Best budget laptop < 5k

DrJohnZoidberg

DrJohnZoidberg

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My mom needs a new laptop as her one is getting very old now.

She really just needs to be able to Facebook, Skype, etc. and she needs to be able to rip music off CDs (so needs optical). I preferably want to get something as close to 4k as possible so I can put an SSD in it and/or upgrade the memory. CPU power is the last of our concerns, a Celeron will be just fine.

Am looking currently at the following 2 options:

Acer Aspire ES1-512-C301
http://www.firstshop.co.za/acer-aspire-156-celeron-NXMRWEA002-p-23507

HP 250 G3
http://www.takealot.com/hp-250-g3-intel-celeron-15-6-notebook/PLID38529441


I'm leaning towards the Acer as it just looks nicer. Any others I should look at?

Please don't suggest any Lenovo laptops, I refuse to support them.
 
Acer over HP any day - just make sure the machine actually does have more than one DIMM slot - been caught out with that one before
 
TheFriendlyGhost said:
Acer over HP any day - just make sure the machine actually does have more than one DIMM slot - been caught out with that one before
Click to expand...

I think most of these cheapies only have one slot. Not an issue though, I'll just replace the memory with 1 x 4GB module.

Think I'm sold on the Acer too, been checking some articles and Youtube reviews. Looks like as much as you can expect for the price and looks to have quite a nice trackpad.
 
DrJohnZoidberg said:
My mom needs a new laptop as her one is getting very old now.

She really just needs to be able to Facebook, Skype, etc. and she needs to be able to rip music off CDs (so needs optical). I preferably want to get something as close to 4k as possible so I can put an SSD in it and/or upgrade the memory. CPU power is the last of our concerns, a Celeron will be just fine.

Am looking currently at the following 2 options:

Acer Aspire ES1-512-C301
http://www.firstshop.co.za/acer-aspire-156-celeron-NXMRWEA002-p-23507

HP 250 G3
http://www.takealot.com/hp-250-g3-intel-celeron-15-6-notebook/PLID38529441


I'm leaning towards the Acer as it just looks nicer. Any others I should look at?

Please don't suggest any Lenovo laptops, I refuse to support them.
Click to expand...



They are basically the same thing. only thing that i did notice is that the HP only has 1 Memory/ram slot and well i would expect it to have 2.


other than that they are the same choose what you like more.
 
Any Dell within your budget. Check Takealot.

Secondhand MacBook Pro 2011, don't think you'll get a 2012 one.
 
PostmanPot said:
Any Dell within your budget. Check Takealot.

Secondhand MacBook Pro 2011, don't think you'll get a 2012 one.
Click to expand...

Takealot have a great Dell for R3800 but no optical, Macbook is good idea but the problem there is the battery which in most cases won't be great anymore.
 
DrJohnZoidberg said:
Takealot have a great Dell for R3800 but no optical, Macbook is good idea but the problem there is the battery which in most cases won't be great anymore.
Click to expand...

Slim USB DVD/RWs are very cheap these days, around R400. You can get one including a 500GB SSHD or small entry SSD and be within budget.

Agreed. You might get lucky with one that was also used partially as a desktop replacement. You could ask the seller to list the amount of cycles, maybe you can find something with between 200 - 400. Otherwise a new battery is R1,500.

I would go with the Mac for long term reliability, build quality, trackpad. And if she goes for OS X, its ease of use and online support, efficient use of hardware, etc.

Ultimately I think it would cost you/her less money in the long run.
 
Recently got my sister a Dell 3551. Seems like a nice laptop and has a massive track pad. Just does not have an optical drive but that wasnt a deal breaker for her requirements.
 
DrJohnZoidberg said:
My mom needs a new laptop as her one is getting very old now.

She really just needs to be able to Facebook, Skype, etc. and she needs to be able to rip music off CDs (so needs optical). I preferably want to get something as close to 4k as possible so I can put an SSD in it and/or upgrade the memory. CPU power is the last of our concerns, a Celeron will be just fine.

Am looking currently at the following 2 options:

Acer Aspire ES1-512-C301
http://www.firstshop.co.za/acer-aspire-156-celeron-NXMRWEA002-p-23507

HP 250 G3
http://www.takealot.com/hp-250-g3-intel-celeron-15-6-notebook/PLID38529441


I'm leaning towards the Acer as it just looks nicer. Any others I should look at?

Please don't suggest any Lenovo laptops, I refuse to support them.
Click to expand...

Not sure why you don't want to support the best built laptops in the world (apart from maybe their fugliness) but look at www.laptopdirect.co.za. There are plenty of options for under R5k, all the major brands.
 
PostmanPot said:
Any Dell within your budget. Check Takealot.

Secondhand MacBook Pro 2011, don't think you'll get a 2012 one.
Click to expand...

those macbooks are still pretty pricey. only MacBook sub 4k ive seen recently was R3.5k on the GUM for a 2009 one.
 
Last edited:
Ye, I looked at the Macs. That's not going to happen, it's just too much effort and risk - going to just cost too much if I still need to replace the hard drive and still possibly have a crappy battery as well as no warranty.

If it was for myself sure, but it's for my mother who lives 800Km away, I'd prefer something with a warranty at least.
 
DrJohnZoidberg said:
Ye, I looked at the Macs. That's not going to happen, it's just too much effort and risk - going to just cost too much if I still need to replace the hard drive and still possibly have a crappy battery as well as no warranty.

If it was for myself sure, but it's for my mother who lives 800Km away, I'd prefer something with a warranty at least.
Click to expand...

Dell is the only option and perhaps Asus. Other manufacturers' warranty support is shocking (particularly Acer and Lenovo).
 
MightyQuin said:
He was referring to Lenovo...
Click to expand...

Same as all the other Windows laptop crap out there (unless paying much more for quality), with even worse support through PartServe, and in some cases entire product lines that are faulty at production and doomed for continuous failure upon failure.
 
I wouldn't touch an Acer with a bargepole :sick:

Dell
Lenovo
Asus
HP

Optical drives are so rarely used nowadays (and externals really are cheap) that it's not a factor when buying.
 
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