I'm thinking of getting a 2nd laptop

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TheWinterDragon

44 posts

Geek

#198293 3-Jul-2016 19:01

I'm thinking of getting a 2nd laptop

Something with a bit more portability, light, but not a huge hard drive (200gb) and plenty of ram (8gb ideally)'

NZ$400-450 is my budget. I could go to $750 if I found something amazing.

I want a windows laptop.

I'll be using it mainly to read ebooks and write manuscripts, with it being mostly offline and fast.

Or paired with my windows phone.

Any ideas? Should I be thinking of something other than a laptop?

software I aim to use: writewaypro, amazon audible and kindle reader, comic collectorz.com and movie collectorz.com, nachapp (for goals)

tdgeek

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#1585232 3-Jul-2016 19:04

400 bucks? 8GB?

I guess you need to search Trademe

TheWinterDragon

44 posts

Geek

#1585234 3-Jul-2016 19:06

4gb would be fine.

I just want something fast that isn't going to worry about storage or viruses.

mcraenz

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#1585236 3-Jul-2016 19:17

I'd be looking for a good ex-lease HP Elitebook. Preferably one that's spent most of its life on a docking station.

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gzt

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#1585238 3-Jul-2016 19:17

Screen size?

When you say second, you mean this one will be your portable and the other one will remain on desktop?

Current specs of your existing would be useful to know what you are used to and if the proposed is better or worse in practice.

MadEngineer

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#1585241 3-Jul-2016 19:22

http://www.inkpost.co.nz/computers-category?slug=computers

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wanghou168

453 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1585246 3-Jul-2016 19:32

Happy to suggest the MS Surface if you are willing to spend a little more

MOBILE: Huawei P30
OTHER: Thinkpad E14 + Asus Vivobook + Intel NUC5i3 + A family of Raspberry Pi x 9 + Amazon Echo

TheWinterDragon

44 posts

Geek

#1585265 3-Jul-2016 20:33

had a look at the surface, it's a no - would love to but don't have a spare $3k.

I also looked on trademe - I could handle paying $300-390 for a 2nd hand laptop to suit my purposes.

I wouldn't like to buy a dell for $750 when it's second hand - and without a decent warranty.

my current laptop is an i7 2ghz 4gb ram 320gb hd lenovo thinkpad with windows 10 pro 64bit

I'd love an i7 with a decent quad or dual core processor say 5ghz total.

but I'd settle for an i5 with good specs and microsoft office.

1gb graphics card might be nice, but not necessary for what I'd use it for.

(unless i was planning the awkward process of swapping them around and using my current as a work pc - if that was the case I'd want 1tb hd on the new one)

my current laptop is being used as a media pc - watching movies, netflix, internet, shopping, playing mostly retro games (sega, ps1) and classics (the sims, age of empires collector's edition, close combat 3 and 4, neverwinter nights platinum, grim fandango, plants vs zombies) on cd + steam. It doesn't have a dvd or cd player so the new one definitely needs a dvd/cd writer.

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wanghou168

453 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1585267 3-Jul-2016 20:38

TheWinterDragon:

had a look at the surface, it's a no - would love to but don't have a spare $3k.

I also looked on trademe - I could handle paying $300-390 for a 2nd hand laptop to suit my purposes.

I wouldn't like to buy a dell for $750 when it's second hand - and without a decent warranty.

my current laptop is an i7 2ghz 4gb ram 320gb hd lenovo thinkpad with windows 10 pro 64bit

I'd love an i7 with a decent quad or dual core processor say 5ghz total.

but I'd settle for an i5 with good specs and microsoft office.

1gb graphics card might be nice, but not necessary for what I'd use it for.

(unless i was planning the awkward process of swapping them around and using my current as a work pc - if that was the case I'd want 1tb hd on the new one)

I am thinking along the lines of a Surface 3 ~700ish or a Surface 3 Pro ~1200ish, not the high end Surface Book.

MOBILE: Huawei P30
OTHER: Thinkpad E14 + Asus Vivobook + Intel NUC5i3 + A family of Raspberry Pi x 9 + Amazon Echo

TheWinterDragon

44 posts

Geek

#1585269 3-Jul-2016 20:41

gzt: Screen size?

When you say second, you mean this one will be your portable and the other one will remain on desktop?

yes - my current will be docked with my 2nd television on my desk, and sometimes used on my bed.

Whereas the new one will be for taking with me when I go into town to do writing etc.

Screen size isn't really a big issue for me - my guess would be something like 15inches or less.

TheWinterDragon

44 posts

Geek

#1585270 3-Jul-2016 20:42

re: surface 3 - ok cool, I'll have a look.

TheWinterDragon

44 posts

Geek

#1585325 3-Jul-2016 21:50

re: surface 3 - yea it's a good price, I'll probably either go with something like a $300 i5 toshiba with office pro 2010

or the i7 toshiba tecra

or if I want to spend a bit more the Surface 3 for $675 looks pretty sweet.

I'm also planning to preorder a Pyra for mobile console gaming (it's around $900 right now which I'm not that pleased with - it was supposed to be priced at NZ$544.)

As well as getting a ds with games from trademe.

toyonut

1508 posts

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#1586610 5-Jul-2016 18:45

This is the same boat I am in. Best I have found is a Dell E6430 from PB for $435 with a 3 month warranty. Throw in an SSD and upgrade to 8GB ram and you have a decent ex business machine that should hopefully be pretty tough and have some life left. Otherwise HP probooks(6470B) and elitebooks(8470B) can be had in that range with a third gen i5 or a lenovo thinkpad T430 or L430 is also in that range with a bit of looking too. NZLaptops and Just Laptops also have some around that range and price with some kind of warranty.

*EDIT* - The Dell is actually heavy as a heavy thing, it may not suit the transportable requirement.

Try Vultr using this link and get us both some credit:

http://www.vultr.com/?ref=7033587-3B

TheWinterDragon

44 posts

Geek

#1641346 27-Sep-2016 16:27

yea that dell looks perfect for my use - will probably use it mostly for movies (and maybe steam/pc cd/emu gaming.)

So might upgrade the HDD.

A bigger hard drive would be useful. But I like the specs and price.

"throw in an SSD and upgrade to 8GB ram"

yea probably

- I have two options for portable - my current laptop which doesn't have a hdmi port or cd/dvd drive. But has full software and I can use for my business/writing purposes and music. Can be my portable for now.

option 2: ockel sirius b black cherry pocket pc with manga hdmi screen and collapsible keyboard and mouse NZ$680 with sd and windows 10 pro (includes cost of screen)

wellygary

8312 posts

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#1641353 27-Sep-2016 16:46

If you want it to feel fast no matter what the rest of the specs get an SSD,

Once you do you will never go back to booting from an HDD without sitting there thinking "gee this is really slow"