Thanks for that. I just took a look on Dell.ie and the equivalent of what I was looking at on saveonlaptops (a HP) is about €80 more at the moment, which says there's a €30 discount. I'll keep an eye though and see if anything changes.

Are there any other sites you could recommend?

bonsai_73

bonsai_73 wrote: »

Thanks for that. I just took a look on Dell.ie and the equivalent of what I was looking at on saveonlaptops (a HP) is about €80 more at the moment, which says there's a €30 discount. I'll keep an eye though and see if anything changes.

Are there any other sites you could recommend?

dell had a good deal with extra money off that ended Nov 2.

depends on what sort of price range you're looking for really.

Argos can be ok for under 500 euro budgets.

However saveonlaptops, laptopsdirect etc are usually offloading old stock from manufacturers or refurbished (more laptopsdirect) as that is the business model of those sites so you're not getting the latest stuff.

sometimes between intel cpu generations there can be a big gain in perf.

This is the case with the latest generation where the i5 chips are showing 50% + performance over the last gen.

what's your budget and what are you looking for?
e.g. 1080p screen? i3 / i5?
what will it be used for?
e.g. just browsing, basic ms office?
or more intensive things like video editing or gaming where you're looking at a much more expensive laptop.

TerrorFirmer

glasso wrote: »

However saveonlaptops, laptopsdirect etc are usually offloading old stock from manufacturers or refurbished (more laptopsdirect) as that is the business model of those sites so you're not getting the latest stuff.

sometimes between intel cpu generations there can be a big gain in perf.

This is the case with the latest generation where the i5 chips are showing 50% + performance over the last gen.

Both websites have all the latest stuff, they just have such a massive range of stock that they also carry older stuff as well. Both offer very good value though, Saveonlaptops especially.

The difference in performance between generations is very small in laptops, the 50% increase you speak of actually relates to the latest desktop i5.

It's because they are now six core as of late 2017 vs four core since 2011, not because the actual per core performance has rocketed.

Laptop i5's are different, the vast majority of them are ULV dual core i5 and i7 to prolong battery life and the performance between 5th, 6th, 7th gen is not overly significant.

People don't tend to realise this, so a laptop with a 'proper' desktop i3 is actually significantly faster than say a ULV i7 (eg i7-7500U).

For a casual user your main priority should be an SSD, makes a phenomenal difference in speed.

TerrorFirmer

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

The difference in performance between generations is very small in laptops, the 50% increase you speak of actually relates to the latest desktop i5.

Laptop i5's are different, the vast majority of them are ULV dual core i5 and i7 to prolong battery life and the performance between 5th, 6th, 7th gen is not overly significant.

Really?

http://laptopmedia.com/comparisons/intel-core-i5-8250u-vs-core-i5-7200u-two-generations-collide/

50% + difference on ulv i5 chips from last gen.

TerrorFirmer

The reason they're faster now is because they're now 4 core/8 thread ULV models, previous gen were 2/4. So the per core performance isn't much better, but it's increased cores are making them faster....BUT they're also more expensive though so unless I'm mistaken you will pay a few hundred more for an i5-8250 versus say the cheaper sky/kabylake i5 ULV's. The new CPU's are basically full fledged i7's in disguise, but priced somewhat accordingly.

The new desktop i5's are more or less similar price top older i5's - with laptops that's not the case though, so it's not fair to compare the latest generation to the previous as there's a huge price gulf.

Eg i5-7200U here for £399 including an SSD. You won't get a new Coffee Lake i5 for anywhere near that money, I think they start around £700 ish.

bonsai_73

glasso wrote: »

what's your budget and what are you looking for?
e.g. 1080p screen? i3 / i5?
what will it be used for?
e.g. just browsing, basic ms office?
or more intensive things like video editing or gaming where you're looking at a much more expensive laptop.

The laptop will be for two children to share, oldest being just turned 11. With that in mind, I don't want to spend a massive amount because I'll probably end up having to buy a second one for the older one to have his own laptop in a couple of years. Budget is up to about the 500 mark.

They'll be using it for school projects (so basic stuff like internet research, ms office/powerpoint), Youtube, and a few games, such as Roblox and Minecraft. I don't think those specifically need a gaming spec?

They currently do all of those things on either my laptop (i7 4510u, 8gb ram, Nvidia 820m) or my wife's laptop (i3 from 2015, 4gb ram and integrated graphics), and everything runs ok on both, so I'm hoping to get a away with as minimum spec as I can.

I was looking at this one on saveonlaptops: https://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/2EW12ESABU-HP%C2%A0250%C2%A0G5_2233244.html

bonsai_73

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Eg i5-7200U here for £399 including an SSD. You won't get a new Coffee Lake i5 for anywhere near that money, I think they start around £700 ish.

Sorry I didn't see your reply til after I posted. Would the one you posted be better than the one I linked to? Same processor in them but your one has an SSD and 4gb ram and my one had 8gb ram but HDD. I didn't even look at any 4gb laptops when I was browsing, I wonder should I have? And would the SSD make much of a difference overall?

TerrorFirmer

bonsai_73 wrote: »

Sorry I didn't see your reply til after I posted. Would the one you posted be better than the one I linked to? Same processor in them but your one has an SSD and 4gb ram and my one had 8gb ram but HDD. I didn't even look at any 4gb laptops when I was browsing, I wonder should I have? And would the SSD make much of a difference overall?

No, I'd prefer the 8GB of RAM and a full HD screen to be honest. But yes, an SSD makes a massive difference to boot up times and general responsiveness of applications.

Only thing is to get the right combo of SSD, full HD screen and 8GB drives the budget up quite a lot.

So with your limited budget and the fact that it's for kids, I'd say you'd be best served going with the laptop you linked to for the £449.

bonsai_73

Thanks for that, I really appreciate the input.

TerrorFirmer

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

The reason they're faster now is because they're now 4 core/8 thread ULV models, previous gen were 2/4. So the per core performance isn't much better, but it's increased cores are making them faster....BUT they're also more expensive though so unless I'm mistaken you will pay a few hundred more for an i5-8250 versus say the cheaper sky/kabylake i5 ULV's. The new CPU's are basically full fledged i7's in disguise, but priced somewhat accordingly.

The new desktop i5's are more or less similar price top older i5's - with laptops that's not the case though, so it's not fair to compare the latest generation to the previous as there's a huge price gulf.

Eg i5-7200U here for £399 including an SSD. You won't get a new Coffee Lake i5 for anywhere near that money, I think they start around £700 ish.

oh so they do have 50% more perf then after all....
you can get a dell with the 8250u chip for 670 euro with hd screen, 8gb ram.. it was 600 on a deal which ended nov 2 which I imagine will be repeated soon.
http://www.dell.com/en-ie/shop/laptops/inspiron-15-5000/spd/inspiron-15-5570-laptop/cn57001
it's no different in pricing to any new gen - it's not more expensive than previous new generations.
except imo it's worth paying the extra in this case due to the generational upgrade to 4 cores.

TerrorFirmer

Yes, in fairness I did not realise you could get them quite that cheap. I thought you'd be looking at more like €750+.

bonsai_73

glasso wrote: »

oh so they do have 50% more perf then after all....
you can get a dell with the 8250u chip for 670 euro with hd screen, 8gb ram.. it was 600 on a deal which ended nov 2 which I imagine will be repeated soon.
http://www.dell.com/en-ie/shop/laptops/inspiron-15-5000/spd/inspiron-15-5570-laptop/cn57001
it's no different in pricing to any new gen - it's not more expensive than previous new generations.
except imo it's worth paying the extra in this case due to the generational upgrade to 4 cores.

Thanks for the link, I'll keep an eye on it to see if it's on offer again. The other one looks like it would work out at about €540 including postage, so if the Dell is reduced again, is it worth stretching the budget to 600 for the 8250u vs 7200u?

TerrorFirmer

bonsai_73 wrote: »

Thanks for the link, I'll keep an eye on it to see if it's on offer again. The other one looks like it would work out at about €540 including postage, so if the Dell is reduced again, is it worth stretching the budget to 600 for the 8250u vs 7200u?

100% yes if the price difference is that reasonable. Way faster processor but the integrated graphics will also be faster.

bonsai_73

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

100% yes if the price difference is that reasonable. Way faster processor but the integrated graphics will also be faster.

Excellent, thank you. I'll keep watching the Dell for a price drop so!

bonsai_73

bonsai_73 wrote: »

Excellent, thank you. I'll keep watching the Dell for a price drop so!

hopefully you might get something around Black Friday - nov 24.
this started as an American event for pre-Christmas deals but it is gaining traction over in Europe now.
I'm not 100% if dell Europe do it but keep an eye out.
Another option is to watch the dell uk site as they may have an offer going that's not on on the Ireland site.
Sterling is weak at the mo.
I've ordered before (using parcel redirection like parcel motel) from the dell uk outlet so you might be able to do that also.

here's the sort of deals dell uk did last year on black friday

http://uk.pcmag.com/pcmag-deals/86278/partner/dell-black-friday-2016-deals

bonsai_73

glasso wrote: »

here's the sort of deals dell uk did last year on black friday

http://uk.pcmag.com/pcmag-deals/86278/partner/dell-black-friday-2016-deals

Brilliant, thanks a million, I'll keep an eye out in the coming weeks.

bonsai_73

So the Dell that glasso posted is now 549. Two others that I was looking at today are here and here.

Is the Dell the best option? I'm thinking it probably is, but it only has 3 star rating on Dell's site, or should I just ignore those reviews (there's only 3 of them)?

bonsai_73

bonsai_73 wrote: »

So the Dell that glasso posted is now 549. Two others that I was looking at today are here and here.

Is the Dell the best option? I'm thinking it probably is, but it only has 3 star rating on Dell's site, or should I just ignore those reviews (there's only 3 of them)?

dell is way better. I wouldn't be worried about those 3 reviews tbh. that's a great price now.

bonsai_73

glasso wrote: »

dell is way better. I wouldn't be worried about those 3 reviews tbh. that's a great price now.

You're a star! Thanks a million, I really appreciate all your help.