S/H Laptop for new business venture - help!

benlanky

benlanky

benlanky

Associate
Joined
1 Aug 2005
Posts
477
Hi
As it says in the title, I am just starting up a new business for myself and need a laptop to get all the boring paperwork up and running, as I need to be doing it away from home, so away from my desktop. Unfortunately this means that I have a tiny budget to work with, so I will be looking at second hand or possibly Dell refurbished.
So, could anyone point me to a good deal with an absolute maximum budget of £300 - but less would be better. A decent sized screen would be handy as I hate the tiny ones (comes of being spoilt with a dual 22" and 19" desktop at home), portability is important too, but it will be used mainly for spreadsheets, word processing, internet etc, so it doesn't need to be cutting edge. Windows 7 is a must though.
Thanks for any help, links, recommendations or whatever!
 
For business computing, down time is a no-no. Avoid second hand and avoid home laptops, no ifs no buts no exceptions (bar the dell outlet but even then there are no guarantees you can get a goodun or a dog and the business laptops are often as much as they are new, if not more seeing as you would be looking at the vostro 3550 series in this budget)

Up your budget by £50 for this

Toshiba Satellite Pro C660-21C @ £349

Part Number: PSC0RE-01K01MEN

Stock Code: W178879

Intel® Core™ i3-370M Dual Core Processor, 15.6" HD Screen, Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64-bit, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 320GB HDD, DVD Rewriter, Integrated Graphics.

That 'pro' part makes a big difference as it is their business orientated system so built like a tank. If you want to add a 3 year toshiba warranty you can for £50 either through the re-seller as they are 1/2 price or direct with toshiba off their site.

Best value system by a long shot at this price atm.

Or for £329 but it is not a great value saving for a mere £20

Toshiba Satellite C660-2N7

Part Number: PSC1LE-04W005EN

Stock Code: 6453745

Intel Pentium Dual Core B950 Processor, 15.6" HD Screen, Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64-bit, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 320GB HDD, DVD Rewriter, Integrated Graphics, PSC1LE-04W005EN
 
Last edited:
Thanks, I had been looking at the Toshiba Satellite L755D-12L that is on offer for £280 at the moment, which looks pretty good although not as robust as a Pro version. The Pro C660-21C seems to be out of stock at that price too.
 
Ha Ha quality, they must have just dropped that in the last 10 mins or so. Probably got hundreds in stock then. When I got my probook from them it was 360 ish of 786 on the delivery box.

Seems a good price, you could add the 3 year toshiba warranty for £50 if you are bothered as they are on offer atm.

May as well buy it, I would be surprised if you find another comparable system for the price
 
Thanks, wonder if I should wait another hour for another price drop?!

Alternatively, how about the Samsung 600B4B for sale on here for £350? Seems like a respected laptop, even if the specs aren't anything to shout about.
 
benlanky said:
Thanks, wonder if I should wait another hour for another price drop?!

Alternatively, how about the Samsung 600B4B for sale on here for £350? Seems like a respected laptop, even if the specs aren't anything to shout about.
Click to expand...

Business Work = Business Notebook

2 reasons:

Firstly, they are built better and Secondly, they make you look look proper pro. Turn up to a meeting or presentation with a home notebook and you may as well fire up a bit of call of duty on the screen rather than a plush powerpoint.

Take the toshiba.
 
The Samsung is a business lappy isn't it? I prefer Toshiba as a brand myself, but the Sammsung still sells for £750, so getting it for £350 seems almost too good to miss....
 
Samsung don't make business laptops.

Business Notebooks found in the corporate environment or SMEs are:

HP ProBook (no underside docking port) or EliteBook (underside docking port)
Dell Vostro (no underside docking port) / Latitude (underside docking port)
Lenovo Thinkpad (underside docking port on some models excluding Edge)
Toshiba Satellite Pro (no underside docking port) / Tecra (underside docking port on some)

Sony does tend to cross-over with the higher end stuff being quite popular which the self employed type who can afford the £1K plus, don't need a docking station but benefits from it being tax deductible.

Graphics / Architect = Apple……this is an image thing not a functionality one.
 
Last edited:
benlanky said:
Very true :D

I work in the AV industry, so not exactly corporate, but I take your point.

Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...

Worth noting that, often, the only difference between the business notebook ranges of the same brand will be the underside docking port. This can double the purchase price for what seems like the same generic spec.

Due to H&S regs, and ease of workstation interface for hot desking, most companies will opt for notebooks with the docking port.

For example, I got my 13.3" HP probook (no docking port) with an i3 380m for £299 after HP cashback last year. The equivalent elitebook was £690.
 
Lucero said:
There are no H&S regs around docking ports. Just go for the less quality ProBooks, or equivalent. :)
Click to expand...

You misread what I meant, no H&S around a docking station itself, but there is around workstations and being hunched over a laptop is not allowed in quite a few organisation I have worked with, hence having a docking port / dock with monitor and keyboard.
 
Scrutinize said:
You misread what I meant, no H&S around a docking station itself, but there is around workstations and being hunched over a laptop is not allowed in quite a few organisation I have worked with, hence having a docking port / dock with monitor and keyboard.
Click to expand...

This is simply not the case. You seem to assume a docking station is an ergonomic fix, it isn't. Any sensible company is not going to buy a docking station (or enforce one) when you can simply plug in any required peripherals to the laptop as required, and it behave in exactly the same way.

Docking stations are more often used for home users or home business users, not office or hot desking.

Factor that in along with the increased price for the laptop, the ridiculous price of the docking station, and the fac that you have to have a completely seperate, special power supply to unit to that supplied with the laptop and it becomes completely pointless.

A docking station is a convenience, one which most companies will not choose to pay for.
 
Many large / SME organisations will have a very strict H&S policy which includes the employees workstation. The employer has a duty of care to the employee and the H&S workstation assessment will include everything from chair type, height, desk height, docking, foot and palm rests and screen height.

You cannot easily achieve a working position which conforms to the policies without a monitor and keyboard to plug in. On the strictest policies, every time you move equipment or someone else uses your desk you are supposed to do a quick refresh of the assessment. Overkill yes, H&S OTT stupidity yes, but those that interpret the policy see the docking station as the acceptable solution rather than having cables on desks so things don't get moved around.

The organisations I have worked with all choose docking stations as their way forward but there are only a limited number of staff who would have a laptop anyway so the costs are marginal. Most if not all workstations would have desktop / terminal PCs and even those employees with laptops would not use them in the office but simply use the main PC. A lot of the docking stations seem to have been legacy purchasing decisions and with a slow refresh of IT systems they just keep using them.

I do agree it is completely pointless and just as easy, if not more flexible to plug in to a monitor / keyboard which is the approach I took when procuring the IT here across 2 offices. Sensible decisions like that meant I got 2 offices equipped with 5 Dell PCs and a Laptop for a lollypop over £2K including 22” monitors, Office pro and Win 7 Pro. Budget was £5k.

I have noticed, companies with IT departments that cross-charge internally for all their services, seem to have the IT equipment to justify the IT departments charging and existence rather than the most financially sensible solution.
 
H&S workstation assessments do not include docking. I've never seen one that has, and that's working for over 10 different SMEs in 3 years from government to finance. In fact, I've only worked at one company that does use docking stations, and that was a "nice to have".

You still have plenty of cables with a docking station. They don't magically disappear. Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse, Power and LAN are still all there. As I said before, it's pure convenience and will never be a factor in H&S. It's not an ergonomic fix. If you sit at a desk with a docking station, you'll still move the keyboard and monitor to your prefered position.

Having a docking station is not going to make you sit at your desk any differently either, and causes no further stress than plugging a USB disk in. Add to that that almost every laptop, unless from the same brand, has a different replicator port, and the fact that not all docking stations will work (even with same brand), and the discussion as to their H&S benefits becomes even more moot. :)
 
Lucero said:
H&S workstation assessments do not include docking. I've never seen one that has, and that's working for over 10 different SMEs in 3 years from government to finance. In fact, I've only worked at one company that does use docking stations, and that was a "nice to have".
Click to expand...

This is what happens when non-techy people mange the IT departments because of the way management tiers work in the more traditional organisations, coupled with the lack of desire to replace legacy hardware based on purchasing decisions from 8 years ago.

Luckily for you, you get to work with some of the more dynamic and forward thinking companies or shape IT policies.
 
Well,I ended up getting the Tosh recommended above and am using it now. It's a good size, relatively light, decent screen and good to type on. Only downside so far is that the casework feels a bit plasticky, but still looks good in a businessy kind of way.

Thanks for the recommendation Scrutinize, I'm a happy bunny.
 
benlanky said:
Well,I ended up getting the Tosh recommended above and am using it now. It's a good size, relatively light, decent screen and good to type on. Only downside so far is that the casework feels a bit plasticky, but still looks good in a businessy kind of way.

Thanks for the recommendation Scrutinize, I'm a happy bunny.
Click to expand...

No probs, :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom