Helping a friend buy a laptop with store credit

[HungerMechanic]

Hey folks,

I have a question I thought the people here might want to take a stab at.

I have a friend in Australia who returned a defective HP laptop and now has store credit ($999 AUD) at Harvey Norman. They are looking to get something more reliable.

I was presented with this link, concerning available computers:

https://www.harveynorman.com.au/catalogsearch/result/?q=laptop


What stood out to me were the Lenovo Ideapads, as well as the Asus Vivobooks and Zenbooks. I think that they might be the most reliable offerings there.

The computer will be used for podcasting, such as the creation of audio files and uploading stuff to the internet. It only needs a processor better than Celeron, and more than 4 GBs RAM / 64 GBs SSD.

I have checked with them, and they have $999 worth of store credit. This prevents most of the Lenovo and Asus models from being purchased, unfortunately. There are Microsoft Surface devices that may fall within this limit, but I am unsure about their reliability.

[tp4tissue]

Those prices are really high.  Even with the exchange rate.

A gaming laptop will give you ~50-90 watt CPU sustained power, while a similar cpu in a thinner platform will only have 15-35watt sustained.   They'll both bench about the same in a short test, but obviously the gaming laptop will stand Victorious.

So, if you want Performance, look for something that's gamer-y..


If we're doing bare minimum hardware, then you have to look at it from a lifestyle product perspective.

Attract dat femalez @ the library, get the new Apple M1 Macbook, it's not only an amazing machine, it's the equivalent of sitting at a desk with a mercedes.

To be ignored by all femalez, buy any of the following brand, acer/asus/gigabyte/lenovo/hp/gateway/dell/razer

Tossup @ attracting Tech-competent females,  LG/Samsung/NEC/Microsoft

If he wants to be The Anti-Poon and actively dispel all femalez in a massive 12meter radius.  Toshiba Satellite,  it's ghettotastic.

[HungerMechanic]

Haha, okay. Well, this laptop will be home-bound because of COVID.

Actually, power is not really needed much. The most CPU and RAM-intensive applications will be internet [building websites] and Audacity [audio editing.] The latter is something a Core2Duo could handle, and the web just needs a semi-modern processor.

And at least 8 GB of RAM.

Unfortunately, gaming laptops are not on offer for store credit, as far as I can see. Plus they would be out of the price range of $999 AUD.

Yes, the laptops are overpriced. Trying to get a decent laptop at a decent price is ridiculous in Australia, I've been there.

But I'd like to find something usable that won't break in 6 months, and the best it seems to me are the Lenovo Ideapads [fat and slim].

[tp4tissue]

If he's not cranking 100% TDP  I don't think any of these would break in 2-3 years.

If you drop it, the screens will typically break, the mainboards are really short and small so they're usually fine.

[jamster]

I'd be inclined towards the Lenovos simply for after sales support. My caveat is that my baseline is Thinkpads, I am not sure if Lenovo support for the non-Thinkpads are the same.

You mentioned the Surface as an option... very nice form factory, but practically impossible for a third party to do any repairs, and some older generations were heavily prone to failure. IMO a Surface is really a secondary laptop for when you want to spend the day traveling from cafe to cafe, they are not workhorse machines.

[tp4tissue]

Buy this one.

https://www.harveynorman.com.au/acer-nitro-5-15-6-inch-i5-10300h-8gb-512gb-ssd-gtx1650ti-4gb-gaming-laptop.html

all the other deals are worse.

[HungerMechanic]

If he's not cranking 100% TDP  I don't think any of these would break in 2-3 years.

If you drop it, the screens will typically break, the mainboards are really short and small so they're usually fine.

Yes, I agree. In theory, a Lenovo Ideapad should continue to function if not dropped. [Although I wonder about the screens on those Ideapads, which are almost certainly TN.]

Maybe you're right, and a gaming laptop is the better choice. Because of hardware. Here's one at 996:


https://www.harveynorman.com.au/acer-nitro-5-15-6-inch-i5-10300h-8gb-512gb-ssd-gtx1650ti-4gb-gaming-laptop.html

As long as it doesn't overhead, wheeze, melt-down, etc...

[tp4tissue]

yea that one. get that one.

[HungerMechanic]

I'd be inclined towards the Lenovos simply for after sales support. My caveat is that my baseline is Thinkpads, I am not sure if Lenovo support for the non-Thinkpads are the same.

You mentioned the Surface as an option... very nice form factory, but practically impossible for a third party to do any repairs, and some older generations were heavily prone to failure. IMO a Surface is really a secondary laptop for when you want to spend the day traveling from cafe to cafe, they are not workhorse machines.

Yeah, Surface doesn't come across as a reliable workhorse.

My bias is also coming from Thinkpad with the Lenovos. I know these Ideapads aren't built to the same spec, but they should at least function...

Buy this one.

https://www.harveynorman.com.au/acer-nitro-5-15-6-inch-i5-10300h-8gb-512gb-ssd-gtx1650ti-4gb-gaming-laptop.html

all the other deals are worse.

Ah, beat me to it!

[tp4tissue]

Make sure you tell him though,  acer is borderline anti-female only toshiba satellite is worse.

[HungerMechanic]

Yeah, won't be going for those last two!

Do you think if the budget was stretched to about $1,250, the Asus Vivobook would be worth it?

https://www.harveynorman.com.au/asus-vivobook-f712-17-3-inch-i7-10510u-8gb-512gb-ssd-laptop.html

There 2-3 similar models being offered.

[tp4tissue]

Yeah, won't be going for those last two!

Do you think if the budget was stretched to about $1,250, the Asus Vivobook would be worth it?

https://www.harveynorman.com.au/asus-vivobook-f712-17-3-inch-i7-10510u-8gb-512gb-ssd-laptop.html

There 2-3 similar models being offered.

I kid you not, everything else on that site is a rip-off.

that 17inch has no d-gpu, it costs more, and a slower cpu

[tp4tissue]

make sure to get the 144hz one, i'm pretty sure the non 144hz screen has lower color gamut.

[jamster]

I kid you not, everything else on that site is a rip-off.

that 17inch has no d-gpu, it costs more, and a slower cpu[/size][/color]

Australians get pretty shafted for a lot of consumer products- being a smallish market in the middle of nowhere makes it relatively easy for distributors to lock it down for both product selection and pricing.

[yui]

from my experience, if you want something reliable steer away from asus, toshiba and dell, at work i have had 3 dell catch on fire and one randomly die out of the 16 we got, toshiba have very unreliable hdd, if you take one with ssd no problem there, and all asus at work have overheating issues and fans that die 2 years into owning them (because fan always at 100%).
the surface has the problem of being built to make repair almost impossible.
if they have HP pro/elite laptops i have had good experiences fixing them, almost always dead wifi card but overall pretty easy to work on.
consumer HP in my experience is fairly reliable but a pain to work on, i have very little experience with other brands than those 4 so i can't really give advice on those.

[Leslieann]

I'm going to agree with Yiu here..
HP Pro/Elite/Envy (not Pavilion, it's junk)1, you want premium tier or business class.
Or
Apple
The HP is quality, easy to fix and Apple is well known for audio, especially podcasting.
Unfortunately pretty much all of those are out of the budget except a Mini, which leads me to think Acer is the least worst option.


Things to avoid
Lenovo Touchscreen unless you can verify the hinges are actually screwed to the lcd or lid and not glued.
Surface (garbage)
Asus is hit or miss and long term support is garbage
Dell is often very hit or miss and after what LTT found, not sure I would trust them with anything.
Toshiba used to be a good reliable if dull choice once you replace the drive (WTF) but they've come down a few pegs.

[yui]

i am pretty sure it does not apply with that store credit (what a scam in itself), and maybe this does not apply to Australia, but in France i ended up importing my HP elite from the US, the price + shipping + import duties were still cheaper than the price itself in France, just slower shipping and with an ansi layout, but also better internals... (450 USD with importation from the US vs 550 euros from France, a few years back...) so next time it may be worth it too look around if computers are marked up in your country.

[fanpeople]

Not even going to look at the laptops but I saw Harvey Norman so no doubt everything is overpriced. Your friend would be better off trying to trade that store credit with someone that wants a juicer. Then using the money from the juicer to put it towards a laptop from a company that is not dog ****.

**** you Harvey Norman. 

Also under Australian consumer law, if the item has a major defect you are entitled to a ****ing refund or replacement (your decision, not theirs) not bull**** store credit. **** you Harvey Norman. You are entitled to return it to where you bought it, not the manufacturer, **** you Harvey Norman. Warranty is for a reasonable amount of time, not specifically 1 or 2 years, **** you Harvey Norman.

Quite literally if your friend bought a laptop and it failed within a reasonable time frame (like a few years) and Harvey Norman could not get it repaired within a reasonable time frame, your friend is entitled to their ****ING MONEY NOT BULL **** HARVEY NORMAN ****STAIN DIP**** CREDIT.

I ****ing hate that ****ing place, I hate ****s that try to **** people out of their legal entitlements. Unless it was change of mind then your friend is stuck eating Harvey Norman's ****.

 

[jamster]

Not even going to look at the laptops but I saw Harvey Norman so no doubt everything is overpriced. Your friend would be better off trying to trade that store credit with someone that wants a juicer. Then using the money from the juicer to put it towards a laptop from a company that is not dog ****.

**** you Harvey Norman. 

Also under Australian consumer law, if the item has a major defect you are entitled to a ****ing refund or replacement (your decision, not theirs) not bull**** store credit. **** you Harvey Norman. You are entitled to return it to where you bought it, not the manufacturer, **** you Harvey Norman. Warranty is for a reasonable amount of time, not specifically 1 or 2 years, **** you Harvey Norman.

Quite literally if your friend bought a laptop and it failed within a reasonable time frame (like a few years) and Harvey Norman could not get it repaired within a reasonable time frame, your friend is entitled to their ****ING MONEY NOT BULL **** HARVEY NORMAN ****STAIN DIP**** CREDIT.

I ****ing hate that ****ing place, I hate ****s that try to **** people out of their legal entitlements. Unless it was change of mind then your friend is stuck eating Harvey Norman's ****.

That made me chuckle

I don't think I have ever bought anything there, the one that I always end up walking through seems to be be mostly meh furniture and a very lame electronics section.

[fanpeople]

That made me chuckle

I don't think I have ever bought anything there, the one that I always end up walking through seems to be be mostly meh furniture and a very lame electronics section.

This is exactly what it is.. it does a little bit of everything, but really ****ing poorly so it all costs too much because no one actually buys anything from them. They must be a front for drug importation or something because they are not getting money from sales, that is for sure.

[HungerMechanic]

Haha, thanks fanpeople. I remember I had to buy a laptop for someone in Australia, and avoided Harvey Norman. It's better to go direct to Lenovo sales during BF-style events, which is what I advised. [They got a Thinkpad.]

In this case, the deed is already done as this person had purchased an HP that failed. I guess it wasn't the elite business model. That's out of their price bracket anyways.

[tp4tissue]

That made me chuckle

I don't think I have ever bought anything there, the one that I always end up walking through seems to be be mostly meh furniture and a very lame electronics section.

This is exactly what it is.. it does a little bit of everything, but really ****ing poorly so it all costs too much because no one actually buys anything from them. They must be a front for drug importation or something because they are not getting money from sales, that is for sure.

New Plan.

We buy juicers,  trade them for Drugs, then flip the drugs @ a profit,  THEN buy a Ryzen 5950 + Nvidia 3090 gaming pc and play Cyberpunk 2077.