Reliable source for used laptop?
Dec 6, 2019 22:10:41 #
Looking to upgrade my 6 year old Win7, i5, 8GB integrated graphics laptop to something a bit more capable for photo PP work. Current machine is OK with Photoshop/ACR but very slow with Lightroom. I installed a SSD drive earlier in the year and it made a humungous difference, but with Win7 support expiring in January, I think it may be a good time to upgrade.
Looking for something like i7, 16GB with 6GB discrete graphic card. Would that be sufficient to run some of the Topaz AI programs?
Wondering if anybody could recommend a good used laptop dealer before I order a new one from Dell. Is there a 'KEH' of laptops? Anybody have experience of buying a laptop on eBay?
Looking for something like i7, 16GB with 6GB discrete graphic card. Would that be sufficient to run some of the Topaz AI programs?
Wondering if anybody could recommend a good used laptop dealer before I order a new one from Dell. Is there a 'KEH' of laptops? Anybody have experience of buying a laptop on eBay?
Dec 6, 2019 22:43:31 #
repleo wrote:
Looking to upgrade my 6 year old Win7, i5, 8GB int... (show quote)
Check out the MicroCenter
https://www.microcenter.com/site/stores/cambridge.aspx?storeid=121
Dec 7, 2019 00:07:09 #
"something like i7, 16GB with 6GB discrete graphic card."
This one matches that and is pretty good, but new at $1000.
https://www.costco.com/lenovo-legion-y545-gaming-laptop---intel-core-i7---geforce-gtx-1660ti---144hz-1080p-display.product.100492301.html
This one matches that and is pretty good, but new at $1000.
https://www.costco.com/lenovo-legion-y545-gaming-laptop---intel-core-i7---geforce-gtx-1660ti---144hz-1080p-display.product.100492301.html
Dec 7, 2019 05:59:02 #
repleo wrote:
Looking to upgrade my 6 year old Win7, i5, 8GB int... (show quote)
I would say that 16 gb will just barely make it on ram, better to have 32 gb. And unless you are running dual 5K displays, you don't need 6 gb vram on a card, unless you are editing/playing 60p video files - 2 gb should be more than adequate. Lightroom will benefit from having more cpu cores - up to 12, and Ps will benefit from having more ram. Neither application will take advantage of huge vram spaces or parallel processing - CUDAs - so there is no value in getting a high performance graphics card. You are not likely to see a significant increase in performance unless you get a laptop with an m.2 NVMe PCIe SSD, and SSD for primary storage, and an i8 or i9 cpu with more than 6 cores.
Unfortunately the resources needed for a gaming machine differ in important ways from what you need for photo editing, and the cost/benefit of fast gpu with lots of vram is very low, compared to putting the $$ on more useful features and capacities.
Dec 7, 2019 06:15:20 #
repleo wrote:
Looking to upgrade my 6 year old Win7, i5, 8GB int... (show quote)
I would look at Puget Systems for specs - they would be the same for laptop and desktop - for cpu, gpu, vram, system ram and drive types, then go to a site like XoticPC and find something that is close. They have a few engineering workstations that feature Quadro graphics cards and ram space for up to 64 gb, etc - the least expensive being this one:
https://xoticpc.com/collections/professional-series-laptops/products/msi-wp65-9th-263
But you can custom configure pretty much anything you want with MSI, Sager, or Asus motherboards. They also have a clearance/closeout section that has some interesting year-old laptops.
Any of these would be cost effective compared to Dell's offerings, or anything you might buy in a big box store.
I am not cheap, just frugal, and I love to get the maximum bang for my bucks. I would not ever buy a used laptop - not even from my sister.
Dec 7, 2019 07:43:24 #
Dec 7, 2019 08:04:21 #
Dec 7, 2019 08:54:21 #
I have purchased several 'refurb' computers from Tiger Direct.com and am completely satisfied with both their products, service and prices.
www.tigerdirect.com
www.tigerdirect.com
Dec 7, 2019 09:00:02 #
Dec 7, 2019 11:17:12 #
photoman022
Loc: Manchester CT USA
If you don't mind making a couple of hours trip, I recommend Kaplan Computers in Manchester, CT (right off of I-84). I purchased my last two refurbished laptops from them. The staff works on salary, not commission, so they have no incentive to up-sell you. I've purchased my last two refurbished laptops from them. I had to buy the second one because the first one no longer ran Photoshop Elements without crashing.
I went to the store, explained my needs, they asked some questions and recommended a range of laptops for me. They are my go-to store for anything computer related.
www.kaplancomputers.com
I went to the store, explained my needs, they asked some questions and recommended a range of laptops for me. They are my go-to store for anything computer related.
www.kaplancomputers.com
Dec 7, 2019 11:18:23 #
OP here. Some great leads and recommendations here. Thanks you all for your input. I will look into all of the suggestions.
Dec 7, 2019 12:06:14 #
waynecrowley
Loc: enerywhere/anywhere
I don't do digital post processing, just toying with learning the intricacies of Gimp. However I have had good success buying laptops through eBay. I've always received a clean machine that met the advertised specs. Of course, as with anything, YMMV.
Dec 7, 2019 15:01:29 #
Micro center has a Lenovo Legion Y7000 15.6" Gaming Laptop Computer Refurbished - Black; Intel Core i7-8750H Processor 2.2GHz; NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB GDDR5; 16GB DDR4-2666 RAM; 1TB HDD+256GB SSD for $850. Sounds like a screamer.
Dec 7, 2019 16:46:45 #
I've had good success with these folks on eBay
https://www.ebay.com/sch/laptop_essential/m.html?ssPageName=&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2654
These folks are careful where their computers come from and do a good job. I've bought two of notebooks - Dell M4700's. Very happy with them
Alan
https://www.ebay.com/sch/laptop_essential/m.html?ssPageName=&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2654
These folks are careful where their computers come from and do a good job. I've bought two of notebooks - Dell M4700's. Very happy with them
Alan
Dec 7, 2019 17:55:52 #
Ltgk20
Loc: Salisbury, NC
I've bought many through ebay. One thing that I've had very good success with is purchasing engineering spec laptops which are a couple of years old (like the Lenovo W500 series and more recently, P50 series). These machines were designed to run CAD and are spec'd with faster components, more room for expansion, discrete graphics cards, etc. My daughter is using a W520 from roughly 2013 for creative cloud and AutoDesk Maya. With an i7 processor, 16GB ram, a 500gb SSD and its graphics card, it still serves her well. Additionally, because it's an older unit, it's fairly inexpensive to upgrade. Finally, it'll hold another 16gb of RAM which was pretty rare for laptops from that era.
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