Cheapest durable laptop, with 8GB RAM, and a 500GB-class SSD?

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VirtualLarry

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,570
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Was looking on Newegg, they had some Lenovo factory refurbs for $699, 14" screen 1366x768, I think.

Are there cheaper ones available, that don't have super-low-end-budget CPUs? (No N3060, please!)

AMD is fine, and probably cheaper.

CUK (Computer Upgrade King) (third-party, that buys new laptops, and upgrades RAM / SSD and sells on Amazon.com) is fine too.
 
mnewsham

mnewsham

Lifer
Oct 2, 2010
14,539
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Lenovo has some brand new Ideapad 330 15" with i3-8130U, 6GB of RAM, and a 1TB HDD for under $500.

Take out the HDD and swap in an SSD and bob's your uncle.

Or for $550 the same model is available with an i5-8250U (4 core 8 thread) and 8GB of RAM.

Still would need to pay for the SSD though.

No idea about durability, but it's cheap and new instead of going refurb.
 
UsandThem

UsandThem

Elite Member
May 4, 2000
16,068
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Dell Outlet has a bunch you can look through, and they also have 17% off select laptops. The ones with better CPUs begin around page 3 if you sort by price low to high:

Code: LAPTOPS17%

http://outlet.us.dell.com/ArbOnlineSales/Online/InventorySearch.aspx?c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh&brandid=2201&sign=PXhcOSHtr1T4IOw/PR7UdYRyiSQECwnoj9DdCgAufwmSrGsLQDIuC+AWn3/I3jc4zAiQOHxZ3ug885oKk+lz9mDPFXDsnpGYPn3YiVr79u+Zx3WBz0KkDXc1nyLOOXl6aCA8hUua76Rz0nDiiailYOVz5OMk/IlZd+hzjFXy+84vcv44bcgW1PUvYUmW58EDrZfWWBmymIf/kCMxiaI/qDJczjPAXWYNLNH5NUQo7zYxVP6AlHxZ9Rft91MMwiwm7Tu+wrTUjK0QwaZz62vmbc2RFoch/PPgtQrPVd0OkHQ7uw5aHsLwQyW8WVizAkaYAPJQr9//j94MuShYxoIJHpGqQ1weCo8QmNPRezYRUKYpoMueSOtrLlOZm/kQEX3BEEpTTK44D75sCVQvIhI7XMXcObPq3Kyzad7oelOqfnY=

Here is their page of all their deals and coupons:

http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/22/campaigns/dell-coupons-codes-us-outlet

There's also a decent laptop over on Slickdeals, but since we aren't allowed to link there, you'll have to go there and see. It's on their frontpage, $390 after $100 Paypal/Slickdeal rebate. Model HP 15z, and has the Ryzen 2500U.
 
UsandThem

UsandThem

Elite Member
May 4, 2000
16,068
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Just a point of reference, I bought my Inspiron 7559 about 2 years ago when I saw a deal on Slickdeals, and it has the 1080p screen, i7-6770HQ CPU, 8GB ram, GTX 960m, and had a hybrid SSD/HDD. After cash back from Ebates, I paid like $620 for it.
 
VirtualLarry

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,570
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I won't be buying this right away, unless someone else buys one of my other laptops for $500, but I was hoping for 4C/4T or 4C/8T, 8GB DDR4, and a 500GB-class SSD. Was also hoping for 1080P, but I realize at the $500-600 price range, it may be hard to get one of those along with a 500GB SSD. My existing laptops are 1366x768, so it wouldn't be the end of the world if this one was too, but 1080P would be a nice step up. (My desktops are mostly 4K UHD.)

Thanks for all of the suggestions, guys. I'll keep looking. May not be looking to actually purchase until July, or possibly even August. (Have to pay some peeps back in July too, so that cuts down on my spare funds.)

Edit: Oh, and I'm not planning on Gaming on this laptop, so no need for a dGPU, unless it doesn't bump up the price much. (AMD Ryzen Mobile APU would be ideal.)
 
K

killster1

Banned
Mar 15, 2007
6,205
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mnewsham said:
Lenovo has some brand new Ideapad 330 15" with i3-8130U, 6GB of RAM, and a 1TB HDD for under $500.

Take out the HDD and swap in an SSD and bob's your uncle.

Or for $550 the same model is available with an i5-8250U (4 core 8 thread) and 8GB of RAM.

Still would need to pay for the SSD though.

No idea about durability, but it's cheap and new instead of going refurb.
Click to expand...


yea i was eyeing that lappy it was 350$ shipped on a site the other day the lenovo 330. not sure if exact model but pretty sure.
 
K

kritisharma

Junior Member
Aug 29, 2018
9
0
1
Hey, you can also look out these laptops.
  • HP 255 Notebook
  • Dell - Inspiron 15.6" Laptop
  • ASUSPRO B9440UA XS51 14" Notebook
 
ibex333

ibex333

Diamond Member
Mar 26, 2005
4,094
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106
UsandThem said:
Yuck. Low resolution 1366 x 768 monitor for $610. At that price, you should to able to easily find one with 1080p resolution.
Click to expand...

You are missing the point. 1366 x 768 resolution is so you can game on this laptop. The integrated Intel HD graphics will do very poorly at 1080p, and if you lower the resolution it will look blurry. But 1366 x 768 will not look blurry and the frame rate in games will be much higher. I actually PREFER 1366 x 768 resolution on a laptop over 1080p until built in graphics chips can run most low to mid tier games at 1080p @ 30fps minimum.
 
UsandThem

UsandThem

Elite Member
May 4, 2000
16,068
7,382
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ibex333 said:
You are missing the point. 1366 x 768 resolution is so you can game on this laptop. The integrated Intel HD graphics will do very poorly at 1080p, and if you lower the resolution it will look blurry. But 1366 x 768 will not look blurry and the frame rate in games will be much higher. I actually PREFER 1366 x 768 resolution on a laptop over 1080p until built in graphics chips can run most low to mid tier games at 1080p @ 30fps minimum.
Click to expand...

That's a personal call on the resolution. After owning a true 1080p laptop, I can't stand the lower resolution anymore. Kind of like owning a PC with a SSD, and then having to work on a PC still using a HDD.

I can always go in and lower the resolution if I needed to for a game to be playable, but my laptop has both Intel graphics and a Nvidia 960m card, so I generally can play at 1080p just fine with some game settings turned down. And I paid about $620 for this laptop a few years ago when it was on sale at Dell during a President's Day sale.
 
ibex333

ibex333

Diamond Member
Mar 26, 2005
4,094
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106
UsandThem said:
That's a personal call on the resolution. After owning a true 1080p laptop, I can't stand the lower resolution anymore. Kind of like owning a PC with a SSD, and then having to work on a PC still using a HDD.

I can always go in and lower the resolution if I needed to for a game to be playable, but my laptop has both Intel graphics and a Nvidia 960m card, so I generally can play at 1080p just fine with some game settings turned down. And I paid about $620 for this laptop a few years ago when it was on sale at Dell during a President's Day sale.
Click to expand...

Ahhh... But like I said, if you lower the resolution from 1080p, things will look fuzzy/blurry a bit... No good.

But hey, to each his own.
 
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VirtualLarry

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,570
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I admit, I have yet to own a laptop with a 1080P FHD screen. I'm looking forward to it. 768P is kind of cramped. Especially when my desktop has a 40" 4K UHD screen. Even 1080P (when testing PCs that aren't 4K-capable) is really kind of cramped. But I'll happily take a laptop with a 1080P screen.

Anyways, Newegg had a really nice deal on a Lenovo 330 with a Ryzen 2500U, 1080P screen, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, the works, for like $499. I wish that I could have afforded it.
 
VirtualLarry

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,570
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Arrow-Direct has a Kaveri quad-core with Radeon HD (GCN) graphics, 8GB of RAM, and a 128GB SSD or a 256GB on ebay, for under $200. It's not Ryzen, and it's a Grade B refurb (some scratch / dent / wear), but it meets most of my other criteria, other than the 1080P screen. It's an HP 745 G2 or something like that.

I might pick one up, if they are still available in Oct. I can get a new battery for $30-35 too.
 
W

whm1974

Diamond Member
Jul 24, 2016
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VirtualLarry said:
Arrow-Direct has a Kaveri quad-core with Radeon HD (GCN) graphics, 8GB of RAM, and a 128GB SSD or a 256GB on ebay, for under $200. It's not Ryzen, and it's a Grade B refurb (some scratch / dent / wear), but it meets most of my other criteria, other than the 1080P screen. It's an HP 745 G2 or something like that.

I might pick one up, if they are still available in Oct. I can get a new battery for $30-35 too.
Click to expand...
I'm sure you can find something better then a Kaveri quad-core laptop. Maybe save your money until you can afford the Lenovo 330?
 
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Lordhumungus

Golden Member
Jan 14, 2007
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Without trying to sound like a jerk, I think your purchasing habits tend to fall into the do it right or do it twice category.

You end up unhappy within a few months because you purchase something that really doesn't meet your needs and end up having to sell it at a loss because it's so far below a reasonable spec that it really has no value other than to a very specific person on an extremely tight budget.

My advice, for whatever that may be worth, is to lock in your minimal acceptable specs AND budget and then DO NOT compromise on either of those until the right deal comes up. In the meantime, sell everything that you have that is low speced just to clear up mindshare and get whatever $$ out of it you can. I think you will actually find getting rid of all the white noise actually improves your quality of life (I say this is a super hardcore collector of a ton of things who frequently prunes the collection to keep myself in check, including currently selling off about 400 items on ebay).

I also, I think a minimum of $500 is reasonable for a quality budget laptop. Anything less than that and you will compromise and I don't think it's worth it in the end. And if you are thinking "I can't afford that", totally understandable and reasonable, but then I don't think you should be buying a laptop.

If temporarily going without a laptop of any kind is not an option, particularly if you feel you need something to diagnose with, I personally bought a cheap CHUWI dual boot Windows/Android tablet which actually comes in quite handy. It's not fancy and is slow as hell, but it's 1080p, has a microSD card slot and a few USB ports, so I can use it to help with all kinds of stuff when I need to diagnose. I even setup remote desktop on it to use it as a card reader since my main rig doesn't have space for one.
 
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VirtualLarry

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,570
10,202
126
Thanks for the advice, @Lordhumungus . You're right, I probably wouldn't be happy with the CPU performance of the Kaveri, or the screen resolution of this $369 Ryzen 3 laptop I found, that was cheaper than $500 or so, but sacrificed the 1080P screen to hit that price-point.

I'm going to hold off for now, I guess, with a pair of Lenovo B50-45 laptops, with 8GB DDR3 each, and one with a 256GB and one with a 480GB SSD, I'm pretty rockin' as it is. It's not Ryzen, but ... it's a quad-core AMD APU, with Turbo (of sorts), and it gets the job done without any real pain. (Although upgrading both of them to 8GB of RAM really helped.)
 
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