OMO nearly new laptop

[johnnyrod]

Might be a bit of a big ask this... Can anyone recommend me a laptop maybe a year or two old I could get? Not got the moolah for something new unless it's crap, so am mindlessly optimistic that a slightly less new one could be landed. In truth I surf a bit and that sort of thing, maybe once a year I'll edit a bit of gopro video, it's not very taxing stuff, though hopefully said machine won't turn into a slug in the next 12 months. So pretty vague, anyone able to offer some sense to me? i'm not a Luddite but there are a thousand laptops out there and I have no idea where to start. Thanks!

[Bibio]

cant go wrong with Dell or ACER.

get a copy of win7pro and do a fresh install. its the bloatware that causes computers to slow down. OS, drivers, anti virus and firewall (i just use windows own antivirus and firewall) is all you need then just install your software. the more shizz you have in the startup the more it hogs memory.

[timwilky]

Its the carp you forget to remove/disable says the dope who ran proc explorer this morning looking for an issue and noticed two versions of SQL SERVER express that I last used 3 years ago still running. Quickly turned them off/disabled and got back 15% of my processor and a lot of memory.

[MattCollins]

Yep, depending on the manufacturer's OEM installation medium and how the bloat is packaged I'd suggest downloading a Microsoft OEM iso (from official sources) and installing the manufacturer's SLIC to get a clean install then cherry pick the rest for the essentials. I'd also suggest spending a bit of time getting rid of non-essential services and losing most of the eye candy to clean things up further.

Even Windows 10 runs well once it is rid of the bloat.

I typically run basic hardware... 13" for mobility, Intel i5 with on-board graphics (dedicated graphics are largely wasted on me), 8GB RAM (more and dual channel if available)... Every manufacturer has something to offer.

New, these things cost somewhere around AUD1100 - call it GBP600-700, but check for yourself.

It won't set the world on fire, but this is fine for occasional 1080p editing with a little patience.

My basis for comparison btw is a quad core Macbook Pro (bought for iphone app dev) and a dedicated video workstation. They'll blow through video, but come at a hefty price.

[johnnyrod]

I would be looking for a fresh install, I can do that myself, however there is a bewildering array of hardware out there. Last time I bought a laptop it was a great little Samsung but that was 2007! People used to poo-poo HP but I don't know if times have changed, again Dell desktops seemed to be the cheap and nasty end of things, but then Toshiba/Sony etc. are a premium price, and then there's trying compare specs which seem the same but there must be some difference between all these!

[Talking Heads]

My Asus laptop is ten years old this summer and still goes like greased weasel poop.
The reason why its faster now than when I bought it is Linux installed on an SSD.
Ditching Windows is one of the best things I ever did.

My recommendations for laptop hardware would be Asus or Lenovo/IBM

[SV650rules]

You can now get hybrid solid state / platter drives that will speed up your computer, the system puts regularly accessed stuff in the solid state bit and all the photos and space hogging stuff on the normal magnetic platter part, worked a treat with with my Mini tower, when I noticed it getting a bit slower again I got Norton Utilities (one cost lifetime download) and gave the computer a good cleanup with it, back to very fast again - windows does build up all kinds of crap and needs a good dose of laxative every so often.

[Sir Trev]

Dell have an Outlet Store where they sell used/refurb machines. Might be worth a look.

[yokohama]

If you go Dell, I'd recommend the Vostro range. Business laptops and I think better quality than the average home consumer ones. I'm typing this on a 9 year old one which is still going strong.

[maviczap]

I boosted all the laptops in my household by doing a transfer of the operating system to an ssd and increasing the memory. Even the old ones improved a lot

So get a nearly new machine and install an ssd

[NTECUK]

Bought a x police HP elliet.
Windows 7 and is good enough for the£50 it costs plus a new SSD.

[johnnyrod]

How does that work then?

[Craigg]

whats your budget?
i can recommend you something, but need to know what you want to spend, as spec's can vary massively!

[johnnyrod]

Not sure really, what would around £500 get me?

[NTECUK]

How does that work then?

The other half had a friend in scouts.
They had a contact of a firm who had to destroy the hard drive.
They had a few good one's.
Must be something like that for other clients.
Maybe flebay an idea.

[Craigg]

Dell Latitudes are a solid purchase, Latitude being their premium business range, so they are much better built than the consumer stuff you would buy in PC world etc.

14" option, something like this is a very good laptop for the price: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1080p-Dell-Latitude-E7450-14-Ultrabook-Intel-Core-i5-5300U-256GB-SSD-8GB-/132166339266?hash=item1ec5ba4ac2:g:oj8AAOSwRUhY-hga#viTabs_0

Decent i5 processor, sufficient ram, and a 256gb SSD

if you want something a bit bigger here is a 15" option, also comes with a better CPU and more ram, but without an SSD(its something you can add at a later date if you want):

send them an offer at 500£ and you will likely get a deal...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-Latitude-E5570-i7-6600-Dual-Core-16GB-RAM-500-GB-HDD-Wind-10-/282445547420?hash=item41c311079c:g:i5AAAOSwmCVY~hj q

[MattCollins]

New and on budget. This is the sort of thing I was talking about.

http://www.dell.com/uk/business/p/vostro-14-5468-laptop/pd?oc=s017vn5468btsukie_1801&model_id=vostro-14-5468-laptop

[johnnyrod]

Plus 20% tax but yes in the right range! Thanks everyone for your help, a mate also said go for i5 as i3 is underpowered, and go for SSD as it makes a big difference - I've never used SSD. Craigg what do you reckon of the ebay ones? I'd rather see something in the flesh (if possible but goes without saying) but are they likely to be trouble free?

[maviczap]

You've always got Paypal protection these day, plus Ebay is more in the buyers favour these day.

SSD's are pretty dam reliable, no spinning disc's to cause trouble, and SSD's are much faster than old HDD's

The ones Craig suggested look pretty decent

*both sellers feedback scores are good too.

[MattCollins]

Plus 20% tax but yes in the right range! Thanks everyone for your help, a mate also said go for i5 as i3 is underpowered, and go for SSD as it makes a big difference - I've never used SSD. Craigg what do you reckon of the ebay ones? I'd rather see something in the flesh (if possible but goes without saying) but are they likely to be trouble free?

Okay wasn't expecting the tax hit... this neck of the woods always includes tax.
Yep, I wouldn't suggest an i3 - i5 is the sweet spot here. SSDs are fairly reliable, but as always, have a backup. I'd suggest a one or two disk NAS (eg WD My Cloud or similar connected to your router) and automatic backups if you don't want to lose it. SSDs don't like to be thrashed so keep it light and clean (services and bloat), be mindful of the disk activity light and it will last.

[SV650rules]

I have been in the habit now for many years of taking a full image of computer drives on an external drive using Acronis true image and / or R-Driveimage every couple of weeks as well as normal 'rolling' backups of data. It has saved me a few times and if ever you ever had a hard disc fail or want to fit another hard drive it is easy peasy, just pop in the new hard drive and load the image - all your programs and settings go with it. It is one thing to have data backups, but nothing worse than having to try and find all the system discs and stuff to reload all your programs etc. SSD do have a problem that they have a limited number of write cycles, but for the average user this is not likely to be a problem and software is available to help that keeps an eye on where stuff is written and to even out the memory usage. Solid state drives do not like to be defragged regularly as this eats up their cycle life, but not sure if they suffer from fragmentation to same extent as magnetic platter discs anyway. There are hybrid SSD / HDD drives available that are a compromise between speed of access and storage space, using the SSD to boot and HDD for longer term storage but slower access.

[Craigg]

Plus 20% tax but yes in the right range! Thanks everyone for your help, a mate also said go for i5 as i3 is underpowered, and go for SSD as it makes a big difference - I've never used SSD. Craigg what do you reckon of the ebay ones? I'd rather see something in the flesh (if possible but goes without saying) but are they likely to be trouble free?

i have had probably 7 or 8 laptops from ebay resellers all bought for various family/friends without issue. my own one i bought on Ebay from the USA through their global shipping program, and is perfect.

as long as you pay attention to the seller (ie is it a business or some random) and check their feedback.

those 2 i linked have decent feedback, and seem to deal in new/nearly new laptops/computers. so should be a safe bet.

as has also been said, Ebay/Paypal buyer protection is excellent, and will 99% of the time side with buyers should something go amiss. if you are returning something, just make sure it is well packaged, and use a proper courier with full tracking/insurance (paypal offer free returns these days also, so will reimburse you return shipping should you need to send something back)


unfortunately you wont be able to get "hands on" with a Latitude/Vostro type laptop, as they are aimed at the business market, so you wont see them in a shop. but rest assured they are built to a higher standard than high street models.