Recommend me a laptop with non-integrated graphics please

[mac_shinobi]

@witch

 

Saw this in one of my emails this morning

 

Deal: £492 Dell Inspiron 17R laptop with full HD display | ITProPortal.com

 

Also wondering if it would be worth while looking on the Dell Refurbished laptops may get a good spec laptop for a bit cheaper ??

 

£492 after using the voucher code ??

 

I know it is £92 over budget but I think this laptop is the best one ive found / seen so far. Unless you can find a refurbed one or maybe a 2nd hand jobby off of ebay ( from an ebay store or the likes ) ?

[witch]

I know it isn't much money but that is all he has and his current laptop is a 6 year old Dell we bought him when he went to Uni - it is failing so he can't hang around and save up some more.

I will show him all this and see what he thinks

Thank you all very much for your help

[mac_shinobi]

I know it isn't much money but that is all he has and his current laptop is a 6 year old Dell we bought him when he went to Uni - it is failing so he can't hang around and save up some more.

I will show him all this and see what he thinks

Thank you all very much for your help

 

Backup data, dban the hard drive or take it out and try and sell it as spares / repairs or something along those lines for £100 or whatever it is worth ( which should give them the difference to afford the extra ?

 

Or as per another suggestion ref getting £100 cash back on a laptop when ordering through toshiba ? Wonder if Dell do something like that ?

[Arthur]

Wonder if Dell do something like that?

No cashback, but there are usually lots of discount codes available. dmxdimension.com is a good site to check for these (in addition to HUKD).

[witch]

Laptop not good enough for cashback - we tried - but will look for codes.

He is now thinking about building his own as he doesn't need a fancy case etc. Has sent me this:

 

3.1ghz quad core i5 8gb ram 1tb hdd 6670 gpu £405 or upgrade to i7 for +£100 (including cheap case, reasonable power supply, basic dvd drive) Dont know if your lot can get cheaper parts, or know somewhere else to look?

 

Any thoughts please?

[witch]

Any thoughts before he makes his final decision?

[LosOjos]

Any thoughts before he makes his final decision?

 

Make sure whatever mobo he buys is latest spec - older spec may be cheaper but will seriously limit future upgrade potential

Make sure the PSU is good quality from a well known manufacturer - a cheap PSU can cause endless seemingly unrelated problems and in the worst case destroy much more expensive parts

 

This thread might be worth a skim read: http://www.edugeek.net/forums/how-do-you-do/95065-building-gaming-pc.html

[tmcd35]

Laptop not good enough for cashback - we tried - but will look for codes.

He is now thinking about building his own as he doesn't need a fancy case etc. Has sent me this:

 

3.1ghz quad core i5 8gb ram 1tb hdd 6670 gpu £405 or upgrade to i7 for +£100 (including cheap case, reasonable power supply, basic dvd drive) Dont know if your lot can get cheaper parts, or know somewhere else to look?

 

Any thoughts please?

 

Usual pitfulls on budget specs - does the prices include monitor, keyboard, mouse, operating system? Or are these being carried over from another system. In the case of OS that will mean already having a full retail copy (if using Windows).

 

PSU - Personally I'd look for 85+ Bronze rated, but they tend to cost a bit more. That said worth it as it can seriously improve the lifespan of the final build.

 

Personally I'd go for a lower spec CPU and a higher spec GPU. Perhaps entry level i3 with a HD7000 series GPU, for gaming.

 

I'd also consider a smaller HDD if it releases more money for a better spec PSU/Motherboard/GPU.

[LosOjos]

I'd also consider a smaller HDD if it releases more money for a better spec PSU/Motherboard/GPU.

 

Only thing to consider there would be how much video editing he's going to be doing - nothing will eat through your HDD space quicker than video projects!

[hallb15]

One of the advantages of building it yourself (or himself) is that you can upgrade individual components as necessary. £400 isn't a lot, but if you shop around you could get a decent spec desktop PC as a starting point, using a motherboard with decent onboard graphics. Then if he finds the graphics performance isn't up to it, he can add a higher spec graphics card later...

If you/he hasn't time to do the research and locate all the components, you could ask someone like Very PC to quote you on a few options...

[witch]

Thanks all

Mouse, keyboard, monitor and OS are not included in the price which helps a bit.

 

I'll let you know what he ends up with

[LosOjos]

Oh one last thing - check out Computer Hardware - Scan.co.uk "Today Only" deals - you can quite often pick up a mobo + CPU or mobo + RAM bundle there at a significant discount: Award winning supplier, performance hardware & systems - Scan.co.uk

[witch]

Right

Thanks to all your advice he is going to go for a desktop, taking into account all the information you have supplied

thanks very very much

Edited September 20, 2013 by witch