Octopus Overlords

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-130 ... Id=6266400

Would greatly appreciate some forum feedback please.

Kid's looking for Windows laptop (the Chromebook's just not cutting it long haul, not enough space w/ flash drive only, needs Office for school (open office not enough, they want Word) and few other things.

I have $150 in Best Buy GC already and can get $125 more. This looked like a decent (not great, more adequate) for her needs:

Specifically she wants to be able to do:
Microsoft Office (probably 2013 version - specifically Word, but probably Excel too).
Minecraft
Orcs must die 2
Dungeon Defenders
be able to run all versions of RPG maker software (2003 through MV) + Pixel Maker MV
Web surfing

Thanks for any/all feedback!

4GB of memory? For Win10? That would make me nervous. Can the memory be increased? 500GB 5400 RPM isn't great either.

On the other hand, that's a really low price.

Yeah for that price you get 4gb.

Scour for anything close at 8.

It's not an SSD HD but at the price, not to be expected.

But the ram. At least check if it's upgradeable and if so buy some.

Thanks peeps.

Went back to their site to look for any 8 GB RAM laptops - cheapest was $360 (bit over $275, though I think I also have ~$20 credit from last gift card I used at BB). Not being SSD hard drive isn't a problem (it's a budget PC, not expecting perfection, just want functionally decent - my dad bought a cheap laptop a few years ago and it sucks, just trying to boot up and surf the web is extremely slow).

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-330 ... Id=6266402

Definitely better.

I'm assuming the requirements for those games are pretty low.

I found one site that said:

The 2200U is a big step down. It gives up half the cores of the higher end mobile Ryzen chips and has to make do with a mere 3 graphics cores, so its graphics performance is much lower. I wouldn’t expect it to work well for anything but the lowest end games. It should be adequate for a lot of general non-gaming use.

They liked the 2200G much better. However, I didn't see that option in a quick search. And obviously that raises the price.

So assuming that she is fairly patient and not put off by slowness, and doesn't need all the fancy graphics, then it should be fine. More RAM will definitely help if she needs to open multiple applications. The next possible stumbling block, though, is the battery life. Will she be okay with mostly having it plugged in? 4.5 hours is not much. Especially since it'll plummet if she's doing much on it. I'm assuming places like school libraries come equipped with lots of outlets these days? Otherwise she'll probably be limited in how much she can use it outside of her where she's living.

Add $110 and get her this:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-330 ... Id=6266403

More limited storage but she'll thank you for getting her an SSD.

Full HD resolution too. If she wants to watch lots of videos, that will also be appreciated. Much better native resolution capabilities.

And a better processor and lighter weight. No brainer if you can afford it. She can always add an SD card or external drive later if she needs more space

Money's a bit tight right now and looking at an "exciting" major surgery for my wife next year, so an extra $110 may not be an option, but I will look into it.

Thank you again for all the feedback, much appreciated!

Is she able to contribute a little? Computers are one of those things where a little more $$ can make a huge difference. At least at the level of laptop that you are looking at.

He's somewhat limited here due to already having BB gift cards. (I believe.) So buying anywhere else really isn't an option.

awww i forgot that part. my parents got a budget laptop from Staples five years ago (it was even on post-xmas clearance) and man, that thing feels cheap and flimsy. but it *is* still functioning just fine and it does what they need it to.

Thanks HBA (Hit?) but yes, Mix is correct. The only reason there is even consideration of a computer here is because of the gift cards for Best Buy.

She has virtually no money (had to lend her a couple hundred to pay fully pay for second semester of college (so she didn't have to start taking out loans yet). Mentioned the computer suggested above w/ the extra $110, she was flat out against that since she already owes us a couple hundred. She's not an a financial wiz by any means but she's very determined not to get overwhelmed with debt (apparently managed to convey to her what a bad idea that would be quite successfully).

Laptop was preferred, but she could live with a desktop, so I looked those up at BB. They have 2 that have 8GB ram under $500.00 (379 and 499) - not an improvement.

Oh well, thank you all for the feedback, guess she'll have to wait a bit longer or save up some money.

Zenn7 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 14, 2018 8:22 pm needs Office for school (open office not enough, they want Word) and few other things.

Could she use Libre Office... it mimics the full MS Office suite - and it's free (open source).

She's using Open office (or whatever it's called), but her school required at least one paper submitted as an actual word doc that she couldn't do with open office. Assuming she will have more as this was her first semester.

Not sure exactly why she couldn't get what she needed from Open office and no clue what the differences are between MS office, Open office and what you linked when it gets down to the distinct requirements they had.

I'll point it out to her though. I think her main priority was playing the games over MS office (she's got workarounds/alternatives for the office stuff).

Thanks for the link.

Check the Microsoft HUP program to see if your work is a member and you could get Office for $15. Or her school’s technology center to see about a student license.

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Sun Dec 16, 2018 11:20 pm Check the Microsoft HUP program to see if your work is a member and you could get Office for $15. Or her school’s technology center to see about a student license.

Getting office isn't a problem (got that, through work HUP program). It's the computer to put it on that she needs that's the problem.

Ah.

Can't you run MS Office apps on a chromebook?

Office 365, yes.

Sorry for not responding sooner - JCC - I didn't know the answer to that.

Thanks Kasey. I do not have Office 365.

I think though, her goal was more for gaming than productivity...

She discovered she does NOT need any books next semester, so she might be able to contribute $100 or so - puts us at $400 cap restricted to Best Buy - doesn't have to be a laptop, could be a desktop. Might try looking again now.

Found refurb laptops at Best Buy website.

They are mostly 14" (that's the size of her netbook, plus, at least while in her dorm room, she can attach the 17" monitor she was using on the desktop that died).

Said dead desktop was purchased about the time Win 8.1 came around (it was a $600 Cyberpower Best Buy - nothing special). Used whatever video card came with it and I think 8GB ram (could be wrong). It was a decent computer for what the games I played at the time (definitely not maxing out graphics for anything that wasn't old though).

There are range of laptops in refurbished in the $200-$300 (or just over) price. HP, Lenovo, Dell. With 8GB ram. I5 processor (the couple I looked at were 3rd gen mobile). Graphic cards were the onboard Intel 4000/4600/etc (nothing special, mentions good for casual gaming - her most demanding game is probably Dungeon Defenders 1 - probably won't play w/ graphics maxed, but these can handle that).

Variety of hard drives - some had 128 GB SSD, others ranged form 320-750 GB non-SSD. She doesn't strongly need SSD (it's a little faster, but not significantly noticeable for what she will be doing). Leaning towards the non-SSD for space (128GB is really small if you don't have anything for backup and not going to be able to get anything for several months to a year).

Battery life is not a major issue, she can take power cord with her every where.

Anything else in particular to consider?

Couple examples (there are more in-between these but I'm already asking a lot, don't want to provide 10+ options):

$258
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/dell-latit ... Id=5581172
- 2 variants - 1 w/ 128 GB SSD, 1 with 500 GB HD

$288
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-thi ... Id=5581188

$299
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-14-refu ... Id=5956004

Thank you in advance for any and all feedback and again for all the feedback already provided!

The "standard" advice... all buy the most that you can afford. So I'd definitely recommend the more expensive of the options if it's within your means.

SSD would be a noticeable improvement, not so much during gaming as when booting up the laptop or opening applications. However, I absolutely agree that 128G is too small if it's the only drive. And kids need to learn some patience, amiright?

The 8G memory is better. I'm not a fan of shared memory, but as long as she isn't running multiple displays and trying to game at the same time that she's using other apps.

For example, my work laptop only has 8G of memory, and I will often have Outlook, MS Teams, Firefox w/ half a dozen tabs open, SQL Developer, and several Putty windows open. I don't have any problems most of the time.

So as long as it's either playing a game or doing school work/browsing, I would think it would be fine.

what's 'dead' on the desktop PC? that could be revived.

Being an off the shelf CyberpowerPC (of the low end variety), I have read they use unreliable power supplies that frequently have issues after a year or two. So I suspect the power supply is bad.

Specifically, the computer would seemingly randomly shut down. Not really sure why. Eventually, it got worse, and kid said she couldn't get it started at all after a several months. I haven't tried it since she said that (been several months now and a month or so completely unplugged). I could try to see if it will power back up or I can clean/reseat/whatever might help get it back up, but it would still have the recurring shutdown, would not expect it to last.

Best guess is power supply is bad and it has caused one or more other components to have issues. Lacking any spare parts (unless I want to risk parts from one of our two working computers - one that is probably too old to have any compatible parts, and my newer/better one (from a thread early last year where y'all helped me pick out a good desktop for the money I had - custom cyberpowerpc that other than initial issue of video card I bought being DOA and getting that replaced - has worked fine and been a great computer). Not willing to risk parts that for all I know could get damaged by the suspected power supply given they would likely come from my good pc.

So, replacing it seems the best option that will be likely to end well and not waste money.

I'm thinking the $299 HP looks best after some more research. It's 4th gen CPU, most of the others are 2nd gen, couple 3rd gen. Hoping that would be a sign the other components are more current as well. Kid wants to run it by some friend from school that's into computers.

Thank you everyone for your feedback!

AFAIK, CyberpowerPC should use normal ATX power supplies. You can sometimes even find those at Best Buy in the PC section, but just order one off Amazon. 500 to 650 w should be plenty.

If you want to go cheaper, woot.com (part of Amazon) should also have some refurb laptops.

Kasey Chang wrote: ↑Sun Dec 30, 2018 1:36 am AFAIK, CyberpowerPC should use normal ATX power supplies. You can sometimes even find those at Best Buy in the PC section, but just order one off Amazon. 500 to 650 w should be plenty.

If you want to go cheaper, woot.com (part of Amazon) should also have some refurb laptops.

Thanks Kasey -
I'm stuck with Best Buy due to most of the money being invested would be BB Gift Cards (more than 80%).

I don't know what kind of power supply it has or they use in general, I just know when I was getting a custom upgrade that was a huge thing form their forum and I think here, upgrade the power supply, their default power supplies are known to be flaky/issues after a year or two.

I know a little about computers, not enough - but if there was a problem with a power supply, wouldn't there be a significant probability that it would eventually damage other components? This computer was used for over a year (maybe even 2) after the random shutdowns started (they got worse slowly, more rapidly towards the end).

Zenn7 wrote: ↑Sun Dec 30, 2018 3:00 am I know a little about computers, not enough - but if there was a problem with a power supply, wouldn't there be a significant probability that it would eventually damage other components? This computer was used for over a year (maybe even 2) after the random shutdowns started (they got worse slowly, more rapidly towards the end).

meant to address this earlier - not necessarily so. like, apparently my parents' PC had been having problems with this PSU for some years now, but after it was replaced, everything seems fine still.

Zenn7 wrote: ↑Sun Dec 30, 2018 3:00 am I don't know what kind of power supply it has or they use in general, I just know when I was getting a custom upgrade that was a huge thing form their forum and I think here, upgrade the power supply, their default power supplies are known to be flaky/issues after a year or two.

I know a little about computers, not enough - but if there was a problem with a power supply, wouldn't there be a significant probability that it would eventually damage other components? This computer was used for over a year (maybe even 2) after the random shutdowns started (they got worse slowly, more rapidly towards the end).

Not necessarily damage other components. Mainboards have their onboard power filters. If you can take a picture of the power supply and overall what's inside the case, and any markings on the power supply we can probably find you the right one off BB's website or something.

FWIW, Woot.com has a HP refurb Elitebook Core i-5 4300U notebook, 14inch screen w/ 8GB RAM and 120GB SSD, Wifi-N, and Win10 Pro for $309.99, free shipping if you have Amazon prime. This is their business line, so it will have just Intel graphics, minimal game playing Minecraft should be no problem though.

https://computers.woot.com/offers/hp-84 ... cnt_wp_7_3

Putting this here, again.

I'm stuck with Best Buy due to most of the money being invested would be BB Gift Cards (more than 80%).

Ordered the laptop for the kid.

Will look into the power supply for the other PC though, it's significantly newer/better than wife's current PC. If I can fix it, that would be useful. Not a high priority at the moment (need money for the power supply - but the good news, that money is coming in generic visa gift card from a bonus points program at work so not too limited in where I can shop).

Got the HP ProBook 640 G1 laptop today (they left it on the porch, didn't knock; better than the delivery of the new tablet cover - they left that out by a tree by the drive - never had them not at least bring deliveries to our deck before - fortunately not much chance of anyone stealing stuff out here). It's 64bit, running Win10.

Never dealt with this TPM security thing. This says it's not up to date. V1.2 and should be updated to a newer version (best I could tell from researching, a newer version of 1.2).

Needs Owner Password (for bios maybe??) Didn't come with one, don't have it, don't have a password file. From what I could find online to attempt to reset it and just run the update w/o it, failed.

Says I have Manufacturer Info:
Name: IFX
Manf Ver: 4.32
Specific Ver: 1.2

Wants me to update to some flavor of 4.34.

This new enough to solve the critical concerns?

If not, any idea how to get around the owner password thing??

PS: I attempted to change thread title, don't think I succeeded though?

I have no idea what any of that means. So I'm no help.

I'd be on the phone with Best Buy to tell them to fix it. You purchased a working laptop. This ain't working. That makes it their problem. If I'm understanding correctly...

It works, just a security/firmware update. If it's a critical update, that's a concern. If not so much, then not worried about it. Don't think it's a "broke" thing, it's a "how do I do it" thing.

But it's apparently not form Best Buy, not their support. 3rd party thing from Joy Systems in NJ.

I think spam is Good.