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Please, when posting a link to a laptop listing, make sure to include the price at time of posting. It helps.
Requesting help with a purchase? Please post here: https://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=135662.msg2794782#msg2794782

Dell:
Precision - Very powerful desktop replacements - great warranty, ridiculously expensive - Usually overpriced or overkill

Latitude - Good Laptops - Great warranty! Highly recommended for any Business environment - Sometimes expensive.

Vostro  - Lower end Business Machines - Better Priced - still durable - Usually 1 Year warranty.

XPS - The nicer looking dell machines, Some are better than others...

Inspiron - YMMV Every model is different

(Plain) Insprion Series - Dells lowest end laptop
(R) Insprion Series - Perfect Home use, dependable, decent build quality, recommended
(Z) Insprion Series - A little slimmer than the R series, Some are Ultrabooks (Very often don't include Optical Drives)

HP:

Spectre - Top of the line personal (dragonfly is the top of the line for business) - lightest laptops, and beautiful!

Pavilion - YMMV (Some better than others)

Probook - Stable durable business systems - Usually a little on the heavy side.

Elitebook - Business Higher end systems, usually pretty expensive

ENVY - Used to be the HP sleek and nicer systems, they pretty much replaced most of the standard pavilions now and call them either ENVY or sleekbooks

Sleekbook - like it sounds slimmer line of laptops

Lenovo:

Thinkpad Series - Very Dependable Business Machine, Expensive (Not Pretty but Durable)

IdeaPad Series -

S Series
U Series - Usually the slimmer line Ultrabooks, Doesn't always include DVD Drive
Y Series - Nice machines with good specs and features (Cool Backlit Keyboards)
Z Series - Step up from the G Series, all around decent build, priced nicely, great home use laptop
G Series - Lower end

Samsung:

Series 3
Series 5
Series 7
Series 9 - The nicest, sleekest looking laptops I've seen in a long time - Can pass for a Macbook!!


HT: Dh Data Recovery & Name Changed


A great post by caliheat:
I believe that there are many factors when deciding what laptop to purchase.
1) What is your intended use and necessary features. e.g. light use vs. heavy use & optical drive, computer speed etc.
2) As mentioned several times in this thread, RAM itself is very easy to upgrade after you purchase.
3) Brand - IMHO this is pretty important as well - which do your prefer vs. which brand do people recommend.
4) Price - you should decide a price range that best suits your needs.
5) Operating System - Many people like myself prefer Windows 7 vs. 8.1, so this would be another consideration.
6) Warranty - does it include 1 year or more, cost for extending warranty.
7) Detailed Specs:
  Processor  - model and speed i3, i5, & i7 2.0 Ghz, 3.0 Ghz etc.
  RAM - This IMHO should be minimum 8GB, especially if running 8.1, however can be added easily.
  Hard Drive - SATA vs. SSD, the latter being much faster. SATA itself offers 5400 RPM vs. 7200 RPM again, the latter being faster.
  Screen Size - this is a personal preference as you can always attach a larger screen in an office setting.
  Battery & Weight - overall laptop weight preference & battery life.
  Graphics - Integrated graphics vs. dedicated graphics, e.g. Intel 4400 vs. Nvidia GTX etc.

In summary, you have to decide what are you priorities, what can be upgraded and what you are flexible on.



Excellent article about the differences between the Intel processor suffixes.

Excellent "Laptop Buying Guide" by @dailykasha, written for Black Friday 2021, updated for holidays 2023

Author Topic: Laptop Deals Master Thread  (Read 3205464 times)

Offline etech0

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9780 on: July 14, 2016, 12:25:46 PM »
I have touchscreen at work and never use it, FWIW.
I do to, and use it all the time.
Workflowy. You won't know what you're missing until you try it.

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9781 on: July 14, 2016, 12:46:36 PM »
I've never had a touch screen laptop, but I'd like the opportunity to try it out. I bought the touch screen one, and will upgrade the RAM. Any reason (other than a few dollars more) not to upgrade the second slot with an additional 8GB (for a total of 12GB) rather than 4GB (for a total of 8GB)?

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9782 on: July 14, 2016, 12:54:24 PM »
I've never had a touch screen laptop, but I'd like the opportunity to try it out. I bought the touch screen one, and will upgrade the RAM. Any reason (other than a few dollars more) not to upgrade the second slot with an additional 8GB (for a total of 12GB) rather than 4GB (for a total of 8GB)?
The machine may not be able to handle it check out crucial.com
I wonder what people who type "u" instead of "you" do with all their free time.

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9783 on: July 15, 2016, 08:28:19 AM »
I have touchscreen at work and never use it, FWIW.
On a laptop or desktop?
Touchscreen on a laptop is very nice. Well worth upgrading the RAM yourself.
Save your time, I don't answer PM. Post it in the forum and a dedicated DDF'er will get back to you as soon as possible.

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9784 on: July 15, 2016, 08:32:43 AM »
On a laptop or desktop?
Touchscreen on a laptop is very nice. Well worth upgrading the RAM yourself.
Laptop. Either way, this purchase was for someone who I know definitely won't want to use it.

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9785 on: July 15, 2016, 12:08:05 PM »
15.6″ Touchscreen Lenovo Ultrabook i7 Processor, 8GB RAM, 1TB Hard Drive  $579.99 + Free Shipping  www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-Ultrabook-80R40007US-15-6-Intel-Core-i7-6500U-2-50-GHz-1-TB-HDD-/291792969846?rmvSB=true ht kb

Offline greatdeals

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9786 on: July 15, 2016, 12:23:07 PM »
whats the warranty on this?

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9787 on: July 15, 2016, 01:26:07 PM »
On a laptop or desktop?
Touchscreen on a laptop is very nice. Well worth upgrading the RAM yourself.
I'm glad to see at least someone's on my side  :)

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9788 on: July 15, 2016, 01:26:28 PM »
The machine may not be able to handle it check out crucial.com
will do, thanks.

ETA: Just checked, looks like it has a max of 16GB. It comes with 4GB - will I see a significant increase in speed from 8GB to 12GB or 16GB if I'm not using it for anything too heavy? Is it a waste and I should just stick to 8GB?
« Last Edit: July 15, 2016, 02:15:58 PM by beeweegee »

Offline avromie7

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9789 on: July 15, 2016, 02:30:31 PM »
will do, thanks.

ETA: Just checked, looks like it has a max of 16GB. It comes with 4GB - will I see a significant increase in speed from 8GB to 12GB or 16GB if I'm not using it for anything too heavy? Is it a waste and I should just stick to 8GB?
No you probably won't see any difference
I wonder what people who type "u" instead of "you" do with all their free time.

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9790 on: July 15, 2016, 02:50:21 PM »
No you probably won't see any difference
Ok, so 8GB it is. Thanks.

Offline Yehuda25

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9791 on: July 17, 2016, 09:40:32 AM »
On a laptop or desktop?
Touchscreen on a laptop is very nice. Well worth upgrading the RAM yourself.
Correct, buying more RAM initially will cost you a lot more than putting it in afterwards yourself.
“To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.”


― Aristotle

Offline avromie7

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9792 on: July 17, 2016, 12:48:08 PM »
On a laptop or desktop?
Touchscreen on a laptop is very nice. Well worth upgrading the RAM yourself.
IME upgrading RAM on these laptops is a real big PITA they are not designed well so you basically need to take the whole thing apart to access the memory. I would do it again but for a novice it may be quite difficult.
I wonder what people who type "u" instead of "you" do with all their free time.

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9793 on: July 17, 2016, 12:59:08 PM »
IME upgrading RAM on these laptops is a real big PITA they are not designed well so you basically need to take the whole thing apart to access the memory. I would do it again but for a novice it may be quite difficult.
FWIW, the one we were discussing last week (the Lenovo Ebay DD) that I bought is very simple, Lenovo makes it very easy to upgrade both the RAM and the HDD.

Offline etech0

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9794 on: July 17, 2016, 01:12:09 PM »
IME upgrading RAM on these laptops is a real big PITA they are not designed well so you basically need to take the whole thing apart to access the memory. 
+1
Workflowy. You won't know what you're missing until you try it.

Offline Yehuda25

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9795 on: July 18, 2016, 10:18:13 AM »
IME upgrading RAM on these laptops is a real big PITA they are not designed well so you basically need to take the whole thing apart to access the memory. I would do it again but for a novice it may be quite difficult.
Recently the hp's that I have been seeing have been exactly how you've described.
“To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.”


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Offline etech0

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9796 on: July 18, 2016, 12:30:48 PM »
Recently the hp's that I have been seeing have been exactly how you've described.
+1
Been trying to decide if I should do mine myself, or find someone else who can
Workflowy. You won't know what you're missing until you try it.

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9797 on: July 18, 2016, 12:51:52 PM »
Quote
15.6″ Touchscreen Lenovo Ultrabook i7 Processor, 8GB RAM, 1TB Hard Drive  $579.99 + Free Shipping  www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-Ultrabook-80R40007US-15-6-Intel-Core-i7-6500U-2-50-GHz-1-TB-HDD-/291792969846?rmvSB=true ht kb
can you buy squaretrade warranty for this?