Laptop for Home/Self Employed Business use

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uppynz

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Master Geek

#281255 8-Feb-2021 12:05

Trying to decide on what type of laptop to get for my wife who is self employed and needs a replacement laptop. Main requirement is good battery life and mid range performance for web browsing, email, client notes via medical software (not CPU intensive). Budget is probably limited to $1400 ish

I've had a browse through PB tech site today as they have some Waitangi deals and have narrowed down some options but I cant decide pro's and con's between them. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! :

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#2649416 8-Feb-2021 12:36

If your budget allows, I would opt for something like this:

Buy the HP Probook 450 G8 Business Laptop 15.6" FHD IPS AG 250nits Intel i5... ( 2T3Y8PA ) online - PBTech.co.nz

The G7 HP you have listed only has a 1366x768 display which really isn't enough these days. The advantage of the Probooks is they have on site warranty if something goes wrong whereas AFAIK the ASUS require you to send them back to the service center to be repaired.

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xpd

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#2649446 8-Feb-2021 13:12

Probooks. Local support, damn reliable machines.

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timmmay

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#2649467 8-Feb-2021 14:42

Probooks are good, but fans are loud. Surface fans are much quieter, machines work fine, WiFi chipset is a bit weak mostly works but there's the occasional WAP it just won't work with. My Elitebook also has high fan noise especially since I do CPU intensive stuff, my wife's probook not quite as loud, my Surface Laptop 2 was very quiet and worked fine. I would go Surface due to low fan noise.

uppynz

51 posts

Master Geek

#2649468 8-Feb-2021 14:42

Ahh I didn't even notice the display specs! D'oh! I see that HP have pretty good service and warranty support which is a plus. We could probably stretch to the G8 linked to. Reading through the others I had compared it looks like the HP machines have larger battery capacity?

The only other thought I had was an off lease/reconditioned laptop, but I've always brought new.

coffeebaron

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#2649472 8-Feb-2021 14:48

Another yes to either HP ProBooks or EliteBooks.

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uppynz

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Master Geek

#2649475 8-Feb-2021 14:57

Seems to be quite the fan base for HP! I've used them for work (albeit the older models) and haven't had any issues with them, plus one of the models I had came with the cellular connection option. I've also used both the surface pro and surface laptop for work and agree, they are pretty good and quiet! I'll definitely have more of a look into the HP models

uppynz

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Master Geek

#2649520 8-Feb-2021 15:10

I see that PB have two variants of the G8. Aside from price, i wasn't able to see the obvious difference on PB's compare tool

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NBKHNB4508237/HP-Probook-450-G8-Edu-Laptop-156-FHD-IPS-AG-250nit

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NBKHNB4508238/HP-Probook-450-G8-Business-Laptop-156-FHD-IPS-AG-2

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#2649523 8-Feb-2021 15:18

version of windows? pro vs home

mgeek

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Master Geek

#2649524 8-Feb-2021 15:20

I got my wife a solid workhorse from Remarkit. Some good options here:-
https://shop.remarkit.co.nz/collections/laptops

There's a decent looking Elitebook on there for half your budget. Though I'd go for one of the bigger screen options if it's not going to be lugged around much.

tchart

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#2649526 8-Feb-2021 15:28

A different opinion, I am self employed (IT/Dev/DBA etc) and my past 3 laptops have been ASUS Vivobooks (2 x from PBtech and the latest one from Amazon). They are good value and are expandable (I upgrade the memory and put a second SSD in). Have not had a single problem with all three. My latest one is running AMD Ryzen 5 3500 (past ones have been Intel i5) and performance is great.

Only downbside is the battery life isnt the greatest (I get about 3-4 hours) so I'd only recommend if your wife will be near power. The screens (while 1080p) are a bit dim for my taste but Im usually hooked up to a monitor.

When I was employed I went through many HP pro/elite books and had issues with most of them, switched to Dell after that.

I wouldnt buy an Acer.

Also check out Lenovo Ideapads - very favourable reviews for the ones running Ryzen; https://www.lenovo.com/nz/en/d/deals/laptops-2-in-1-sale

uppynz

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Master Geek

#2649560 8-Feb-2021 17:15

Thanks for all the feedback. It's clarified what I should be looking for which will give me some more targeted research tonight!

PolicyGuy

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#2649626 8-Feb-2021 18:08

I'd look at PB Tech's off-lease models, or the RemarkIT equivalents @mgeek referred to

You save a lot of money and lose little functionality for the kind of work you refer to.
I've had two of the PB Tech off-lease laptops, the first one lasted three years before the battery died - I could have bought a replacement battery but decided to upgrade instead. The second one I've only had eighteen months but it looks like it'll go at least as long again

I reckon its like the difference between buying a new car or a used one: some people just always buy new, others are happy for someone else to take the initial depreciation hit
:)

anatokidave

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#2650644 9-Feb-2021 21:00

I bought a 14 inch Dell Vostro 5401 last year from Dell's website. It replaced an 13inch XPS I'd had for about 10 years.

Specs for the Vostro were good - 10th gen i7-1065G7, with DDR4 3200 RAM, and a 512 GB SSD. It was just a bit bigger than the 3 year old 13 inch XPS provided to me by my employer. For SOHO use, it has been great.

Things I like about it:

- Good selection of ports including a discrete RJ45 port, HDMI port, and Display port / Power over USB C. The latter makes it easy to run dual monitors, 2 x full HDMI thru a docking station, or a combination 2k / 4K thru the docking station and HDMI ports.

- Great battery life.

- Upgradeable memory and SSD storage (I added another 8GB or RAM).

- Plays nicely with Linux (I've made it a dual boot machine)

- Good support from Dell re BIOS and Driver updates

- Matt finish on the screen

- Nice feel to keyboard

Things that could be better:

- Panels are plastic (not Al or Mg which is supplied with the XPS andlattitude range)

- No thunderbolt port (graphics bandwidth on the USB C limits the user to 2 x HDMI thru a docking station).

- Picky about the brand of RAM - I found that Crucial worked.

Dell's website currently has 40% off for some laptops, to which you can an extra 10% Waitangi discount, valid until Thursday. It has a Vostro 14 5402 with an 11th Gen i7-1065G7, 16GB of Ram, and 512GB SSD for about $1320 (sale price of $1463 less another 10% on the Waitangi sale). For SOHO use, I think its great bang for buck given its an 11th gen i7 chip with G7 graphics

K8Toledo

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#2650723 10-Feb-2021 04:20

HP EliteBooks/Probooks are rock solid, also Lenovo Thinkpad (P) & X2 series.

Easy to upgrade; ex lease or well looked after pre owned examples make a bargain. Check TradeMe. I supply both for clients, in 3-4yrs never had one come back.

Notebook Check is my go-to site for laptop reviews.

uppynz

51 posts

Master Geek

#2653159 10-Feb-2021 16:55

Weirdly enough I had a whole bunch of ad's appear for Dell laptops before posting this! I've got my eye on a couple of HP devices from PB tech that are out of stock currently, expected soon. Will browse the refurbed one's for interest too..

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