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Thread: Laptop <$1k - what are my options?

  1. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by Xtrema View Post
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    Figure out your GPU needs, laptops with discrete GPU tends to be less portable (heavier/bigger)
    This hasn't really been the case since the MX150/250 became so popular. They are in the same chassis as the models without a dGPU. Something like the Asus S13 (UX392) has a MX150 and is one of the thinnest/lightest laptops out there, even lighter than a Lenovo X1 carbon which doesn't even offer a dGPU on any model.

    If you want desktop-grade graphics though, you are looking at 15.6" laptops and 4-4.5lbs because they need the space and the cooling for it. One of the only exceptions is Dell's Alienware 13" but it's thicc.

    If you are going to go with an iGPU, the Ryzen 3XXXu series are good options because they give you 2-3x the performance of Intel's garbage HD620 iGPU, but they are not quite as good with single core tasks compared to the Intel 8XXXu CPUs. Ice Lake won't be widespread until Christmas from what I've been reading.

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    Quote Originally Posted by ExtraSlow View Post
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    ok, I have some research to do on this then. I have a month or more to figure this out.
    If its a question of software requirements for hardware, always go a step up above the minimum.

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    Lenovo site has a one day sale on select laptops to counteract amazon prime day.

    Quick screen grab, there are other deals:
    Name:  Screenshot_20190715-082847_Chrome.jpg
Views: 370
Size:  33.6 KB
    Last edited by ExtraSlow; 07-15-2019 at 08:29 AM.

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    Was thinking of grabbing a refurb E7000 series off Dell. Anyone buy from them before?

    Didn't @spikerS get one couple years ago?

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    if you're looking at Lenovo log in with the EPP and see if the prices are any better, sometimes they are. The deals are pretty bad that I can see on their main site at least compared to historical deals.
    Last edited by Mitsu3000gt; 07-15-2019 at 08:46 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mitsu3000gt View Post
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    Do you want a discrete GPU? The Intel HD620 is garbage, but if you never do anything other than surf the web and use MS office it doesn't matter. Some Intel Ice Lake based laptops are out now which have iGPUs comparable to AMD's Vega 10 iGPU, which is enormously superior to the HD620 in everything and similar to a MX150 discrete GPU..
    Hey @Mitsu3000gt , I haven't seen any ice lake laptops. I guess they are still pretty cutting edge?

    I'm trying to get this figured out. Still not sure when I'm buying. Might be more travel involved than I previously assumed, so maybe sacrifice power for lightness.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Edit: as for deals, I doubt I'll be able to wait for black Friday or anything, so I can't be that choosy.

    As for Lenovo, honestly, that's just what I'm familiar with. Open to other brand suggestions, but things get pretty complex if you try to look at everything.

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    Quote Originally Posted by ExtraSlow View Post
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    Hey @Mitsu3000gt , I haven't seen any ice lake laptops. I guess they are still pretty cutting edge?

    I'm trying to get this figured out. Still not sure when I'm buying. Might be more travel involved than I previously assumed, so maybe sacrifice power for lightness.
    The new XPS13 has Ice Lake but I am not sure if you can buy it in Canada yet, and they will be expensive. Ice Lake will apparently be mainstream by Christmas, but it will be in a few products before that. The Dell Inspiron line is getting it too. That's what I'm reading anyway. The CPU itself is nothing special compared to whats already out there, it's the better integrated graphics (competitive with AMD's iGPUs) that makes it desirable as that is currently the issue with most thin & lights.

    Laptops with AMD CPUs with the good integrated graphics (Vega 8 and Vega 10) are few and far between but Lenovo has some and Dell's XPS 15 2in1 uses an even more unusual processor which is an Intel CPU with AMD Vega graphics - it's sad that isn't in more laptops as it is just so much better than Intel's own stuff. Intel has such a monopoly on the thin & light laptops but they have the shittiest graphics, at least until Ice Lake is more mainstream and they can finally catch up to AMD.

    It might be easier to find something with a GeForce MX150 or MX250 (just a MX150 clocked higher) rather than try track something down with good integrated graphics, if that's important to you.

    If you raise the budget you don't have to sacrifice power for lightness (to a point), for example the Asus S13 (UX392FN) is smaller than a Macbook Air and has discrete graphics (MX150) and they even squeeze in a 14" screen. With a lower budget you can have one or the other but it's much harder to get both. I think you have to buy it from the USA right now but even Costco in the USA has it for $1199 USD in the ideal configuration (i7/512GB/8GB) which is around $1550 CAD. It's the laptop I am currently looking at for myself as it combines enough power with a good screen and is about as thin/light as it gets for travel. I hear you got a job now (congrats btw) so go ahead and raise that budget haha.

    Lenovo has had insane deals in the past, you could get an E-series with i7H CPU (H is the higher wattage /performance variant usually found in gaming/workstation laptops), 16GB of fast ram, 512GB NVMe SSD, discrete graphics, and the huge 96Wh battery for $730. Those specs would normally be more like $2000. So, because I know what kind of deals they have had in the past, it ruins a lot of the current deals for me because they aren't nearly as good haha.

    I looked on Amazon too because today/tomorrow is Prime day and there is nothing good there either IMO.

    This is actually a pretty good deal if you don't need better graphics and want to keep it cheap: https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product...ws-10/13049608 You can get it with a MX150 as well for $1000.
    Last edited by Mitsu3000gt; 07-15-2019 at 09:21 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by rx7boi View Post
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    Was thinking of grabbing a refurb E7000 series off Dell. Anyone buy from them before?

    Didn't @spikerS get one couple years ago?
    I did. Worked out great. I did have an issue with it too (speakers) and they were pretty quick to resolve it. My kid is still using it and loving it, and it is still going strong. I will probably use the same process again. Great value and the warranty process is easy to use and navigate.
    Boosted life tip #329
    Girlfriends cost money
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    Both make whining noises
    Make the smart choice.

    Originally posted by Mibz
    Always a fucking awful experience seeing spikers. Extra awful when he laps me.

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    I logged into Lenovo's EPP and they have Thinkpad X395's (13.3") with the Ryzen 5 Pro 3500U CPU / 8GB Ram / 256GB SSD for $950. Same thing but with the Ryzen 7 Pro 3700u is $1112. That gets you the really good iGPUs on AMD's latest 3000 series Ryzen CPUs. That 3700u (15W) is similar in performance to an intel 6700HQ which was their highest-end 45W part from 2 generations ago, and similar to Intel's latest "U" series CPUs, so that's pretty good.

    This is the login: https://www.lenovo.com/ca/en/ibmeppf...filiate:bv0as6

    Password: FNDEPP

    Lots of decent value but I am not seeing any great deals anywhere really.

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    Quote Originally Posted by spikerS View Post
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    I did. Worked out great. I did have an issue with it too (speakers) and they were pretty quick to resolve it. My kid is still using it and loving it, and it is still going strong. I will probably use the same process again. Great value and the warranty process is easy to use and navigate.
    Where did you pick it up from?
    This might be a good option for a cheaper personal computer for myself.

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    Quote Originally Posted by vengie View Post
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    Where did you pick it up from?
    This might be a good option for a cheaper personal computer for myself.
    give me a couple mins. I have to find the specific weblink again
    Boosted life tip #329
    Girlfriends cost money
    Turbos cost money
    Both make whining noises
    Make the smart choice.

    Originally posted by Mibz
    Always a fucking awful experience seeing spikers. Extra awful when he laps me.

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    https://www.dellrefurbished.ca/laptops

    There are also coupon codes that come up for these. I found one and it worked when I bought mine, but I don't know if there are any active ones now.
    Boosted life tip #329
    Girlfriends cost money
    Turbos cost money
    Both make whining noises
    Make the smart choice.

    Originally posted by Mibz
    Always a fucking awful experience seeing spikers. Extra awful when he laps me.

  13. #33
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    I don't know which ones you guys are looking at exactly, but most of those Dell refurbished laptops are ~7 year old machines with the bare minimum specs, and the prices are not good (at least the ones I looked at on the first few pages). Couple hundred more gets you into a 2019 machine with much better specs and probably half the weight haha. Just make sure you know what you're getting - I am surprised they have stock that is so old.

    Edit:

    This this is enormous but look what you can get for only $579:

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/p/as...t:techspecstab

    If you don't mind a little meat on your laptop that is incredible value.
    Last edited by Mitsu3000gt; 07-15-2019 at 04:51 PM.

  14. #34
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    This is not bad - $549 for the next little while as a Prime Deal:

    https://www.amazon.ca/Acer-Canada-NX...HNMSXVTZD052S7

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mitsu3000gt View Post
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    I don't know which ones you guys are looking at exactly, but most of those Dell refurbished laptops are ~7 year old machines with the bare minimum specs, and the prices are not good (at least the ones I looked at on the first few pages). Couple hundred more gets you into a 2019 machine with much better specs and probably half the weight haha. Just make sure you know what you're getting - I am surprised they have stock that is so old.

    Edit:

    This this is enormous but look what you can get for only $579:

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/p/as...t:techspecstab

    If you don't mind a little meat on your laptop that is incredible value.
    I got in on this deal... not sure why I even need something like that. Just the FOMO kicked in lol.
    I'm pretty sure the Acer in the post after would better suit my needs but I've had Acer quality issues before that scarred me.

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    Quote Originally Posted by jwslam View Post
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    I got in on this deal... not sure why I even need something like that. Just the FOMO kicked in lol.
    I'm pretty sure the Acer in the post after would better suit my needs but I've had Acer quality issues before that scarred me.
    That looks like a wicked little laptop for bumming around the house or doing some casual gaming. That GPU in a $579 laptop is impressive.


    -----------------------
    Here's another one if you don't mind open box - $542.71 for Prime Members. Go through the Warehouse deals section and you get 20% off at checkout:

    Asus Zenbook 13.3", i5 8250u, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD:

    https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B075N1YHVK/..._GNElDb2Z3ARGS
    Last edited by Mitsu3000gt; 07-16-2019 at 09:45 AM.

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    Haven't really seen any great deals yet. Looking for a small 14" (or smaller) travel laptop around $500. Low specs, just has to have SD card slot and prefer at least 500GB SSD. I'm only really using it for transferring photos/videos from the camera, light work and streaming videos.

    Been browsing around but no luck for me so far.

    Quote Originally Posted by Mitsu3000gt View Post
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    -----------------------
    Here's another one if you don't mind open box - $542.71 for Prime Members. Go through the Warehouse deals section and you get 20% off at checkout:

    Asus Zenbook 13.3", i5 8250u, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD:

    https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B075N1YHVK/..._GNElDb2Z3ARGS

    I tried looking at this deal but the options for warehouse/used isn't popping up for me like it normally does. Not sure if I'm doing something wrong, usually it just gives me "other buying options" at lower prices.

  18. #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by The BMW Guy View Post
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    Haven't really seen any great deals yet. Looking for a small 14" (or smaller) travel laptop around $500. Low specs, just has to have SD card slot and prefer at least 500GB SSD. I'm only really using it for transferring photos/videos from the camera, light work and streaming videos.

    Been browsing around but no luck for me so far.




    I tried looking at this deal but the options for warehouse/used isn't popping up for me like it normally does. Not sure if I'm doing something wrong, usually it just gives me "other buying options" at lower prices.
    The deal appears to be gone, I can find the laptop in the Warehouse section but it says "currently unavailable" now.

    I haven't seen any mind-blowing deals.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mitsu3000gt View Post
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    This is not bad - $549 for the next little while as a Prime Deal:

    https://www.amazon.ca/Acer-Canada-NX...HNMSXVTZD052S7
    This is exactly what my wife needs... is this a smoking deal? Seems like the others I've seen are around $650-699 on sale.

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    If a laptop is going to be used at your desk 70% of the time, do you need one with docking functionality or just use the USB port for Mouse/keyboard and whatever display output for monitor?

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