Looking for suggestions for a laptop for MS Office, browsing and Netflix/Youtube

tmh106 · 22-03-2020 6:11pm

Spudman_20000 wrote: »

Make sure you've removed the layer of plastic off the mouse track pad. I didn't even notice it for a while and the mouse tracking improved a lot when I removed it.

Doh! Thanks Spudman, plastic now removed. That is one very invisible piece of plastic - be good if they put some marker on it to make it obvious that it is there.

bigtimecharlie · 29-03-2020 1:32am

Package dropped to my door yesterday morning.

8 days from order to delivery.

Nice and funky. Like the webcam on the bottom of screen.

All setup and running....

Except that with a battery level at 70%, the laptop switched itself off. I had fully charged the laptop earlier ( after cutting the 2 pin plug off the charger cable and fitting 3 pin plug) .

Some investigating tomorrow to find out why.

Otherwise, happy with the speed and especially the startup time.

orm0nd · 29-03-2020 7:00am

bigtimecharlie wrote: »

Package dropped to my door yesterday morning.

8 days from order to delivery.

Nice and funky. Like the webcam on the bottom of screen.

All setup and running....

Except that with a battery level at 70%, the laptop switched itself off. I had fully charged the laptop earlier ( after cutting the 2 pin plug off the charger cable and fitting 3 pin plug) .

Some investigating tomorrow to find out why.

Otherwise, happy with the speed and especially the startup time.

Mine switched off as well but was on much lower battery level. Happened a couple of times.

Also yesterday it wouldn't boot up from start. Eventually it did after using the power button numerous times. Was just about to fetch another machine to look for a solution.

Battery life is not as good as I thought earlier on as well when working under heavy load, hardly lasts longer than 1.5 hours.

bigtimecharlie · 29-03-2020 2:31pm

With an SSD instead of a spinning hard drive, I expected battery life to be greater.

Perhaps a few long charge/discharge cyles might improve things.

29-03-2020 3:31pm

orm0nd wrote: »

Mine switched off as well but was on much lower battery level. Happened a couple of times.

Also yesterday it wouldn't boot up from start. Eventually it did after using the power button numerous times. Was just about to fetch another machine to look for a solution.

Battery life is not as good as I thought earlier on as well when working under heavy load, hardly lasts longer than 1.5 hours.

shouldn't be near that short unless gaming.

1.5 hours is very short but that's also about the average battery life of a gaming laptop under gaming load.

(even tho a gaming laptop is also running a full graphics card also they will also mostly have a larger battery than a non-gaming laptop also)

you'd see the same effect on your phone for example.

but the laptop should not be cutting out at 70% battery.

laptops will shut down at 10% or even 15%, depending on the laptop.

windows battery indicator % is also not the most accurate.

something like batterybar is better.

orm0nd · 29-03-2020 11:19pm

glasso wrote: »

shouldn't be near that short unless gaming.

1.5 hours is very short but that's also about the average battery life of a gaming laptop under gaming load.

(even tho a gaming laptop is also running a full graphics card also they will also mostly have a larger battery than a non-gaming laptop also)

you'd see the same effect on your phone for example.

but the laptop should not be cutting out at 70% battery.

laptops will shut down at 10% or even 15%, depending on the laptop.

windows battery indicator % is also not the most accurate.

something like batterybar is better.

not gaming but decoding data which is probably similar,

I changed software lately and I know the latest is a heavy drain on the cpu

I'm also using an external soundcard and interface, both of which are powered via usb port but the current drain by those would be minute.

does batterybar show where the battery drain actually goes? (too lazy to look it up just now)

bigtimecharlie · 30-03-2020 12:32am

Much better for me this evening. Had about 50% starting off and seen the level drop gradually. Then got an alert at 20% with options to restrict performance.

Switching off at 75% was probably due to incomplete charge.

30-03-2020 1:01am

orm0nd wrote: »

not gaming but decoding data which is probably similar,

I changed software lately and I know the latest is a heavy drain on the cpu

I'm also using an external soundcard and interface, both of which are powered via usb port but the current drain by those would be minute.

does batterybar show where the battery drain actually goes? (too lazy to look it up just now)

no, it's not like android or ios wrt apps etc if that's what you're thinking.

it just provides more info about battery capacity and is more accurate.

free to download and use and has a handy quick info icon / section at the bottom left of the screen in windows.

give it a go.

when you say "decoding data" what does that mean (if not too specific a question)?

is the cpu and gpu performance consistently up at a high level in task manager with it?

tmh106 · 07-04-2020 4:31pm

Now that I've been using the laptop a few weeks one thing I notice is that when playing videos or looking at pictures they seem much darker than on my previous laptop. I also did a side by side comparison with my wife's work Dell laptop and the picture when viewed on my wife's laptop seems brighter with more background detail visible. I turned up brightness fully and I also tried changing brightness and contrast using the Intel Graphics Settings, but it doesn't seem to make very much difference.

Has anyone who got one of these noticed the same?

07-04-2020 7:41pm

tmh106 wrote: »

Now that I've been using the laptop a few weeks one thing I notice is that when playing videos or looking at pictures they seem much darker than on my previous laptop. I also did a side by side comparison with my wife's work Dell laptop and the picture when viewed on my wife's laptop seems brighter with more background detail visible. I turned up brightness fully and I also tried changing brightness and contrast using the Intel Graphics Settings, but it doesn't seem to make very much difference.

Has anyone who got one of these noticed the same?

afaik it's a matte ips display. the other type of ips display is a glossy ips display

there are pros and cons to each

https://www.howtogeek.com/181727/glossy-vs.-matte-lcds-which-should-you-choose-when-buying-a-display/

degzs · 19-04-2020 4:05pm

Anyone else have issues with the mouse ? The left click not been very responsive ?

tmh106 · 20-04-2020 6:02pm

degzs wrote: »

Anyone else have issues with the mouse ? The left click not been very responsive ?

I haven't had any problems so far. Maybe it's your mouse? I'm used a wired (USB) mouse

20-04-2020 6:22pm

tmh106 wrote: »

I haven't had any problems so far. Maybe it's your mouse? I'm used a wired (USB) mouse

probably means the left button on the mouse trackpad integrated into the laptop.

tmh106 · 20-04-2020 6:43pm

glasso wrote: »

probably means the left button on the mouse trackpad integrated into the laptop.

ah right Glasso. I haven't really used the trackpad very much so can't really comment other than to say when I did use it I didn't have any problems.

Spudman_20000 · 22-04-2020 11:47am

degzs wrote: »

Anyone else have issues with the mouse ? The left click not been very responsive ?

Mentioned it in another post, but be sure you've removed the layer of plastic off the mouse track pad. I didn't even notice it for a while and the mouse tracking improved a lot when I removed it.

Saying that I do notice the left click can be a bit iffy when using the trackpad. I'm using a USB mouse most of the time though.

tom23 · 14-05-2020 3:38pm

Spudman_20000 wrote: »

Bought this, arrived yesterday, all good so far.

The hard disk size is a bit on the stingy side. What would be the best/easiest option to upgrade the HD space?

Did you buy this of geekbuying? Are they ok to buy off? cheers

Spudman_20000 · 15-05-2020 8:27am

tom23 wrote: »

Did you buy this of geekbuying? Are they ok to buy off? cheers

Yes, used the link in the second post of the thread. No hassles, arrived in good time (pre-Covid though).

tom23 · 15-05-2020 11:24am

Spudman_20000 wrote: »

Yes, used the link in the second post of the thread. No hassles, arrived in good time (pre-Covid though).

Cheers, how is the machine going for you?

tom23 · 15-05-2020 11:29am

Spudman_20000 wrote: »

Yes, used the link in the second post of the thread. No hassles, arrived in good time (pre-Covid though).

My brother is looking to buy a laptop, to do a wee bit of amateur video, just to mess about nothing serious. Would you reckon the VORKE be suitable?

He has about 500 euro to play with so this is in his budget.

15-05-2020 12:05pm

think that this has been out of stock for a fair while

for €500 a colour-accurate screen for video editing is not obtainable on a laptop

the honor magicbook 14 / matebook d 14 (see other threads here) is a 100 more expensive but is a quality item.

it's better value at €600 than this is at €500

tom23 · 15-05-2020 1:03pm

glasso wrote: »

think that this has been out of stock for a fair while

for €500 a colour-accurate screen for video editing is not obtainable on a laptop

the honor magicbook 14 / matebook d 14 (see other threads here) is a 100 more expensive but is a quality item.

it's better value at €600 than this is at €500

Jesus Id love one meself. Nearly tempted to sell my MacBook to get it!

tom23 · 18-05-2020 9:10pm

glasso wrote: »

think that this has been out of stock for a fair while

for €500 a colour-accurate screen for video editing is not obtainable on a laptop

the honor magicbook 14 / matebook d 14 (see other threads here) is a 100 more expensive but is a quality item.

it's better value at €600 than this is at €500

Im about to push the button on getting a MagicBook. I like the idea of having a 2020 laptop. Currently have an early 2015 MBP. Nice bit of kit, but getting on. In your opinion and apart from the screen, do you think the MagicBook would stack up as daily driver of word processing, maybe a wee bit of Photoshop?

Early MBP is the base model. 8gig or Ram, 128gig Ram. cheers Glasso

18-05-2020 10:19pm

tom23 wrote: »

Im about to push the button on getting a MagicBook. I like the idea of having a 2020 laptop. Currently have an early 2015 MBP. Nice bit of kit, but getting on. In your opinion and apart from the screen, do you think the MagicBook would stack up as daily driver of word processing, maybe a wee bit of Photoshop?

Early MBP is the base model. 8gig or Ram, 128gig Ram. cheers Glasso

easily.

by the way it's a nice ips screen that is bright enough with good contrast and viewing angles but not super colour accurate but you can't get that under 800+ and outside the pro photographer segment would not be even noticed. and all the other elements are great

would easily handle word processing, photo editing.

it can even handle some gaming.

tom23 · 19-05-2020 9:20am

Cheers Im treating my self to the space grey. Ill post some reviews in a while as best as I can. Been using macOS (in its various incantations) since 1998 so it will be strange one to be using windows environment.

Still after reading reviews and listening to opinions it will be nice to get my hands not his laptop.

Cheers Glasso.

tom23 · 22-05-2020 8:12pm

Howdy, so I got the Honor MagicBook 14" Space Grey. So far I am pretty amazed. Ive been a life long user of macOS and my last daily driver was a 2015 MBP and before that 2011 15" MBP. Those machines feel like behemoths to this.

Once I give it a good road test Ill post more. But thanks to @glasso to posting his recommendation on this. He was bang on the money.

Lyle Lanley · 28-06-2020 10:13pm

Lyle Lanley wrote: »

I've also bought it but won't be home to collect for about a month now.

So Covid really derailed my plans and I have not yet made it home so this laptop is sitting at home unused!

Anyone here interested in buying it at a slightly reduced price?

Alternatively, any suggestions on how to sell a laptop in Ireland? Haven't lived there for a while now so no idea how you sell second hand goods!

28-06-2020 10:15pm

Lyle Lanley wrote: »

So Covid really derailed my plans and I have not yet made it home so this laptop is sitting at home unused!

Anyone here interested in buying it at a slightly reduced price?

Alternatively, any suggestions on how to sell a laptop in Ireland? Haven't lived there for a while now so no idea how you sell second hand goods!

adverts or donedeal

orm0nd · 28-07-2020 2:28pm

orm0nd wrote: »

not gaming but decoding data which is probably similar,

I changed software lately and I know the latest is a heavy drain on the cpu

I'm also using an external soundcard and interface, both of which are powered via usb port but the current drain by those would be minute.

does batterybar show where the battery drain actually goes? (too lazy to look it up just now)

worked flawlessly for 4 months and then died a sudden death,

computer repair man says they are a terrible build with the cheapest of components and terrible shortcuts in the layout

I suppose at the end of the day you get what you pay for , possibly have lost some valuable data as well that wasnt backed up while I was using it.

it will be a few days b4 repair guy gets around to doing a full survey

Spudman_20000 · 13-08-2020 10:00am

Started to have issues with the laptop, every so often the screen display gets completely corrupted (small green square blocks flickering).

A reboot solves the issue, but haven't much confidence in the overall reliability of the laptop.

13-08-2020 2:14pm

It was a great deal at the time but now something like the honor magicbook is much better overall really for under 600€

Spudman_20000 · 18-08-2020 3:55pm

Opened a support ticket with Geekbuying in relation to the screen display issue.

They replied saying its a motherboard issue and their "warranty" doesn't cover screen or motherboard issues. Told me to send it back to the "Chinese warehouse" for repair at my own expense.

Looks like I'm going to have a bit of a rig-ma-roll educating them on EU consumer law.

Just letting ye guys know in case you're planning to order anything from these clowns.

20-08-2020 1:32pm

your best option might be to negotiate for a partial refund with them if they are not going to replace it

sending back and repair would be very drawn out and take ages I would say.

they are not laptor repairers in any case.

orm0nd · 20-08-2020 2:10pm

orm0nd wrote: »

worked flawlessly for 4 months and then died a sudden death,

computer repair man says they are a terrible build with the cheapest of components and terrible shortcuts in the layout

I suppose at the end of the day you get what you pay for , possibly have lost some valuable data as well that wasnt backed up while I was using it.

it will be a few days b4 repair guy gets around to doing a full survey

Couldn't even reteive the data from it. Not bothered even trying to get refund or repair, got too much happening just now.

Lesson learned.

regulators · 20-08-2020 2:33pm

I wouldn't bother with the laptop in this thread to be honest. I'd advoid at all costs and not exactly a bargain at 460. They have crap screens.

For an extra 90 euro and with Amazon been excellent at returns if something goes wrong you could get a laptop like this.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/HUAWEI-MateBook-2020-Multi-Screen-Collaboration/dp/B085YM9K63/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=laptop+ryzen+metal&qid=1597930353&sr=8-3

Or this HP one.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/HP-Pavilion-15-cw1004na-Touch-screen-3-3300U/dp/B083T1Z3LW/ref=sr_1_7?dchild=1&keywords=laptop+ryzen+metal&qid=1597930553&sr=8-7

This one comes in at 475, roughly the same price.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-Laptop-Ryzen-Processor-Windows/dp/B081NKW4M6/ref=sr_1_16?dchild=1&keywords=laptop+ryzen+metal&qid=1597930553&sr=8-16

Just advising anyone who is thinking of buying that laptop from geekbuying to avoid at all costs.

20-08-2020 5:30pm

glasso wrote: »

It was a great deal at the time but now something like the honor magicbook is much better overall really for under 600€

yes that point has already been made

at the time the magicbook was not available and in fact no metal-chassis laptop anywhere near that price was available

regulators · 25-08-2020 10:44pm

glasso wrote: »

yes that point has already been made

at the time the magicbook was not available and in fact no metal-chassis laptop anywhere near that price was available

Wouldn't have even purchasing it if there wasn't. Piece of junk.

26-08-2020 10:20am

orm0nd wrote: »

Couldn't even reteive the data from it. Not bothered even trying to get refund or repair, got too much happening just now.

Lesson learned.

Try for a refund from them is it's totally gone.

ship it back to them

Spudman_20000 · 26-08-2020 10:23am

glasso wrote: »

Try for a refund from them is it's totally gone.

ship it back to them

Geekbuying are being very difficult to deal with. After initially offering me €50 to repair the motherboard :pac: and saying that motherboards and screens are not covered by their guarantee, they relented and sent me a return address for the repair.....a warehouse in China.

I've gone back to them again that I'm not taking the risk and expense of shipping the laptop to China but I'm willing to return it back to one of their warehouses in Europe (of which there are a good few).

26-08-2020 11:18am

Spudman_20000 wrote: »

Geekbuying are being very difficult to deal with. After initially offering me €50 to repair the motherboard :pac: and saying that motherboards and screens are not covered by their guarantee, they relented and sent me a return address for the repair.....a warehouse in China.

I've gone back to them again that I'm not taking the risk and expense of shipping the laptop to China but I'm willing to return it back to one of their warehouses in Europe (of which there are a good few).

let us know how you get on.

you might have to ship to china maybe to get the repair or more hopefully refund as that could be part of their policy and could be drawn out unfortunately but don't give in...

26-08-2020 11:40am

orm0nd wrote: »

Couldn't even reteive the data from it. Not bothered even trying to get refund or repair, got too much happening just now.

Lesson learned.

I'd try to get a refund even if you have to send it back...

see other poster

Spudman_20000 · 26-08-2020 12:16pm

glasso wrote: »

let us know how you get on.

you might have to ship to china maybe to get the repair or more hopefully refund as that could be part of their policy and could be drawn out unfortunately but don't give in...

Well I've said to them there's no way in hell I'm shipping to China. I didn't order the laptop from their Chinese website or warehouse. Where or how they repair it is none of my concern.

I'll keep ye posted anyways.

26-08-2020 12:39pm

Spudman_20000 wrote: »

Well I've said to them there's no way in hell I'm shipping to China. I didn't order the laptop from their Chinese website or warehouse. Where or how they repair it is none of my concern.

I'll keep ye posted anyways.

what did you say to convince them to abandon their screen or motherboard no warranty rubbish?

Spudman_20000 · 26-08-2020 1:28pm

glasso wrote: »

what did you say to convince them to abandon their screen or motherboard no warranty rubbish?

Just quoted them European laws on goods and services.

Their bulls**t guarantee doesn't override consumer rights.

26-08-2020 1:58pm

Spudman_20000 wrote: »

Just quoted them European laws on goods and services.

Their bulls**t guarantee doesn't override consumer rights.

correct.

orm0nd · 02-09-2020 3:07pm

regulators wrote: »

Wouldn't have even purchasing it if there wasn't. Piece of junk.

My repair guy agrees. Terrible assembly with the cheapest components.
He had seen a few Chinese machines but this was the worst piece of sh1t he came across.

Spudman_20000 · 09-10-2020 3:34pm

Well, I've shipped the laptop back to them in China.

Not confident of getting a good resolution based on my experience with Geekbuying support so far, but worth a shot as the laptop was unusable anyway.

09-10-2020 5:19pm

Spudman_20000 wrote: »

Well, I've shipped the laptop back to them in China.

Not confident of getting a good resolution based on my experience with Geekbuying support so far, but worth a shot as the laptop was unusable anyway.

They will have to sort you out in some way now that you've sent it back. Let us know what happens.

Spudman_20000 · 30-10-2020 9:32am

Laptop is in customs in China now and Geekbuying are playing silly buggers about contacting customs.

What a sh*theap of a company to deal with.

30-10-2020 2:31pm

keep at the fookers having got this far.

it's a return - should not be an issue with customs.

Spudman_20000 · 31-10-2020 9:15am

Geekbuying are claiming now that they've contacted customs but that the item isn't there, even though both An Post and China Post says the recipient needs to contact customs.

I'm done dealing with these clowns, what options are open to me? PayPal dispute, credit card charge back?

Looking for suggestions for a laptop for MS Office, browsing and Netflix/Youtube

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