Low Cost Laptop- Small and Fast (office usage)

[HeineKo]

Hi,
I'm trying to help a non tech-savvy friend who wants a new laptop. She just needs something reliable and not bulky, at a low cost. Just needs office apps (Windows + MS Office). Her budget is R10k but if possible, cheaper is better.

Thinking like 11"/13" or so, FHD Screen, SSD, and the rest honestly doesn't matter much I think. Higher build quality, and perhaps battery life I think is more important than number of cores, RAM etc.

Any suggestions?

 

[Guest 290922]

I'm sending you a PM with some AMD Ryzen laptops with SSD on promo at the moment.

 

[zll]

I'm sending you a PM with some AMD Ryzen laptops with SSD on promo at the moment.

Yoh. Googled your site and no offence, but what a mess. You really should get something a bit easier to use.

 

[Guest 290922]

Yoh. Googled your site and no offence, but what a mess. You really should get something a bit easier to use.

What do you even mean?

 

[zll]

What do you even mean?

View attachment 1383990

So assuming the image you posted above is a link to your site?

Okay, so I should clarify. Most of the site is fine, but the store is a mess. It's primarily this:

1. Thousands of listings under tech deals (if I'm looking for a good deal there's no way I'm looking through 1200+ pages of deals)
2. Have to scroll down forever (okay, not forever, but a LONG time) under categories
3. Search is painfully slow and not very accurate (searched for ryzen 5800, and the first five listings are not ryzen 5800 products, but other ryzen products)

There's quite a few other things I could suggest to improve navigation, like moving removing the three search fields that are in the sidebar on the right. But TLDR: your UX needs some work.

 

[HeineKo]

Thanks for the options- just looking for something small with a FHD screen, those look like 720p (not sure, it's hard to find stuff like zolly said).

 

[WalkWithMe]

Thanks for the options- just looking for something small with a FHD screen, those look like 720p (not sure, it's hard to find stuff like zolly said).

Not for under R10k.
M1 Macbook Air is going to be the best to match this and have awesome battery.

 

[zll]

Thanks for the options- just looking for something small with a FHD screen, those look like 720p (not sure, it's hard to find stuff like zolly said).

I'll see if I have time tomorrow to swing any options your way. Had to dig up a similar system for my girlfriend a few months back.

 

[Guest 290922]

So assuming the image you posted above is a link to your site?

Okay, so I should clarify. Most of the site is fine, but the store is a mess. It's primarily this:

1. Thousands of listings under tech deals (if I'm looking for a good deal there's no way I'm looking through 1200+ pages of deals)
2. Have to scroll down forever (okay, not forever, but a LONG time) under categories
3. Search is painfully slow and not very accurate (searched for ryzen 5800, and the first five listings are not ryzen 5800 products, but other ryzen products)

There's quite a few other things I could suggest to improve navigation, like moving removing the three search fields that are in the sidebar on the right. But TLDR: your UX needs some work.

Thanks for your response. Search is a known problem on Woocommerce already using an Advanced Search plugin have included google search on the home page.

The categories are a mess but that is how the supplier data feed is structured.

Sorry about your experience its something Im working on but currently there is no other options available.

Will look into how to fix it but the best way to search currently is using SKU.

@HeineKo have a look on Carbonite too.

 

[Virex]

Yoh. Googled your site and no offence, but what a mess. You really should get something a bit easier to use.

His site is pretty ****. He does like posting **** on here as well.

 

[zll]

Thanks for your response. Search is a known problem on Woocommerce already using an Advanced Search plugin have included google search on the home page.

The categories are a mess but that is how the supplier data feed is structured.

Sorry about your experience its something Im working on but currently there is no other options available.

Will look into how to fix it but the best way to search currently is using SKU.

@HeineKo have a look on Carbonite too.

No worries. Just most people who log onto your site will be used to other sites and may immediately go "no thanks" when trying to find something your page and log off. Probably something you want to address asap if you don't want to lose sales to your competitors.

 

[Keanu Leeves]

Hi,
I'm trying to help a non tech-savvy friend who wants a new laptop. She just needs something reliable and not bulky, at a low cost. Just needs office apps (Windows + MS Office). Her budget is R10k but if possible, cheaper is better.

Thinking like 11"/13" or so, FHD Screen, SSD, and the rest honestly doesn't matter much I think. Higher build quality, and perhaps battery life I think is more important than number of cores, RAM etc.

Any suggestions?

https://carbonite.co.za/index.php?threads/new-hp-laptop-15s-notebook-amd-ryzen-7-5700u-octa-core-8gb-ram-512gb-nvme-ssd-15-6-fhd-1-yr-warranty.445883/

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Resellers:
https://thetechtraderza.co.za/products/macbook-air-2017-13-inch-silver-pre-owned (prices are cheaper on Instagram)

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[Guest 290922]

His site is pretty ****. He does like posting **** on here as well.

Thanks for the salt. It's always the season.

 

[Guest 290922]

No worries. Just most people who log onto your site will be used to other sites and may immediately go "no thanks" when trying to find something your page and log off. Probably something you want to address asap if you don't want to lose sales to your competitors.

True but I'm doing the best I can with Woocommerce and free plugins.

Hopefully the price brings them back.

I will look into your what you said and i do appreciate it.

 

[Corelli]

If you dont mind 2nd hand an HP Elitebook 840 G5 or above can be had for about 6k. Get some more crucial ram (they work best- you can check on site for compatibility), and as long as its got a ssd drive (some support nvme - samsung evo or pro if you want to).

Zbook can be get cheap, they are blistering fast, but can be costly. I would get a G3 at least. I play Fortnite prof with a zbook. Works great. But I do Data Science Engineering, and they can take multiple hdds, 4x ram slots, etc (depends on model). They are built for cad work.

Or a Macbook Air, I think you can get a few. I wont go older than 2016.

So depends what work she needs to do using windows and office. Elitebooks has long battery life. Where are you located?

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Like that you can find it cheaper if look round, but that pretty decent.

Try look for Office 2016 home and Business. They dont have annual licenses like office 365. You can use other software too. I use WPS office sometimes too.

 

[Corelli]

Takealot.com: Online Shopping | SA's leading online store

South Africa's leading online store. Fast, reliable delivery to your door. Many ways to pay. Shop anything you can imagine: TVs, laptops, cellphones, kitchen appliances, toys, books, beauty & more. Shop the mobile app anytime, anywhere.

www.takealot.com

Apple MacBook Air 7.2 i5-5350u 8GB 128GB MacOS

For the most affordable and best quality deals in refurbished or reconditioned laptops shop now at Universe Direct.

www.universedirect.co.za

i would lean to takealot. its latest

 

[jones123]

This seems like a good pc at a decent price at takealot

 

[zll]

Thinking like 11"/13" or so

So weirdly enough the smaller you go the more likely this is to cost more. There are plenty of 15" devices that are very reasonable in the R9k - R10k bracket. Does it have to be this small?

 

[HeineKo]

Not specifically no, she just prefers that. There was a decent option on daily deals (https://www.takealot.com/hp-pavilion-14-core-i3-8gb-256gb-win-10-home-silver/PLID72160485) today but her brother (a dev) shut it down for being an i3 xD, but yeah will just keep my eyes open if see anything.

Weird how hardware hasn't really gotten much better or cheaper in this space, like I got a touchscreen C302c (granted it's a Chromebook with an M3 chip) for like $250 USD like 5 years ago, and like things haven't got much better (and it hasn't really got any less useful, still once of the best purchases I've ever made). Guess in the space of lighweight laptop to do office tasks/browsing in bed, you don't need that much, but it's something a lot of people want, so it's not that cheap or catered for. The usecase isn't expensive, but as the demand is high, the price follows.

 

[zll]

Not specifically no, she just prefers that.

Then any of these will do:

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$250 USD like 5 years ago

When the rand was like, R14 to the dollar?