Good morning,
I'm in need of new laptop, but at this stage don't want anything over the $500ish price point.
I'm tossing up between these two models:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/HP-250-G3-Intel-Pentium-N3520-15-…
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Brand-NEW-HP-Laptop-Core-i5-15-6-…
The laptop is only used for research and web browsing at this stage. Eventually I hope to get something better spec and more compact. With the 20% discount, I'd be looking at a $200 price difference between the two. Is it worth spending the extra now? The other option is this one which is between the two above spec wise (and price wise):
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/HP-Intel-Core-i3-Laptop-15-6-LED-…
Your thoughts/advice would be much appreciated!
Thanks :)
The HP 250 G3 Intel Pentium N3520 isn't fast but it will get the job done if your primary purpose is to simply work/research on.
All three laptops you've picked are all HP 250's — they have exactly the same chassis, only the innards (CPU/RAM) are different, so it really comes down to how much processor performance you want. I don't see a point in getting a Core i5 or i3 if you are going to 'retire' this laptop later on. The Pentium should be just 'good enough'.
If you're going to pay more, at least get a machine that has nice keyboard and trackpad. Maybe even a refurb'ed Dell Latitude from the Dell outlet, ignoring the eBay deal altogether. Don't be pressured into just buying off eBay because there are very good deals on the Dell DFO every now and then.
If you chuck in an SSD into the HP 250 you will have a pretty sweet work machine — quick to boot up, open apps and run anything smoothly that is not CPU or graphics intensive.