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Question

Which laptop should I buy?

Sep 7, 2016 10:20AM PDT

I know this is a very vague question, but I've always been a MacBook user, therefore buying a Windows laptop is pretty new to me. I do have a desktop computer running Windows but I believe that's a different topic for now.

I'm on a tight budget and these are what I am looking at right now:

dell latitude e6520
Lenovo Ideapad 500
Dell Inspiron 15R 5559
DELL Xps L502X
Lenovo Ideapad z580

They all have nearly identical specifications and similar reviews and prices, so I honestly don't know which to go for.

Discussion is locked

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Clarification Request
These are model lines and not specific models.
Sep 7, 2016 10:39AM PDT
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slightly used alienwares??
Sep 7, 2016 12:10PM PDT

Would a slightly used Alienware be a good option? There are M14X R2s and Alienware 15R1s available for sale and in a good condition for similar prices.

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No. And why.
Sep 7, 2016 12:16PM PDT

I find gaming laptops do not age well. Most owners do not use the 1st of the month canned air routine and the laptops in just 2 years have questionable stability or value. Unless simple laptops without gaming, gaming laptops are generally not a good idea when used.

You don't know how much life is left or if there are issues that have them selling their POC.

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You're right.
Sep 7, 2016 3:46PM PDT

After thinking about it, I believe you are right and I agree with you - I strongly doubt the customers actually take care of their gaming laptops that much.

After hours of research, I found two good deals:

A brand new, sealed acer aspire v15 nitro black edition vn7-592g-71zl for a good price and a week old (with warranty) Asus ROG G551J Gaming Laptop. Which do you think I should go for? I like the design of the Acer but I'm unsure about the brand, whereas Asus is very popular for its performance and laptops in general. They both cost around $1000 USD (which is good for the crazy prices in Egypt).

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Looking at the Asus
Sep 7, 2016 4:35PM PDT

I see someone yelping about a board failure. You MUST get a warranty. And not from the seller, they tend to walk.

My son's NEW Asus ROG with 16GB DDR4 RAM, 960m and all the goodies is 1K USD. If you are buying second hand you need to do better.

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I agree but
Sep 7, 2016 5:28PM PDT

Unfortunately, it is totally different over here. For one, the warranty from just about any company only lasts for one year and you cannot really purchase 'extended warranty' because that does NOT exist and they don't like to be held responsible even for the silliest manufacturing problems.

Where did you read about the board failure? Was it the ASUS or the Acer?

The Asus does come with a warranty with 11 months left but the Acer is imported and has no domestic warranty so that's invalid. Is your son happy with his ROG Asus? I have seen a lot of them in the market during the past couple of hours and I'm truly highly interested; although they aren't the best looking of the bunch, the performance definitely is the highlight of that faction.

Here are some other ones I found (some new, some slightly used):

Asus ROG 752
ASUS N550JX-DS74T Touchscreen

I am not sure if I want a touchscreen, though; I may be biased, but I tend to not take touchscreen laptops seriously.

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I used google for the search.
Sep 7, 2016 5:43PM PDT

It doesn't mean your laptop will have that issue, just a reminder how important a warranty, even if just a year is.

Apple, worldwide has Apple Care which you can extend AFAIK to 3 years. Worth it.

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We don't even have that!
Sep 8, 2016 6:57AM PDT

We don't even have Apple Care over here, unfortunately. I had two MacBook Pros and they both started failing right after their warranty expired and I had to pay for the costly repairs.

I have finally decided on either one of two laptops but I'm waiting for the sellers to give me better offers and I'll pick:

Lenovo Ideapad Y700 with these specifications:
Processor : Intel Core i7 - 6th Generation Quad Core 2.6GHz
GPU : Nvidia GTX 960M 4GB DDR5
RAM : 16GB DDR4 2133MHz
Display : 15'9 - 1920x1080 FHD 288PPI
Hard Drive : 1TB Western Digital HGST HTS541010A7E630 HDD , +128GB Samsung MZNLN128HCGR-00L2 SSD
Audio : 2 x 2W JBL Speakers with Chamber + 3.0 W Subwoofer and Dolby® Home Theater™

Or

Asus ROG G751JL Gaming Laptop with these specifications:
Intel Core i7 4720HQ 2.6 & Turbo up to 3.6 GHz
- 16 GB RAM Up To 32 GB
- 1 TB 7200 RPM Hard Drive & M2 SSD Slot
- NVIDIA GTX 965M , Same As GTX 970M
- 17.3" IPS FHD display ( 1920 x 1080 ) With Built In G Sync
- 3x USB 3.0 , 1x Thunderbolt 2

They both seem amazing but I believe Lenovo has the newer processor (which I know isn't that big of a deal) and also 15 is a bit more suitable for me and less heavy.

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Sorry.
Sep 8, 2016 9:06AM PDT

Your post is a moving target. You lead with some models, added more and kept changing.

As you can't settle down I think you should know how I research notebooks.

1. Personal experience. I ran repair shops long ago and now consult.
2. Google.
3. Notebookcheck.
4. CNET.