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Good value Laptop?

SavVYute

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Sweet thanks people. So by the sound of it a HP, Toshiba or Lenovo with an i5 would suit me. Mrs wants something with a DVD player.
What about SSD vs normal hard drive, is there much advantage to an SSD given they are about 1/4 the size ?
The only bulky files we are likely to put on the hard drive are photos .... 10 years worth of digital photos ( and did i mention i don't back up very often lol )

Might be a good idea to do some research before getting into a toshiba.
http://http://channelnews.com.au/toshiba-pc-division-facing-grim-future-as-merger-talks-collapse/
 

greenacc

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Had a look at a few machines on the weekend. Tried to buy an ASUS but they were out of stock of it and i'm glad now as i wasn't really impressed but figured they're all much the same.

Would anyone recommend just buying a new 225Gb SSD and a decent RAM stick and giving this old 17" Dell a new lease on life running Windows 7 ? It doesn't seem too far behind the newer stuff in most other ways....?
 

kiwicon

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what processor does your machine have in it...
 

mpower

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Had a look at a few machines on the weekend. Tried to buy an ASUS but they were out of stock of it and i'm glad now as i wasn't really impressed but figured they're all much the same.

Would anyone recommend just buying a new 225Gb SSD and a decent RAM stick and giving this old 17" Dell a new lease on life running Windows 7 ? It doesn't seem too far behind the newer stuff in most other ways....?

I think you'd be shocked how good it is with an SSD.

Pretty much anything made in the last 5 years or so gets a huge bump with an SSD fitted.
 

kiwicon

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first post he said his laptop was approx 8 years old.. so presume you have vista still loaded on it..

New SSD, more RAM (ok cheap), New operating system (have you checked for drivers yet) your half way to a new one.. then with 8years of heat/wear n tear who is to say how long your motherboard etc is going to last..

Food for thought..

we also get ex. corporate lease laptops for clients (for home use etc) maybe that is another direction to go.. plenty on ebay as well..

edit: also your cpu will be a core 2 duo 8 years ago.. probably 1.73GHz if you went the big boy :)
 
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mpower

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used RAM is SUPER cheap - the SSD can be pulled and moved over to a newer machine.

No harm giving it a go, do the work and if not happy - just buy a newer machine then and transfer the SSD.
 

greenacc

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OK this machine says it's got an Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 @ 2.4GHz. 3Gig RAM 32 Bit running Vista

I hate Vista!

What would that processor equate to in the modern world i3 maybe ?
 

kiwicon

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i3 would be ahead of a core2 duo.. is it worth the change???? well that's 50/50 .. again thou, age is a big factor, if you were to take the CPU out, and put some more thermal paste in, then it might help it to live abit longer..

What is your current hard drive speed.. MOST laptops of that era (unless you brought a man size laptop) would only be 5400rpm.. if this is the case then do as mpower stated and wack a SSD in.. you will notice a definate speed difference, esp with a fresh windows install. just make sure that the new windows is 64-bit so you can have the exrtra memory..
 

mpower

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drive will be dragging it down more than anything imo, Vista - eh, it was "ok" if the hardware was quick enough - tended to be rubbish on lappies though.

As it is you'll be up for a drive and a windows license - by then you are usually better off replacing the machine, but get an SSD whichever way you go.
 

greenacc

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Yeah I think we will buy a new machine, something decent with an i5 or i7 8Gb RAM etc for about $900. Just don't think it's worth going cheaper and I'll look into the upgrade on the old one too, at least the kids can use it to watch YouTube and stuff..
 
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