Looking for a cheap and portable laptop

Forums › Laptops and mobile computers › Looking for a cheap and portable laptop

illusive009

12 posts

Geek

#161962 25-Jan-2015 13:12

I've had a Toshiba Satellite laptop for five years, and it's a bulky thing that I don't really carry around much, but it's worked fine for doing homework and the like for uni.

This year I'm moving further out into the suburbs and I've put some money aside to build my own desktop. That'll take care of my home computer needs, but I'm thinking that my laptop's age and weight means that it's not suitable for carrying into uni and spending long periods there. It doesn't have much in the way of battery life and when I do have to take it somewhere it's cumbersome to carry.

So I'm looking for a replacement. I won't really be doing much on it except for using Word, PDFs, and surfing the internet. It's pretty explicitly a studying and uni laptop so I don't need much in the way of graphics or CPU power, just reliability, portability and decent battery life.

I'm looking for something about $400 or less, the cheaper the better. I was looking at Chromebooks but I think I'd prefer a bog-standard Windows OS since I find browser-only weird and not to my liking. Any ideas?

Dairyxox

1594 posts

Uber Geek

#1221840 25-Jan-2015 13:49

Im not sure you'll find a portable laptop with good battery life for that price, except for chrome books.
It would be more like $1400 +

xlinknz

1127 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1221843 25-Jan-2015 13:52

http://www.dicksmith.co.nz/laptops-notebooks/hp-pavilion-ts-10-e004au-10-1-laptop-dsnz-xc9260

I have a 4 year old HP Mini 210 [N550 dual core atom] and it has been fantastic

Dairyxox: Im not sure you'll find a portable laptop with good battery life for that price, except for chrome books.
It would be more like $1400 +

My HP Mini 10.1 has a rated battery duration of approx 10 hrs, in fact better than my wifes Samsung Galaxy Note 2014 edition tablet !

yitz

2079 posts

Uber Geek

#1221848 25-Jan-2015 14:32

You have the 11.6" Windows 8 'cloud' books (32 GB, approx. 16 GB usable onboard storage - then cloud or microSD card):
Asus Eeebook X205TA
HP Stream 11
Acer Aspire E11 (not sure if available in NZ)

Alternative is (as mentioned above) to buy a cheap XP/7Starter netbook and fit a SSD in... downside is they are based on 2008/2009 Intel chipsets i.e. limited hardware acceleration and essentially only 2D graphics.

billgates

4705 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1221854 25-Jan-2015 14:47

Nextbook. Have trialled this and build quality is excellent.

https://www.noelleeming.co.nz/shop/computers/windows-8-tablets/nextbook-m1012bcpbun-10-windows-2n1-tablet-sleeve/prod135187.html

Do whatever you want to do man.

illusive009

12 posts

Geek

#1221868 25-Jan-2015 15:22

billgates: Nextbook. Have trialled this and build quality is excellent.

https://www.noelleeming.co.nz/shop/computers/windows-8-tablets/nextbook-m1012bcpbun-10-windows-2n1-tablet-sleeve/prod135187.html

HOLY crap I had no idea you could get a Windows tablet that cheap. Definitely going to consider that.

Wade

2225 posts

Uber Geek

#1221870 25-Jan-2015 15:24

billgates: Nextbook. Have trialled this and build quality is excellent.

https://www.noelleeming.co.nz/shop/computers/windows-8-tablets/nextbook-m1012bcpbun-10-windows-2n1-tablet-sleeve/prod135187.html

This sounds like the ideal solution at hte pricepoint... I have a similar spec Samsung and it is more than suffice for office based productivity and web surfing, can easily handle playback of 1080P files through HDMI into tv etc

Another point in favour of this type of device is battery life, not sure of the Nextbook but i get 9+hours use out of a charge

Batman

Mad Scientist
29763 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1221905 25-Jan-2015 16:32

Is that made by Asus? Looks exactly like an Asus transformer! Which usually sell for $699

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

illusive009

12 posts

Geek

#1221922 25-Jan-2015 16:49

After consideration I think the Nextbook more than serves my needs.

Portable, solid, handy to use. Thanks guys for the suggestion, that's probably what I'll go for.

Batman

Mad Scientist
29763 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1221936 25-Jan-2015 17:26

My htlaptop is seeing a slow death ... Can this be a reliable htpc?

Batman

Mad Scientist
29763 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1221938 25-Jan-2015 17:29

Just googled specs ... Intel Atom. Exactly like the Asus transformer I passed on... So the answer is no

illusive009

12 posts

Geek

#1221948 25-Jan-2015 17:47

Yeah can't do much else with those specs... but it's perfect for uni.

leaplae

218 posts

Master Geek

ID Verified

#1221975 25-Jan-2015 18:52

I looked on ebay and managed to score a Q301LA Vivobook (4GB RAM, i5 4200U, 13.3 Inch) for just under 400NZD including youshop - did take me a week or so of looking though.

Linuxluver

5828 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Subscriber

#1221987 25-Jan-2015 19:40

I shared your feeling about Chromebooks......until I bought one (HP Chromebook 11 from DSE on special for $269 incl shipping).

I love the thing.

Word? Google Docs. As user, this works just fine for me. The device is fast, too.

The cost of Windows pushes the devices out of your price range....unless the spec is so bad you can barely use it (been there.....Acer Aspire One).

I liked the Chromebook 11 so much I bought the Chromebook 14 two weeks later....because I wanted the larger 14" screen and the USB 3.0 support and the SDcard slot.

But there is a lot to be said for the Chromebok 11. For one thing, you can charge it with your Micro-USB (Android) phone charger. That's pretty cool.....but the need to charge is reduced because the thing seems to be able to 9 hours of active use before the battery goes flat.

Try it before you decide it's not for you. I was very pleasantly surprised.

_____________________________________________________________________

I've been on Geekzone over 16 years..... Time flies....

deadlyllama

1263 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1222210 26-Jan-2015 07:51

Linuxluver: I shared your feeling about Chromebooks......until I bought one (HP Chromebook 11 from DSE on special for $269 incl shipping).

I love the thing.

Word? Google Docs. As user, this works just fine for me. The device is fast, too.

The cost of Windows pushes the devices out of your price range....unless the spec is so bad you can barely use it (been there.....Acer Aspire One).

I liked the Chromebook 11 so much I bought the Chromebook 14 two weeks later....because I wanted the larger 14" screen and the USB 3.0 support and the SDcard slot.

But there is a lot to be said for the Chromebok 11. For one thing, you can charge it with your Micro-USB (Android) phone charger. That's pretty cool.....but the need to charge is reduced because the thing seems to be able to 9 hours of active use before the battery goes flat.

Try it before you decide it's not for you. I was very pleasantly surprised.

My 13" Samsung Chromebook 2 is great. 1920x1080, eight core exynos, lots of battery life, and Linux in Crouton serves my "I need a real app" needs.

illusive009

12 posts

Geek

#1222734 26-Jan-2015 21:13

deadlyllama:
Linuxluver: I shared your feeling about Chromebooks......until I bought one (HP Chromebook 11 from DSE on special for $269 incl shipping).

I love the thing.

Word? Google Docs. As user, this works just fine for me. The device is fast, too.

The cost of Windows pushes the devices out of your price range....unless the spec is so bad you can barely use it (been there.....Acer Aspire One).

I liked the Chromebook 11 so much I bought the Chromebook 14 two weeks later....because I wanted the larger 14" screen and the USB 3.0 support and the SDcard slot.

But there is a lot to be said for the Chromebok 11. For one thing, you can charge it with your Micro-USB (Android) phone charger. That's pretty cool.....but the need to charge is reduced because the thing seems to be able to 9 hours of active use before the battery goes flat.

Try it before you decide it's not for you. I was very pleasantly surprised.

My 13" Samsung Chromebook 2 is great. 1920x1080, eight core exynos, lots of battery life, and Linux in Crouton serves my "I need a real app" needs.

Shoot, I had no idea you could install Linux on Chromebook. As it is, I got the nextbook tablet someone previously recommended since I've been looking around for a while, but that's actually awesome. If I knew that I would have been bold enough to try a Chromebook 11.

Wouldn't the small HD space limit things quite a bit though?