Laptop recommendations

[Mick]

Been asked to spec a replacement laptop for a business client, and I'm looking for a few recommendations.

What we need:

• Light weight
• Min 8 GBs RAM - more for pref.
• Win 10 Pro (will connect to his works server via ethernet from time to time and needs to be able to hook-up to the domain )
• 1 TB HDD - I'd prefer SSD, but these seem (at this size) hard to find in a laptop
• Budget: Hoping to spend around the 600.00 GBP mark, but I could push him for more for the right deal

I've been looking around the net, but nothing jumps out to me. If anyone has any suggestions/recommendations, be glad to hear them.

 

[coffee]

Been asked to spec a replacement laptop for a business client, and I'm looking for a few recommendations.

What we need:

• Light weight
• Min 8 GBs RAM - more for pref.
• Win 10 Pro (will connect to his works server via ethernet from time to time and needs to be able to hook-up to the domain )
• 1 TB HDD - I'd prefer SSD, but these seem (at this size) hard to find in a laptop
• Budget: Hoping to spend around the 600.00 GBP mark, but I could push him for more for the right deal

I've been looking around the net, but nothing jumps out to me. If anyone has any suggestions/recommendations, be glad to hear them.

So your looking for a 250 dollar laptop with a 350.00 1TB SSD?

Im not up on my exchange rates but 600.00 probably will not cut it.

 

[kpk1]

I'm a great LenovoThinkpad fan, rugged, durable, decent keyboard layout...

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Lenovo
With us being "business only" for our clients, we turn to the Lenovo "Thinkpad" series...typically the "T" models.
But your budget won't allow that.
They do have an econo-class Thinkpad, the E series...which you can purchase in the low 600 range, but once you swap for an SSD and bump to 8 gigs...and a 3 yr warranty, you're up towards 1k again.

I really avoid trying to get clients a laptop below $1k. When you hear people say "around 600"...run.
All you find in that range are crappy AMD power 5,400 rpm hard drive based 4 or 6 gig 1 yr warranty residential grade junkers with the Homeless version of Windows.

If they're firm in that price range and you have to find something for them...look for the factory outlets at Dell and Lenovo...find some "off lease" business models like Dell Latitudes or Lenovo Thinkpads...can often find them still new in the box, unused, returned from some big lease purchase or overproduction run for a fortune 500 client. I've done that myself in the past 2 or 3 times..for my own laptops.

 

[HFultzjr]

At that price point you may only find a re-furbished, or used and re-furbish yourself.
Does the 600 include your work and mark-up?
if so, good luck.

 

[Mick]

Thanks all. Yes, the price is going to be the issue. I said "What's your budget?" and he said "Well...around 600." I hummed and tutted a bit and he said "I might run to more...but you're going to have to give me a pretty good reason" Looks like TINA is going to be a pretty good reason right now. Harold - no, that price is purely for the hardware!

 

[GTP]

Op was stating 600 GBP which at the moment is about $1100 US dollars.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Op was stating 600 GBP which at the moment is about $1100 US dollars.

Good point...my morning eyes (before several bowls of coffee).....I saw his location.."Cambridge"..but my eyes didn't register "UK"...as I assumed Caimbridge Massachusetts which is 1x state north of me.

 

[Mick]

Op was stating 600 GBP which at the moment is about $1100 US dollars.

I wish! Today's rates it's about 800 dollars. Still probably a bit less than I need. I guess if I settled for a SATA drive I could do it easily enough, but it seems a bit of a retrograde step.

 

[fencepost]

My only caution if you end up with a used/refurb ThinkPad is to avoid the Tx40 series - the touchpads on those were horrible. They decided to integrate the buttons into the pad itself, which meant that you couldn't actually click/right-click on anything without also moving the mouse pointer away from it. Suitable only for people only using external mice.
Even the reviews (e.g. PCMag):

But while it's accurate, the touchpad is weird. It combines the right and left buttons into the touch sensor, like the usual clickpad, but the depth of each click is lower and has a light actuating force, making for an odd clicking experience. The entire touch sensor can be clicked with a tap, but it's clearly meant to be pressed more deeply. While your personal preference may differ, I didn't like it at all.​

 

[HFultzjr]

Ooops, my bad.
Conversion rate.....................
Gotta watch for those finer details.......LOL.
Stills sound a little on the "not enough" side, factoring your work and profit.
Good luck.

 

[occsean]

I've done very well purchasing off lease machines with Arrow Direct lately. Specifically HP ProBook or EliteBook series.

 

[Markverhyden]

All I can say is do what ever you can to get them into an SSD. Why does he need 1 TB? His music or video collection? 8GB is livable for RAM, especially with W10. As long as you keep the cr@pware under control. But you'll never hear the end of "this is taking so long to boot, are you sure nothing is wrong?". Had that with a customer, wanted a new laptop. $500 max. Had several discussions that he will not be happy with 4gb and 500gb spindle. He's already spent the difference in a real machine, say $1k, in my time because the freaking thing takes forever to reboot.

Figure out a way to show him the difference in boot times between spindles and SSD. I've got a D630, circa '07, with an SSD. It crushes a couple of newer laptops I have with spindles, on boot time and general performance.

 

[occsean]

I've got a D630, circa '07, with an SSD. It crushes a couple of newer laptops I have with spindles, on boot time and general performance.

D630 one of the best laptops ever made IMHO. What a tank!!

 

[Markverhyden]

D630 one of the best laptops ever made IMHO. What a tank!!

Yeah, the D series are awesome. When my 610 started getting long in the tooth I bought 3 630's on eBay. Real serial port, firewire, PCMCIA slot. With the right RAM you can get 8gb. 830's are great as well but to big and heavy to tote around all day.

 

[Mick]

This bloke is one of those 'I don't trust the internet' types....keeps everything - in this case, masses of photos (all work related) - on his HD. I can't even get him to use RWW...which would really help...and it's not helping that MS seems to have removed the ability to connect to RWW from Edge. But anyway - hence the need to have loadsa space. I think Mark has the right idea...I'm going to have to actually show him the difference in boot time between a SATA and SSD and then see if I can chisel a bit more dosh out of him. Thanks to all for ideas and suggestions so far.

 

[fencepost]

@Markverhyden If I run across the spare D620/D630 hinges I have buried somewhere I'll send them to you. I had to do repairs on a couple of them years ago, and buying sets of 10 each L&R was about the same as buying 2 of each.

 

[Porthos]

D630 one of the best laptops ever made IMHO. What a tank!!

I'm partial to my e6520. Waiting till the e6540 refurbs come down in price.

 

[Markverhyden]

@Markverhyden If I run across the spare D620/D630 hinges I have buried somewhere I'll send them to you. I had to do repairs on a couple of them years ago, and buying sets of 10 each L&R was about the same as buying 2 of each.

Thanks my friend.