info999 Posted October 7, 2016 Share Posted October 7, 2016 Can anyone recommend a good i7 laptop for general use ? Under $800 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batu69 Posted October 7, 2016 Share Posted October 7, 2016 Moved from The Chat Bar forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikie Posted October 7, 2016 Share Posted October 7, 2016 Hard to go wrong with anything that says thinkpad. Problem is you have to hunt for one to fit your price = otherwise the typical inflated standard prices will look unreachable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davmil Posted October 7, 2016 Share Posted October 7, 2016 Based on what I've seen on the bench from clients, unless you really need that extra bump of horsepower I'd go with an i5 based machine. 1) They're a lot more reasonably priced. Each time the i5 goes to a new generation the old generation is 98% as good and 50% of the money, so deals abound. 2) They're powerful enough for almost all nominal uses. Perhaps some games are too much, but see my final comment. Extra memory is cheap and will likely level performance differences in many situations. 3) i7's all run hot. Actually holding them on your lap or in a poor/weakly vented environment leads to thermal problems including both shutdowns (by CPU protection) and premature video card failure. Since almost all laptop video is motherboard soldered, this is a big problem Failing motherboard video is #1 failure I see in i7 laptops, irregardless of manufacturer and it fails due to excessive heat. That's my 2 cents FWIW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2Old2Remember Posted October 7, 2016 Share Posted October 7, 2016 6 hours ago, info999 said: Can anyone recommend a good i7 laptop for general use ? Under $800 Aspire E 15 i7 version Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator DKT27 Posted October 7, 2016 Administrator Share Posted October 7, 2016 Question is, is an i7 processor really required for normal use. In addition to what davmil has mentioned, I think even i3 processors work fine in normal use. Having said, if you want a quality laptop that lasts long, I would recommend looking at Dell and Asus laptops here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryrynz Posted October 7, 2016 Share Posted October 7, 2016 1 hour ago, davmil said: Based on what I've seen on the bench from clients, unless you really need that extra bump of horsepower I'd go with an i5 based machine. 1) They're a lot more reasonably priced. Each time the i5 goes to a new generation the old generation is 98% as good and 50% of the money, so deals abound. 2) They're powerful enough for almost all nominal uses. Perhaps some games are too much, but see my final comment. Extra memory is cheap and will likely level performance differences in many situations. 3) i7's all run hot. Actually holding them on your lap or in a poor/weakly vented environment leads to thermal problems including both shutdowns (by CPU protection) and premature video card failure. Since almost all laptop video is motherboard soldered, this is a big problem Agreed. Kaby is due out soon, hang about for some good deals on Skylake based chips. i7s don't all run hot. Many are the same wattage as i5s (15W) in Notebooks. Just depends on how good the model is and if it's using it's own GPU at the same time while stressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
straycat19 Posted October 7, 2016 Share Posted October 7, 2016 9 hours ago, info999 said: Can anyone recommend a good i7 laptop for general use ? Under $800 I would go with a Dell. You can get good deals on the Dell Outlet Store on refurbished laptops. They have two different stores, the consumer and business, use the business store and get a Latitude series laptop. You can get a fairly recent laptop for as little as 1/3 the normal price and some of them come with a 3 year warranty. I have gotten $2200 laptops for $700. This is where I get my 'throw around' laptops from and I have never had a problem with one. They also offer brand new laptops from discontinued series there at reduced prices. If you are looking for bang for the buck, that is the place to go. I would stay away from Stinkpads (Thinkpads). I can't go into details, but we don't even allow Lenovo products on our network, for good reasons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dac Posted October 7, 2016 Share Posted October 7, 2016 If price is a concern, I find Toshiba is reliable and usually the best price. You can google to find one to fit your personal needs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haxzion Posted October 7, 2016 Share Posted October 7, 2016 Since you are looking for a general use laptop an I3 or I5 would be more than enough and also make sure it doesn't have any extra gpu soldiered to the motherboard. Those laptops last way longer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pc71520 Posted October 7, 2016 Share Posted October 7, 2016 I also would suggest an i5 processor IF you want it for general use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franco46 Posted October 7, 2016 Share Posted October 7, 2016 For general use, i5 is good enough. Dell is the best in my experience with HP, Legend (Lenovo) and Fijitsu. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dac Posted October 7, 2016 Share Posted October 7, 2016 With Windows 10 you will want a minimum of 8 gb of ram in what ever you get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghazi Posted October 7, 2016 Share Posted October 7, 2016 Go for a core i7 but check the technical specs like Turbo boost technology, hyperthreading etc. search for he specs before hand so to avoid head ache. Go for a one that can support M.2 ssd and a hard drive as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davmil Posted October 8, 2016 Share Posted October 8, 2016 16 hours ago, haxzion said: Since you are looking for a general use laptop an I3 or I5 would be more than enough and also make sure it doesn't have any extra gpu soldiered to the motherboard. Those laptops last way longer. That's my experience too. If you're not squeamish about opening a laptop, pull the keyboard 1X a year (more if dusty environments)and blow out the CPU cooler and fan screens (if any). 13 hours ago, franco46 said: For general use, i5 is good enough. Dell is the best in my experience with HP, Legend (Lenovo) and Fijitsu. Dell's generally a good horse; the problem is it's "flavor of the day" with them. You can open 2 identical models and find vastly different components. Some are solid and work for years and years, others; not so much. Toshiba's have been solid for me too. Lenovo's too. HP's OK but it's become just another 'me too' brand. Asus seem on the fragile side in my experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davmil Posted October 8, 2016 Share Posted October 8, 2016 eBay's hit-n-miss but bargains abound on 'off-lease' laptops. i7's typically go with lawyers, accountants, & engineers in lease settings and at least 2 of those groups are pretty easy and careful with laptops. There have been 100's and 100's of i5 HP/Dells on eBay lately and I've bought about 50 over the last 3 months & only had 1 loser. Most were < $100 w/ 4-6GB RAM and 250-500GB disks. Put a $70 SSD in one of these and they just fly through day-2-day usage. Short of endorsing a vendor, I've had good luck with these guys. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-ThinkPad-T420s-4174WNK-Intel-Core-i5-2-50-GHz-2GB-RAM-Notebook-Laptop-/232106862233?&_trksid=p2056016.m2516.l5255 Read spec carefully, none have disks (pulled for security) but most have COA or it's in the ROMBIOS. Pay $50-75 and put a 50-75$ SSD, drive caddy if needed, and another 2gb SODIMM in it and enjoy a nice i5 for ~$170 or resell it for $250. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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