Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: K Frame on September 17, 2018, 06:56:08 AM
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I mentioned that my HP tablet was having battery problems. Well, it's now got a much larger problem... I dropped it and apparently that has largely killed it. I can get it to turn on, but I have to flex the screen to get that to work. And, after it warms up a bit, it shuts down again.
I liked the tablet, but it was never as functional for my purposes as I had hoped that it would be, so I'm thinking that this time I'm going to get a laptop. I don't need much in the way of powder, as it will really be a surfing unit and to use when I travel, so I'm thinking refurbished.
Any thoughts?
Dell is going to be the likely choice, but there are a lot of vendors.. Dell, Zoom (Walmart), PCRefurb, there are a ton of companies that deal in this stuff.
Right now I'm looking at a Dell 5500s, 6400s, etc.
OS doesn't much matter to me, either 7 or 10 is good.
So, what says the hive mind?
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I've had nothing but good luck with Dell Outlet products. Direct experience with both refurb and scratch & dent items. Go for it.
Brad
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I mentioned that my HP tablet was having battery problems. Well, it's now got a much larger problem... I dropped it and apparently that has largely killed it. I can get it to turn on, but I have to flex the screen to get that to work. And, after it warms up a bit, it shuts down again.
I liked the tablet, but it was never as functional for my purposes as I had hoped that it would be, so I'm thinking that this time I'm going to get a laptop. I don't need much in the way of powder, as it will really be a surfing unit and to use when I travel, so I'm thinking refurbished.
Any thoughts?
Dell is going to be the likely choice, but there are a lot of vendors.. Dell, Zoom (Walmart), PCRefurb, there are a ton of companies that deal in this stuff.
Right now I'm looking at a Dell 5500s, 6400s, etc.
OS doesn't much matter to me, either 7 or 10 is good.
So, what says the hive mind?
Win 7 reaches end of life (no more security updates) in a short year and a half.
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I bought a Lenovo refurbished, a 400T, a couple of years ago as an "experiment box". I got it on Woot! for $150 and didn't expect much. I was very pleasantly surprised when it arrived. Worked like a new machine, and the only giveaway that it was refurbished was that the "N" key was worn. I also liked that it was a clean OS install with no bloatware. Especially good since I needed it as a sterile machine. Had I bought new, I would have had to wipe and reinstall.
While I might not go refurbished for my main computer, for a travel laptop or what have you, I would have no problem doing so.
Edit: Lenovo not Dell. No coffee before posting again. :laugh:
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I bought a nice refurbed laptop from newegg business. They have a regular consumer division too.
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"Win 7 reaches end of life (no more security updates) in a short year and a half."
Hum... That I didn't know.
Not really sure if it's a factor to me given how I'm going to be using it, but I'll have to keep that in mind.
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Looks like you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a dealer in refurb laptops from Dell, HP, Acer, Lenovo, etc. Wow. I didn't realize that it had grown that big.
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"Any thoughts? "
Get one with a lanyard.
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I typically buy a refurbed Lenovo Thinkpad every few years off amazon.
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I bought a refurbished HP Elitebook 8560P from one of our members a couple of years ago. Aside from the worn 'L' key on the keyboard, it was in good shape. It's the machine I use for church functions and travel, and it works well.
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I used to buy Toshiba Satellites from Toshiba Direct, but it seems that Toshiba has dropped out of the consumer laptop market and is strictly focused on the business market. No more Satellites. I hope the ones I have will last me for a long time, because I don't know what else I'd buy. I don't like HPs, and I haven't heard much good about Dell laptops (other than one happy customer in this thread).
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I used to buy Toshiba Satellites from Toshiba Direct, but it seems that Toshiba has dropped out of the consumer laptop market and is strictly focused on the business market.
I have always found the "business" category of laptops to be much better bang for the buck than consumer laptops*. Better processors, often with discrete video, non-soldered in memory, etc. Also often not nearly as much bloatware from the manufacturer.
*Not counting gaming laptops, but then you're way up there in price.
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http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.aspx?sku=711408&utm_source=20180917_Desktop_Notebook_R5017&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=R5017&MccGuid=cbbd42ab-47d5-4fd7-b3c0-46add3e65637
I've had very good luck with Elitebooks. Durable and easy to work on.
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Looking at the Dell Outlet page now and see an Inspiron 5570 with really solid specs, enough to make it a viable home machine. It's doubly attractive given the 35% price reduction. Don't know if $560 is in your price range but it's certainly worth a look.
https://outlet.us.dell.com/ArbOnlineSales/Online/SecondaryInventorySearch.aspx?c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh&sign=PXhcOSHtr1T4IOw%2fPR7UdfXXq%2bkLchLoU9nqUc5dODKQptljXeRru716VtMW%2fPUerrBvr4xNhE0NbD47Ql44kWpDLYAWzG50iU0nIIricPc48aBxaNNg2Et%2fBHVkLahtvSvkdI%2fnruNrCT4%2bGE20H9y%2bbp2NwGKQKNLgIJRN1NagWqasDxQ04fDCOyUg17PFdH7AiVRr2GJMFWqxSJAx8FgelELbkKLU
Only downside to the Dell Outlet is you better be ready to buy if you see something you like. Stock is what you see. There is no warehouse full of the same model waiting to be sold.
Brad
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Another vote for business grade laptops. My HP ProBook is still going strong after six years.
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I'm looking cheap and functional. Really don't want to spend all that much.
I'm looking seriously at this one: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Refurbished-Dell-14-E6420-Laptop-PC-with-Intel-Core-i5-Processor-4GB-Memory-320GB-Hard-Drive-and-Windows-10-Pro/37403500
Solid specs, Windows 10, and it doesn't appear to have a bunch of bloatware preinstalled. And it's big enough for my needs.
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Then again, there's this one...
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Refurbished-Dell-Latitude-E6410-2-6GHz-i5-4GB-250GB-DRW-Windows-10-Pro-64-Laptop-CAM/196515394
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I recently bought a referbushed Dell of of Ebay to be my dedicated 3D Printer machine. Paid like $120 bucks and got an 3 year old business class Dell with a Windows 10 license. It seems to work pretty well, although it is noticeably slower than my 5 year old Gaming laptop. But it web searches and runs 3d modeling and slicing software just fine.
Go for it if you don't need a powerful machine.
I got mine from this guy: https://www.ebay.com/usr/tampa_laptops?_trksid=p2047675.l2559
Also of note, while it shipped with 32-bit W10 installed, it had 64-bit hardware, so I reinstalled 64 bit Windows 10 and it works fine with the same license.
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Hell, there's a crap ton of choices with Windows 10 that meet my rather rock bottom requirements.
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Yeah, I was a little surprised when I started looking. $100-$150 can get you a pretty capable laptop these days.
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I'd forgotten about NewEgg... They've got pretty good stuff at decent prices...
And the warranty that comes with their stuff is 1 year instead of 90 days.
This one is a serious contender right now...
https://www.neweggbusiness.com/product/product.aspx?item=9b-34-298-861
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I'd forgotten about NewEgg... They've got pretty good stuff at decent prices...
And the warranty that comes with their stuff is 1 year instead of 90 days.
This one is a serious contender right now...
https://www.neweggbusiness.com/product/product.aspx?item=9b-34-298-861
I've purchased quite a bit of computer equipment from their business side with no complaints.
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Hum... that one on the business side doesn't appear to have a wireless card in it....
I'm also finding a couple of good possibilities on the consumer NewEgg side...
Way too many possible choices.
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You can get USB WiFi dongles for under $25. They work fairly well -- I've used a couple of them to add WiFi to older desktop boxes that didn't have the capability built in.
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I have always found the "business" category of laptops to be much better bang for the buck than consumer laptops*. Better processors, often with discrete video, non-soldered in memory, etc. Also often not nearly as much bloatware from the manufacturer.
*Not counting gaming laptops, but then you're way up there in price.
Usually far easier to work on, if one does need to. They're made to be put together once.
I just put an SSD into an Inspiron laptop. Take the thing apart, get the motherboard out, because the hard disk is on the bottom of it. Then put it all back together.
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Hum... that one on the business side doesn't appear to have a wireless card in it....
I'm also finding a couple of good possibilities on the consumer NewEgg side...
Way too many possible choices.
It would be really unusual to not have wireless.
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You can get USB WiFi dongles for under $25. They work fairly well -- I've used a couple of them to add WiFi to older desktop boxes that didn't have the capability built in.
Yeah, I used a dongle on my original desktop when I finally got my home up and running with WiFi in the early 2000s. It worked, but that's just something taking up a USB port and sticking out of it.
If I can get a computer with an integral wireless card, much the better.
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It would be really unusual to not have wireless.
That's what I thought, but I'm finding a number of "business" laptops that have no wireless card listed, which leads me to believe that there isn't one.
Unusual, but not unprecedented is my guess, depending on who the customer was.
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I liked the tablet, but it was never as functional for my purposes as I had hoped that it would be, so I'm thinking that this time I'm going to get a laptop. I don't need much in the way of powder, as it will really be a surfing unit and to use when I travel, so I'm thinking refurbished.
I forgot to ask earlier... what functionality was lacking?
I ask because a friend of mine just bought a sub-$200 laptop (Dell refurb) and isn't exactly jumping with joy about the performance. It's okay, but still noticeably laggy compared to a machine just a few steps up the equipment ladder.
Her needs are pretty basic (surfing the web, basic email, shopping) and very close to what you stated. I'm wondering if going to a laptop over the tablet will really get you anything unless you up the budget a bit? Maybe a simple peripheral add-on or two to your tablet rather than a whole new machine?
Brad
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I just bought a Dell Inspirion 15 3000 as a scratch & dent or re-furb (don't remember which it was) from when Brad mentioned the deal a few weeks back. My Toshiba's were getting a little long in the tooth and were slow to begin with.
For under 4 bills (including tax, Thanks Illinois !!) I got:
Processor: Intel Core 7th Generation i3-7130U Processor (Dual Core, 2.70GHz, 3MB cache,15W)
Windows 10 Home 64bit English
1TB SATA3 512e 2.5inch 5.4K RPM Hard Drive
8GB DDR4 Non-ECC SDRAM 2400MHz (1x8GB)
15.6-inch HD (1366 x 768) Anti-Glare LED-Backlit Disp
1 Year Full Dell warranty.
Blazing fast and not alot of bloatware slowing it down. I did have to clean up some, but otherwise took maybe two hours to get it configured, MS Office loaded up, Firefox and Avast downloaded. Posting from it now.
I've had it all of two weeks
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You can get USB WiFi dongles for under $25. They work fairly well -- I've used a couple of them to add WiFi to older desktop boxes that didn't have the capability built in.
Yeah, I used a dongle on my original desktop when I finally got my home up and running with WiFi in the early 2000s. It worked, but that's just something taking up a USB port and sticking out of it.
If I can get a computer with an integral wireless card, much the better.
I agree, built-in is better. But the new, mini WiFi adapters don't stick out nearly as far as the old dongles used to.
https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-TL-WN725N-wireless-network-Adapter/dp/B008IFXQFU/ref=sr_1_6?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1537224370&sr=1-6&keywords=USB+WiFi+adapter
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"I forgot to ask earlier... what functionality was lacking?"
It was primarily the flip over cover keyboard. I couldn't use it on my lap, which means I had to use it as a tablet while surfing. If posting here or at faceplace it was as annoying as I had to post using single finger typing.
The keyboard was also way too cramped for my hands and I had problems getting accurate typing speeds with it.
It was a nice unit for just casual surfing and reading, but it was never quite the solution I had hoped it would be for me.
"Maybe a simple peripheral add-on or two to your tablet rather than a whole new machine?"
I can add all the spiffy peripherals I want, but as I said, the tablet is largely dead because I dropped it. And a non-functional tablet means non-functional peripherals.
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"But the new, mini WiFi adapters don't stick out nearly as far as the old dongles used to."
You know what, I got one of those for my Mother's old Dell refurb computer that I bought her. I bet that wireless USB plug in is still in the port in the back.
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"But the new, mini WiFi adapters don't stick out nearly as far as the old dongles used to."
You know what, I got one of those for my Mother's old Dell refurb computer that I bought her. I bet that wireless USB plug in is still in the port in the back.
As it happens, that's what I use it for. Early this year I was given an older Dell (Optiplex 320) that had seen better days. After a month or so of tinkering with it in my spare time, I had it running again. On-board video was dead, so it needed a video card. I found one that worked in a box o' parts. I upgraded the RAM from 2 GB to 4 GB and did a couple of other things I can't remember at the moment. All I was given was the box. I had plenty of keyboards and mice, and it gave me an excuse to buy a new 23" monitor for my #2 desktop, so I could assign the 19" monitor to the old Dell. Once I got it running, though, I discovered that it had no wireless capability, so I splurged for one of those inexpensive mini-USB WiFi antenna thingies.
It works. In fact, I was looking at that old box last night, and I had to look closely to see that the WiFi thingie was there -- it's that small that it hides between/behind the keyboard, mouse, and LAN cable connectors.
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Just a note on buying from Newegg, make sure whatever you buy is "Sold and shipped by: Newegg". If you get ripped-off by a "Newegg marketplace" seller, Newegg pulls out their tiny violins and basically tells you "sucks to be you."
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I have a dell 2-1 11 inch I think. Atom quad core.
Was slow as hell with the 5400 rpm hard drive.
Installed a SSD and am quite happy with it. Use it for my side business and surfing on the couch.
299 + 79 for the SSD.
Pleased.
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