buying a new laptop

Hi Guys

My son needs a new laptop as his HP with Vista has packed up, and as you know, the vast choice on offer can be bewildering.

If I describe his minimum needs, maybe you can advise.

cd-rom drive
1 or 2 usb ports
long battery life
cheapest price as he is unemployed

He really only uses it for Iplayer, audio cd's, dvd films, general browsing.

At present he has a HP G7000 15" and 2 gb

I have had great luck with manufacturer refurbished laptops from ebay. I've gotten two 17.3" laptops that way and both have been completely trouble-free. The biggest thing I would caution against is anything with 32 or 64 GB eMMC memory instead of a HDD or SSD because those are not upgradeable.

Something like this:
E-Bay HP ProBook

Then upgrade the HDD.

I wanted a high-end laptop so I got this one:
ASUS X750JA-TH71 i7 4702HQ 2.2GHz 8GB RAM 2TB HDD HD 4600 DVD 17.3'' Windows 8.1 (manufacture refurbished). It came in a factory sealed box.

Paid $489 for it. The 2TB HDD was actually 2x 1TB HDDs so I upgraded one of them to a 500GB SSD, upgraded to 16GB RAM and replaced the WiFi card with a dual band AC WiFi/Bluetooth combo NIC and the computer just flies through everything I've thrown at it.

frenchman96 said:

My son needs a new laptop as his HP with Vista has packed up ...
... cheapest price as he is unemployed
He really only uses it for Iplayer, audio cd's, dvd films, general browsing.

I see from your profile your time zone is set for the UK. If you are UK-based you may find something to suit in CashConverters. I've used them in the past when I needed a replacement laptop in a hurry. The advantage for your son (apart from the price) is that being older models they usually include a dvd drive. CashConverters sanitise their systems before selling them, keeping the original OEM installed OS and installed apps (like Office) intact, but removing all personal details and accounts, creating a new admin account named Owner which has no password.

They will be virus-free, but may still include some unwanted toolbars, a scan with ADWCleaner is advisable.

The Toshiba I'm using now came from them. As it still had the OEM HDD restore partition the first thing I did to it was a 'Factory Reset'.

I've had good luck with Refurbished devices in the past. I just have to keep in mind that since they have a Serial number the first time they are sold that number is recorded. If it's returned the usually cannot be sold as new again so the get classified as Refurbished, not a bad deal as usually are a bit cheaper but always be sure the same/original Warranty is provided, normally a year. The other part of Refurbished can be off-lease units, had been in a company and when the lease expired they did not elect to purchase them, turned them back to the leasing company which in turn makes them available. Have seen 30 to 90 day Warranties on such items but could be longer.

Both of my refurbished laptops came with 90 day warranties from the manufacture (HP the first, ASUS the second). I just bought my wife a refurbished FitBit device and it came with a 30 day warranty from the company that I bought it from.

thanks guys