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Question

Best 14 inch laptop for home office?

Nov 26, 2013 12:09AM PST

Hello!

I am looking for a 14 inch laptop for my home office. Primarily, its for use with MS office, email, web surfing etc.

I have seen the following

Toshiba (E45T-A4300) at Bestbuy.com for $599 - i5,6GB RAM, 750 GB Hard Drive
Lenovo Thinkpad E-431 at Lenovo.com for $571.12 - i5, 4GB RAM, 500 GB Hard Drive
Lenovo Ideapad Flex at Lenovo.com for $549 - i3, 4GB RAM, 500 GB Hard Drive

I don't want to go beyond this budget. Please let me know if these are the best options available as of today or if I should look at any others in this budget.

Thank you so much!!

Discussion is locked

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Answer
For me it's the display and keyboard first.
Nov 26, 2013 12:15AM PST

I end up at the shops looking at the display since some are barely acceptable.

The reviews (CNET too) and notebookcheck might stand in as they do test the display a little more than others. It's odd your list has 2 i5's and one i3. The i3 is good at web, video but if anyone tells me they are editing video, writing apps then the i3 goes off the list.
Bob

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Toshiba/Lenovo or any others?
Nov 26, 2013 12:22AM PST

Thank you Bob,

I am not necessarily looking for i5 but in the price range, it just happens to be there!

I have never really used a Lenovo before so don't know if it is better/worse than Toshiba or if there are other options that I have not thought of just yet.

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Sorry but
Nov 26, 2013 12:27AM PST

There are hundreds of 14 inch laptops today so I kept to the list you provide for many reasons. First this is a world wide forum and what I can get here may not be there. And even if I used what's here, the problem is there is no concierge service on the forum where staff (I'm not staff) goes and does this.

It's time consuming and you may have seen member burst into flames when others won't do the work.

I think the i5 Lenovo is the best on that list. The Tosh has a small issue that I think their paint on the keyboard tops wear off too early.
Bob

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Toshiba
Nov 26, 2013 1:21AM PST

Thank you Bob for pointing out the paint issue which I had forgotten. I had a Toshiba 6 years ago where the paint did wear off quite early in its use but the functionality of the laptop was still great, although now it has slowed down considerably.