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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 3182284 times)

Offline DH Data Recovery

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #3880 on: June 12, 2013, 01:30:41 AM »
google i7-3770 vs i7-4770 you should see the results immediately

Offline ShlomoM

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #3881 on: June 12, 2013, 06:48:23 AM »
google i7-3770 vs i7-4770 you should see the results immediately
http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/440/Intel_Core_i7_i7-3770_vs_Intel_Core_i7_i7-4770.html
They seem to feel its a better buy but your right from thier tests the old chip had 8% better battery.
Each their own to decided I always feel the extra speed is worth the extra juice when you need it.

Offline DH Data Recovery

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #3882 on: June 12, 2013, 08:35:40 AM »
But it really isn't much faster, they say about 6% at best!

Offline danIL

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #3883 on: June 12, 2013, 09:13:11 AM »
Does anyone know of an i5 laptop for $500 or less that I can plug in 2 external monitors (to extend to a total of 2 screens - I would also be ok with laptop screen plus one external if need be) without having to use a docking station?
Thanks

Offline DH Data Recovery

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #3884 on: June 12, 2013, 09:50:10 AM »
most laptop can take one additional screen, so that option should be easy.

Offline nutcase

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Offline danIL

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #3886 on: June 12, 2013, 10:13:25 AM »
most laptop can take one additional screen, so that option should be easy.

And would those same laptops support 2 external screens (not using the laptop screen)?

Offline skyguy918

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #3887 on: June 12, 2013, 10:24:21 AM »
And would those same laptops support 2 external screens (not using the laptop screen)?

On the vast majority of laptops you will need some sort of extra hardware (not necessarily a dock), to connect a 2nd external screen, because there is no 2nd video output port. For example, the laptop posted by nutcase above you has one HDMI-out port and a bunch of USB ports. To turn a USB port into a viable video output port, you'd need an adapter, and they're not super cheap.

Also, keep in mind that the software controlling video output that comes standard in most laptops will only support a total of 2 screens, whether they be external or internal.

Offline nutcase

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Offline YG

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #3889 on: June 12, 2013, 02:11:43 PM »
For this laptop HP offers an upgrade to a hybrid HD - same size and rpm as the basic HD - for $40.

They write as follows:
 "The Hybrid Drive performs like an SSD but delivers the capacity of a disk drive. It's the perfect combination of SSD and HDD in one easy-to-use device."

How does it perform like an SSD if its not one?
Worthwhile?

And: I don't see any mention of how many MHz the RAM is. Considering upgrading with them ($80) vs paying them $10 for 1 $8Gb DIMM and getting another on amazon for ~$55 (1333 MHz)
« Last Edit: June 12, 2013, 02:18:38 PM by YG »

Offline Miracle

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #3890 on: June 12, 2013, 02:28:12 PM »

Offline YG

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #3891 on: June 12, 2013, 03:12:34 PM »
I wish there was 14" option.

Checked out the 14" options but it comes with a max of i5 and its touch screen so pretty much same price for significantly lowers specs.

Offline yare

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #3892 on: June 12, 2013, 05:03:52 PM »
How does it perform like an SSD if its not one?
lol  it doesn't 
   
Worthwhile?
for $40 you should get your moneys worth

Offline yitzf

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #3893 on: June 12, 2013, 07:30:48 PM »
Add options of $100 to get over $899 then use coupon NEWPC150
 http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Laptops/HP-ENVY/E4T17AV?aid=38293&pbid=iH2PRtf/I7g&AOID=35252&siteid=iH2PRtf_I7g-W8.0VzrsKHxxo9tNu4pfng

This really has the requirements I'm looking for, but I'm not in a rush. Can we expect to see significant back to school sales?

Offline DH Data Recovery

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #3894 on: June 12, 2013, 07:36:39 PM »
This will most likely replace the dv6 series and will go down to similar pricing

Offline YG

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #3895 on: June 12, 2013, 08:53:31 PM »
Dv6?
What price range is that?
Any idea how soon its expected to drop?

These exact specs with a 14" monitor would be my perfect laptop.
Are there any options short of a dell XPS that's double the price?

Offline DH Data Recovery

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #3896 on: June 12, 2013, 10:00:15 PM »
Dell biz outlet has some coupons for latitudes now. You may have luck there, and they come with 3 year warranties

Offline YG

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #3897 on: June 12, 2013, 11:26:11 PM »
I'm only seeing coupons for latitude tablets?? (And vostro towers)

Offline smart brit

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #3898 on: June 13, 2013, 11:15:04 AM »
If someone likes lenovo
Ultrabook i7 no optical drive
http://outlet.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/outlet_us/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:item.detail?GroupID=445&Code=59RF0127cts this is a decent deal (although it's a refurbished)
 


Offline steeeveknowsbest

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #3899 on: June 13, 2013, 11:29:02 AM »
If someone likes lenovo
Ultrabook i7 no optical drive
http://outlet.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/outlet_us/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:item.detail?GroupID=445&Code=59RF0127cts this is a decent deal (although it's a refurbished)
any idea what Lenova's warranty on refurbished laptops from the outlet is?