Budget School Notebook?

[cluelessgenius]

So my cousin tasked me with finding a notebook for her.

she needs it for school / college so nothing special hardware wise

but i would like it to run smoothly and be decently speced

also stuff like build quality and more importantly a nice display are more important i guess

problem is she told me a budget of around 300-400 bucks (german market) which is not a lot and most notebook around there have really crappy displays 

 

so thats why im asking, anyone got a good tip for a budget notebook for general use?

[jaslion]

1 minute ago, cluelessgenius said:

So my cousin tasked me with finding a notebook for her.

she needs it for school / college so nothing special hardware wise

but i would like it to run smoothly and be decently speced

also stuff like build quality and more importantly a nice display are more important i guess

problem is she told me a budget of around 300-400 bucks (german market) which is not a lot and most notebook around there have really crappy displays 

 

so thats why im asking, anyone got a good tip for a budget notebook for general use?

Used market is where you'll find what you need. A good display on a 300-400€ laptop is just not happening new. There are plenty of used options out there that do for that price.

[cluelessgenius]

Just now, jaslion said:

Used market is where you'll find what you need. A good display on a 300-400€ laptop is just not happening new. There are plenty of used options out there that do for that price.

like what for example?

[cluelessgenius]

1 minute ago, jaslion said:

Used market is where you'll find what you need. A good display on a 300-400€ laptop is just not happening new. There are plenty of used options out there that do for that price.

i dont mean anything fancy just not so dim that you cant read it outside

[jaslion]

1 minute ago, cluelessgenius said:

i dont mean anything fancy just not so dim that you cant read it outside

Yeah same issue these are cheap laptops they don't have bright or good screens. Best is to spend a little more and get a good laptop that will also last more than a year and a bit before it starts falling apart at the seems or would need upgrades to make it not horribly slow.

[cluelessgenius]

Just now, BlueScope819 said:

The thing is is when you end up spending that little on a laptop, you end up upgrading very soon which means you spend more money in the long run.

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/72745-the-reason-that-the-rich-were-so-rich-vimes-reasoned

So I would recommend spending a little bit more to get something that will last, something like the Lenovo IdeaPad 5 14.

yeah i thought of the ideapad 5 15 since i got myself one recently but its just a little bit too expensive and the display on mine isnt that great either, which is fine for me i just dont want her to complain later. also she really isnt gonna use it that much later so i wouldnt worry about upgrading

[cluelessgenius]

1 minute ago, jaslion said:

Yeah same issue these are cheap laptops they don't have bright or good screens. Best is to spend a little more and get a good laptop that will also last more than a year and a bit before it starts falling apart at the seems or would need upgrades to make it not horribly slow.

ok i get it i should spend more but if i cant...what would be my best bet

[SupaKomputa]

Anything with Athlon 3150U, Ryzen 3200U or 4500U.

[tkitch]

Look for a used Lenovo Business laptop.  They're solid, and can be had relatively well priced now.  

 

It won't game, but it'll do everything else.  (Make sure it has an SSD, or add one.)

[jaslion]

1 minute ago, cluelessgenius said:

ok i get it i should spend more but if i cant...what would be my best bet

If you don't mind going used a 1080p panel dell e7440 with 8gb of ram and ssd usually goes for around 200€ and is an excellent note taking device.

[cluelessgenius]

6 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

Anything with Athlon 3150U, Ryzen 3200U or 4500U.

well id agree if itll fit the budget

5 minutes ago, tkitch said:

Look for a used Lenovo Business laptop.  They're solid, and can be had relatively well priced now.  

 

It won't game, but it'll do everything else.  (Make sure it has an SSD, or add one.)

well in this case we dont care about gaming at all. any specific model in mind?

6 minutes ago, jaslion said:

If you don't mind going used a 1080p panel dell e7440 with 8gb of ram and ssd usually goes for around 200€ and is an excellent note taking device.

i think i should have specifically mentioned that she asked me for something small and compact and even asked if "just" a big tablet wouldnt be better. so i explained to her that tablets of that size are more expensive. anyway my point is that the 7440 looks a bit heavy and bricky

[SupaKomputa]

Just now, cluelessgenius said:

well id agree if itll fit the budget

Most under $500, for the lowest end probably $350.

You can game with it too, lightly.

[jaslion]

2 minutes ago, cluelessgenius said:

well id agree if itll fit the budget

well in this case we dont care about gaming at all. any specific model in mind?

i think i should have specifically mentioned that she asked me for something small and compact and even asked if "just" a big tablet wouldnt be better. so i explained to her that tablets of that size are more expensive. anyway my point is that the 7440 looks a bit heavy and bricky

The dell e7440 is a 1.4kg 14 inch laptop. It's an ultrabook and super thing you can't really get much lighter and thinner than that for your budget.

[cluelessgenius]

1 minute ago, SupaKomputa said:

Most under $500, for the lowest end probably $350.

You can game with it too, lightly.

again...we dont care about gaming on this. but yes i agree the ryzen 4000 series is awesome price/performance right now hence i got myself one but if i can find something with a better display and its not ryzen then that wins

[SupaKomputa]

pretty hard to find a good display at that price point.

you probably getting a 720p VA screen.

4000 series is in the upper end. If you can get one with IPS panel, don't hassitate.

3500u is also good, 4 cores 8 threads, some with IPS panel, but the cost probably around $500.

[kelvinhall05]

Used Thinkpad. Can probably find an X1 Carbon gen 4 for your budget. T460/460S if she wants more IO, X260 if she wants a smaller screen.