Need an inexpensive laptop for work

[clshades]

Hey all,

Looking for an inexpensive laptop for mobile work. I like to have a laptop with me for doing reports on jobs, emails, problem solving, parts lookup etc. it doesn't need to be powerful, however there's a few things I want. 15" screen ish. I don't want a huge screen.

A/ I need to be able to disable the trackpad. I use a mouse.
B/ standard keyboard this is the key... I hate laptops with small shift keys and stupid enter keys that aren't like normal keyboards.
C/ Non reflective screen

TIA

 

[clshades]

Was looking at this but didn't have time to check out all the features yet. Costco special.

 

[great_big_abyss]

Honestly, I would contact Maritrunks and see if he has something that meets your requirements. He's always selling used laptops. I bought a used Lenovo Thinkbook 15P from him last year, and it was excellent.

 

[sswilson]

If you're shopping for cheap/new from the costco warehouse, this is the model I grabbed for my better half to travel with late last year.

https://www.costco.ca/dell-inspiron-15-i3535-a766blk-pus-laptop%2c-amd-ryzen-5-7530u.product.4000226363.html

I didn't run into any issues with it.

Pros vs the HP model you selected.....

- Much more powerful processor (although it's possible the HP has better battery life and a slimmer body due to that)
- Touch Screen (Does anybody actually care about that?)
- DDR4 so it's a hell of a lot cheaper to grab a second 8GB stick

Cons

- Older platform so it's DDR4, BT 5, and Wifi 5
- More than likely heavier and thicker due to the processor
- Inspiron line not exactly well reviewed.

https://www.costco.ca/CompareProductsDisplay?partNumbers=2128373,7098025

Decently performing entry level laptop that's miles ahead of similarly priced intel offerings. Important to note that this is a Zen 3 offering while the 7520u processor is a Zen 2. Especially impressive is that this 15W processor benchmarks just 25% lower than it's 65W cousin (Ryzen 5600G).

The included NVMe is a Phison P0221 that benches around 3200/1950.

The only downside to this package is the single 8GB memory stick. Do yourself a favour and grab another 8GB stick for drastically improved performance. (50 - 75% improvement in benchmarks).

That's what I posted about it on the Costco website

 

[Marzipan]

@clshades that find by SSW is really good! I was going to point out that you can find some really good deals with laptops using the 8 core / 8 thread i3-N300 / 305, but that Dell will beat it hands down!

 

[clshades]

If you're shopping for cheap/new from the costco warehouse, this is the model I grabbed for my better half to travel with late last year.

https://www.costco.ca/dell-inspiron-15-i3535-a766blk-pus-laptop%2c-amd-ryzen-5-7530u.product.4000226363.html

I didn't run into any issues with it.

Pros vs the HP model you selected.....

- Much more powerful processor (although it's possible the HP has better battery life and a slimmer body due to that)
- Touch Screen (Does anybody actually care about that?)
- DDR4 so it's a hell of a lot cheaper to grab a second 8GB stick

Cons

- Older platform so it's DDR4, BT 5, and Wifi 5
- More than likely heavier and thicker due to the processor
- Inspiron line not exactly well reviewed.

https://www.costco.ca/CompareProductsDisplay?partNumbers=2128373,7098025

That's what I posted about it on the Costco website

Could you take a photo of the keyboard for me? I don't see one on the website.

 

[sswilson]

 

[On2wheels]

Not sure if you care but I bought a new Dell a few years back and didn't realize until I got it home and hooked up that the built-in ethernet is only 100Mbit, so to make full use of a faster internet connection I had to use a USB-ethernet adaptor. Wifi may have been slightly faster but I wanted minimal latency for something. Caveat emptor.

 

[sswilson]

Not sure if you care but I bought a new Dell a few years back and didn't realize until I got it home and hooked up that the built-in ethernet is only 100Mbit, so to make full use of a faster internet connection I had to use a USB-ethernet adaptor. Wifi may have been slightly faster but I wanted minimal latency for something. Caveat emptor.

No ethernet on this model.

 

[Marzipan]

Could you take a photo of the keyboard for me? I don't see one on the website.

in the specs it specifies that it has a US English ONLY keyboard; it's not bilingual.