I've been struggling along with a 9 year old dual core I5 laptop and its just doesn't manage things like SDRConsole, SDRAngel etc. Now the keyboard is getting unreliable its really near the end.....
Looking at the re-furbished market seems to make sense rather than buying something new at the £1500 level.
Things around the £250-300 mark seem to offer "I7 4th generation 250GB SSD" which I'd assume would provide a big step-up (boot time and raw processing power).
Decent battery life, HDMI out, USB3 being the main requirements.
Anything else I should look for, specifically for ATV/DATV/Radio/EME (one day) etc (no gaming).
Anyone bought from or can recommend a refurbished outlet?
TIA
Gareth
Time for a new/upgrade to my laptop
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Re: Time for a new/upgrade to my laptop
Hi Gareth,
In the past I have bought "Refurbished" items from eBay which have on delivery turned out to be mint brand new. Comag satellite receivers approaching end of line were sold as refurbished and were clearly factory fresh.
In October 2018 I bought a Dell laptop; a fully specced gaming machine; super fast from this seller https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/xsonly.
Advertised as refurbished it was again brand new. The sellers name suggests the stock maybe end of line and needs shifting.
Good luck
Steve
In the past I have bought "Refurbished" items from eBay which have on delivery turned out to be mint brand new. Comag satellite receivers approaching end of line were sold as refurbished and were clearly factory fresh.
In October 2018 I bought a Dell laptop; a fully specced gaming machine; super fast from this seller https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/xsonly.
Advertised as refurbished it was again brand new. The sellers name suggests the stock maybe end of line and needs shifting.
Good luck
Steve
Find me on D Star through GB7BP
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Wolfie G8VAT
- Posts: 170
- Joined: Sat Mar 26, 2016 11:56 am
Re: Time for a new/upgrade to my laptop
I found these guys when a friend in the midlands asked me to pick up some Ebay wheels....
I have been back a couple of times since then, taken them lots of my spare cards and motherboards but also got myself a new laptop about a year ago.. I never bought a built PC before but I'm due for a revisit soon, I can't be bothered with all the messing around building my own now.
They do have items on ebay so you can look them up either there or direct.
https://www.airedalecomputerrecycling.co.uk/
Oh, and they have charitable status too... Read their pages. They do some good work in the area.
I have been back a couple of times since then, taken them lots of my spare cards and motherboards but also got myself a new laptop about a year ago.. I never bought a built PC before but I'm due for a revisit soon, I can't be bothered with all the messing around building my own now.
They do have items on ebay so you can look them up either there or direct.
https://www.airedalecomputerrecycling.co.uk/
Oh, and they have charitable status too... Read their pages. They do some good work in the area.
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Dah-di-dah
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Graham G8VAT
Dah-di-dah
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Graham G8VAT
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radiogareth
- Posts: 1236
- Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2016 9:46 am
Re: Time for a new/upgrade to my laptop
Well after a lot of browsing and cross reference trying to work out what I was buying/best deal/performance/cost/battery life etc, I thought I'd just phone my local shop, which has been there for 30+ years! Yes, they do re-furbed laptops so I went to see what they had.
WIse move as it turned out, better machine and spec than I had been looking at for £899 and I paid £650 cash.
Its a Dell Latitude 5480m I7-7820 32GB 512 SSD 14.1" screen and Win10Pro. Refurbed by Dell, 1 year warranty. Some sort of Nvidea graphics card(GEFORCE 930MX is that means anything) too which may prove useful at some point. Ports for all sorts of things including SD cards.
They can get more of them/others is anyone else is looking to buy something - they have a good range. As he pointed out, it's about 1/2 price compared to new and is 'fully loaded' which should give it a long life.
Now to load all the relevant DATV etc software onto it.....
Computer Solutions....02087772228.....www.thecomputersolution.co.uk.
Gareth
WIse move as it turned out, better machine and spec than I had been looking at for £899 and I paid £650 cash.
Its a Dell Latitude 5480m I7-7820 32GB 512 SSD 14.1" screen and Win10Pro. Refurbed by Dell, 1 year warranty. Some sort of Nvidea graphics card(GEFORCE 930MX is that means anything) too which may prove useful at some point. Ports for all sorts of things including SD cards.
They can get more of them/others is anyone else is looking to buy something - they have a good range. As he pointed out, it's about 1/2 price compared to new and is 'fully loaded' which should give it a long life.
Now to load all the relevant DATV etc software onto it.....
Computer Solutions....02087772228.....www.thecomputersolution.co.uk.
Gareth
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radiogareth
- Posts: 1236
- Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2016 9:46 am
Re: Time for a new/upgrade to my laptop
What a machine 
Runs MT and ExpressDVB 333kS at the same time and only uses 30% CPU to do it. 2000kS needs 50%. Also has a SD card slot (handy as I keep copies of all my DATV software on that for easy installs) and I found a SIM card slot round the back, should I need /M data (although I usually just hotspot my phone).
Boot time from the SSD is also nice and quick.
Gareth
Runs MT and ExpressDVB 333kS at the same time and only uses 30% CPU to do it. 2000kS needs 50%. Also has a SD card slot (handy as I keep copies of all my DATV software on that for easy installs) and I found a SIM card slot round the back, should I need /M data (although I usually just hotspot my phone).Boot time from the SSD is also nice and quick.
Gareth