Canadian Money Forum banner

Buy a laptop

51K views 91 replies 42 participants last post by  newfoundlander61 
#1 ·
Where can you get a good laptop cheap.
They all seem to gouge for more memory or a SSD, anyone have luck lately?
I know it's always the case they charge a bit more than the retail price difference, but it seems adding a SSD is $500, or moving up to 8gb of memory is a few hundred.

I'm tempted to just buy a laptop and upgrade those components right away.
 
#5 ·
I use a desktop for browsing and porn, bigger screen! It's a Linux machine


Reallistically I need a windows machine for some embedded development, Keil and STM Cube (and others) only run on windows. That's why I want lots of memory (16GB) and the SSD (256), really those components are only $150 each.

Not sure on the 15vs17", I won't be lugging it around much so I might go 17.
 
#8 ·
I had good luck at the MS Store - I wouldn't have even thought of going there, but saw a thread about it on redflagdeals. However, I believe the best deals are black friday/boxing day. The nice thing about it is that there isn't a lot of junkware.

I got a 15.6" i5 laptop for 1/2 price - only paid $300. Worth a look at least.
 
#11 ·
It sounds like you want a workstation you can carry around occasionally? On the screensize front, if as you say you won't be lugging this around much, and most of the intensive work will be done in one location, look at getting an external monitor. Choose a screen size sufficient as "good enough" for short periods of work elsewhere, rather than getting a screen large enough for day-to-day use. For development work, a portrait-orientated monitor can be nice for long blocks of code! Check if the laptop can support dual external monitors. Finally, look at the screen (or at least the specs) - too cheap to believe may be less-goodly TN screen rather than something like IPS; may be worse viewing angles or other quality factors.

As a baseline, an Apple Retina MacBook Pro, 13" screen, 16GB memory, 256GB SSD runs around $1800 ($2100 for a 15" with an i7), as a reference as you work down the profit-margin ladder... :)
 
#24 ·
It is a nice looking laptop. I've used SSDs and Spin disks, and SSD wins hands down. Best bang for your buck upgrade you can get these days.

But, I've never played around with one of these hybrid drives. Sounds interesting, and with limited drive options on a laptop (most only support a single SATA disk), it might be a good choice as a "desktop" replacement. I'd be inclined to go with the hybrid.
 
#26 ·
Do you mean Dell Inspiron 15 7000 laptops? Dell Canada seems to show the 4G i7 at $999 and $1249 - are there $950/$1050 sale prices elsewhere on the site?

The Broadwell (5th Gen) chips are a process shrink and incremental improvements on the Haswell (4th Gen) CPUs. The big advantages will be lower power (and thus better battery life), with I think good but modest CPU performance improvements at the same clock speed, and improved graphics.

The Dell's with 5th Gen seem to have added a discrete AMD Radeon graphics GPU, rather than use the onboard Intel HD 5500 from the i7. I'm not sure if the Intel underperformed (they used the equivalent HD 4400 on the 4th Gen), or if it didn't do all they wanted with those new 4K resolution displays. They could have chosen an i7 variant that had the better HD6100 graphics (this will be what Apple uses); I don't know how the Radeon compares.
 
#30 ·
Fwiw ... when I bought my Lenovo T510 years ago, I noted that on the US website the configuration I wanted was available and on sale at considerable savings (but not on the Canadian site). Using the online chat, I discussed with the Canadian salesperson ... after a few minutes she came back with ... we can give you that configuration and at the sale price.

Will that work with Dell? Don't know, but if anyone's considering a Dell, might be worth a look ...
 
#31 ·
Well I bought it.
I didn't go Dell for a few reasons.
They are dual core i7's.
The 7000 doesn't have a keypad, the 5000 series has a smaller battery etc.

I was considering Lenovo Y50's which have a GREAT price on them now.
But I went with the HP, off their site it was $1100, HP ENVY Touchsmart 15-q178ca.
 
#36 ·
Thoughts on my laptop.
Going 1080p was a good idea, touchscreen really makes windows 8.1 a lot less annoying.

The keyboard is taking some getting used to, I really like my traditional desktop keyboards.
The screen itself isn't great, but it is definitely usable.
 
#52 ·
I would not buy this kind of thing on craigslist. Besides the issue of it being potentially stolen or used for a crime, laptops are rather delicate things, and you have no idea how it was treated. Laptops are cheap enough that you can just buy one online through a reputable web site. Or Costco, as mentioned (though I've never tried this).

I also would not buy refurbished. I would buy a refurbished lamp, but not a computer. Check out the following places. I have purchased quite a bit of equipment from all three -- I've bought printers, monitors, and a laptop (at Tiger Direct retail store). They often have deals of the week and we're in a good times for promotions, from now til February probably:

NCIX: http://www.ncix.com
Direct Canada: https://www.directcanada.com
Tiger Direct: http://www.tigerdirect.ca (also have retail stores in Toronto & Mississauga)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top