Best of the $400 laptops?

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gzt

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#164344 6-Feb-2015 08:18

Best of the $400 windows laptops? There are a number at this price point. Anyone else been through this exercise recently?

nathan

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#1232135 6-Feb-2015 11:19

I'd never buy a laptop again that wasn't a 2n1 or let me use touch

https://www.noelleeming.co.nz/shop/computers/windows-8-tablets/nextbook-m1012bcp-10-windows-2n1-tablet/prod132973.html

yitz

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#1232154 6-Feb-2015 11:48

Does Windows Ready Boost with an SD card work well on those 1GB 2in1 tablets?

Can it perform as well as a 4GB RAM + HDD notebook?

Always wondered how the 1GB or even 2GB RAM limitation works.

gzt

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#1232195 6-Feb-2015 13:27

nathan: I'd never buy a laptop again that wasn't a 2n1 or let me use touch

https://www.noelleeming.co.nz/shop/computers/windows-8-tablets/nextbook-m1012bcp-10-windows-2n1-tablet/prod132973.html

This one has terrible reviews. But the same outfit have a 2gb revised model on the way soon with full size USB. Good question about readyboost.

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#1232218 6-Feb-2015 14:16

yitz: Does Windows Ready Boost with an SD card work well on those 1GB 2in1 tablets?

Can it perform as well as a 4GB RAM + HDD notebook?

Always wondered how the 1GB or even 2GB RAM limitation works.

No way. RAM will always be many times faster than Ready Boost which is a limited form of caching. I've seen results that show RAM is 4-12 times faster than Ready Boost.

Ready Boost will usually use the HDD for sequential reads because flash is not so good and HDDs get their best performance reading sequentially. Ready Boost will mainly use flash for non-sequential reads because the HDD is much slower when the heads have to jump around a lot.

yitz

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#1232221 6-Feb-2015 14:28

Was thinking more along the lines of how a 1GB 2in1 device would perform with say 30 tabs open in Chrome. Would there be any benefit of using ReadyBoost in the case of a 2in1 devices which usually have SSD instead of HDD?

gzt

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#1232237 6-Feb-2015 15:42

Reviews indicate the device above just does not perform.

Imho if web browsing is your focus then go android or chromebook. Nexus for instance is just outstanding and there are others.

In my case the user wants a general purpose small computer to learn on and take intro classes with so the Chromebook and android are ruled out.

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deadlyllama

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#1232286 6-Feb-2015 17:59

In the sub $400 category, has anyone here ever used one of the USD100 10 inch Android netbooks that you can buy via Aliexpress? A friend asked if they would be any good as a school laptop...

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#1232466 7-Feb-2015 08:11

I expect I depends on the curriculum. That question would be better aas a topic in the Android forum.

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#1232761 7-Feb-2015 23:42

yitz: Was thinking more along the lines of how a 1GB 2in1 device would perform with say 30 tabs open in Chrome. Would there be any benefit of using ReadyBoost in the case of a 2in1 devices which usually have SSD instead of HDD?

Chrome with 30 tabs would normally use at least 1GB RAM so that would be a good test. I wouldn't expect any improvement using ReadyBoost caching over virtual memory on the SSD. Even if the flash memory in both produced the same performance the SSD still has a clear advantage in maximum bandwidth versus USB 3.

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#1242453 19-Feb-2015 16:10

Asus X200CA-DH21T might be a contender but prices have not dropped as per US.

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#1242472 19-Feb-2015 16:55

At that low a pricepoint I would just buy a tidy i5 laptop from trademe(ie watch newly listed laptops and ask for buynow early) and a SSD.

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#1242504 19-Feb-2015 18:16

Bill Bennett posted an HP Stream 11 review here on Geekzone. You can find the HP Stream 11 for US$199 on Amazon and add some YouShop to it to still be under the NZ$400 - and no GST.

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gzt

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#1242514 19-Feb-2015 18:54

It looks pretty good and even excellent on some points. The accidental task switching with the touchpad is common for reviews of this model. I'm unaware of a way to disable that. I will buy local so I can hand any warranty issues off to the user.