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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 3151432 times)

Offline sguitarist18

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9520 on: March 02, 2016, 01:39:08 AM »
Easy and cheap to upgrade. If it's a good deal and the only problem is the RAM go for it. Just make sure to check if and by how much the pc is upgradeable.

I was thinking of the main site deal...the lack of CD/DVD drives doesn't bother me, but I'm worried that the RAM isn't enough.

Offline Work-for-ur-muny

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9521 on: March 02, 2016, 01:43:20 PM »
I was thinking of the main site deal...the lack of CD/DVD drives doesn't bother me, but I'm worried that the RAM isn't enough.
Although it's completely at your discretion, but lack of the cd/dvd is something you may regret down the road. So you should really consider it carefully. I wanted to save a couple bucks and didn't buy a backlit keyboard. I have regretted it every now and then.

Offline Ydad

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9522 on: March 02, 2016, 02:01:29 PM »
Although it's completely at your discretion, but lack of the cd/dvd is something you may regret down the road. So you should really consider it carefully. I wanted to save a couple bucks and didn't buy a backlit keyboard. I have regretted it every now and then.
-1 you can just buy en external drive. There's no way to buy a backlight for your keyboard

Online etech0

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9523 on: March 02, 2016, 02:03:44 PM »
-1 you can just buy en external drive.
+1 they are not expensive
Workflowy. You won't know what you're missing until you try it.

Offline Work-for-ur-muny

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9524 on: March 02, 2016, 02:04:13 PM »
-1 you can just buy en external drive. There's no way to buy a backlight for your keyboard
You can also wait a week or two to find a good deal where you won't have to mess with all the extra schlep. After all the purpose of a laptop is its compactness and mobility; something the external really impedes.

Offline avromie7

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9525 on: March 02, 2016, 02:50:43 PM »
Although it's completely at your discretion, but lack of the cd/dvd is something you may regret down the road. So you should really consider it carefully. I wanted to save a couple bucks and didn't buy a backlit keyboard. I have regretted it every now and then.
Cds and dvds are on their way out they are barely used anymore
I wonder what people who type "u" instead of "you" do with all their free time.

Online etech0

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9526 on: March 02, 2016, 03:03:40 PM »
You can also wait a week or two to find a good deal where you won't have to mess with all the extra schlep. After all the purpose of a laptop is its compactness and mobility; something the external really impedes.
If you're going to use CDs/DVDs regularly, that's one thing. Some people, though, might need one once or twice a year...
Workflowy. You won't know what you're missing until you try it.

Offline Work-for-ur-muny

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9527 on: March 02, 2016, 03:19:02 PM »
If you're going to use CDs/DVDs regularly, that's one thing. Some people, though, might need one once or twice a year...
...which makes it something not worthwhile the investment for an external, but enough for regret for not waiting two weeks...

ETA: And all I said was consider it carefully. He should know the likelihood of him needing it at some point down the road or how desperate he currently is for a computer, not making it worthwhile the wait.

Offline Work-for-ur-muny

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9528 on: March 02, 2016, 03:22:00 PM »
Cds and dvds are on their way out they are barely used anymore
Just another reason not to have an external taking up space at home, but wait around for a deal with built-in.

Offline avromie7

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9529 on: March 02, 2016, 03:22:56 PM »
Just another reason not to have an external but wait around for a deal with built-in.
No that's a reason to not have an optical drive at all
I wonder what people who type "u" instead of "you" do with all their free time.

Offline Work-for-ur-muny

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9530 on: March 02, 2016, 03:28:50 PM »
No that's a reason to not have an optical drive at all
A bit early in the game to give it up altogether.

Offline avromie7

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9531 on: March 02, 2016, 03:30:11 PM »
A bit early in the game to give it up altogether.
Only if you live in lakewood
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 #9532 on: March 02, 2016, 03:33:26 PM »

Offline how

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9533 on: March 02, 2016, 09:41:17 PM »
i5 with a dvd/cd drive $319 http://www.ebay.com/itm/301702673196

Offline MordK

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9534 on: March 06, 2016, 02:16:27 PM »
Sorry for interrupting, I just wanted to stick my question in where people will see it.
I'm starting out learning photography and I need a pc to do raw image processing and graphics, probably with photoshop. I don't know what monitor resolution I need, which company, glossy vs matte, ips vs lcd, or anything else. I also don't know if I should get a full sized desktop, all in one, or if I can get away with a laptop. Clarity in the areas of how much ram, video card, and ssd vs hdd would also be nice. I'm only starting out part time, but I want to be the most productive I can. Thanks in advance to anyone that has some good advice for someone that's a little confused. I bought an Asus r516ux notebook, but it's still sealed in the box and I can return it if it's no good for me.


Offline TorontoGuy

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9535 on: March 06, 2016, 03:18:13 PM »
Sorry for interrupting, I just wanted to stick my question in where people will see it.
I'm starting out learning photography and I need a pc to do raw image processing and graphics, probably with photoshop. I don't know what monitor resolution I need, which company, glossy vs matte, ips vs lcd, or anything else. I also don't know if I should get a full sized desktop, all in one, or if I can get away with a laptop. Clarity in the areas of how much ram, video card, and ssd vs hdd would also be nice. I'm only starting out part time, but I want to be the most productive I can. Thanks in advance to anyone that has some good advice for someone that's a little confused. I bought an Asus r516ux notebook, but it's still sealed in the box and I can return it if it's no good for me.
The first question you want to ask yourself is your budget. There will be several machines that can do the job - and then there will be those that do it well. You can get away with a lower end i5 laptop with 8gb of RAM, however working on a i7 desktop with 16gb of RAM with a SSD drive and a dedicated graphics card will make your life a lot easier (and your final product better).
You don't want to be that guy that doesn't want to apply a certain filter preset because it takes too long to process.
Please respond with your budget, so we can help. I would personally recommend in the $700-$800 range for a desktop. For a laptop possibly a bit more.

Offline MordK

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9536 on: March 06, 2016, 05:35:58 PM »
I'm willing to go until 1500 for something that will get a good final outcome. I would prefer a laptop because of space. Thanks

Offline MordK

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9537 on: March 06, 2016, 06:22:48 PM »
I'm looking to spend money, but I don't want to be limited. I will probably also be using an external monitor so I don't know if I need a major resolution.

Offline MordK

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9538 on: March 06, 2016, 06:25:19 PM »
I mean I'm NOT looking to spend

Offline Zalc

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #9539 on: March 07, 2016, 01:15:01 PM »
http://m.ebay.com/itm/291686060238

What do you think?

Will this be able to run Microsoft office, a browser and a classroom smart board?

That is all that is needed.

Budget is <$200. Any better suggestions then this?