Looking for a tax-time laptop

Loli78 on 08/06/2015 - 23:02

Hi all,

After many (many) months of lurking, time for a post.

I'm looking for a laptop for work. Word processing, spreadsheets, visio, web browsing for the most part. From time to time I go away doing commissioning as well, so a reasonable (4hrs) battery wouldn't hurt. I'd prefer 8Gb RAM, and 500+Gb HDD. No need for an optical drive, in fact I'd probably prefer not to save on weight.

I was looking at this:
http://www.dicksmith.com.au/laptops-notebooks/hp-pavilion-15…

Budget is around the $500-$600 mark at this stage.

Any thoughts, or suggestions as to what else would be around?

Cheers,

Computing

Comments

  • geoffellis on 09/06/2015 - 03:11
    +2

    I've worked on pretty much every brand of computer. They're all essentially the same in the long run. For what you're doing you won't notice the difference between an i5 and an i7. Or even an i3 probably. You won't notice the difference between a 2.5ghz processor and a 3.0 ghz processor. You might not even notice the difference between 4gb ram and 8gb ram. But i'd still recommend the 8gb just because. future proofing and its not expensive if you do use it.

    If you want to discuss the finer points on a high end laptop and its components, where there might be critical advantages (eg dedicated video) thats one thing. for a simple laptop to be used for office work and web browsing. pick something in your price range and minimum specs (like hdd space, battery life) and be done. worry about whether the cpu on one is 10% better than another on a 500$ laptop is a waste of time really, imo.

    • ItsMeAgro on 09/06/2015 - 11:42
      +2

      You forgot to say what will make a big difference: SSD or no SSD.

      Personally I just bought (last year) the cheapest i3 Dell laptop (about $500 or so, 4GB RAM is fine), and bought a 128GB Samsung 830 Pro SSD ($140) and installed that. Swapped out the old HDD, got a portable HDD case for it on ebay for $20, and I store backups and stuff on that.

      If you don't want to install the SSD yourself, you can find one that has it as an option, but you're probably looking at a big jump in cost.

      • geoffellis on 09/06/2015 - 12:24

        True an SSD will make a difference - but I haven't seen many (any?) options in the 500-600$ range that ship with an SSD - and buying one outright for another 150$ puts it out of his price range. And people used HDD's for years for these tasks without problems. an SSD might speed up boot and the opening of applications and stuff - but you wont notice webpages loading faster or videos playing smoother. So not really a necessary requirement. a photographer or videographer opening large files in high end applications, sure, he'd benefit. your average home user, meh. its not crucial.

    • mrmarkau67 on 09/06/2015 - 12:10
      +1

      I've worked on pretty much every brand of computer. They're all essentially the same in the long run

      This is true and not true at the same time.

      Right now, in Australia, a couple of companies have much better reputations for service. Plenty of people seem to be able to share good stories of Dell and Apple service. Not so many on the Asus and Lenovo side of the equation.

      Also, the big differences are within the brands. A Dell Latitude is truly better quality than a Dell Vostro, a Dell XPS is usually better than an Inspiron. A HP Spectre (usually) is better than a HP Pavilion. The exception is Apple - their range seems to have consistent quality throughout.

      • ItsMeAgro on 09/06/2015 - 12:21

        Yes, and the cheapest Acer laptops don't last as long as the other big names by a noticeable margin.

        (Note that Acer and Asus are different companies, Asus is apparently better. And Acer do make some good products - their projectors seem to score well.)

      • geoffellis on 09/06/2015 - 12:34

        I can't say which companies have better reputations. I dont interact with all/most of them on a regular basis. I do out of warranty work mostly.I certainly wouldn't have said Dell was a great company. I have had bad experiences with them personally.

        That said - comparing an Inspiron to an XPS is a moot point. An XPS is always better than an Inspiron. the XPS is their high end line and cost in the 1500-3000$ range last I checked, whereas the Inspiron is in the 500-1000$ low end range. Of course the XPS is going to be better. But if you compare a 500$ dell to a 500$ toshiba to a 500$ HP (etc) you're going to get essentially the same thing. Apple is different because they really only have mid-high to really high-end devices, they dont offer a sub 1000$ laptop option afaik.

        • mrmarkau67 on 09/06/2015 - 12:50

          Was your experience with Dell around poor service, or poor quality of the hardware? I've had good experiences with their service and high end hardware, and no so good experiences with their low end hardware.

        • geoffellis on 09/06/2015 - 14:47

          @mrmarkau67:

          Hardware + Service - Had a Dell who's hdd failed after about 13-14 months. Just outside the 1 year warranty i think it was, but well below what a hdd would be expect to live for. Weren't interested in working with me at all. Fair enough. Not required to, but really didnt impress me.

  • pjetson on 09/06/2015 - 08:41
    +1

    The Dell factory outlet often has some very good deals.

  • oli78 on 09/06/2015 - 14:27

    Thanks for the good feedback guys. I guess I'm being the ultimate tightass and not wanting to spend cash (why else would I be here right?)
    I wasn't too worried about SSD - they can always be swapped in later I guess. Heading to the Dell shop now and see what they have…

      • oli78 on 09/06/2015 - 23:14

        Hah So I noticed when I went back to check it out. Looks like it has already gone.
        I'll keep looking.

        • oli78 on 09/06/2015 - 23:17

          Or, I should learn to read. Still there.

        • oli78 on 11/06/2015 - 11:07

          @Cheap Charlie:

          Slowly. I like the look of the Dell's posted above, but I'm notoriously picky about keyboard feel. I find some of them to be quite spongy, so I'm concerned about buying without seeing what it feels like. Haven't had a chance to see if there's anyone in Perth who stock Dells to see something similar. From memory Dell are direct ship though, so I might just have to risk it.

        • oli78 on 12/06/2015 - 15:10

          @Cheap Charlie: Agreed completely. I found that JB do sell similar Dells so I managed to do a "touch test", which I was happy with.

          I actually use 7+ year old Dell running XP on a regular basis as my test laptop, and I can't fault it.

          The laptop above (DFO-3144779LT) has just reappeared on the DFO site, and I'm about to pull the trigger.

          I would like to tweak the RAM - is this https://www.ple.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemId=614463 suitable?

        • oli78 on 12/06/2015 - 16:36

          @Cheap Charlie:
          Cheers Charlie,
          You're right, the RRP is crazy. Even dropping two matched simms into it at a later date to boost the RAM would still put me well ahead.
          I'll keep your tip about the BT swapout / SSD in mind.

          Thanks for your help!

  • Geekomatic on 09/06/2015 - 20:20

    For those wanting to find a really good laptop, you look at the dedicated graphics as a guide. Only really decent laptops have decent GPU's (separate, not "on-board or "integrated"). Higher-end graphics, in other words, are never/rarely found in crappy laptops. If you can get the actual GPU model from the salesperson, it's easy enough to go online to review it.

    Likewise, I don't care if you toss 16 or 32GB of RAM into a cheap laptop — if the CPU/GPU is anemic, you'll be tossing money down the well.

    There are great laptops that have grunty CPU's w/integrated graphics— & this might serve you, too. But it's imho that going for less than a 2.0Ghz CPU (dual or quad) is asking for poor performance. Btw, for your uses 4GB RAM is fine, as long as you have a 2nd slot to upgrade & the current slot sits at 4GB. Ask/research the max RAM, too.

    FWIW

    • scrimshaw on 10/06/2015 - 19:18
      +1

      The graphics would under-utilized in OP's case, so it is a very low priority.

      He won't need dedicated graphics to watch Youtube and run spreadsheets. You do however need a good build quality, reliability, and for the traveller, lightweight design and good battery life.

      The highest priority for most people would be the service life of the laptop. The longer it lasts the better, so that's why I make a point of buying more reliable / repairable business-grade laptops and not the cheap consumer grade stuff that Dick Smiths and JB Hifi peddle in their shops.

      Gone are the days where sub $600 laptops will have graphics cards, nowadays it's all about making it thin and power efficient. Having a dedicated GPU greatly increases power consumption and weight, when you add the extra parts required to cool the GPU, that's going to add both weight, thickness and extra cost to the device. Not a very popular option unless you are a dyed-in-the-wool PC gamer.

      • tonyjzx on 10/06/2015 - 19:34

        Come on. There are some fantastic laptops with Intel integrated.

        Lenovo Carbon X1?

        Thing is people are caught up in discrete gpus in laptops as if many people game. They dont. If they did, they would buy one of those Clevo or MSI or GA machines.

        There are lots of business spec laptops with Intel gfx that are absolutely fine.

        Sure you wont be playing GTA5 or COD on them but they werent designed for that.

    • Geekomatic on 11/06/2015 - 00:58

      My reply was educational more than directional.

      The OP may choose their poison, I merely presented basics.

      Good graphics- good pc.

      Bar that, you research more- and still based on what I laid out:

      CPU: dual/quad speed of at least 2.0 Ghz.

      RAM: 4GB or better- laptop, 4GB in one of two slots

      "Video/graphics" dedicated- review the type. Even if the OP doesn't need it, dedicated graphics lift the resource-hog of integrated, dedicated RAM is specifically created for graphics, thus, = faster response all-around.

      Unless I've read wrong for a few decades?

      • mrmarkau67 on 11/06/2015 - 10:29

        Things have changed. Intel and AMD have worked very hard on integrated graphics and some integrated processors are now faster than some dedicated GPUs. I think the days where you can judge a laptop by its GPU have passed.

        What's more important is the guiding philosophy of the model you are looking at.

        Was it designed

        • down to a price (eg HP Pavilion, Dell Inspiron etc)
        • to be used also as a Tablet (eg Surface etc etc etc)
        • to be tough and easy to maintain for longevity (eg HP Probook, Dell Latitude)
        • for style and mobility (eg Dell XPS or Apple MacBook)
        • for desktop replacement/gaming (eg Dell Precision, Alienware or Aorus)

        I'd suggest that these days a dedicated GPU is only warranted in the last category

        CPU: dual/quad speed of at least 2.0 Ghz.

        This factor is also debatable these days too. Apart from gaming and some specialist workloads such as video processing, most laptop usage is very very bursty. So Intel has been designing new chips that can speed up for a few seconds, do their work, and then go back to a very low power state. These chips will give you great performance for your day to day work and awful performance for games.

        For example the Core M 5Y10 CPU can run from 0.8Mhz to 2.0Mhz for very short bursts. The length of the bursts depends on well the device its built into dissipates heat!

        More detail here http://www.anandtech.com/show/9117/analyzing-intel-core-m-pe…

  • DeWalt on 26/06/2015 - 13:00

    Hopefully, this might help someone.

    If you're looking for a cheap laptop with 17" screen and 8gb RAM, DELL currently have their entry level inspiron for $699 - which is pretty good.
    http://www.dell.com/au/p/inspiron-17-5748-laptop/pd?oc=x5107…

    Caveats,
    - no SSD, but the drive can easily be changed
    - no dedicated video - so intense 3d games will be terrible
    - 1600 x 900 video (what do you expect at this price???)

    It's a 4th gen Intel i5 processor. Should perform reasonably well.
    For me, the video card and low resolution would be a killer - but you are unlikely to see a $700 laptop with 1920x1200 or a dedicated video card.

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