Recommendations for a good cheap and cheerful laptop around $700?

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sidefx

1148 posts

Uber Geek

Topic # 113516 19-Jan-2013 09:35
Anybody have any recommendations and\or lines on current good deals for a decent laptop around $700? It would mainly be used for web browsing, email, very basic photo manipulation (picasa), word\powerpoint and occasional movies playback to a TV. It's for my father and he does get a bit frustrated when things are slow; I've played with a couple of netbooks and they seem very sluggish. Also a decent sized screen for him would be a plus. Doesn't need amazing battery life as it will probably mostly be used at home.

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655 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 747262 19-Jan-2013 09:39
Why not a desktop in that case, more value for money? Actually desktops don't seem to be much cheaper than laptops anymore! Boom new website - http://jamesstringer.co.nz

sidefx

1148 posts

Uber Geek

Reply # 747264 19-Jan-2013 09:44
Yes I was considering that too; I generally build my own desktops and know I can put a decent one together for fairly cheap, but then factoring in a new screen, etc and the convenience of a laptop the advantages become a little less clear!

vexxxboy

1195 posts

Uber Geek

Reply # 747267 19-Jan-2013 09:54
for example Playtech are selling a desktop for $579 http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139234/CATID=139/PlayTech-Home-PCs.html and then add a 23" full HD monitor for $179 http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=507/ID=17128/SID=584533377/productdetails.html Total $760

allan

610 posts

Ultimate Geek

Subscriber

Reply # 747291 19-Jan-2013 10:45
You could check out PB Tech's latest weekend sale.

gzt

3244 posts

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Subscriber

Reply # 747418 19-Jan-2013 16:59
Newer machines will come with 8. That may or may not be a problem for the user. Btw, what are the specs and o/s of the current machine?

farcus

603 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 747440 19-Jan-2013 17:27
one of these http://shopap.lenovo.com/nz/en/products/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-edge/

billgates

2598 posts

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Reply # 747457 19-Jan-2013 17:53
Lenovo has 30% off till sunday midnight. Edge E330 is $730 incl GST. You can add more RAM etc for cheap too. http://shopap.lenovo.com/nz/en/deals-and-coupons/ Edit - If you select 4GB RAM in the upgrade screen instead of adding $44, it only adds $2 more to the order. Good spec laptop. i3, 4GB RAM, 320GB 7200RPM for $732 incl GST. Microsoft\|Outlook\|Skydrive\|Windows Live Admin Center\|Skype\|Office Web Apps\|Office 365\| Windows Phone\|Windows 8\|Xbox\|Hyper-V\|Office2013\|Bing\|Security Essentials\|Server 2012

gzt

3244 posts

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Reply # 747473 19-Jan-2013 18:15
+1 that imho. Good find! This model has a thinner screen bezel than the traditional chunky lenovo design. Thicker bezel is only in T series now. Lenovo design and build is miles ahead of anything like Acer and similar so I would not expect any problems. But tell the user to always lift the screen from the middle as best practice. User should be doing that anyway.

Gilco2

708 posts

Ultimate Geek

Subscriber

Reply # 747477 19-Jan-2013 18:21
I bought a HP Probook 4530s which can do all that a year ago for $700. Was brand new through Laptop Battery. They get new ones at times but also a lot of good used laptops. The HP was cancelled orders as they were supposed to have usb 3.0 ports but there was a shortage of chips apparently so they were fitted with standard usb 2.0. Has been an excellent unit. I wouldtnt touch a home HP laptop but the business ones seem okay HTPC AMD A4-5300 cpu, Gigabyte ga2fa75m-d3h motherboard, , 4GB DDR3 ram, onboard graphics. Hauppuage HVR 3300 tuner, Antec 2480B case, Windows 7 home premium 64 bit using media center

tukapa1

89 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 747616 20-Jan-2013 08:33
billgates: Lenovo has 30% off till sunday midnight. Edge E330 is $730 incl GST. You can add more RAM etc for cheap too. http://shopap.lenovo.com/nz/en/deals-and-coupons/ Edit - If you select 4GB RAM in the upgrade screen instead of adding $44, it only adds $2 more to the order. Good spec laptop. i3, 4GB RAM, 320GB 7200RPM for $732 incl GST. Only a 13" screen though - will that be big enough? OP says he was looking at netbooks so maybe but then says he wanted a decent sized screen. If 13" is big enough then the Lenovo is a good prcied laptop.

farcus

603 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 747825 20-Jan-2013 15:41
you can get the E530 with a 15.2 inch screen for about the same price (although it is not listed on that coupon screen but from the link I posted earlier) The difference is it has an i3 processor instead of an i7. The E530 with an i7 processor is about $900 Here is the direct link

hatchi

61 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 754624 2-Feb-2013 00:11
Have you considered the Hewlett Packard pavilion sleek book at dick smith http://www.dicksmith.co.nz/product/XC8569/hp-pavilion-14-b013au-notebook-red

michaelmurfy

They see me trollin'
1673 posts

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Telecom NZ

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Reply # 754637 2-Feb-2013 01:38
hatchi: Have you considered the Hewlett Packard pavilion sleek book at dick smith http://www.dicksmith.co.nz/product/XC8569/hp-pavilion-14-b013au-notebook-red I have one of those, it's boxed up, served me well for a year or so before I found the CPU to be very sluggish, ended up buying a Core i5 Toshiba laptop. Lenovo has 30% off till sunday midnight. Edge E330 is $730 incl GST. You can add more RAM etc for cheap too. http://shopap.lenovo.com/nz/en/deals-and-coupons/ Edit - If you select 4GB RAM in the upgrade screen instead of adding $44, it only adds $2 more to the order. Good spec laptop. i3, 4GB RAM, 320GB 7200RPM for $732 incl GST. I'd highly recommend that laptop, my flatmate bought one and shoved a SSD in it and it flies - very good performance, excellent screen (slightly makes me jealous due to it's viewing angle + lack of gloss) and runs Linux very well (if you're into that) - also as a bonus has a charging port which charges devices through USB even if the laptop is turned off. Michael Murphy [Twitter] [Last.fm] [IPv6 Sage] Anything written up there is my own view on life, the universe and everything.

sidefx

1148 posts

Uber Geek

Reply # 755221 3-Feb-2013 21:16
Thanks chaps, that lenovo deal looks pretty good and seems to still be going...? - I'm actually looking at the E530 i3 with 4GB, 500GB HD and upgrade to 1600x900 screen which brings it up to $810 and seems pretty good to me. My old man will probably appreciate a bigger screen of the E530 and won't be too fussed stretching the budget a bit. Is the screen upgrade worth it to 1600x900 though - it only adds $12.50 and while it's the same size I the higher res would seem worthwhile to me. Any other recommendations if I suggest he spends a wee bit more and goes up to around $900 or am I unlikely to find something to rival the lenovos? I've looked a bit at the deals\sales at various other places but they often seem to have lower end (or netbook) type CPUs and fairly plasticy type builds. EDIT: Also can anybody tell me how long lenovo takes to ship them to NZ?

sidefx

1148 posts

Uber Geek

Reply # 755794 4-Feb-2013 21:34
sidefx: Also can anybody tell me how long lenovo takes to ship them to NZ? And finally can anyone tell me if one orders from Lenovo would that be considered an import and so you might be stung for GST + IETF(Import entry transaction fee) or since they seem to trade as Lenovo New Zealand, is it like buying from a local company?

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