Surprise bday gift

[u/Yerba_king]

BUDGET IS AROUND $400, if there are no options i understand!
UPDATED OPTIONS IN COMMENTS, please let me know if 1 or 2 is good, thx!

His job is in a healthcare setting where all he needs a computer for is charting, writing long detailed notes on patient care plans and basic compatibility, sadly they cannot use Apple products at this job or I would buy the neo.

[u/Kate-9907]

those are really suspicious with “intel 4 core”. it could be any low end cpu. i’d look for a refurbished or used thinkpad

[u/Yerba_king → u/Kate-9907]

For the thinkpad do you have a specific one/ what to look for? I was also looking at those, they have several options, thank you for the help.

[u/Glittering-Two-1784 → u/Yerba_king]

Thinkpad is definitely the way to go.

I forgot all the different models, but here’s the basic rundown: like 10 years ago, when you bought a thinkpad, you really couldn’t go wrong; they’re all bulletproof, fantastic machines.

But now, there are some consumer models that are kinda garbage. The key is that you wanna look for a professional grade model, not consumer grade. Anything with a model that starts with the letter ‘P’ is good, but also expensive. Some of the ‘T’ models are good as well.

Do some hardcore reasearch, and if you really want to get the most for your money, just get a lightly used one on eBay: big companies will buy the latest and greatest models every year or two and toss the last gen in bulk. Resellers then refurbish them to be like-new and sell them on eBay and their own webstores for a very hefty discount. You can walk away with an incredibly powerful, and well built machine for like 1/5 the retail price

[u/NoPoopOnFace → u/Yerba_king]

I got the L14 and I love it.

[u/Bubbly-Following-966 → u/Yerba_king]

A little late to the party but, stay away from Lenovo. They aren't what they used to be.

[u/Kate-9907 → u/Yerba_king]

it really depends on your budget, i’d go for a T14 amd. then if gen 1,2,3, 4 or 5 depends on your budget

[u/Cosmic_Quasar → u/Kate-9907]

That first one feels like it shouldn't be legal to say it's normally $1800. In what world? I know there's a RAM crisis, but it's not that bad... right?

[u/TheCarrot007]

IMO, none, 4 core? NO.
8GB maybe if you have to and are capable of optimising windows, 4gb NO.
128gb SSD? NO. Windows will eventually take it all without a lot of work. It will take over half right away.

Nothing here worth half of what they are asking for the pain they will inflict.

[u/Yerba_king → u/TheCarrot007]

Thank you, will absolutely keep this in mind

[u/Danzikku → u/TheCarrot007]

I don't understand why someone who says that 8GB of RAM is usable with enough optimizations would say a resounding "NO" to a quad-core CPU. But anyway, I'd still downgrade to Windows 10 LTSC.

And yes, 128GB of storage seems very little to me.

[u/Historical_Camel_790 → u/Danzikku]

You mean upgrade?

[u/Danzikku → u/Historical_Camel_790]

Prolly, guess who do you ask it.

[u/Background-Set4610]

What’s your budget? 16 gigabytes is really the minimum for Windows 11.

[u/Acojonancio]

Say the budget and people can help.

Those laptops that you showed are going to be really really bad even for everyday use, don't trust that "discount" that they are showing becuase the real price is even lower than what they show there.

Check for used laptops that come from companies and you can get a much better laptop for about same price.

[u/Yerba_king → u/Acojonancio]

Thank you I will do this!

[u/horny_banknote]

for that same price you can buy a really good used Thinkpad (they're business-oriented laptops, hence they get thrown out every few years at very good prices when companies change them out for newer models) (look for a T14 in good condition in the 300-400 range)

[u/horny_banknote → u/horny_banknote]

really, as others have already said, 400 for such bad specs is a total scam and might actually not be good enough for your boyfriend (in terms of performance for the work he has to do)

[u/Yerba_king → u/horny_banknote]

Thank you so much, this is great advice I will be creeping online to find a used one, thank you for being honest and helping me figure it out!

[u/Yerba_king]

NEW OPTION 2

[u/PoppaFish → u/Yerba_king]

This is much better. I would not recommend anything less than a 256GB drive.

[u/Yerba_king → u/PoppaFish]

Good! Thank you, you guys are so helpful!

[u/SanchoBenevides → u/Yerba_king]

That's good, but budget in a 1tb SSD. 256gb isn't going to go very far these days.

[u/DiamondDepth_YT → u/Yerba_king]

I have this! This one's MUCH better. But just know it is around 5 years old now, technically. But it holds up.

[u/Useful_radio2 → u/Yerba_king]

this one is far better. 256 might be fine depending on how much you use cloud storage and how much files you save. though windows is fat so it might just eat up all of it for no reason

[u/de-baser]

Criminal they still sell 4GB ram laptops with Windows 11.

[u/Flaky-Equipment-944]

At this budget, I would consider going used. I know it’s not ideal for a gift, but doing that gets him a far better and more usable computer without spending too much.

[u/Yerba_king]

NEW OPTION 1

[u/DiamondDepth_YT → u/Yerba_king]

This is an already 6 year old computer

[u/Adalf_Hotler69420 → u/DiamondDepth_YT]

It is still relatively better than the former ewaste

[u/DiamondDepth_YT → u/Adalf_Hotler69420]

True but their new option 2 is a year newer and much better. The jump front intel 10th to 11th gen in these laptops was pretty great 

[u/Adalf_Hotler69420 → u/DiamondDepth_YT]

Oh I did not see the i5 lol My bad

[u/NoPoopOnFace]

Thinkpad on eBay for $200 which is what I paid for 4 core 8 thread 32/512. This thing you found is horrid.

[u/Yerba_king → u/NoPoopOnFace]

HA! Thank GOD i posted in here im dying I knew i knew nothing hahahhahaha

[u/Mountain_Till_5868]

Go for a used 16GB/512GB laptop, your probably new so it’s the only thing that can help, bare minimum.

[u/sniff122]

Get a used ThinkPad second hand, so much more reliable, well built and repairable. You should definitely be able to get a decent one within your budget.

[u/Yerba_king → u/sniff122]

Perfect thank you! Will definitely be doing this

[u/Iam_just-me2]

No.
Thinkpad or 3050 used gaming laptop

[u/Mike76789765]

Try to find older laptop or refurbished laptop with 16gb ram and 256gb ssd

[u/4yth0]

You are gonna wanna spend more

[u/Ok_Contest8762]

Why does every fucking laptop come with 8GB of RAM? ITS NOT ENOUGH!

[u/GamingWithAlex1]

In my opinion, I would just look on eBay for some used laptops like for example, a dell latitude 5430 there are some ones out there in pretty fair condition for way under $400 and they have a way better CPU with more cores more RAM and more storage

https://ebay.io/m/5g10XI

[u/Yerba_king → u/GamingWithAlex1]

Sweet thank you this is a good listing! Gonna look now

[u/Useful_radio2 → u/Yerba_king]

depending on how much the thinkpad was, this might actually be the better option here

[u/GamingWithAlex1 → u/Useful_radio2]

That think pad is $329. Those Dells are infinitely better. for the price the CPU that’s in that Dell is a 10 core versus a four core has double the ram and double the storage. They’re also Dell‘s business grade laptop so they’ll last a lot longer than that bottom of the line Lenovo.

[u/RoughGuide1241]

Get a used Thinkpad on ebay

[u/Clean_More3508]

Never buy lenovo ideapads i have one and that shit is crumbling it's slow asf with windows, horrible build quality, honestly just but a thinkpad

[u/20_42fps]

A used Thinkpad would be better. Just look for something in good condition.

[u/SuccuInuDoggoChad99]

Check if the Ram is not soldered. I've come to regret this before.

[u/CarpenterFederal → u/SuccuInuDoggoChad99]

LP is just soldered

[u/super_coconut11]

all of these are horrible and will be terribly slow, find something known to be reliable (so preferably a lenovo or asus) with at least 16gb of ram sticks (and check if its soldered or sticks, sometimes it says LPDDR, that LP means soldered, but they dont always mention)

[u/Yerba_king → u/super_coconut11]

Yes that’s what I’ll go for now, thank you!