Best laptop deal under $1k?

Lancerx on 13/08/2015 - 16:57
Last edited 13/08/2015 - 17:59

Hi all,

Going to do little bit FIFO soon for my business, so needing a new laptop in place of my gaming desktop.

I'll be mainly use it for general business word processing and bit of teamviewers session.

I'll using it personally to browse internet, stream movie from Kodi (HDMI to TV) & gaming like Dota and Guild Wars 2.

I guess the main thing I want is good processing speed & RAM, almost definitely SSD. Guess I don't really FHD screen if I mostly watch from LED TV. Also, must be lightweight too.

Will be claiming as business expenses, but looking for best deal under $1k.

P/S can stretch to max $1.2k if need be

Thanks!

Computing

Comments

  • Lukian on 13/08/2015 - 17:22
    +1

    XPS 13" are $1,119 in Dell Outlet.

    Perhaps you could use a 20% off (15% current, max $100) ebay sale to find what you are after.
    Asus F555L Models might be a good option, but seem rather heavy. (Lower/remove the CPU filtering to see more options).

    Historically, Macbook Air 11"s for ~$800 or 13" for ~$999 have also been available.

    You could also consider a Surface Pro 3.

  • Lancerx on 13/08/2015 - 17:49

    So among the big guys ASUS, HP, LENOVO, TOSHIBA, DELL…which you would recommend?

    • ItsMeAgro on 13/08/2015 - 19:20
      +2

      Dell

      • HoneyComb on 13/08/2015 - 21:28

        Another vote for Dell. I've owned Asus, HP, Toshiba and Dell laptops over the last 5 yrs. I Only Ever buy laptops when a reasonably good one goes on sale for under $500. The Most recent one I bought was the Dell and it was on Sale.

        When I compared the specs of the Dell to the other big brands. The dell came out ontop so if you could find one that is on sale then go for the dell

    • shamid202 on 15/08/2015 - 14:02

      Just go for MSI GE laptops. They are called military class. They are tough! It's been 6 year I'm usually one and never failed me more powerful than any other laptop on the market

    • misu p on 15/08/2015 - 15:19

      Anything but Dell. Last 3 Dells have all been lemons. The biggest disappointment was the 1747 that shut down because of overheating issues. Opening it up to clean was a pain. I swore never again.

  • PVA on 13/08/2015 - 17:54

    you wont get a business class laptop for $1000 unfortunately.

    You may get a refurb Dell Latitude, def not a new one.

    Toshibas Tecra start close to $2000 as well..

    • Lancerx on 13/08/2015 - 17:58

      To be honest, I just need a new laptop, doesn't have to "business" laptop lol..honestly don't know the difference, except pay more?

      • ItsMeAgro on 13/08/2015 - 19:24

        Personally I spent $500 on the cheapest 15" Dell laptop with an i3 CPU, then bought a nice Samsung EVO SSD for about $100 and swapped the hard drive for that (bought an external USB case for the old HDD on ebay, use it for backups).

        Stick to your desktop for games, laptops with good gaming GPUs are not to be had for only $1200.

        • Lancerx on 13/08/2015 - 19:56

          I know this, but i wont be able to bring my desktop around am I? Hence the need for a laptop

      • elusive on 13/08/2015 - 23:52

        honestly don't know the difference, except pay more?

        Typically better built, often bulkier (you're expected to use it at a desk), usually easily serviceable (easier to access/change parts), sometimes better support (they often imply next-business-day or on-site service, but it depends where/how you buy it).

    • Lancerx on 13/08/2015 - 18:07

      P/S changed the title..hope this would give me more choice ;)

      • PVA on 13/08/2015 - 18:18
        +1

        check the Dell outlet store. I got one before Christmas - Inspiron 5000, great specs (i7, 8 gig, 1TB hybrid HD, FHD touch screen…) and was $699 (new was around $1500).
        I was like brand new in the box, the only thing I could see was the power adaptor wasn't in a plastic bag, it just had a rubber band around the leads. Everything else had plastic covers etc.
        I wouldnt hestitate buying another, they have the same warranty as new and 15 days change your mind/return it.

        They have a Inspiron 7000 at the moment $939 (new $2100)
        http://www1.ap.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/product…

        DFO-3286702IP REFURBISHED Inspiron 15 7000 Series Laptop 5th Generation Intel Core i7-5500U Processor (4M Cache, up to 3.00 GHz) 16GB Dual Channel DDR3L 1600MHz (8GBx2) 1TB (5.400 Rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive Windows(R) 8.1 (64Bit) English Optical Drive not included 802.11ac + Bluetooth 4.0, Dual Band 2.4&5 GHz, 1x1 AMD Radeon R7 M270 4GB DDR3 Stereo speakers professionally tuned with Waves MaxxAudio(R) Pro 43 WHr, 3-Cell Battery (integrated) Internal US/International Backlit Keyboard 15.6-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) Truelife LED-Backlit Touch Display with Wide Viewing Angle (IPS) LCD back cover for Touch Screen-Silver No OS Media Included. Unit has minor cosmetic wear. 1 Year 1 $ 939

        • Lancerx on 13/08/2015 - 18:21

          Do you have to manually find the new price from their site, shame they don't put next to "outlet" price

        • PVA on 13/08/2015 - 18:24

          @Droid11:
          I just search for inspiron 7000 and the first one on their site is the cheapest which was $2100
          http://www.dell.com/au/p/inspiron-15-7548-laptop/pd?oc=y5104…

          make sure its the same specs.

        • Lancerx on 13/08/2015 - 18:26

          @PVA: They don't have the weight in outlet page too..made my life just that much harder

        • PVA on 13/08/2015 - 18:30

          @Droid11:
          Its a 15 inch screen, so wont be a light weight, prob about 2.1kg

  • Lancerx on 13/08/2015 - 18:23

    if storage capacity is not an issue, is 1TB 5400RPM HDD much inferior to a 250gb SSD?

    • PVA on 13/08/2015 - 18:29

      I will be honest, I have a 1TB hybrid drive at home on the Dell, At work I have a brand new Toshiba Tecra with a 500gb SSD - the Tosh is faster but not so that I would say the one at home (or the old Tecra I had with 500gb normal HDD) was terrible. Its just a little snappier between lots of software that I flick over at work (multi screen, multi apps)

    • ozhunter on 13/08/2015 - 18:35
      +2

      Speed-wise, it definitely is.

    • ItsMeAgro on 13/08/2015 - 19:26

      Much inferior is an understatement. The SSD is essential. (Just that you might have to buy it separately and pop it in yourself).

    • misu p on 15/08/2015 - 15:20
      -1

      much, much, much, much inferior.

  • AngryAlfred on 14/08/2015 - 03:13

    http://www.dicksmith.com.au/computers/toshiba-satellite-c50-…

    $907.36 - i7, 8GB Ram, 1TB HDD, a/b/g/n blah blah. Use the rest to buy an SSD and turn this 1TB into a portable drive. Says 24 hour sale but it also said that yesterday.. Normal price is about $1,100~

    • goingDHfast on 15/08/2015 - 13:28
      +2

      1366 x 768 never again

      • AngryAlfred on 15/08/2015 - 13:42

        OP said it would be plugged in to a TV so that wouldn't have mattered, all the specs were good otherwise. Now it's back to $1,199 anyway.

  • sirlach on 14/08/2015 - 12:57

    For excellent value on a Dell Laptop check out the Dell Refurbished site - http://www.dell.com/learn/au/en/audhs1/campaigns/dell-outlet…

    All the laptops have Full Manufacturer Warranty and they are all significant % of the retail price. And I am biased because #iwork4dell. :) Best kept secret.

    • Lancerx on 14/08/2015 - 13:18

      Which would you recommend as the best value refurbished laptop then? Definitely don't mind refurbished

      Like others said, I probably need just basic HDD and RAM to start with, and upgrade later myself, probably work out a bit a cheaper

    • goingDHfast on 15/08/2015 - 13:26

      I just clicked through every single range linked on that page and they are all saying currently unavailable…

  • sirlach on 14/08/2015 - 13:25
    -1

    If you are only going to do Office work then anything with a Core i5 processor is sufficient.

    If you are going to watch Media and/or play games I highly recommend a laptop with a Core i7 processor. It makes the biggest difference. Next most important is an SSD. Everything ontop of that is gravy. :)

    Alienware is for gamers. XPS is aimed at Business Professionals/Executives. Latitude is general corporate use. Inspiron for home. Vostro is value.

    • c0balt on 15/08/2015 - 17:23
      +2

      Recommending an i5 for word processing, and an i7 for watching media is horrible advice.

  • cooldude123 on 15/08/2015 - 15:06

    I purchased a Dell Latitude E7240 end of last year and it's been working really nicely- and was around $800 from the Dell Outlet. I'd say to go on there and check it every few days or so and something like that should pop up.

  • lostcm on 15/08/2015 - 15:57

    Maybe you can check out the second had laptops, or open-box stuff.
    For example, I bought a EliteBook 8470p from a second hand seller for $440, then I replace the hard-drive to ssd. It's working pretty good, except the lack of the HDMI port (there is a DP but I don't wanna buy the convener).
    As to my friend, who suggested me to buy it, bought a open-box Think-pad T540 for less than AUD 900 from US. It is looking good, but I have a desktop already so I'm not jealous.
    You can check them on eBay, it's easy to find second hand stuff, but open-box stuff is not common in the market.

  • belongsinforums on 15/08/2015 - 16:56

    Considered a Clevo? Many happy Clevo customers here from the now closed-down Logical Blue One. Other Australian sellers do sell Clevos, though. Will probably be slightly over $1k

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