Recommendations for a cheap laptop just for BHW type work?

I had a HPmini when I first started BHW. After making money of it, I installed Ubuntu. Now one keypad is acting crazy and I don't know how to change it back to ts previous Vista OS. However, I definitely will use it again if I fix the two issues. Btw, I have a Mac air by the side
 
Anyone found any good deals in the UK recently?

I am currently looking at sub £300 laptops at the moment, and if I find a good deal I'll post it here. Just had a look at PC world and for £210-270 you can get 15 inch screen, 4gb ram, 500-1tb hard drive space, with an ok intel processor, which to me is fine for the type of work I need it for. As the specs across the board are so similar I think it is worth more looking at which one has the better build quality. It would be nice to have US prices over here lol ;)
 
If you want a dedicated machine for work, buy a desktop - why pay more for a mobile machine that you're never going to move? I'm a fan of second had brand name workstations - they seem to be the best bang for your buck if you want a workhorse machine. You can get something with a quad-core server-grade Xeon with a bunch of ram that's going to easily outperform what you're considering.
 
OP I am in the same boat running Macbook Air as main PC. I am running massplanner on a cheap VPS (4cores, 4gb ram) and Its the best solution IMAO.


I'm surprised your HP laptop lasted as long.

My old HP 530 laptop is almost 10 years old, and still alive! Well battery has been changed but that machine is still alive. I already gave it to my sister so she will use it while it lasts.
 
If you want a dedicated machine for work, buy a desktop - why pay more for a mobile machine that you're never going to move? I'm a fan of second had brand name workstations - they seem to be the best bang for your buck if you want a workhorse machine. You can get something with a quad-core server-grade Xeon with a bunch of ram that's going to easily outperform what you're considering.

As I said in the original post I needed something to travel with, so a desktop wasn't suitable and I run a Mac Pro already.

In the end I decided to purchase a Toshiba Satellite Radius 12. Slightly smaller than my current Macbook Air, but much more powerful. It was due an upgrade anyway as it is getting on for about 4 years old.

Main reason I stayed away from Wintel laptops was that the last few I bought (all high end) only seemed to have a 12-18 month life with the work that I was doing, and as you see my Macbook Air I've had for 4 years, and as I should get about £350 back on it the yearly cost was about £200.

If anyone in the UK is looking for cheap laptops, Laptop Direct, and Laptop Outlet seem quite cheap especially if you go for their A1 refurbished stock.
 
Hello,

I have a question of the same sort, too: I need a cheap laptop, basic, but robust. I have a VPS, so I don't need a premium laptop. I just want something to connect, surf, write, watch some movies, play (very) old games, ... not to use with heavy bots. And I don't plan to play to Call of or GTA V with high resolution.

So, do you have something to recommend? Thanks.

P.S. : and not an Apple.
 
Hello,

I have a question of the same sort, too: I need a cheap laptop, basic, but robust. I have a VPS, so I don't need a premium laptop. I just want something to connect, surf, write, watch some movies, play (very) old games, ... not to use with heavy bots. And I don't plan to play to Call of or GTA V with high resolution.

So, do you have something to recommend? Thanks.

P.S. : and not an Apple.

Out of all the cheap laptops I looked at I would have said the Lenovo G50 came out on top, 15.4 screen, i3 processor, 4gb ram, 1TB hard drive.
 
Out of all the cheap laptops I looked at I would have said the Lenovo G50 came out on top, 15.4 screen, i3 processor, 4gb ram, 1TB hard drive.

Thanks.

Is it robust and can I keep it for several years?
 
I never actually checked it out physically, it may be worth you going down PC world to check it out, but being honest I can't really see a budget laptop lasting as long as something like a steel cased macbook, but does depend on how you use it. My recommendation was more about the power of the laptop rather than durability. If you are heavy handed why not look at a 2nd hand tough book of ebay, it won't have much power but you can knock em about like there's no tomorrow ;)

Buy a cheap one, make some money via BHW, upgrade, repeat and start again, simple ;) :)
 
Any good deals in the UK recently if available?
 
I never actually checked it out physically, it may be worth you going down PC world to check it out, but being honest I can't really see a budget laptop lasting as long as something like a steel cased macbook, but does depend on how you use it. My recommendation was more about the power of the laptop rather than durability. If you are heavy handed why not look at a 2nd hand tough book of ebay, it won't have much power but you can knock em about like there's no tomorrow ;)

Buy a cheap one, make some money via BHW, upgrade, repeat and start again, simple ;) :)

Interesting: I didn't know the Toughbook from Panasonic. Thanks.

Are there other brands which are known for the durability?
 
Getac do some really cool ones, but you'd probably have to import one from the states. If you look at these type of laptops do check the specs as some of the cheap ones are quite old, I would probably go for at least an i5 or i7 processor and remember the second hand ones have probably had sa hard life.
 
Asus makes great low-end laptops, I would check them out on Amazon or newegg.
 
I would not recomend a lenovo http://www.zdnet.com/article/lenovo-rootkit-ensured-its-software-could-not-be-deleted/
Dell Inspirons can be pretty good for the price.
 
I wouldn't be looking specifically for a HP or a Dell computer. Indeed these brands are solid, but you should be able to find the very same hardware on other brands and you would pay less.
I used to have a Medion based computer for 8 years as laptop (still working). Lenovo should be okay.
Put your priority in a SSD based drive, that will make a huge difference. Try to get 8 GB of RAM or 4 GB but using 1 slot of RAM so you can upgrade cheaply.

@theperson asking for virtual box inside a VPS : not possible to virtualize in an already virtualized CPU. Maybe more smaller VPS rather a flat dedi ?
 
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