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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
Warning: most of the wiki that follows was written a very long time ago and the information on it can be outdated.

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 3660831 times)

Offline themev

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #4920 on: December 04, 2013, 10:43:21 AM »
Are there ever any deals on Alienware or any laptops of that grade? Im looking for a laptop that can handle some modern games (fast processor, good graphics card etc.)

Offline Entrepreneur

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #4921 on: December 04, 2013, 11:54:47 AM »
How is this?
HP Pavilion 15-N066US 15" Laptop
$380
http://www.staples.com/HP-Pavilion-15-N066US-15-inch-Laptop/product_284386

AMD Elite Quad-Core A10-5745M Accelerated Processor up to 2.9GHz 4MB L2 Cache
6GB DDR3L SDRAM (2 DIMM)
750GB 5400RPM hard drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
15.6-inch diagonal HD BrightView LED-backlit display (1366x768)
SuperMulti DVD Burner
802.11b/g/n WLAN
HP TrueVision HD Webcam
DTS Sound
Lithium-ion battery; Up to 4 hours and 15 minutes of battery life
Dimensions: 0.89 in (H) x 15.18 in (W) x 10.16 in (D) (5.05lbs.)
Windows 8
1-Year Limited Hardware Warranty with Toll-Free Support
« Last Edit: December 04, 2013, 12:24:46 PM by Entrepreneur »

Offline cozmohoot

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #4922 on: December 04, 2013, 01:13:46 PM »
How is this?
HP Pavilion 15-N066US 15" Laptop
$380
http://www.staples.com/HP-Pavilion-15-N066US-15-inch-Laptop/product_284386

AMD Elite Quad-Core A10-5745M Accelerated Processor up to 2.9GHz 4MB L2 Cache
6GB DDR3L SDRAM (2 DIMM)
750GB 5400RPM hard drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
15.6-inch diagonal HD BrightView LED-backlit display (1366x768)
SuperMulti DVD Burner
802.11b/g/n WLAN
HP TrueVision HD Webcam
DTS Sound
Lithium-ion battery; Up to 4 hours and 15 minutes of battery life
Dimensions: 0.89 in (H) x 15.18 in (W) x 10.16 in (D) (5.05lbs.)
Windows 8
1-Year Limited Hardware Warranty with Toll-Free Support
oos..looks like it was a good deal

Offline Armadillo

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #4923 on: December 04, 2013, 01:34:17 PM »
Armadillo "if HP works for you"- is HP a bad bet?
In my (admittedly limited) experience, HP is not consistent in product and their cust. svc. leaves what to be desired. Things may be different now, I'll leave that to the resident experts to chime in.

Offline Entrepreneur

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #4924 on: December 04, 2013, 02:02:03 PM »
oos..looks like it was a good deal
Can be purchased in stores

Offline how

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #4925 on: December 04, 2013, 02:04:24 PM »

Offline Entrepreneur

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #4926 on: December 04, 2013, 02:07:12 PM »
Perhaps this is wishful thinking, but can there be a post where you have brand, specs and highest price that would be a good deal.  Kind of like a reference to match against when searching for laptops.  Maybe a Google doc where each columns is a system (like when you compare systems on websites).

Just a thought(actually a wish :) )

Offline DovtheBear

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #4927 on: December 04, 2013, 02:38:17 PM »
Anyone have a screen shot of the Toshiba at Staples, when it was $279.99?
"להסתובב זה לא אומר להיות חופשי"

Offline pundit02

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #4928 on: December 04, 2013, 03:00:59 PM »
DovBear: Don't have a screen shot but I have a receipt if that helps...

Offline DovtheBear

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #4929 on: December 04, 2013, 03:05:27 PM »
DovBear: Don't have a screen shot but I have a receipt if that helps...
That you got it price adjusted?
"להסתובב זה לא אומר להיות חופשי"

Offline pundit02

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #4930 on: December 04, 2013, 03:14:46 PM »
DovTheBear: I bought quite a few machines - all that arrived are still in boxes. Give me a specific model number and I'll take a look....

Offline DovtheBear

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #4931 on: December 04, 2013, 03:17:12 PM »
DovTheBear: I bought quite a few machines - all that arrived are still in boxes. Give me a specific model number and I'll take a look....
The Toshiba i3 that was on the MainSite for about $250 and was reportedly price adjusted to $179.
"להסתובב זה לא אומר להיות חופשי"

Offline pundit02

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #4932 on: December 04, 2013, 03:24:54 PM »
I will go through the receipts and see how they wrote it up. Have you tried the WayBack Machine to see if you can get a screenshot?

http://web.archive.org/web/20131129083935/http://www.staples.com/

Offline DovtheBear

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #4933 on: December 04, 2013, 03:43:25 PM »
I will go through the receipts and see how they wrote it up. Have you tried the WayBack Machine to see if you can get a screenshot?

http://web.archive.org/web/20131129083935/http://www.staples.com/
Thanks for your effort, but they're adamant to not give me the refund.
Thanks for the link, though.
"להסתובב זה לא אומר להיות חופשי"

Offline sky121

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #4934 on: December 04, 2013, 03:44:18 PM »
Looking for a light 11 in ultrabook on Amazon with good battery life.
Any recommendations?

No chromebooks please.
"Not all who wander are lost"

Offline Thingywingy

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #4935 on: December 05, 2013, 01:55:35 AM »
I ended up buying both the Dell BF deal (http://www.dansdeals.com/archives/37029)i3 for $269 & the Gateway BF deal (http://www.dansdeals.com/archives/37178)i5 for $329. There has been some talk about Gateway not being good quality. Im hoping to get some input on which one I should keep? BH & Namechanged any thoughts?
Any advice please?
I am sometimes accused of overthinking things. I am still mulling over whether that accusation has merit.

Offline notanonymous

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #4936 on: December 05, 2013, 02:24:03 AM »
Any advice please?
IMO, I would take the i3 Dell over the i5 Gateway.  I see no other differences in specs other than processor.

Offline DH Data Recovery

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #4937 on: December 05, 2013, 08:35:40 AM »
I'm waiting for my laptops to arrive so I can checkout the quality on the gateway. If I would go solely by hardware the gateway should be much faster
I5 is better than i3- it's touch and can be upgraded to more ram than the Dell.

Offline mod

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #4938 on: December 05, 2013, 09:54:32 AM »
Lenovo Essential B575e 15.6" LED Notebook - AMD - E-Series E2-1800 1.7GHz - Black - 4 GB RAM - 320 GB HDD - AMD Radeon HD 7340 Graphics - Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64-bit - 1366 x 768 Display - $299
Any good?

http://www.rakuten.com/prod/lenovo-essential-b575e-15-6-led-notebook-amd-e-series-e2-1800-1-7ghz/245809219.html?scid=em_20131205_Daily&adid=18007

Offline DH Data Recovery

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Re: Laptop Deals Master Thread
« Reply #4939 on: December 05, 2013, 10:44:46 AM »
Very very weak system. Rather get an  i3 for a few $$ more