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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 3151962 times)

Offline joe1234

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #13020 on: September 17, 2021, 02:55:49 PM »
my friend needs a laptop for programming or cloud computing. needs to be 16gb ram and 512gb SSD. what's the best option available for the best price?
thanks

Offline YG

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #13021 on: October 04, 2021, 05:08:17 PM »
https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/xps-13-laptop/spd/xps-13-9305-laptop/xn9305epfns?view=configurations

Processor
11th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-1135G7 Processor (8MB Cache, up to 4.2 GHz)

Operating System
Windows 10 Home English

Graphics Card
Intel® Iris Xe Graphics

Display
13.3" FHD (1920 x 1080) InfinityEdge Non-Touch display

Memory
8GB 4267MHz LPDDR4x Memory Onboard

Hard Drive
256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive

Seems like a generally solid value purchase to me.

To be more specific, Would the 11th gen i5 with Intel® Iris Xe Graphics be plenty adequate for streaming really good quality footage from a DSLR through an Elgato camlink using a browser service like restream, or would moving up to an i7 likely improve stream quality?

Offline Yo ssi

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #13022 on: October 04, 2021, 05:17:29 PM »
To be more specific, Would the 11th gen i5 with Intel® Iris Xe Graphics be plenty adequate for streaming really good quality footage from a DSLR through an Elgato camlink using a browser service like restream, or would moving up to an i7 likely improve stream quality?
Faster internet would improve stream quality
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Offline YG

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #13023 on: October 04, 2021, 07:02:19 PM »
Faster internet would improve stream quality

Thank you!

It will be plugged in to blazing fast internet with Ethernet cable.

To clarify; by “improve stream quality” I didn’t mean relative to current quality, I meant relative to the quality that would be expected from the i5 1135G7 in the XPS above. I am not streaming at the moment but am planning to start and will likely get a new laptop for it. The i7 version of the same XPS model ends up being $500 more than the i5 version, so If the i7 will not provide any real world benefit to the stream quality and functionality beyond the expected performance of the i5, and the i5 XPS specs above are ample for high quality live-streaming of live DSLR video footage via cam link (no gaming) I’d go with the i5.

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #13024 on: October 04, 2021, 08:30:53 PM »
Need about 7 decent laptops. Will be used in a nursing home for a web-based medical record program so very basic. Nothing fancy, just something that will work for a few years. Prefer windows pro but I could always do an upgrade for relatively cheap. TIA

Offline Yo ssi

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #13025 on: October 04, 2021, 08:31:22 PM »
Thank you!

It will be plugged in to blazing fast internet with Ethernet cable.

To clarify; by “improve stream quality” I didn’t mean relative to current quality, I meant relative to the quality that would be expected from the i5 1135G7 in the XPS above. I am not streaming at the moment but am planning to start and will likely get a new laptop for it. The i7 version of the same XPS model ends up being $500 more than the i5 version, so If the i7 will not provide any real world benefit to the stream quality and functionality beyond the expected performance of the i5, and the i5 XPS specs above are ample for high quality live-streaming of live DSLR video footage via cam link (no gaming) I’d go with the i5.
A straight video feed is not too CPU intensive, and is mostly based on your internet speed. But if you'd like to run OBS and are recording that's going to use more resources. (GPU also plays a part)
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Offline YG

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #13026 on: October 04, 2021, 10:17:23 PM »
A straight video feed is not too CPU intensive, and is mostly based on your internet speed. But if you'd like to run OBS and are recording that's going to use more resources. (GPU also plays a part)

Thank you! That’s the information I’m looking for…

For now I’ll be using a web based streaming platform so it seems that a current i5 should do the job…

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #13027 on: October 05, 2021, 04:26:11 AM »
« Last Edit: October 05, 2021, 04:51:31 AM by Chuchum Ainer »

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #13028 on: October 05, 2021, 04:29:26 AM »
Need about 7 decent laptops. Will be used in a nursing home for a web-based medical record program so very basic. Nothing fancy, just something that will work for a few years. Prefer windows pro but I could always do an upgrade for relatively cheap. TIA
Not at all familiar with the use case, but wouldn't Chromebooks work well here? Or if not too much typing, tablets.
If they are being moved around all the time by a bunch of different employees, I'd imagine battery life is very important too.

If you are looking for windows, 13 14 or 15 inch?

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #13029 on: October 05, 2021, 04:45:07 AM »
https://www.dell.com/en-us/member/shop/dell-laptops/new-inspiron-14-laptop/spd/inspiron-14-5410-laptop/nn5410esfqs

$485 (make sure to decline premium support).
Metal, seems to be a pretty good deal. only an i3, seems to be a quad core

minus Amex offer etc

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #13030 on: October 05, 2021, 05:11:03 AM »
Need about 7 decent laptops. Will be used in a nursing home for a web-based medical record program so very basic. Nothing fancy, just something that will work for a few years. Prefer windows pro but I could always do an upgrade for relatively cheap. TIA

https://www.officedepot.com/a/products/5052629/Lenovo-IdeaPad-nbsp5-Laptop-156-Screen/ $500
15.6 inch. Metal build. 300 nits IPS 45% NTSC screen
Solid deal for a decent all rounder. It has gone down to $450 in the past, but doubt it'll happen again for a while, we'll see what happens black Friday.

Offline YG

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #13031 on: October 06, 2021, 03:08:17 PM »
Is antonline.com a legit reliable retailer?

They seem to have some very solid deals, I have never heard of them and want to make sure I will not gett myself into trouble purchasing from them...

Offline Mf1

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #13032 on: October 06, 2021, 03:28:08 PM »
https://www.officedepot.com/a/products/5052629/Lenovo-IdeaPad-nbsp5-Laptop-156-Screen/ $500
15.6 inch. Metal build. 300 nits IPS 45% NTSC screen
Solid deal for a decent all rounder. It has gone down to $450 in the past, but doubt it'll happen again for a while, we'll see what happens black Friday.
and then there is the chase office depot offer as well

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #13033 on: October 06, 2021, 03:42:45 PM »
Is antonline.com a legit reliable retailer?

They seem to have some very solid deals, I have never heard of them and want to make sure I will not gett myself into trouble purchasing from them...

Yes, they've been around for years. Bought from them in the past.
If it's not free shipping it's not worth it.

Offline YG

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #13034 on: October 06, 2021, 03:48:07 PM »
Yes, they've been around for years. Bought from them in the past.

Thank you!

I just went for this IdeaPad 5 15
Ryzen 7 5700U
16 GB RAM
512 GB SSD
15.6" IPS - 300 nits

Seems to be a very good price for the build and specs...

Antonline is selling it for 729.99 on Amazon and for 699 on their website, but I have tax exemption set up on amazon and would pay tax on antonline.com so it ended up being cheaper through amazon, and I also like the security of purchasing it through amazon in case there are any issues.
« Last Edit: October 06, 2021, 04:08:46 PM by YG »

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #13035 on: October 06, 2021, 06:29:50 PM »
Thank you!

I just went for this IdeaPad 5 15
Ryzen 7 5700U
16 GB RAM
512 GB SSD
15.6" IPS - 300 nits

Seems to be a very good price for the build and specs...

Antonline is selling it for 729.99 on Amazon and for 699 on their website, but I have tax exemption set up on amazon and would pay tax on antonline.com so it ended up being cheaper through amazon, and I also like the security of purchasing it through amazon in case there are any issues.

Lenovo IdeaPad 5 15.6 Laptop AMD Ryzen 7-5700U 16GB RAM 512GB SSD $649.99 Antonline via eBay

Offline YG

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #13036 on: October 06, 2021, 06:44:29 PM »
Lenovo IdeaPad 5 15.6 Laptop AMD Ryzen 7-5700U 16GB RAM 512GB SSD $649.99 Antonline via eBay

Thank you!

Since having a number of terrible experiences on eBay many years back I don’t even look there anymore. Maybe it’s time to rethink that.

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #13037 on: October 06, 2021, 07:10:10 PM »
Thank you!

Since having a number of terrible experiences on eBay many years back I don’t even look there anymore. Maybe it’s time to rethink that.
It’s a very big seller and he offers free returns for any reason. eBay always lets you return if it’s NAD.

Offline YG

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #13038 on: October 06, 2021, 08:23:47 PM »
It’s a very big seller and he offers free returns for any reason. eBay always lets you return if it’s NAD.

My
Worst experience was with a seller with 99% positive reviews, who apparently decided they were done with eBay and might as well rip off as many people as possible on the way out. It was a few months before I caught on to the fact that I had been ripped off and by that point was past the limit of eBay’s purchase security guarantee (I think it was 3 months at the time) and the seller had been banned, but it didn’t help me.

Anyway . . . 😀

Now I need to apply for tax exempt status on eBay and if that goes through in time to purchase this listing I’ll be a happy camper.

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #13039 on: October 06, 2021, 08:25:38 PM »
My
Worst experience was with a seller with 99% positive reviews, who apparently decided they were done with eBay and might as well rip off as many people as possible on the way out. It was a few months before I caught on to the fact that I had been ripped off and by that point was past the limit of eBay’s purchase security guarantee (I think it was 3 months at the time) and the seller had been banned, but it didn’t help me.

Anyway . . .

Now I need to apply for tax exempt status on eBay and if that goes through in time to purchase this listing I’ll be a happy camper.
99% dosent really mean anything. It’s the number next to the sellers name that counts which indicates that he’s a big seller.

On a side note use a good CC and pay thru PayPal so you can dispute if anything goes wrong.

Once I lost a dispute thru eBay and won thru PayPal.