Recommendation for buying used / refurb budget laptop, $500 - $600

[wyckedscepter]

Hello All, I am looking for kind of a kick-around laptop, I do virtually all my work on my desktop, but need to upgrade from my 5 year old thinkpad edge which has turned into a sluggish brick. I'm a finance professional, so mostly just running many multiple instances of ms office applications, etc.

I like lenovo's, and in particular the thinkpads for their general sense of durability, keyboard and touch pad.

I think the best way to do would be to buy a year or two older model off of ebay, ideally one that is refurb, or has return policy. Since I am not making huge investment, willing to take a little risk. And if it has some scratches / minor cosmetic stuff, that's ok

Wish list below:

256 gb SSD (I think after formatting and installing ms office and a few other things, 128gb won't be enough space, unless maybe getting 64gb micro disk). I am not planning of having a ton of movies / hard drive space usage, but I don't want to be having to constantly deleting / cleaning things.

I am open on processor, probably intel i-5, 1.7 ghz that can be boosted would be sufficient, if greater, would be awesome

8 gb ram - this is key because i run a ton of windows / applications at once

13 inch screen size, a 14 inch screen size would be ideal, 15 if not too big and heavy

the best screen resolution I can get, I don't care that much about touch capability 3200 x 1800 on 13.3 inch would be sick.

form factor: thin and light, durable construction, great keyboard and touch pad

My initial thought is the lenovo yoga 2 pro 13.3", see ebay link below:

http/www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-Yoga-2-Pro-13-3-59418309-Intel-i7-4500u-8GB-RAM-256GB-Windows-8-1-/151773383079?hash=item23566609a7

$620

or this would be ideal if it were not white and was cheaper:

http/www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-ideapad-Yoga-3-14-IPS-FHD-1080p-MultiTouch-i5-5200U-8GB-256GB-SSD-1YR-/151778033877?hash=item2356ad00d5

$689



1. What is your budget?

Max $600

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?

13 in - 15 in, 14 I think ideally

3. What screen resolution do you want?

would love as high resolution i can get for the budget

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?

no, just mobile laptop i can work on excel, powerpoint, etc.

5. How much battery life do you need?

8+ hours? won't be watching a lot of movies, etc.

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?

no

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)

general productivity, like 10 instances of excel open, browser, etc.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?

was looking at 128 gb ssd, but i think after formatting and windows, will not be enough room. I don't need a ton of space, but seems like at least 200 gb (most likely a 256gb ssd)

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.

no

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?

couple years, not long term investment

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?

don't really need

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.

I like lenovo's, and in particular the thinkpads for their general sense of durability, keyboard and touch pad


13. What country do you live in?

 

[velo3100]

Go with the yoga 3 as it will bring the benefits of battery life. Plus it will be able to handle excel easily.

Finally I am not sure what the res of the first laptop is as it doesn't say.