budget (refurb) laptop choice - i5 vs N

[giantbucket]

i'm thinking of picking up a laptop for some daily use, mainly browsing, posting, writing, MS Office, etc. i'm thrifty so i'm looking at factory refurb units, and there's two that i'm weighing.

differences? the stuff that matters to me is:

$350 Dell E6420
has i5-2520M processor with 4G of ram (if single slot, can't expand to 8G)
win7 home premium

$380 Acer E1 series
has N2920 processor with 8G of ram
lower power consumption (mainly from processor)
win8.1 with touch screen and full keyboard (w/ num pad)

both have DVD drives, a 1366x768 screen, and i'd swap in a 240G SSD into either one and do a clean install of the same OS (once i extract the key). both are refurbs and i'd add on a in-store warranty (up to 3yrs). and i actually do like win8.1 just as much as 7.

which is "better"? the one with the stronger i5 processor, or the one that has better everything else (ram, touch, numpad)?

 

[Cristi72]

Hello,

If you spend lot of time away from the mains plug and the touch screen is useful for your applications, go for the ACER. If you need more computing power (light video editing and also game a little), the i5 is the better choice.

 

[Rocko1976]

The i5 is a much better processor. Also, Win 7 is the superior OS IMO. I have used 8.1 and absolutely hate it. I would go with the Dell hands down.

 

[giantbucket]

well, i like Win8.1, so as far as OS i'm ok either way. Win7 is in no way superior for what i do (which is half java apps and half ms.office apps) but i'm thinking the Dell is looking better as the stronger processor does open up the possibility of some light gaming as well. oh, and it seems the dell has a matte screen, which would be much better outside even in the shade or overcast days.

 

[jaguarskx]

The Dell E6420 has two RAM slots and it can address up to 8GB of RAM. Due to the Core i5 CPU it is a much more powerful laptop. It is a business laptop and it does have a matte screen.

The Acer laptop should have longer battery life since the N2920 consumes less power, but you will take a performance hit.


If you don't mind buying from eBay, you can purchase the Dell E6420 for $230 in the link below. You can click the box for the SquareTrade 2 year warranty for $70. Or you can go SquareTrade's site and purchase a 3 year warranty for it $70 ($50 deductible per claim) or $135 (no deductible) when insuring a laptop for $200 - $300.

http/www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Latitude-E6420-Intel-Core-i5-2540M-2-60GHz-4GB-320GB-WebCam-Windows7-Laptop/161623246862?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D27705%26meid%3D38ef98f723474a89a275aaf25de19b0e%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D5%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D400876402701&rt=nc

http/www.squaretrade.com/laptop-warranty

 

[giantbucket]

i actually found the ebay canada site for the dell. they seem to have a few of them for around $100 less than the store i first looked at. i'll see if there's extended warranties for us Great White North folk. but that $100 price diff certainly makes the Dell a no-brainer.

 

[giantbucket]

yup, bought (won?) the Dell on my canadian ebay site, right from the official dell refurb store. $100 difference lets me upgrade to SSD and possibly up the ram as well. should be good for basic on-the-go stuff that isn't gaming.

at this price, i'll probably forget about looking for an extended warranty - cheaper & simpler to buy another refurb down the line!

 

[jaguarskx]

Good for you.

Just put the laptop through it paces before looking to upgrade it. You want to make sure you are happy with it before the window to return the laptop for a refund (excluding shipping costs) closes. Since you bought it from the official Dell refurb store, it should come with a 1 year warranty... at least it would in the US.