What is the best bang for the buck laptop for $600.00

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What is the best bang for the buck laptop for under $600.00 .
My HP G62 407DX  laptop died. The GPU de-soldered itself from the motherboard.
So, I’m in the market for another laptop.
I mainly use the computer for surfing the net and using MS paint to edit photos.

Here is a list of the features I am looking for:
Display> 15 inch
External Ports> USB, HDMI, Ethernet RJ-45, SD card reader, Mic in, Headphone out
Keyboard> Standard
Sound> Speakers on top next to keyboard
Wireless display> Miracast capable
Optical drive> DVD/CD

I would rather own a computer that is durable than to have a computer with a bunch of
bells and whistles.

I was thinking about buying two for $600 and using one as a primary and the 2nd as a backup. Setting them both up, so at the end of the day, the were identical. That way, if
the primary went down, I could use the backup while the primary was being repaired.
If this possible to do.

Any help in this endeavor would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Sparky

Dell, W10 Professional, 64-bit, Intel Core i7 Quad, Group A

HP, W7 Home Premium, 64-bit, AMD Phenom II, Group A

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RDRguy, Elly

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Hello @Sparky-
I wouldn’t go for two (however, it has its appeal), because I really appreciate the differences between processors, and every one in my family that has opted for a cheaper processor has been disappointed… and they end up using their computers less. I would buy the best processor I could afford. I also appreciate repair-ability and the Dell computers score higher for that on Ifixit, and Dell puts out manuals for them… Dell Latitudes score the highest (but are too expensive)… and you might consider refurbished, to get more bang for the buck.

This might not be the absolute best new one you could get, but window shopping brought me to this cutie, a Dell Inspiron… or this open box special (also an Inspiron).

But… I am a non-techy… and maybe someone else will chime in…

Non-techy Win 10 Pro and Linux Mint experimenter

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Sparky, jburk07, Microfix, satrow, BobbyB, RDRguy

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It is a difficult question, because it depends on current deals, reliability, etc.

You have different warranties, some on-site, so buying two seems more expensive than buying a better laptop with a better 3 year on-site warranty. Business laptops are more durable in general. You could look at laptopmag for their ranking of brands reliability. Some are trash for home models and not business models so be careful. In the past, Asus was good with reliability, even with consumer models (which they do better than business models), much better than other brands, along with Apple. They offered good bang for the buck and they are the first one that comes to mind (an Asus with a full hd screen and an SSD) for your scenario. But today, in the world of cheap, I am not sure they offer the same reliability. Dell or Lenovo might have some interesting models too, but Lenovo’s speakers can be quite bad.

A few things I can recommend:

1) Get an SSD hard disk, not a mechanical one. Cheap HDs break way too often and they make your computer much more slower and fragile. This is the best investment you can make. Asus had a nice cheap model with an SSD that was light and quite fast.

2) Get an IPS Full HD screen, it will be much better quality for colors, viewing angles in general, plus the Full HD (1920×1080) resolution gives you much more real estate to work in than smaller resolution, plus a much better quality for watching Full HD videos than having to use an awkward conversion if you do use your laptop for that sometimes.

3) Get a dual core processor with hyperthreading, nothing less. Go to passmark benchmarks to check the benchmark of the processor and make sure it is not slow as molasse. It doesn’t need to be fancy, forget about getting a few Hz more or anything like this. If you get an Intel Core i5 (look up the exact model on Google, it will tell you if it is dual core with hyperthreading), you will get a decent integrated video card, which is a good plus.

4) Laptopmag can have interesting reviews about different aspects of a laptop. They can tell you if it gets hot on your lap, if it does have a good keyboard and screen, etc. I don’t always agree with their opinions on what is the best, but they do bring interesting information to help you make a choice. It is nice if the laptop stays cool, less risk of breaking due to heat if there are good sinks and way to evacuate the heat. Discrete video cards fans might break and then cause issues, so anyway in your price point an integrated video card is probably the only thing available and for your use case it would only hinder reliability to have a discrete card.

Do you really need optical drive? You might want to consider an external drive instead? Today, a lot of laptops don’t have them. It makes the laptop thinner. I wouldn’t not consider a model for this reason. RJ-45 is not as common, too, but you can buy a cheap USB stick for it if you only use it sporadically.

 

 

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Sparky, jburk07, Elly, Microfix, satrow, BobbyB, RDRguy

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When we purchased a laptop a couple of years ago, we got one with a DVD drive, so our daughter could watch movies on it whenever we took a long trip somewhere. For us, a built-in DVD drive was mandatory.

Since purchasing the laptop, I have boosted the memory to 8 GB, and I upgraded to a 240 GB SSD. If you want your laptop to be a performer, you need at least 8 GB of RAM and a 240 GB (or larger) SSD. (Of course, you need 64-bit Windows so that you can take advantage of all of that memory.)

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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Sparky, jburk07

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Hey, @Sparky …

“De-soldered” GPU huh … you gotta stop playing those HOT-HOT-HOT games dude 🙂

AMD CPUs have been know to run hot, especially the early versions so unless the manufacturer took this into account and allowed for this in their CPU heat sink / fan design, they would fail quite often. If you’re just doing general things on your computer, I’d consider an Intel CPU based laptop as they’re usually just as fast and a bit more reliable as they don’t generate as much heat. But if you’re doing a lot of heavy gaming, I’d probably stick with the AMD.

In looking over your wish list above, most of this should be available on newer generation laptops but internal CD/DVD are getting harder to find. Depending on what laptop you ultimately decide upon, an external USB CD/DVD Burner may be an option you might want consider.

I agree with @Elly, Dell is a pretty good vendor these days as they have a lot of models (SKUs) to choose from and have really good on-line support & forum websites. If you buy from Dell directly you can also have one custom built for your needs/desires but I’m not sure what $600 bucks buys you these days in customization.

HP has also made some fine reliable laptops but they have had a reputation of installing a lot more of their “custom” HP apps/utilities that a lot of people just don’t like to have installed on their systems. But, if this didn’t bother you with your experience with your HP G62 407DX, then I’d also consider another HP Laptop.

I myself always was an IBM ThinkPad fan for making really good rugged top of the line laptops but since they sold the ThinkPad line to Lenovo here, they’ve become a bit more consumer oriented. But they also have a lot of models to choose from within the $600 range, purchase customization and really good support & forum websites and tools to keep your system up-to-date.

Toshiba Laptops here & Samsung Laptops here are other brands to consider if your looking for reliable general all around good performers at a reasonable price. Personally, I don’t care for Sony Laptops as I & others I’ve known had problems with their 2004 – 2006 year Vaio models.

But what you really need to do first is decide what performance features you’re looking for in a new computer. Is it mainly for gaming or video creativity or business productivity or just a general all around good performer. Once you know this it’ll be much easier to decide what features are most important to you. A good robust & reliable laptop for $600 might only have 3 or 4 of the features out of the 5 or 6 that your looking for.

Personally, I would mainly consider (in order of preference) Dell (1st) or Lenovo (2nd) or HP (3rd) or Toshiba (4th) & finally Samsung (5th). My suggestion would be to look at their websites to get a feel for what they offer in your price range and pick 1 or 2 models from each and then visit a local Best Buy, Costco, Fry’s (west coast), Sams Club, etc. for a “touchy – feely” session.

NewEgg.com here is also a place to look at not only for on-line prices but also for reviews as they sell many, many laptops and they get a lot of laptop reviews, some really good & some really bad. I would also check out CostCo here & Sams Club here for pricing, availability & reviews.

If you’re a member of Costco, or know somebody that is, they’ve got some really good buys though their “in-warehouse” model selection within a specific vendor (like Dell, Lenovo, HP, ASUS, etc.) is somewhat limited. Some, but not all, of their SKUs are models that vendors are beginning to offload at a lower price as newer models are about to come out so there may be some good buys there. If you happen to find the one and only laptop here that you really want at a great price, get it as more often that not, it’ll be sold out the next day.

Final note, pretty much everything you buy today new will come with some version of Windows 10 though there may still be a few out there available with Windows 8.1. It would be really hard to find a new PC laptop still being sold with Windows 7 unless you get a “refurbished” one like @Elly suggested from a 3rd party selling on sites like eBay.

Well, that’s about it, don’t hesitate to ask if you have any more questions.

Win7 - PRO & Ultimate, x64 & x86
Win8.1 - PRO, x64 & x86
Groups A, B & ABS

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Sparky, SueW, jburk07, Microfix, satrow, BobbyB, Bill C., Elly

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You may wish to consider refurbished PCs or Laptops.  They can be cheap and as long as you budget for a new SSD and/or an extra RAM stick they are a real bargain.  I am pretty fond of Lenovo business level laptops.  Metal chassis and hinges, easy, easy user access to the HDD/SSD slot and carrier, the CD compartment can be changed out for a second SSD caddy, and the RAM compartment can be upgraded.  None of this garbage of nothing being user replaceable, like some consumer laptops.  As a business laptop they have an ethernet cable, multiple USB 3 and 2 ports and also VGCA and HDMI out ports for connecting to projectors and monitors, switches for airplane mode and to turn off the BlueTooth or WiFi.  The touchpads disable if you plug in a mouse.  FOr a business laptop, when you need to do a presentation you need all the backup connectivity, including old school ehternet or you fail.

I have an 4th Gen i5 Thinkpad Edge 440 and the wife has a 2nd Gen i7 Thinkpads T410.  Mine is a refurb with Win7-64Pro and hers was a Win7-64Pro that I swapped out the HDD for an SSD and it is now Linux Mint-Mate 18.3 LTS.

I carry an HDMI cable to watch DVDs in hotels on the hotel TVs.

Both were bought from Microcenter at the local store, but can also be ordered on Microcenter.com.  In July and August they go on sale for returning students.  They also have desktops, but many are small form factor office PCs with small power supplies so not a good base for gaming upgrades, but they are great for email, browsing and MSOffice.

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Buy a laptop that that has at least 8GB RAM and a screen you like. What brand doesn’t really matter as long as is has a warranty.

Buying one with an HDD may get you more machine for your money, then buy an SSD to go in it. An SSD is the biggest performance improvement you can make IMO. (I would get a Samsung 860 EVO, fast reliable, not too expensive.)
Also get a USB adapter to allow you to copy data off the old hard disk / clone the original disk to the SSD / backup the PC.

cheers, Paul

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Get a Chromebook. Seriously.

Unless you have a specific need to run a Windows-only program, get a Chromebook.

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So Woody, is there a “Chrome for Dummies” book in the works 🙂

Win7 - PRO & Ultimate, x64 & x86
Win8.1 - PRO, x64 & x86
Groups A, B & ABS

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Microfix, satrow

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There already IS a Chromebook For Dummies.

I’m not an authority on ChromeOS. But I am a fan. Use it all the time these days.

From what I see, there’s a crying need for a Chromebook book that’s geared to experienced Windows users. Lemme see about that…..

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I was going to say do you really want a Windows 10 laptop? It seems like with the wish list, Sparky has an “old” perception of what is a laptop that doesn’t represent at all what is happening today. Ms Paint has been replaced by paint 3D.

In this perspective, I think your advice to buy a Chromebook is really sound. The only issue I have with it is the privacy aspect. I didn’t research this aspect, just like with Chrome that I avoid for the same reason although it is technically great. Why waste my time researching products I won’t use if I have access to a good alternative like Firefox? For the Chromebook, I would probably go for a Mac myself to enjoy the full Office suite before buying a Chromebook, but Sparky might not need that at all, plus the Mac is way more expensive.

So, the question remains for me and maybe some people here have answers? What are the privacy implications of using a Chromebook vs a Mac or Linux (I leave Windows out, as maybe it will have even less privacy than Chromebooks come 2020 when you have bought your laptop and Microsoft decides that the next feature update brings even less in terms of privacy). Since WaaS, you can’t know what you are buying and it is a problem. You can’t for sure say that the experience you buy and that you accept will be in a similar league in a few years.

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