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Smallish and Cheap laptop suggestion needed

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Pinky

Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2001
Location
Las Vegas, NV
I've been on the fence regarding upgrading my Toshiba laptop I got as a black friday deal 2 years ago. My GF recently got an 11 inch Dell Inspiron 3000 series. It seems like a nice model for around $200. It got me thinking I could use more processing power than the low end 'Pentium' in my Toshiba. The market seems to be really low on laptops right now so maybe it's a good time to upgrade.

Price point $300 and under, preferably an i3 [but some of the beefier Atoms seem fine]. I'd like to stay clear of the 'Pentiums' which are basically Celerons, never a good model Intel to own as I've learned with the Toshiba. I can use the older 128GB SSD (sata) from the Toshiba in the new laptop. 4GB and Windows 10 seem very common and would be fine. 11 - 13" preferred, this seems the hardest specification to meet in my price range. Touch screen is not required.

Any brands and models come to mind? I'd be willing to spend more for a discounted (but new) older model Surface with the cover/keyboard, but they still seem too expensive at $500+.
 
Not sure you can get all that in that price. I picked up a Lenovo that has everything but the size (15.6) recently as it seemed to have the best specs in the price that I could grab locally at least.
 
https://www.neweggbusiness.com/Prod...LAGoVBBfbScx9y204upq8MlYHszMinJYmoaAvO_8P8HAQ



heres something really basic upgrade the ram but its got an i5 windows laptops I stick with Lenovo or Asus usually but I prefer Macbook. I prefer ultrabook really light thin small and exceptional battery life. Which this probably will not have if you look around really good you might be abel to find some old unsold clearance broadwell and skylake notebooks for cheap

i as well prefer 12-13 inch but this is 14
 
I've been on the fence regarding upgrading my Toshiba laptop I got as a black friday deal 2 years ago. My GF recently got an 11 inch Dell Inspiron 3000 series. It seems like a nice model for around $200. It got me thinking I could use more processing power than the low end 'Pentium' in my Toshiba. The market seems to be really low on laptops right now so maybe it's a good time to upgrade.

Price point $300 and under, preferably an i3 [but some of the beefier Atoms seem fine]. I'd like to stay clear of the 'Pentiums' which are basically Celerons, never a good model Intel to own as I've learned with the Toshiba. I can use the older 128GB SSD (sata) from the Toshiba in the new laptop. 4GB and Windows 10 seem very common and would be fine. 11 - 13" preferred, this seems the hardest specification to meet in my price range. Touch screen is not required.

Any brands and models come to mind? I'd be willing to spend more for a discounted (but new) older model Surface with the cover/keyboard, but they still seem too expensive at $500+.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/searchp...et=RAM~4 gigabytes&sp=+currentprice skuidsaas

Lenovo, ASUS and ACER are good to me.
 
I would go for an ASUS ZenBook or VivoBook, light cheap and powerful. Especially the ZenBook if u can afford it.
 
Yes. I prefer Ultra books as well. If I were to get a Windows Ultra book it would be the Zenbook or the Lenovo Yoga. But he said under 300$ so more than likely a nice Ultrabook is out of the question. They typically run a little higher than standard laptops because they are much thinner with a significantly longer lasting battery. But if you are the type of person who takes your nb everywhere you go with you and doesn't have the luxury and constantly plugging it in then I highly recommend saving up and getting a Broadwell or newer Ultrabook as they are amazing. My Retina is actually Haswell and has almost 300 cycles on the battery now and still lasts well over 6 hours on a full charge. I often work 8-10 hours then go to school for 2-4 more and usually don't don't have to plug it in to make it thru my classes in the evening.
 
Newegg had a shellshocker deal on a Lenovo 14" i3 for $320. It was a decent laptop for the price and I was VERY temped. I also found a $399 V310 model Asus at Best Buy which would also be fine but the screen is TN (poor viewing angle).

After doing an exhaustive search a couple days ago I've concluded that I will be checking deals in the coming months and even eBay for a new (with receipt) deal. I have a working laptop so I'm in no rush, and the current deals aren't compelling enough to jump at them.

Ultrabooks are way out of my price range and need. If this was my daily computer, absolutely. Since it's only used a couple times a week for maybe an hour or two, it doesn't have to be *that* good. That's why I've been looking at laptops with higher end Atom and i3 processors. The Pentium N3540(?) also looks viable.
 
If you are okay with factory refurbs, watch the lenovo outlet site. They update by the minute, so you have to play the refresh game and be ready to buy asap if a deal comes through. We got a killer deal on an i5 Yoga with the 15" screen a couple years back. Comes with the full warranty and we've had no issues at all.
http://outlet.lenovo.com/outlet_us/
 
I'd rather go without than go refurb. A lot of places just repackage returns. Not worth the hassle to return it.
 
I've been in the PC biz for quite a while. No means no. lol

I appreciate you offering the info though, it's just falling on deaf ears. :)
 
I wasn't try to sway you into something, I just wanted to point out their outlet center has NIB items too. If you're not into shopping outlet deals, or don't like Lenovo, I won't hold it against you. There's plenty of other options out there!
 
I wasn't try to sway you into something, I just wanted to point out their outlet center has NIB items too. If you're not into shopping outlet deals, or don't like Lenovo, I won't hold it against you. There's plenty of other options out there!

Scratch and Dent makes me twitchy, refurb sends me full psycho. :p

So that being said... no issues with Lenovo...

This doesn't look bad for the price...

http://outlet.lenovo.com/outlet_us/itemdetails/80QE000JUS/445
 
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We have a 15" Yoga, it's what my wife uses for everything - word, excel, internet, netflix, etc.
It's a pretty nice option.

We sold a bunch to a client a couple years ago, smaller model like the one you posted. They've held up well and are really good 2in1. I'm seriously considering this outlet option! ;)
 
Came to $393 after tax. A very good deal for a laptop of that quality, couldn't pass it up. Much thanks Jeff. :)
 
Just checking back, the new Lenovo 700-11ISK is awesome. Frankly, it's a VERY nice laptop and it was a steal at the price I paid ($393 after tax).

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/yoga/700-series/yoga-700-11/

I'd easily pay the asking price of $599 for this laptop, it's more like an ultrabook and the performance is surprisingly snappy. [the only difference in specs I can see versus the linked model above is mine 'only' has 4GB RAM, which as most of us know is plenty if you're not gaming or doing other serious production work]

Glad I pulled my head from my rear long enough to hear Jeff's suggestion.
 
Oh ya you gotta Yoga. Yup, Yoga and Zenbook, and Dell xps are probably the only 3 Windows Ultrabooks I'd consider myself right now. Very light, portable, very reasonably powerful, and amazing battery life. I got the best deal in the world on my Macbook (500$) and will never buy any thing bigger than a 13" Ultra book again for a daily driver. This thing goes with me everywhere.

I'm glad you did too, and I'm also glad because I myself was unaware and I've always had a soft spot for Lenovo. The Ol' Lady is a Restaurant Manager and they talking about making her District. She doesn't like Apple and I may very well be hitting this Lenovo site up very soon.

Those are awesome because they fold back too. I like touchscreen on a Latptop, but the Track Pad on the Retina makes it where I don't even think about it, it's so nice but sometimes I do wish it folded back and I had the option.
 
Those are awesome because they fold back too. I like touchscreen on a Latptop, but the Track Pad on the Retina makes it where I don't even think about it, it's so nice but sometimes I do wish it folded back and I had the option.

Funny because I may never use that 'tablet' functionality. For *most* things I'm much faster with a mouse/touchpad. It's rare I need a true tablet for anything I'm doing nowadays. It's nice to know it's there if I need it. I tested the touch screen yesterday, so I know it at least works. :p
 
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