Why would you bother with a separate warranty on such a cheap computer? At that price it is essentially disposable. It’s an ultrabook with a core i5, 8GB RAM and a SSD for less than a freaking 16GB ipad.
Wow, you’re right. Good catch. Search cowboom for Lenovo laptops that are refurbished shows higher prices, naturally.
It is an amazing deal. And I’d have 15 days to give it a run through. But I have to decide whether I want to put myself through the potential headache of an RMA if it has problems. And by headache, I mean I have had problems with Best Buy in the past.
That’s true, the refurb is $550, it’s $860 new on clearance, and cost $1050 when current last year. So you’re saving 40% over the refurb price.
I wouldn’t buy a Lenovo, after they admitted to putting spyware on their consumer laptops.
I ended up passing on the Lenovo Yoga that stusser recommended, given the comments I read of some who tried the deal (missing charger, wrong charger, poor condition, etc). That said, I appreciate the recommendation.
I did decide whether its a lappie or a desktop, I want at least an i5 with 8G RAM and some sort of SSD.
I priced out parts that would get me there, and at $700 it tops my budget, though $100 of that is a new case, and I suppose I could first try my older case.
CPU [I5 4430](http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116895&cm_re=Intel_Core_i5-4430-_-19-116-895-_-Product) 185
HSF [Cryorig H5](http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA4UF1W87430&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-LogicalIncrements.com%20Inc-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10440897&PID=5961731&SID=0) 46
MB [ASUS z97A](http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132512&cm_re=ASUS_z97A-_-13-132-512-_-Product) 139
RAM Crucial 8G 53
SSD Crucial 120 GB 65
PS Antec HCG-620W 80
CASE [Enthoo Pro](http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811854003&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-LogicalIncrements.com%20Inc-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10440897&PID=5961731&SID=0) 100
To this I would add the GTX 650 graphics card and 1TB HHD I already have.
That totals $668, not including shipping, from New Egg (I believe I’m not charged tax at New Egg, unlike Amazon).
Now if I follow stusser’s primary advice and get a laptop, I might go for this Asus Zenbook, that B&H (which I’ve used many times) has on sale currently for $800. They also have a used version that’s a hundred bucks less, though with a smaller SSD.
Decisions, decisions… thoughts are welcome. In the laptop vs desktop debate, I do already have a four year thinkpad that is great for portability and runs fine.
I needed to get my wife a laptop for work (part of why I looked into stusser’s link), and pretty fast. I would very much have liked to hold off for Skylake and Win10 to get a little bit of the rough edges knocked off, but I didn’t really have a choice. I ended up picking up an i5 Lenovo S41 from Newegg for $660. The stats were really what I was looking for (i5, 8GB RAM, 1080p, 14", not too heavy). It came in yesterday and it seems pretty decent. My only two wishes were that it came with Win 8.1 Pro and a 500GB SSD instead, but both are addressable if they really become needed.
Unfortunately it looks like the price has gone up because Newegg has run out. Amazon has them for around $680.
And I did check, no Superfish.
laptop vs desktop: I vote laptop. I personally use my laptop more, because I can use it anywhere in the house. It has 2 ssd’s, so I’m not worried about banging any hard disks. It has a shitty 1366x768 screen, which I put up with.
However, for your desktop build, how about not buying that giant heatsink. Just use the one that comes with the CPU, and spend the money to double the SSD size to 250GB (Crucial BX100) - $84.99. You’re not doing anything to stress your CPU anyways.
So is the heat sink fan just needed if you’re overclocking or gaming? I wasn’t aware a fan comes with the CPU. Or if I was, I forgot, because its been a long time since I built my own.
I like that unboxing videos are both super useful and super dumb.
I use unboxing videos to identify my rat’s nest of AC adapters.
Can someone please build/kickstart an AC adapter that has 10+ wires coming out, each with configurable voltages and plugs? We have technologies that don’t use transformer coils now, so this should be possible, right?
@tylertoo: reasons to get an aftermarket fan are basically overclocking, space constraints (no room for fan), or noise. Current Intel CPUs dissipate relatively little heat, so even the “crappy” fan that comes with the CPU will do its job perfectly for years. I’ve not used it, so I don’t know if its noise is acceptably low.
Well proprietary AC plugs are slowly, finally, hopefully, starting to go the way of the dodo bird with low-power USB (5V) becoming one standard and, forthcoming, USB C offering up to 100W at 20 volts as the other standard. It only took the near or total destruction of traditional electronics makers by Apple.
It will take some time though, my new Lenovo has a new proprietary power supply, different from their old proprietary power supply that was itself becoming a standard at least within my company. The new one looks like a USB but is not, but it is reversable. Bring on USB C already I say.
I would like to see a USB-C compatible plug with magsafe-like capabilities for charging.
Actually, I’d like to see a kickstarter for a USB-C cable with a breakaway weak magnetic link an inch from one end, as that would work with everything.
I decided to pick up one of those Yogas as a spare computer for the house (translation: looked like a great deal, and I can find a use for that!) It arrived today, and, unfortunately, had a defective keyboard (the G and H keys don’t work). Oh well. Back to Cowboom it goes!
D’oh! Sorry to hear it, man.
Yea, going without those would be tou .
I suppose pre-owned (as opposed to refurb) are a bit of a crapshoot.
Not your fault at all! Who knows - maybe they’ll send me a replacement. It’s definitely fast and has a great screen.
So I ended up deciding to build my own mid-tower rig, and got some suggestions over at Tom’s Hardware. I ended up ordering all this from New Egg:
1 x ($184.99) Intel Core i5-4440 Haswell Quad-Core 3.1GHz (3.3GH
$184.99
1 x ($84.99) Crucial BX100 CT250BX100SSD1 2.5" 250GB SATA 6Gbps
$84.99
1 x ($67.99) ASRock H97M Pro4 LGA 1150 Intel H97 HDMI SATA 6Gb/
$67.99
1 x ($64.99) Antec NeoECO C NeoECO 620C 620W ATX12V 80 PLUS BRO
$64.99
1 x ($49.99) NZXT Source 210 Elite White Steel with painted int
$49.99
1 x ($49.99) G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR
$49.99
This takes me to almost precisely $500, my price point. (Again, I already have a graphics card, 1TB HDD, and monitor). And I believe I get a $25 rebate card on that power supply. New Egg shipped the next day, and because they’re one state away from me, I had everything the day after that even with normal shipping. They’re awesome.
I started the build yesterday but ran out of time and hope to finish today. Looking forward to hitting the power button that first time!
Cool, good luck! I love/hate that moment of terror/anticipation.