E-Machines class action, should I get re-furb laptop or desktop?
 

I got one of these e-machine certificates good for xx-$$ and I can get a low end new desktop or a refurbed laptop, I would rather have another laptop (only have one) so are they a safe bet? They have a few Gateways and Acers now and then, they seem to go fast. Is the laptop a good choice here?

Like a number of other electronics, laptops/notebooks have hit a .... (I forget the word). Most all laptops from most all manufacturers are the same now, and fine. The words I'm looking for is like "commodity", but that's not it.

The main difference is the screens. I like matte, which right now means Samsung. Most others are shiny, which I hate.

And the size -- 13, 15, 17 inches. Few 13, fewer 17, most are 15.

LS

So I take it you think the re-manufactured Laptops are fine?

I don't quite under this but I have seen a couple with dual cores and a quad core for almost the same $$, almost everything else being the same, except I think the dual had an hdmi out which I guess would be something good to have? or would you not want to use your laptop to output movies? Does the hdmi out make the difference?

All Site Staff tends to have refurbished, re-manufactured, or outright used computer equipment. The only thing that needs to be new, and of a good brand/manufacture, is the hard drive. We've all had "old" systems for years. Each the iPads in use were refurbs.

Quad core vs dual core depends on which CPU, the clock speed per core, and things like that. Quite a few dual cores are better than quad cores. You'd think 4 is better than 2, but you'd be wrong.

I use HDMI out to a DVI converter (about $20) to conect that way. It looks better than VGA.

My main laptop was new, but that's because it has an IPS display. It's one of the only models to have this so far. It cost almost $2k, however. About half of that way for the display alone. My others are all used or refurbs. I'd have bought this IPS used/refurb too, had it existed for sale as such.

You can save lots of money buying refurb/used/etc. :)

Thanks LS...know I usually get a straight scoop here...

Last question, they all look to come with win 8 64 bit o/s, I have read some stuff about win 8 having glitches in it, should I keep 8 or down to 7 which from what I can tell is xp second edition :)

Win7 or WinXP SP2 would be my choice.
Win8 is terrible. Win8 SP1 is supposed to be better, but I've heard that before.
If it comes with it, go ahead and try it, see if you like it. If you dump it, clone the HDD first, just in case you want/need it back.

My laptop has Windows 7 or Xubuntu. These days, Linux is pretty good (at least the Xubuntu is).

If you wipe Win8, go ahead and try Xubuntu first. It's free. See how you like it. And it's much faster on laptops -- which is why I use it. My main laptop is software locked into Win7 -- can't use other OS -- but would be on Xubuntu if I could, My second laptop is Xubuntu. I can use web, email, type documents, play games, admin websites, etc. No need for Windows on it. I have a VirtualBox WinXP emulation session, if I need Windows. I mostly have it for legacy access to old computers that I turned into VMs using Paragon software.

Lots of neat things can be done these days. :)

How are the AMD processors vs. the Intel these days?

For awhile I was hearing that AMD's were slower and over-clocked to get them close in speed to Intel...I have AMD's in my desktops and they seem to run fine, pretty hot though I assume due to the size of the heat sinks.

I will NOT be using this as a gaming machine (then I read AMD is better)

The biggest issue with laptops is the video card. ATI is fine, integrated Intel graphics is better. Avoid nVidia, lots of problems. Two of our laptops no longer work because the video card died. There's no way to fix the system when this happens!

For this reason, Intel is best, but only the integrated chips. AMD if ATI.

AMD is fine for desktops. The main video server is a quad-core AMD, and it's very nice. Nicer than some Intels, in fact. It's the boards that do it. It used to be case of AMD boards were junk, but Intel was good. Now the AMD boards are good, and it's the Intel boards that have some stinkers.

This the the result of poor cooling in many laptops using nVidia chips. The chips in question were attached to the board using the BGA style of soldering which was presumed faulty from the factory. The heat combined with the crappy lead-free RoHS solder lead to failure. The only fix is to "reball" the chip by using a heat gun and reflow oven preferably using good old fashioned tin/lead solder (it isn't banned in the USA). There are services that can do this for you for about $80-100 depending on the board. I got lucky fixing a Dell laptop with this problem as it had a removable video card with the GPU on it. I just had to swap the card.

Looking at one of this line, this one is a Gateway 15.6" Laptop PC NV52L23u

is the "Graphics: Radeon HD 7640G" is that what I should look at or where it says "Graphics Chip: AMD"

I have seen a couple of the Gateway NV52's and they look like the best deal for what I can get with my settlement.

Screen Size: 15.6"
Processor Type: AMD
Processor Model: A8-4500M
Processor Speed: 1.9GHz
Processor Core: Quad-core
Cache: 4MB
Operating System: Windows 8 64-bit
System Memory (RAM): 6GB
RAM Expandable To: 8GB
Type of Memory (RAM): DDR3
Hard Drive Type: SATA
Hard Drive Size: 750GB
Hard Drive RPM: 5,400
Optical Drive Type: DVD+RW
Optical Drive Speeds: Not Available
Digital Media Reader: Yes
Graphics: Radeon HD 7640G
Video Memory: Shared
Built-in Webcam: Yes
Networking: Integrated 10/100/1000Mbps
Wireless Networking: Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n
Bluetooth-Enabled: No
USB Ports: 3
Battery Life: 5hrs
System Version: 64-bit
HDMI Output: Yes
Included Software: Not Available
Graphics Chip: AMD
Display Screen Type: Active Matrix TFT Color LCD
Display Screen Technology: LED
ENERGYSTAR Qualified: No

That's an ATI card. :congrats:

JMP fixed our laptops in an oven, but it was always temporary. I gutted them for parts. No more nVidia. Even the desktops cards have heat issues. It's just turned into a bad manufacturer. I never liked it anyway, Always an ATI user, since the 1990s. Those almost never fail. In 10 years, I've only seen one melt itself.

Windows 8 is really different...looks like a windows for being on-line, the main page or what ever you wnat to call it, with icons on it....don't know if I will like it, doubt it :( I have only looked at it for just a few minutes but I don't see the normal stuff on the "desktop" like control panel, etc. just don't know.

If I clone the HDD I will need an external HDD to clone it or is there another way? I would like to save the system in case I need or want it later.

Either clone it to HDD, or back it up to DVD, DVD+R DL, or BD-R.

i dont like windows 8 at all.
there is supposed to be an update that returns the start menu to it.
but for me im staying with 7 as long as i can.
just like with Vista - i skipped it entirely and went from XP straight to 7.

i would just buy another hard drive and install 7 on it and keep the stocker in an anti-static bag somewhere.
great opportunity to put in an SSD drive

Yey...It looks like a giant smart phone

I have a win 7 install disk from one of the computer shops in my area, can I load win 7 over win 8 or is there a special "tool" so the avg person can't do it? As I recall a friend of mine telling me he could not take vista down to xp and had to take the computer to a shop to get it correct.

This is a lap top and I really don't want to fool with taking it apart and changing HDD especially after looking at 8.

the HDD is super easy to change on laptops.
but if you want to use it - than just install 7 on it
insert the 7 disk and hit the boot menu key to boot from the disk
during the install process you can format the drive - which will wipe 8 completly from it.
you can also delete the useless partions that usually come in pre-made computers.
i nice benefit of a fresh install of 7 is you will get rid of all the garbage-ware that come pre-loaded on store bought computers - like Norton and other useless crap