Affordable laptop PC

[LRT]

I’m looking at getting a cheaper laptop to run Microsoft Office and a few programs such as Selectronic’s SP Link and ideally Picoscope auto.

I would use my old 2010 MacBook for a majority of day to day use but need a dedicated PC rather than partitioning the drive on the Mac.

A $400 14” HP laptop on Harvey Norman appears to be good value for money but there seems to be a lot of negative reviews about it being too slow for word processing.

I find Windows 7 running via Bootcamp on my MacBook with Intel 2.4Ghz 2 Core processor to be incredibly frustrating and slow to use so I don’t see the point in paying for a dedicated PC that isn’t any better!

Lenovo seem to be good but I can’t justify $900+ at the moment as I have to replace a lot of tools & equipment that has been burnt in the St Patrick’s day bushfire that wiped our place out this year.

What are users recommendations?

If I continue with the Windows partition on the Mac, would upgrading to Windows 10 improve the speed or does it make it run slower in the same way updating the Mac OS?

I can’t reinstall Windows 7 as the disc has been burnt in the fire & I don’t know the key code....

[LRT]

The other option is some sort of tablet that will run a full version of Windows and USB & Ethernet ports

[Graeme]

Check JB Hifi. This looks like a successor to my Ideapad 110 bought 2 years ago for a little less money.

Lenovo IdeaPad 320 15.6" Laptop [1TB] | JB Hi-Fi (https://www.jbhifi.com.au/computers-tablets/laptops/lenovo/lenovo-ideapad-320-15-6-laptop-1tb/441898/)

Edit: Sorry, costs more not less than your other find.

[Eevo]

get a good quality one
Alienware 17 Gaming Laptop Built for Virtual Reality | Dell Australia (https://www.dell.com/en-au/shop/dell-laptops/alienware-17/spd/alienware-17-laptop/aw17d44au)

[speleomike]

Hi

I have got my laptops from Dell online. There is the Inspiron range for home use and Latitude range for business use. Go though their site, look at specs and see what you can get. Search on Google for reviews, and of course here and other forums will give you lots of info (probably too much). Remember many reviews are opinions based on their specific needs, experiences and maybe biases.

Mike
(Biased towards Linux)

[cripesamighty]

Alienware, also rebadged as Metabox in Australia is a bit of overkill. Ha ha. Having said that, when I was at uni, in my research lab we did lots of statistical bootstrapping on our laptops, sometimes running them for days at a time doing number crunching with the CPU's running flat out. My Metabox laptop (gaming rig) was the only one in two years not to die, or have to be rebuilt, (and therefore lose data) some several times. For less heavy lifting, I used a MSI Wind Netbook. For your applications, you should be able to get by with something cheap and cheerful from Harvey Norman.

[LRT]

Thanks everyone - very helpful!

At the moment I can't really afford anything more than the Inspiron range.

What is the eMMC storage like?

Would it be upgradable and fast enough for word processing and the odd software program?

The 11.6 2in1 does have an option of a 500gb hard drive....

[speleomike]

Hi

Any SSD or hard disk will be fast enough for word processing. Your main bottleneck will be Windows 10 and/or applications using up your memory as that's what you will lack in the cheaper laptops. Most come with prob just 4GB.

Mike

[LRT]

What about this one?

Its getting pricey though but seems to be good with 8GB ram, i3 processor & 1TB HDD.

Buy Lenovo Ideapad 330S-FH 15.6-inch Laptop | Harvey Norman AU (https://www.harveynorman.com.au/lenovo-ideapad-330s-fh-15-6-inch-laptop.html)

[LRT]

Would this be safe to buy or best to stick to new ones?


Lenovo Thinkpad T550 i5 5200u 2.20Ghz 8Gb Ram 256Gb SSD 15.6" Full HD Win 10 | eBay (https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Lenovo-Thinkpad-T550-i5-5200u-2-20Ghz-8Gb-Ram-256Gb-SSD-15-6-Full-HD-Win-10/192634977379?hash=item2cd9f07c63:g:9KEAAOSw7thbfiE C)

[speleomike]

I would suggest to buy one from a place with a legal presence in Australia. Either Dell Australia site or a physical store. Any warranty problems will be much easier to resolve if a warranty is important to you.

[LRT]

Yes good point. Australian Computer Traders appear to be legitimate but you can't always tell.

I'll go to Harvey Norman and have a look first.

[Eevo]

I'll go to Harvey Norman and have a look first.

go anywhere but there please!

[LRT]

go anywhere but there please!

Unfortunately that’s the only place around here now ☹️

[Eevo]

Unfortunately that’s the only place around here now ☹️

fair enough

[AK83]

I found practically zero difference in operational time between Win7 and Win10 on a 4 yo ASUS laptop(my daughter used to use).
I thought about setting it up for myself to use, but in the past few months I've discovered zero use for it.
Win10 was the install/trial only, for a few days.
It is a Win7 laptop(missed the free upgrade to Win10 when it first arrived), but in trial mode I measured start up time and time to load some web pages(via shortcuts).
I have the numbers noted down somewhere, but being disorganised either can't find them, or chucked the note paper out.
But from memory, both OSes startup time on a totally fresh install(no additional programs installed) was in the 50-60sec region. After about 5 x testing of each. No one time had they produce an exact time to the point where the last icon in the taskbar/quick access bar had loaded up.
Once the PC settled, prefetch cleared for each occasion and using Firefox loading a web page always took about 10sec to load and have me logged in.

ps. if you want something cheap to get you by, I can offer this laptop for very cheap.
I have a vague memory that it cost about $400 back then, now no longer needed, so if you're interested I'm sure we could come to a reasonable figure.
Does have a 640G slow HDD, which is it's major limitation tho. Can't remember how much reserve the battery has now, but maybe only an hr or two. Works fine on main.

If you're interested and it helps you out in some way, send me a PM or something.