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Any recommendation for LowEndNotebook?

FritzFritz Veteran
edited December 2012 in General

Sorry if this thread is improper.
If allowed, I would like to ask suggestion on LowEndNotebook. :-)

I have two candidates so far:
HP 1000-1111TU - Black (here)

and Lenovo IdeaPad G480-9140
Intel core i3-3110m (2.4 GHZ) Nvidia Geforce G610M 1GB 14" wxga LED 2GB DDR3 - 500GB HDD

Both CPU offers 2.4GHz clock speed, 500GB HDD, 2GB DDR3.
It will be used for daily tasks. I don't really need the dedicated VGA but it's good to have :-)
Any suggestion and comments :-)?

«1

Comments

  • skirtTightskirtTight Member

    Don't point out the clock speed please, judgina processor by it's clock is a really really bad thing to do.

    Anyways:
    http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7352679&CatId=4936

    270, quite decent.

  • budingyunbudingyun Member

    Notebook with amd processor cheaper -> lowendnotebook.

  • gsrdgrdghdgsrdgrdghd Member
    edited December 2012

    Lenovos are great, but only the ThinkPad series. Also a matte display is a must.

    I can recommend a Thinkpad x131e

  • SimpleNodeSimpleNode Member

    @gsrdgrdghd said: matte display is a must.

    Thanked by (1): SimpleNode

  • craigbcraigb Member

    @fritz as others said, thinkpad rocks. What's your use case? For an 11inch screen with decent keyboard and usb3, check out http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/gbweb/LenovoPortal/en_GB/catalog.workflow:expandcategory?issBase=ProductsCategory&issCategory=/Notebooks/ThinkPad notebooks/X Series/Thinkpad X131e AMD#.UMxHqmt5mK1

  • bamnbamn Member

    IBM Thinkpad X41 here.

    It's not too shabby. I like the built in keyboard light in the top of the display

  • skirtTightskirtTight Member

    Thinkpads are overpriced : |

  • PatrickPatrick Member

    Check out dell outlet, can grab bargains there usually

  • JacobJacob Member

    Chromebook S3 exynos.

    No 3G but you can buy a USB Dongle for that, there is another white/silver version with 3G Inbuilt and 4GB RAM but is about £400 new (i think).

  • ihatetonyyihatetonyy Member

    @skirtTight said: Thinkpads are overpriced

    No.

  • FritzFritz Veteran

    Thanks for your suggestion guys :)

    Do you think a dedicated graphic card is needed? Sometimes I do Photo Editing and rarely video editing though.
    From the comments here, I can summarize that almost everyone loves Lenovo, why is it?
    Is HP not preferable?

    @skirtTight said: Don't point out the clock speed please, judgina processor by it's clock is a really really bad thing to do.

    Anyways:

    http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7352679&CatId=4936

    270, quite decent.

    Wow, it's quite good actually :)

    @budingyun said: Notebook with amd processor cheaper -> lowendnotebook.

    I was thinking the same but those AMDs are very rare in here. So, Intel is the only option for now. :)

    @craigb said: @fritz as others said, thinkpad rocks. What's your use case? For an 11inch screen with decent keyboard and usb3, check out http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/gbweb/LenovoPortal/en_GB/catalog.workflow:expandcategory?issBase=ProductsCategory&issCategory=/Notebooks/ThinkPad notebooks/X Series/Thinkpad X131e AMD#.UMxHqmt5mK1

    I will use it for my daily basis activity and some photo editing and rarely video editing.

    @Patrick said: Check out dell outlet, can grab bargains there usually

    Dell was my first option. But, ATM I can only see Christmas offer from HP and Lenovo here.

  • joepie91joepie91 Member, Patron Provider
    edited December 2012

    Note regarding Thinkpads, at least the Edge series: the disk is excruciatingly slow. And I really mean almost-unusable slow. Whenever something starts swapping, the entire machine just freezes for seconds to minutes. Anything that makes heavy use of the disk is a problem.

    dd test while nothing else is really using the disk:

    [occupy@edge13 ~]$ dd if=/dev/zero of=test bs=64k count=16k conv=fdatasync; unlink test
16384+0 records in
16384+0 records out
1073741824 bytes (1.1 GB) copied, 33.6224 s, 31.9 MB/s
  • gsrdgrdghdgsrdgrdghd Member

    Should have mentioned this: If you can, throw out the HDD and replace it with a SSD. Faster, better shock resistance and quieter. You can put the HDD in an external case and use it to store big files.

  • MaouniqueMaounique Host Rep, Veteran

    I think it depends on your usage.
    For me battery life is very important.
    For that i need to reduce power usage a lot so a discrete VGA is a luxury I dont need as well as a power hungry processor.
    Virtualization is also needed so I will rule out atoms.
    Video editing will need a bit of CPU.
    I would choose an amd e-350 with at least 13 inch display, about 4 hours+ battery life.
    You would probably wish for an i3, the rest probably the same.

  • bamnbamn Member

    @Maounique said: Virtualization is also needed so I will rule out atoms.

    Video editing will need a bit of CPU.
    I would choose an amd e-350 with at least 13 inch display, about 4 hours+ battery life.
    You would probably wish for an i3, the rest probably the same.

    Thanks for keeping it "Low End"

  • zserozsero Member
    edited December 2012

    Never buy brand new laptops, unless you can afford a high-end business model. Buy high-end from a few years ago. It's going to out-live your brand-new budget laptop by years.

    Thinkpad X61s, one of the best laptops a few years ago, goes for ~100 EUR/GPB/USD these days. 1.3 kg!!!

    Thinkpad T61p, 1920x1200, ~ 150 EUR/GBP/USD.

    Thinkpad W520, serious quad core, 1920x1080, supports 32 GB RAM !!!, 3 SSD-s, 10 hour battery. Not Lowend :-)) but this is the best laptop out there. (Don't buy the W530/T530, they destroyed the keyboard!)

  • SonicVPSSonicVPS Member

    Glad zsero mentioned screen resolutions in their post. I couldn't go any thing lower than 1080p.

  • nunimnunim Member
    edited December 2012

    @Maounique said: I would choose an amd e-350 with at least 13 inch display, about 4 hours+ battery life.

    Are the AMD E series any good?

    I was actually looking to put together a lightweight desktop to replace my current Atom based one. I know it uses more power then my Atom, but it's still a generation ahead and it seems like I might be able to play some games on occasion which is essentially impossible with an Atom unless it's Diablo I.

    Or maybe I'll just say screw it and grab a PS3/x360 for xmas.

  • MaouniqueMaounique Host Rep, Veteran
    edited December 2012

    @nunim said: Are the AMD E series any good?

    It's been my desktop and lab machine for years. I've been playing lineage2, uo and world of warcraft on it (well, last two only to look at them)
    Removed the fan in psu and the cpu doesnt have one (but the box had one optional that I used with a thing to adjust its speed to cool psu and is running as silent as the 3.5 drives allow it to.
    Sata and usb 3.0 bluetooth. PCI-e, PCI, has full options for like 100 dollars.
    I love it and does not drain much more power than an atom, with everything at full power drains less than 40 watt.

    @bamn said: Thanks for keeping it "Low End"

    Not only atoms are Low End. i follow a simple rule, if i can afford it, it is probably low end :)

  • mnpeepmnpeep Member
    edited December 2012

    @ihatetonyy said: No.

    image

    http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:item.detail?GroupID=37&Code=T530_ADVANCED_SAP

    VS

    http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SYCTOProcess?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&LBomId=8198552921666495150&categoryId=8198552921644768015

    Winners:
    Processor: Sony (i7)
    Memory: Sony (8GB)
    Mouse: Lenovo (It has the red dot mouse)
    Keyboard: Tie (Both have backlit keyboards)
    Display: Sony (Higher resolution, both have anti-glare displays)
    Graphics: Sony (2GB VRAM + Switchable graphics [Yes, a whole switch dedicated to changing from dedicated to internal])
    Battery: Sony (free battery sheet /w laptop)
    Price: Sony ($75 less)

  • zserozsero Member
    edited December 2012

    @mnpeep said: Winners:

    That Sony S15 is an amazing machine! Review. But:

    • If you drop it, it'll cost an arm and a leg to send it back to Sony + wait for it 3 weeks till they replace the parts. With the Lenovo, pretty much all body parts are <$15 on eBay, since they have been running the same design for a lot of models (T510, T520, W510, W520).

    • Warranty: Sony's warranty could be problematic, Lenovo's one is a no question asked just look at the bottom of the machine one. +truly international.

    • Screen: the Sony has the nicest screen on the market now, and pretty much the only matte IPS screen! rMBP is semi-glossy.

    • Weight: that Sony is a ridiculous 2.0 kg for a quad-core 15 inch machine.

    • Keyboard: no contest if you've ever tried both

    • Manual: Lenovo publishes all service manuals for all models. Also it has an amazing collection of service training videos for free. http://service.lenovo.partner-management.com/

    My lowend recommendation is a mint condition T61p with the 1920x1200 screen.

  • MaouniqueMaounique Host Rep, Veteran

    @zsero said: with the 1920x1200 screen.

    You must be having really good eyes for that i cant read a 15" with 1600x1200 no matter what. Even on 17 inch that is almost unreadable...
    Getting old I guess :(

  • zserozsero Member

    @Maounique said: You must be having really good eyes

    TBH, I usually zoom in to 110% on Chrome, and use 13 pt font in Sublime. For me, the main reason for such a resolution is to shrink the GUI elements as much as I can.

  • ihatetonyyihatetonyy Member

    @mnpeep said: Battery: Sony (free battery sheet /w laptop)

    Sheet looks to be $150 here and looks to come out to a cumulative 8800MAh. The "9 Cell Li-Ion TWL 70++" that comes standard with your linked ThinkPad is 8400MAh.

    The ThinkPad has Win8 Pro and doesn't come loaded with crapware; the Sony is needs a $50 bump to Win8 Pro to be eligible for Fresh Start.

  • japonjapon Member
    edited December 2012

    @bamn said: Thanks for keeping it "Low End"

    The AMD E-350 is low end and offers for the Price a really good value.

  • FritzFritz Veteran

    ermmm...got back from up-country task.

    Thanks for your suggestion guys but aren't we out off topic now?
    My friend told me that Lenove is Heavy and hot (maybe caused by its dedicated graphic card).
    Maybe I'm not going to buy a truly lowendnotebook.

    I have one more option between HP, Lenovo and ASUS ( I love its design btw). Any suggestion between these brands?
    FYI, HP offers 1 year warranty, Lenovo 1 year, ASUS 2 year warranty.

  • MaouniqueMaounique Host Rep, Veteran

    I advice against a dedicated graphic card, those integrated in AMD's APUs are decent for a notebook you dont need for heavy gaming.
    Low power, low heat, long batery, lighter.

  • ihatetonyyihatetonyy Member

    @Fritz said: Lenove is Heavy and hot

    Go for a ThinkPad instead of your original IdeaPad; they're more reliable though the downside is you do have to go up a bit to get a dedicated video card.

    I own an X220 and couldn't be happier, even with Intel Integrated. Handles Photoshop, InDesign and VideoStudio beautifully. Small, light, ~9h battery life with 9-cell battery.

    Look at the Lenovo Outlet for some good stuff.

  • FritzFritz Veteran

    @Maounique said: I advice against a dedicated graphic card, those integrated in AMD's APUs are decent for a notebook you dont need for heavy gaming.

    Low power, low heat, long batery, lighter.

    You are right, I don't need those dedi graphic card. I need a good brand for those specs and price
    :-)

    @ihatetonyy
    So, are you suggesting Lenovo over all?

  • zserozsero Member

    @Fritz said: My friend told me that Lenove is Heavy and hot

    Ah, those friends...
    Lenovo pretty much doesn't mean anything. They make the Thinkpads, engineered in Japan, produced to very high standards, and they make the Ideapads, in totally different factories, totally different design teams, no driver support, etc. Normally people refer to Ideapads as Lenovo and Thinkpads as Thinkpads, and yes, lot of Ideapads were/are overheating/dying. Thinkpads are not.

    I'd just buy any second-hand X series Thinkpad.

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