14-15" ultrabook

[cptwhite_uk]

Really struggling to find some suitable candidates for a new laptop for my parents, so throwing the challenge down to anyone.

Must have:

SSD / Easily upgradable drive for me to swop out (128Gb is fine)
13"-15.6" screen
1600 x 900 minimum resolution
i3 or above processor
Nice typing experience (Dell / Lenovo preferred)

Preferred:

Matte screen
Hybrid device (yoga hinge or similar)
IPS display
1.6Kg or less

I'm looking for this this to come in around £500. Happy to look at refurbished / older models, Intel Core 3rd gen (ivy bridge) is fine.

My first thoughts we the Lenovo Yoga 13 (1st gen) or Samsung 9 series (1st gen). But the Yoga's seem to be demanding a fair price still (above £500) and the Samsung series 9 (1st gen) seem to have 1368 x 768 displays.

Happy to look at all options as long as it fits my criteria, any thoughts?

[george1979]

I was looking at laptops recently as well with somewhat similar requirements to you and it is painful trying to find anything with a decent resolution for under £500.

It may not be all that helpful to you but if you can stretch your budget you can get a brand new Dell Inspiron 7000 series with 4th gen i7 CPU, full HD resolution, 8Gb ram and so on for £600 with this voucher code J4H16JMGTBTGWH.

http://www.dell.com/uk/p/inspiron-15...spiron-15-7537

Only issues, other than cost, is I'm not sure how upgradable it is with that aluminium chassis and also the weight.

They have one in the outlet store for £618 so if you can use the voucher with that then that would get a bit closer to your budget.

http://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/S...1&puid=d06eea0

The main issue I found is the screen. It really is a pain in the neck trying to find anything with a decent panel under £500 :/

[DDY]

I recall seeing a some Dell Latitude E7440 ultrabooks with 1080p IPS displays on the business outlet for about £500 delivered when I was shopping for mine. I ended up with an E7440 with a FHD IPS display for £540. As usual with the outlet, keep checking because stock comes and goes quickly, I've just checked and there aren't any £500ish E7440s at the moment.

[cptwhite_uk]

Thanks guys I'll take a look at these options.

To be honest the resolution isn't a major factor for the parents, but I just feel in this day and age I really don't want to buy a device with such a low resolution!

[cptwhite_uk]

What do you think, worth a punt?

http://www.itcsales.co.uk/acatalog/D...FbPJtAodOXoA8Q

[Splash]

ITC have been going for donkeys' years - have dealt with them a couple of times in the past and not had any issues (and as such can't comment on their aftersales), but buying refurb is always a bit of a risk.

[DDY]

Looks good to me, I've bought many Dell products from ITC personally, though I would personally hold off for a few days to see if any good ones appear on Dell outlet, because the E7440s there include 3 years next business day service as standard, rather than 90 days warranty.

I've used Dell's NBD service loads over the years and I think it's worth paying for. Coincidently last week I had the motherboard replaced on this very E7440 I'm typing on, the SD card reader stopped working - which may or may not have been my fault...

[cptwhite_uk]

Seems £450-550 is a standard rate for these second hand so will keep my eye on the Dell Outlet for a while before I commit to a purchase. Thanks for the suggestions.