purplejackmama Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 I'm thinking of getting laptops for my kids for Christmas. I want good, but cheap. These will be used primarily for gaming and school (papers, online classes) Do you have a favorite (not Apple) that I should look for? Know any great Black Friday deals? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz CA Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 I got a good deal at the Lenovo outlet. My refurbished one was under $350 and that was two years ago. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 I'm a big fan of the Dell Latitudes. The E6410 is easily available with a fresh Win 7 install, an i5 processor, good sized hard drive, and 4GB (but easily upgradable to 8), refurbished, for $150 on eBay. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RegGuheert Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 I bought this HP laptop for DS17 about a month ago: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Refurbished-HP-Flyer-Red-15.6-15-f272wm-Laptop-PC-with-Intel-Pentium-N3540-Processor-4GB-Memory-500GB-Hard-Drive-and-Windows-10-Home/49332579 This is refurbished for $209. You can also get a new one for $299. This computer is not as powerful as the Core I5 listed above, but it never gets warm and the fan rarely runs. Nice laptop! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 (edited) I'm a big fan of the Dell Latitudes. The E6410 is easily available with a fresh Win 7 install, an i5 processor, good sized hard drive, and 4GB (but easily upgradable to 8), refurbished, for $150 on eBay. +1 Our family has two (2) Dell Latitude E6410 laptops and I am using a Dell Precision M4500 which is a "Mobile Workstation" and is like an E6410 on steroids. Those laptops in our house have i7 processors and Nvida discrete video cards and 8 GB RAM. I bought them as "Used INCOMPLETE" laptops from an eBay Seller in PA in eBay auctions. Very happy. Ours have Windows 7 Professional licenses. These are ENTERPRISE WORKHORSE laptops so they are very easy to service (compared to a CONSUMER grade machine) and the components, are of higher quality. The E6410 has a 14" display and this M4500 has a 15.6" display. These machines are not optimized for Gaming, but my wife and my DD are gamers and they play a lot of games on them. Replacement components, if needed, are easily obtained. Suggestion: Look at Remanufactured Laptops from Blair Technology Group. Our family bought three (3) Dell Latitude E6400 laptops (the model prior to the E6410) from Blair. The E6400 has technology that is older than the E6410. For $5 extra you can extend their warranty to one year. Blair is a Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher and they put a Microsoft COA with a Product Key on the machine, so you have a LEGAL version of Windows. Blairtg.com GL with your decision! BTW, the Intel i5 CPU is extremely robust. I've read that many "Gamers" prefer the i5, because of the Overclocking it permits one to do. I would suggest the Dell Latitude E6410. If you can get one with 8 GB of RAM, that's great, but if not, I bought 8 GB of RAM for one of our E6410s and for this Precision M4500, from an eBay Seller in CA for about $34 and that is probably the "upgrade" you can do for the least cost and in the least time that will give you the most "bang for the buck". ETA: We have "Cooling Pads" for all of our laptops. I would not use a laptop if it is not sitting on a Cooling Pad. Edited November 20, 2016 by Lanny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purplejackmama Posted November 20, 2016 Author Share Posted November 20, 2016 I was hoping Lanny you would chime in. Thank you so much everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 (edited) You are welcome! I will add a couple of things about the Dell laptops that we have, trying to play "Devils Advocate": (a) They do not have an HDMI Port. They have a "DisplayPort". I bought a "DisplayPort" to HDMI adapter, from an eBay Seller, for about 5 dollars. My wife gets things on her E6410 laptop and it shows everything on the SMART TV. Perfect video and audio with that Adaoter. (b) The other thing is that they are heavy and that is why DIL didn't get one of these. She works in the city with a Backpack all day and then goes to school at night. For that reason, my wife bought her an inexpensive ACER Consumer grade (lower quality) laptop last year, because it is smaller and it is lighter. It is low powered, compared to one of these, little RAM, etc., but it is easier on her Back/Spine. Those are the only 2 possible "drawbacks" I can see to getting one of these models. The Screens have a "Matte" surface (non glare) which, if you are using the machine in a room with lights, is far easier on your eyes. My BIL was here visiting, with his Compaq/HP Consumer grade laptop, with the typical glossy screen, and it was very annoying, when I tried to look at the screen on his laptop. If you are using the laptop in the house, as we do 99% of the time, this is IMO the way to go. Edited November 20, 2016 by Lanny 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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