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Ask HN: Recommendations for a SOLID laptop

5 points by supermatou 10y ago

I have an 8 year old Gateway laptop - a very unpretentious machine, that I bought at Walmart; it was cheap, slow (even for 2008) - and extremely solidly built! Now, as the machine is about to go to the Great Landfill in the Sky (the hard-disk is dying and the overall value of the computer is less than a new disk), I've started to look around for a similar replacement. Unfortunately, everything I could see and touch at Best Buy is either a) cheap, but extremely flimsy, compared to my old Gateway or b) nicely built, but way too expensive (for the replacement, I have a budget of just a FEW hundred dollars). Do you have any suggestions for me? Observations: a) A chromebook is not a suitable replacement for this machine; b) When I say "solid" I mean the complete opposite of "flimsy"; it could be heavy, I don't mind (at most, I'll move it from one room to another), so weight is not an issue (as aren't processing power - an i3 or equivalent would be sufficient - or sufficient RAM - 8GB would be great, but I'd be willing to go for 4). Your insights in this matter are greatly appreciated!

detaro 10y ago
Thinkpad, possibly a used/refurbished one. (powerful enough, cheaper, more robust)
- niftich 10y ago
  Second this. Get a used T60/T61/X60; and put a SATA2 SSD in it. They're excellent build quality, albeit the CPU and GPU is dated (~2007-2009)
  - supermatou 10y ago
    Thanks, I hadn't considered that. Are those open-box computers or ex-lease ones? (big difference when it comes to wear and tear!)
    - niftich 10y ago
      I'd imagine they come from various sources, most ex-corporate, but some ex-personal. I'd expect them to be too old for true 'open box'.
cjbprime 10y ago
ThinkPad T or W series, if Panasonic still makes Toughbooks you could consider those.
- supermatou 10y ago
  Toughbooks - they used to be quite expensive - anyway, a Toughbook would be an overkill (as I don't plan on going Desert Storming or something). Thinkpads: a 14" i3 with 4GB of RAM is $829.99 in my neck of the woods (yeah, the joys of buying computers in Canada...) Way too expensive.
  - cjbprime 10y ago
    Oh, I missed the "few hundred dollars" requirement. That's far more constraining than your toughness wish.
Finnucane 10y ago
I've pretty satisfied with the Clevo laptop I got from Mythlogic--it's a pretty solid build. Not lightweight and flimsy. Survived a fall from the back of my bike onto the pavement (in a bit of padded slipcase). Of course, not being cheaply made means not being especially cheap to buy, either. I got mine a couple of years ago--not sure what the current offerings are.
baccheion 10y ago
The 14" Thinkpads (T41?) sound like a fit, as well as the 15" MacBook Pros (though those may be too expensive). Also, you could look into the Dell XPS 15, or the Asus Zenbook UX501.
qohen 10y ago
Dell sells refurbished/off-lease laptops which are solidly built, at: http://dellrefurbished.com/laptops http://dellrefurbished.com/laptops (They also sell refurb'd desktops, servers and monitors). The machines are a few (3?) years old, but they are solidly-built business-class machines. So you should be able to find something that suits you -- you can use checkboxes on the left to filter the results to include only machines with the features you are interested in. Note that the regular prices there are high, but at least once a month they have a 40% - 50% off sale, often with discounted or free shipping, if you have a code. These deals are posted on fatwallet.com, in the hot deals forum, and no doubt elsewhere as well. Here's an example of some machines that were available around the beginning of June, just a few weeks ago ( https://www.fatwallet.com/deals/40-off-any-dell-laptop-2890577 https://www.fatwallet.com/deals/40-off-any-dell-laptop-28905... ): Dell Latitude E5520 4GB RAM 250GB HDD - Was: $329.00; Sale: $309.00; After Coupon: $185.40 Dell Latitude E6430S 8GB RAM 320GB HDD - Was: $479.00; Sale: $429.00; After Coupon: $257.40 Dell Precision M6600 4GB RAM 250GB HDD - Was: $1,319.00; Sale: $1,169.00; After Coupon: $701.40 I'd expect another sale to come up around July 4th, so you might want to keep an eye on Fat Wallet (or the like).

5 points by supermatou 10y ago

detaro 10y ago

Thinkpad, possibly a used/refurbished one. (powerful enough, cheaper, more robust)

niftich 10y ago
Second this. Get a used T60/T61/X60; and put a SATA2 SSD in it. They're excellent build quality, albeit the CPU and GPU is dated (~2007-2009)
- supermatou 10y ago
  Thanks, I hadn't considered that. Are those open-box computers or ex-lease ones? (big difference when it comes to wear and tear!)
  - niftich 10y ago
    I'd imagine they come from various sources, most ex-corporate, but some ex-personal. I'd expect them to be too old for true 'open box'.

cjbprime 10y ago

ThinkPad T or W series, if Panasonic still makes Toughbooks you could consider those.

supermatou 10y ago
Toughbooks - they used to be quite expensive - anyway, a Toughbook would be an overkill (as I don't plan on going Desert Storming or something). Thinkpads: a 14" i3 with 4GB of RAM is $829.99 in my neck of the woods (yeah, the joys of buying computers in Canada...) Way too expensive.
- cjbprime 10y ago
  Oh, I missed the "few hundred dollars" requirement. That's far more constraining than your toughness wish.

Finnucane 10y ago

I've pretty satisfied with the Clevo laptop I got from Mythlogic--it's a pretty solid build. Not lightweight and flimsy. Survived a fall from the back of my bike onto the pavement (in a bit of padded slipcase). Of course, not being cheaply made means not being especially cheap to buy, either. I got mine a couple of years ago--not sure what the current offerings are.

baccheion 10y ago

The 14" Thinkpads (T41?) sound like a fit, as well as the 15" MacBook Pros (though those may be too expensive). Also, you could look into the Dell XPS 15, or the Asus Zenbook UX501.

qohen 10y ago

Dell sells refurbished/off-lease laptops which are solidly built, at: http://dellrefurbished.com/laptops http://dellrefurbished.com/laptops (They also sell refurb'd desktops, servers and monitors). The machines are a few (3?) years old, but they are solidly-built business-class machines. So you should be able to find something that suits you -- you can use checkboxes on the left to filter the results to include only machines with the features you are interested in. Note that the regular prices there are high, but at least once a month they have a 40% - 50% off sale, often with discounted or free shipping, if you have a code. These deals are posted on fatwallet.com, in the hot deals forum, and no doubt elsewhere as well. Here's an example of some machines that were available around the beginning of June, just a few weeks ago ( https://www.fatwallet.com/deals/40-off-any-dell-laptop-2890577 https://www.fatwallet.com/deals/40-off-any-dell-laptop-28905... ): Dell Latitude E5520 4GB RAM 250GB HDD - Was: $329.00; Sale: $309.00; After Coupon: $185.40 Dell Latitude E6430S 8GB RAM 320GB HDD - Was: $479.00; Sale: $429.00; After Coupon: $257.40 Dell Precision M6600 4GB RAM 250GB HDD - Was: $1,319.00; Sale: $1,169.00; After Coupon: $701.40 I'd expect another sale to come up around July 4th, so you might want to keep an eye on Fat Wallet (or the like).