Sister and I are looking to get our mum a new laptop.

Weve got a budget of 500-600 pounds for which you can get the usual crop of basic Dells, HPs, etc.

Thing is I always find these to be heavy, flimsy, etc.



I was thinking instead to spend the same amount on a refurbished business laptop.  For example:

http://www.ndc.co.uk/Dell_XPS_M1330_Laptop__Ultraportable_Power_House-8450.html

Much stronger & lighter, still a great spec and 1 year warranty.


Has anyone bought a refurb laptop before? What kind of experience have you had?


Any recommendations for companies to buy through?

Nice place for spareparts though.

http://pchub.com/uph/category/5-0-0-4-0/Laptop-Notebook.html

is it worth mentioning a cheap end vaio? if you want something that isnt massive and flimsy, then a business laptop might not fit the bill as well as a vaio. dunno other folks opinions on them but for the money i reckon there isnt much else lighter, better specced (if not in cpu, certainly in peripherals) and she might like something a bit stylish, lightweight etc.

Matt

Essentially i would be worried about the laptop itself, it might have been refurbed but the bulk of the components will still be used/old i.e. motherboard/screen etc.

The question of it going wrong, and if it will frequently fault due to age and how many times will the company take it back before they start getting arsey about it.

I would just buy new, and if not a big name brand, then how about a clone from Novatech etc, or check out Scan for frequently good deals on their "Today Only" ive bought several business class lappies on there.

Depends on what your mum is going to use the laptop for, You should be able to get quite a powerful PC for that sort of money, it might be far more powerful than she would ever need.

Seen a review of a Dell Studio 15 with an i7-720QM crammed into it for about £750. Can even run Crysis adequately at lower settings. Only issue is possible overheating.

If its intended as a DTR then extreme robustness hardly matters.

Quote from: KunalAny recommendations for companies to buy through?

www.europc.co.uk

Without any hesitation.