Bruinator Posted October 16, 2019 Share Posted October 16, 2019 (edited) Might have to buy a new laptop so I am hoping you guys can recommend some. Here are specs (adjustable OFC) I might be looking for: OS= windows Size = 15" + CPU= i5 6 gen+ 3.2Gb + quad RAM= 8GB HD= ssd 256GB Ports= 3usb lighted keyboard I will be using it for streaming, email, internet, movies...etc. I am not a gamer. Any other info needed that i might have forgotten plz let me know. TIA Edited October 16, 2019 by Bruinator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sc302 Veteran Posted October 16, 2019 Veteran Share Posted October 16, 2019 the screen size is a bit of a limiting factor, but hp probook 650 g2 or above would work for you. dell latitude 5500 series would work for you too Currently the 9th gen processors are out now so everything new will be above the 6th gen. Bruinator 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruinator Posted October 16, 2019 Author Share Posted October 16, 2019 If those specs are too much to ask how about 1 almost as much? Thx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sc302 Veteran Posted October 16, 2019 Veteran Share Posted October 16, 2019 those seem like bare minimum specs...see my post. dollar amount might help more, I have no clue what you want to spend. I can tell you new, with those specs are right around 1k. Bruinator 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruinator Posted October 16, 2019 Author Share Posted October 16, 2019 1 minute ago, sc302 said: the screen size is a bit of a limiting factor, but hp probook 650 g2 or above would work for you. dell latitude 5500 series would work for you too Currently the 9th gen processors are out now so everything new will be above the 6th gen. Thx.. I will check those out. Any other suggestions are great. I7 is fine as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sc302 Veteran Posted October 16, 2019 Veteran Share Posted October 16, 2019 those models also offer i7's within the series. Bruinator 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruinator Posted October 16, 2019 Author Share Posted October 16, 2019 1 minute ago, sc302 said: those seem like bare minimum specs...see my post. dollar amount might help more, I have no clue what you want to spend. I can tell you new, with those specs are right around 1k. The dollar amount might help...No more than $700. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon H Supervisor Posted October 16, 2019 Supervisor Share Posted October 16, 2019 6 minutes ago, Bruinator said: The dollar amount might help...No more than $700. for that price range you may need to compromise down to an i3 but even those are nice in the newer gens SSD will also most likely be out of the question out of the box but that's easy enough to add on your own. OEMs tend to like to charge exponentially more for SSDs still for some reason. the rest should be doable though; I'll have to take a look around when I get a break from work to see if there's any additional models from the above that I can recommend Bruinator 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sc302 Veteran Posted October 16, 2019 Veteran Share Posted October 16, 2019 used/refurbished territory you are looking at 2-400 with the 6th gen processor (only going to find used/refurb with 6-7th gen). Out of all vendors, I found with an i5 with 3.2 GHz or better. It doesn't have the hard drive, it doesn't have the memory, it doesn't have a lit keyboard. but it is $540 on amazon. You can upgrade the memory and replace the harddrive and still come to about your price point but it will not have a lit keyboard. How important is GHz, warranty, lit keyboard? https://www.amazon.com/HP-250-15-6-LCD-Notebook/dp/B07M93SMCQ/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=5YN17UT%23ABA&qid=1571244309&sr=8-1 This particular model can max out at 16GB and does support m.2, A 250GB Evo is roughly $70 https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-970-EVO-Plus-MZ-V7S250B/dp/B07MG119KG/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=samsung+950+evo&qid=1571244568&s=electronics&sr=1-1 16GB memory kit is $64 https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-PC4-19200-SODIMM-260-Pin-Memory/dp/B01BIWMWVS/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=Crucial+16GB+Kit+(2+x+8GB)+DDR4-2400+SODIMM&qid=1571244678&s=electronics&sr=1-3 That is probably going to be your best bet new, I searched a few vendor sites that deal with multiple brands (cdw, shi, pcwarehouse) and that was the only model at that GHz requirement under $700. Bruinator and Brandon H 1 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sc302 Veteran Posted October 16, 2019 Veteran Share Posted October 16, 2019 I just searched the mode hp250 8gb and came up with this (turbo frequency is 3.9GHz but base is 1.9GHz) https://www.amazon.com/HP-250-15-6-256GB-W10P/dp/B07MMYWTG4 Bruinator and Jim K 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruinator Posted October 16, 2019 Author Share Posted October 16, 2019 In my price range, what brand should i be looking at? I can be flexible on the specs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sc302 Veteran Posted October 16, 2019 Veteran Share Posted October 16, 2019 13 minutes ago, Bruinator said: In my price range, what brand should i be looking at? I can be flexible on the specs. hp, dell, lenovo, acer, asus will be all over the scale. it comes down to what is important to you. lenovo thinkpad, dell latitiude and precision, hp probook, elite book, and zbook are the more business class computers that don't come with excess bloatware but come with a higher price tag due to less bloat. I usually wipe them anyway with a windows 10 usb boot thumb drive utilizing the microsoft usb boot tool for windows 10. The more premium models will have a backlit keyboard, the lesser models will not. I can touch type (not look at the keyboard) so having letters or having them light up doesn't really matter much to me as long as I can feel the divots on the f and j key for pointer finger positioning, I am good to go. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 use the download tool now button...this will download and install onto a usb stick (you will need a blank usb stick that is a minimum of 8GB to a maximum of 16GB, I haven't had any luck with any larger USB sticks but ymmv) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruinator Posted October 16, 2019 Author Share Posted October 16, 2019 How about what you guys would call a very good laptop for $750 and under? I guess I was too picky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sc302 Veteran Posted October 16, 2019 Veteran Share Posted October 16, 2019 19 minutes ago, Bruinator said: How about what you guys would call a very good laptop for $750 and under? I guess I was too picky. You can get a good laptop at that price point, you wont get a premium laptop at that price point. Take any of your pc makers, they all make good laptops (for the most part). I get similar complaints with all of them so it really is up to you. Pick something you like, pick something you are familiar with. I like the dell warranty the best. I like HP casing the best (metal casing on their probook series that I am purchasing at around 1k). I like lenovo build quality the best (carbon fiber feels like plastic). I don't like dealing with lenovo warranty support. HP support is hit or miss when you need them and don't bother calling them after your warranty expired. Dell will give you phone support even after warranty expiry to help troubleshoot and come up with an answer or replacement. Asus warranty is ok, had a motherboard issue and they replaced but it was all through email, no phone support. never dealt with acer support. Brandon H 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruinator Posted October 16, 2019 Author Share Posted October 16, 2019 (edited) How much do I need to spend on a premium PC in your opinion? Something that will last about 5 yrs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sc302 Veteran Posted October 16, 2019 Veteran Share Posted October 16, 2019 lets look at the more premium models from those companies. lenovo x1 carbon and x1 extreme hp elitebook 1040 and z series dell precision and xps series as well as some latitude notebooks (they are all over the place with latitudes). Without looking, 1200 is the starting price to enter into those...topping out (depending on model series) in the 3500-4500 range. They will have the power you want (and then some) and the keyboard. The business series will have the keyboard but no dedicated graphics. Again, it all comes down to what you want. on the search functions, back lit keyboard isn't available for me. maybe this will help you: https://www.binarytides.com/best-laptops-with-backlit-keyboard/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon H Supervisor Posted October 16, 2019 Supervisor Share Posted October 16, 2019 ^nice listing on that link @sc302 out of that listing it looks like the following Acer falls right into your range @Bruinator https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075FLBJV7/?tag=binarytides-20 even has dedicated MX graphics which surprises me a bit for its listed price all the other entries on that list are more gaming oriented laptops thus having a higher price tag in tow edit: the HP falls in your range as well but I'm always reluctant to recommend those; they cut some bad corners usually on consumer models; if I consider HP ever it's only their business models personally. I've also recently been burned by Dell as well; the uniform chassis they use on their consumer laptops are not convenient at all to open up for replacing the HDD/SSD or anything. I damaged the keyboard cable on my laptop trying to open mine up so now the right arrow and a couple other keys don't work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindovermaster Moderator Posted October 16, 2019 Moderator Share Posted October 16, 2019 Might want to look at this, too. https://www.notebookcheck.net/ Reviews a TON of laptops. Will give you a better idea. Brandon H 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sc302 Veteran Posted October 16, 2019 Veteran Share Posted October 16, 2019 12 minutes ago, Brandon H said: ^nice listing on that link @sc302 out of that listing it looks like the following Acer falls right into your range @Bruinator https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075FLBJV7/?tag=binarytides-20 even has dedicated MX graphics which surprises me a bit for its listed price all the other entries on that list are more gaming oriented laptops thus having a higher price tag in tow edit: the HP falls in your range as well but I'm always reluctant to recommend those; they cut some bad corners usually on consumer models; if I consider HP ever it's only their business models personally. I've also recently been burned by Dell as well; the uniform chassis they use on their consumer laptops are not convenient at all to open up for replacing the HDD/SSD or anything. I damaged the keyboard cable on my laptop trying to open mine up so now the right arrow and a couple other keys don't work. all of those laptops are consumer laptops in that link. I don't know the consumer line at all, I only deal with business lines...even my personal computers are all business line computers. Standard consumer grade are usually not very good as far as build quality goes, but they all share the same basic components. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon H Supervisor Posted October 16, 2019 Supervisor Share Posted October 16, 2019 1 minute ago, sc302 said: all of those laptops are consumer laptops in that link. I don't know the consumer line at all, I only deal with business lines...even my personal computers are all business line computers. Standard consumer grade are usually not very good as far as build quality goes, but they all share the same basic components. same here, I try to stick to the business models when looking for my own laptop now a days as well for that same reason. You never know what corners the OEM cut on their consumer models so it's luck of the draw how long they will last sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruinator Posted October 16, 2019 Author Share Posted October 16, 2019 are business models ok to watch live streaming live hockey or football? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sc302 Veteran Posted October 16, 2019 Veteran Share Posted October 16, 2019 Yes live streaming is fine. I stream while I am way on travel. You are ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindovermaster Moderator Posted October 16, 2019 Moderator Share Posted October 16, 2019 Yeah, business level laptops are just built up better than consumer level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruinator Posted October 17, 2019 Author Share Posted October 17, 2019 yay... my present laptop is working again. I had a feeling it was the power cable and so far so good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindovermaster Moderator Posted October 17, 2019 Moderator Share Posted October 17, 2019 4 minutes ago, Bruinator said: yay... my present laptop is working again. I had a feeling it was the power cable and so far so good. What you do, bro? Be great if you can tell us what you did Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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