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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 3153242 times)

Offline nickbuol

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Re: Looking for cheap good Laptop deal
« Reply #840 on: July 24, 2012, 04:00:16 PM »
I would suggest to find a laptop that has the non mobile version of the i5, like the i5-2450m or i5-3210m. The i5-3317U is a mobile version of the i5, that uses much less battery power. This model is typically found in ultra books. I would not call the Toshiba P845-S4200 an Ultrabook, and from what you are saying, it doesnt seem thats what you are looking for.

Right.   I was looking at i5-2450m and i5-3210m machines, but they seem to be in the 15.6" size laptops and not the 14"...

I thought that it was a bad call on Toshiba's part with putting the 1.7 GHz into a model that they are using to promote their Harmon Kardon sound in.   Why pretend to be "awesome" to the non-techy, and then have low level performance?  I didn't get it.

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Re: Looking for cheap good Laptop deal
« Reply #841 on: July 24, 2012, 04:26:02 PM »
Right.   I was looking at i5-2450m and i5-3210m machines, but they seem to be in the 15.6" size laptops and not the 14"...

I thought that it was a bad call on Toshiba's part with putting the 1.7 GHz into a model that they are using to promote their Harmon Kardon sound in.   Why pretend to be "awesome" to the non-techy, and then have low level performance?  I didn't get it.
I would recommend this Dell its the New Inspiron 14z.

Its a nice laptop but is the typical grey.

I have $50 off coupons if you are interested.

If you have an Amex card synced with twitter you could get an additional $100 off

Offline dhalpern1

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Re: Looking for cheap good Laptop deal
« Reply #842 on: July 24, 2012, 05:04:07 PM »

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Re: Looking for cheap good Laptop deal
« Reply #843 on: July 24, 2012, 05:11:44 PM »
I7 HP Envy for 799 including an x-box. Seems like a good price for a good laptop.

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/pd/HP-ENVY-17-3077nr/productID.243730100/vip.true?siteID=NKa3hZyYoHA-6l51dkwVJ_JJwdo3HO1A7A
Its a really good price, but its a 17.3" and he is looking for a 14"

I could get xbox coupon codes if needed.

Edit: just noticed that model is out of stock

Offline nickbuol

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Re: Looking for cheap good Laptop deal
« Reply #844 on: July 24, 2012, 05:26:28 PM »
Thanks.  Yea, I would love the free XBox (could use a second one for in the home theater room), but it seems like most/all of those deals are 15.6"or 13.3" with the occassional 17.x" in there.  Nothing in the 14" range.

As for that Dell, it is showing that slower i5-3317U processor that the Toshiba had...

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Re: Looking for cheap good Laptop deal
« Reply #845 on: July 24, 2012, 06:03:32 PM »
Thanks.  Yea, I would love the free XBox (could use a second one for in the home theater room), but it seems like most/all of those deals are 15.6"or 13.3" with the occassional 17.x" in there.  Nothing in the 14" range.

As for that Dell, it is showing that slower i5-3317U processor that the Toshiba had...
I didn't realize that Dell has the i5-3317U too :(

An i3-2350M is almost equivalent and much cheaper

Offline boruch

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Re: Looking for cheap good Laptop deal
« Reply #846 on: July 25, 2012, 07:04:42 AM »
Looking for a laptop for work and school. I commute daily so the following is important to me.

- something light and small. Pref. a 14".
- long battery life
- wireless internet.

Not looking for anything fancy or fast. Just need it for working/studying online.

TYIA.

Offline DH Data Recovery

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Re: Looking for cheap good Laptop deal
« Reply #847 on: July 25, 2012, 10:07:03 AM »
right now your best bet is a dell latitude e5420 you can use the dell outlet 25% off coupon so i got an i5 for about $450 after taxes etc

Offline nickbuol

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Re: Looking for cheap good Laptop deal
« Reply #848 on: July 25, 2012, 10:54:09 AM »
I didn't realize that Dell has the i5-3317U too :(

An i3-2350M is almost equivalent and much cheaper

No worries.  Actually, looking at some CPU spec sites, the i3-2350m is a touch faster.

I found out that Best Buy has the *ANY* $699+ laptop gets you a free xBox, vs. Dell not having any 14" laptops eligible for that deal.  We are now looking at a Sony Vaio for $729 with an i5-2450 which should be about twice as fast as the i5-3317, and seems decent.  Best of all, it is something that my daughter likes the look and feel of.  I am all about the tech functionality, but there is something to be said about avoiding the whining and griping about a laptop being too big, or ugly....  Kids... ::)  At least she is buying it.  Hopefully I will get to keep the xBox, even if we already have one...    :D

Offline DH Data Recovery

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Re: Looking for cheap good Laptop deal
« Reply #849 on: July 25, 2012, 10:57:20 AM »
I would stay away from any sony machine - as a technician with years of experience on thousands of laptops I can tell you sony always has issues with support, proprietary parts, and very expensive pricing for anything that breaks!

Offline Lamdan

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Re: Looking for cheap good Laptop deal
« Reply #850 on: July 25, 2012, 11:39:48 AM »
Did Name Changed just get a bar plugta on these forums? :P
DD.com Main Site Deals 0 = DDF Loser

Offline AsherO

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Re: Looking for cheap good Laptop deal
« Reply #851 on: July 25, 2012, 11:42:26 AM »
Did Name Changed just get a bar plugta on these forums? :P

He's going to have to do better than that to be considered a BP IMHO...
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Offline DH Data Recovery

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Re: Looking for cheap good Laptop deal
« Reply #852 on: July 25, 2012, 11:51:08 AM »
We have someone here that believes in sony? Are we talking about the same company?

Offline Name Changed

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Re: Looking for cheap good Laptop deal
« Reply #853 on: July 25, 2012, 11:54:42 AM »
Did Name Changed just get a bar plugta on these forums? :P
lol :)

Offline chaimmayer

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Re: Looking for cheap good Laptop deal
« Reply #854 on: July 25, 2012, 12:28:49 PM »
Let's see if he is constantly there helping people and offering advice on all the sales.

Offline DH Data Recovery

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Re: Looking for cheap good Laptop deal
« Reply #855 on: July 25, 2012, 12:52:22 PM »
Bring it on :P

Offline nickbuol

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Re: Looking for cheap good Laptop deal
« Reply #856 on: July 25, 2012, 02:10:30 PM »
I would stay away from any sony machine - as a technician with years of experience on thousands of laptops I can tell you sony always has issues with support, proprietary parts, and very expensive pricing for anything that breaks!

I am thinking that the right laptop, despite the thousands of variations and variables out there, doesn't exist.

14"
decent i5 processor
backlit keyboard
gets good reviews
doesn't looks "boring" as my daughter would put it

Seems like 5 easy things.  RAM, video, hard drive, optical drive, so on and so forth are all easy and sufficient in any model I've looked at.

Oh, add a 6th...  Price less than $750...

Offline AsherO

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Re: Looking for cheap good Laptop deal
« Reply #857 on: July 25, 2012, 09:02:01 PM »
Did Name Changed just get a bar plugta on these forums? :P

This thread should prove you wrong :P
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Offline DH Data Recovery

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Offline DH Data Recovery

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Re: Looking for cheap good Laptop deal
« Reply #859 on: July 25, 2012, 09:23:18 PM »
I'm only useful in the computer and data recovery field though, don't know much about points, coupons etc, so name changed is def better