Carlton Supporters Club

Social Club => Blah-Blah Bar => Topic started by: PaulP on December 01, 2020, 06:43:40 pm

Title: PC Laptop price
Post by: PaulP on December 01, 2020, 06:43:40 pm
Hi everyone. I've been a Mac guy my whole adult life, so I know nothing about PC's. My wife is finishing up at her work, and has asked the company if she can keep (i.e purchase) her work laptop. The company has said they will sell it to her for $400. Specs as follows :

HP EliteBook 840 G6
14 inch / 15 inch display (not sure which)
8GB RAM
Core i5 1.6Ghz processor
Win 10 Pro
500GB HD

My wife will need to buy her own copy of Microsoft Office, which of course will add to the cost. Her use is basically Office, basic internet, checking emails etc. No gaming, 3D or any other intensive tasks.

Just wondering if folks think the $400 is a fair price ?

Thanks in advance.
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: PaulP on December 01, 2020, 06:47:36 pm
Sorry, forgot to add that the internal speaker on the laptop stops working from time to time, and requires a shut down or restart.
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: cookie2 on December 01, 2020, 07:18:09 pm
Paul, have a look on ebay or other online sources for a used/refurbed PC of similar spec and you should get a feeling for market prices.
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: Baggers on December 01, 2020, 07:28:26 pm
All I can contribute is that I recently bought a new laptop and went for HP (on advice from SpannerMan, others and my own research relevant to my simple needs). Gotta say it is a bloody ripper. Similar specs to the one you mention. I did a lot of research and HP came up in a very positive light. We have a local business that upgrades/updates old computers and on-sells them - wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. The local computer whiz who transferred all our stuff to the new laptop is also an HP fan, in terms of reliability. I, also, don't need gaming or bells and whistles, just reliability.
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: Mav on December 01, 2020, 07:32:45 pm
Just googling it, a new one with half the HDD capacity costs around $1600. Looks like a decent deal given you know how it’s been treated (which can’t be said of Ebay. One problem with laptops can be a deterioration of battery life. You can still use it permanently connected to a power point but if you need mobility you might need to replace the battery at some point. The audio issue might be addressed by headphones but maybe the company can get it fixed by the IT Dept as part of the deal. NB: I’m not a computer guy, so hopefully someone with more knowledge will respond. Cookie is right: check EBay to get a sense of the 2nd-hand price.
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: PaulP on December 01, 2020, 07:35:23 pm
Thanks gents. Appreciate all those answers so far.
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: capcom on December 01, 2020, 08:24:22 pm
Thanks gents. Appreciate all those answers so far.

I have an HP Elite Pro (win 7) and it is fantastic. $400 is (IMO) a bloody steal Paul.  I have 4 laptops and the HP is by far the best.  One word of caution ... Win 10 licence.  Will that continue under her ownership?   
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: PaulP on December 01, 2020, 08:49:49 pm
I have an HP Elite Pro (win 7) and it is fantastic. $400 is (IMO) a bloody steal Paul.  I have 4 laptops and the HP is by far the best.  One word of caution ... Win 10 licence.  Will that continue under her ownership?   

Thanks Mike. She has been liaising with one of the PA's, rather than the IT people. The email from her says :

 "Please note, the laptop will not come with any software, so Microsoft software will need to be purchased by yourself in addition to this (approximately $186)".

When I first read it earlier today, I just assumed it meant no Office, but that Win 10 would remain. Now I'm not so sure. We'll have to check that tomorrow.

Thanks
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: Gointocarlton on December 01, 2020, 09:01:25 pm
Thanks Mike. She has been liaising with one of the PA's, rather than the IT people. The email from her says :

 "Please note, the laptop will not come with any software, so Microsoft software will need to be purchased by yourself in addition to this (approximately $186)".

When I first read it earlier today, I just assumed it meant no Office, but that Win 10 would remain. Now I'm not so sure. We'll have to check that tomorrow.

Thanks
Pauly my Microsoft 365 subscription cost me $129, its the family version. I get 1TB on Onedrive for 6 people.
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: capcom on December 01, 2020, 09:10:31 pm
Thanks Mike. She has been liaising with one of the PA's, rather than the IT people. The email from her says :

 "Please note, the laptop will not come with any software, so Microsoft software will need to be purchased by yourself in addition to this (approximately $186)".

When I first read it earlier today, I just assumed it meant no Office, but that Win 10 would remain. Now I'm not so sure. We'll have to check that tomorrow.

Thanks

I think they'll wipe it Paul as it's probably a "volume licencing agreement" of the operating system which won't extend beyond the company as it's a common code to all PCs installed within the business.  Office will then be the second question and you don't really want office 365 due to the lack of ownership of a dedicated disc.  Unlike Windows 7.  Keep us posted :)

 
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: PaulP on December 01, 2020, 09:15:09 pm
I think they'll wipe it Paul as it's probably a "volume licencing agreement" of the operating system which won't extend beyond the company as it's a common code to all PCs installed within the business.  Office will then be the second question and you don't really want office 365 due to the lack of ownership of a dedicated disc.  Unlike Windows 7.  Keep us posted :)

Thanks Mike. The more I think about it, the more I'm inclined to agree. So we may potentially need a Win 10 and an Office licence.
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: rocky on December 01, 2020, 09:36:02 pm
Hey Pauly, I got a basic KOGAN laptop from KOGAN  and it was under $500.
1x Kogan Atlas 14.1" N500 Laptop (8GB 128GB SSD)

So far so good. Maybe give them a look
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: Mav on December 01, 2020, 09:39:59 pm
There are free alternatives to MS Office such as LibreOffice.
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: ElwoodBlues1 on December 01, 2020, 09:47:57 pm
There are free alternatives to MS Office such as LibreOffice.
I use Libre ,does the job and you can save as Windows files or PDF's........$400 is a sweet deal on that work laptop though.
The Good Guys are doing an Acer 15.6" with Win10 home for $383, if you are into the cash rewards programs like Shopback they were doing 8% so that would have been another $20 off that price..
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: DJC on December 01, 2020, 10:08:57 pm
I use a HP laptop Paul and it’s very good.

One thing that you should explore is whether your wife can be registered as the owner of the laptop.  HP has a very good after sales service that includes updates and fixes.  You need to be part of that to keep the laptop humming.
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: Thryleon on December 01, 2020, 10:25:54 pm
Hi everyone. I've been a Mac guy my whole adult life, so I know nothing about PC's. My wife is finishing up at her work, and has asked the company if she can keep (i.e purchase) her work laptop. The company has said they will sell it to her for $400. Specs as follows :

HP EliteBook 840 G6
14 inch / 15 inch display (not sure which)
8GB RAM
Core i5 1.6Ghz processor
Win 10 Pro
500GB HD

My wife will need to buy her own copy of Microsoft Office, which of course will add to the cost. Her use is basically Office, basic internet, checking emails etc. No gaming, 3D or any other intensive tasks.

Just wondering if folks think the $400 is a fair price ?

Thanks in advance.

Hi.

Absolutely.  We buy these for about 1700 a pop without licensing at work.

If its a hp business elitebook it will likely have a 3 year care pack warranty which you can see by typing in the serial number on the hp support website.

They are good all rounders and you won't beat the value on it.
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: PaulP on December 01, 2020, 10:31:57 pm
Thanks to all who have responded thus far. There's lots there for us to chew over. For some reason, her work wants an answer tomorrow, but we'll try to ask for an extension.

Thanks.
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: Thryleon on December 01, 2020, 10:49:21 pm
No worries Paul.  Theyre good machines and we only started buying them within the last 12 months (if not 6). 

It wont come with an operating system but thats the easiest thing to fix.
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: LP on December 02, 2020, 08:19:06 am
Yes, I'd buy it at that price if I was in the same circumstance, it's a good GP specification. Also, as it is your Wife's she knows the pedigree, the ownership chain adds value to the buyer.

The speaker problem sounds more like an audio driver issue, the HP support line could sort that out for you if the product is still covered. But even so the HP support site will perform driver updates for the less technical user. FYI, often the corporate devices are locked down and micro-managed by a fleet of IT staff, they don't change stuff they don't have to and as such hardware doesn't always get widely available fixes that are already out in the marketplace. From the IT perspective, when there is a chance you might cook hundreds or thousands of devices with a software patch, you don't do it unless it's absolutely necessary.

Make sure your wife budgets for some supplementary security software, that license will go when the device is removed from the network, a good home solution is Malwarebytes. Yearly about $45. The Win 10 built in security software is OK, running the second layer is really just a fall-back but in my opinion it is worth it.

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner.
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: LP on December 02, 2020, 08:24:31 am
When I first read it earlier today, I just assumed it meant no Office, but that Win 10 would remain. Now I'm not so sure. We'll have to check that tomorrow.
Generally on these bulk build devices Win 10 Home/Pro is bound to the hardware/device not the corporation, but it can vary based on how the licences are allocated. It may be the device includes a Win 10 Home license not the Pro license most organisations require for network functionality.

I know there is a way to check that but I'm not familiar with it, old school laptops often are in the same situation as the school gets a special rate for student licensing of Win 10 Pro, and when the kids leave the school software is wiped and the license downgraded. @Thryleon‍ might know the answer on how to check.
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: Thryleon on December 02, 2020, 09:22:24 am
I cant say we have done this widely before, but I would imagine that HP might even oblige and send out the original discs that came with the device.

Edit - I think I can actually source a set of discs, just have to get a request for a new install and I can happily give them out, as we just throw them out usually.

The discs should allow to roll back to factory.

We deploy an SOE so we dont use them, and that should allow the license that came with the product to be used and installed with a HP OEM version of windows.

Let me know if  you want a set of discs, and you can PM me to arrange a delivery.  Will cost nothing.
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: capcom on December 02, 2020, 09:28:45 am
LP, that'll also come back to previous OSs installed (if any) which determines whether their IT department is given management of upgrades to a more recent version of Windows. 

Seen that often in major companies from 95 / 98 to XP (note NEVER Vista) to W7 without regard to the original hardware supplier.

The setup for a fresh / clean start will be governed by the OS selected and the preferences Paul's wife may have if she's familiar with them.  But then, I'm a strong advocate of a physical licenced DVD.  And a bloody good recovery program (e.g. Acronis)
 
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: capcom on December 02, 2020, 09:38:09 am
Let me know if  you want a set of discs, and you can PM me to arrange a delivery.  Will cost nothing.

All class Thry :)
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: Thryleon on December 02, 2020, 09:45:20 am
Always happy to help a fellow blue bagger.  No skin off my nose in this case aside from a trip to a post office/other.
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: capcom on December 02, 2020, 09:56:37 am
If you have a spare set for Win 7 Pro, I'd happily pay you :) 
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: LP on December 02, 2020, 10:39:22 am
I presume if the device was factory Win 7 it'll have the MS sticker and serial number on it, otherwise it will be Win 8 or 10 and subject to the ESD, the factory install discs if not included should be obtainable through HP as @Thryleon‍ suggests.

The company @PaulP‍'s wife works for might retain the factory install discs if they image with a company default SOE, we do not standardise on an OS as we aren't big enough to worry about it.

Also the SOE can be the source of those audio problems, the reason being later versions of hardware might change chipset but the SOE might not include the newer correct drivers.

If it's Win 8 Pro you can still to this day use the free upgrade path to Win 10.

Win 10 was not initially widely adopted, personally I think it's the best OS that MS has ever produced.

I've found with the HP devices that the Win 8/10 factory media install is online only, as the key / license is buried in firmware and has to be reconciled to a central database. You can retrieve keys with a little effort but you have no way to manually make use of it as the license is not entered but the result of a hash from hardware and MS database.

For those of you interested there is a nice podcast called the Windows Insider Podcast that covers many of these subjects, but it's not light listening.
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: Thryleon on December 02, 2020, 11:28:10 am
If you have a spare set for Win 7 Pro, I'd happily pay you :) 
Sadly no.  The devices we have been coming are all windows 10.

I think the main issue is these days the devices themselves dont have cd/dvd drives anyway, so Im not sure what CD's they are providing in the packs, but I tend to throw one out each time I unbox one although it has been a while.

We have windows 10 licenses with this particular model and are only just starting to go through the testing phase of the 840 G7.  The G seems to stand for generation, and we are probably a bit behind the rest of the market given the size of our organisation.
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: capcom on December 02, 2020, 01:46:58 pm
Well, thank you for trying mate !!  Appreciate it :)

EDIT ... I could not survive without a CD / DVD drive and don't know how people can
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: PaulP on December 02, 2020, 02:48:31 pm
Hi all. Thanks again to all those who have offered disks, advice, knowledge, help etc. Much appreciated. Updated information from the company as follows :

1.  they will not transfer ownership / warranty to my wife, which is a shame, as according to my serial number check, there is still about 2 years left to run.

2. Office will definitely be wiped, so we will need to choose between :
a. free Office alternatives (unlikely as my better half prefers to stick with Office)
b. Office subscription (more likely than a., but still not really our cup of tea)
c. purchase "old school" perpetual Office licence (most likely)

3. They will provide a copy of Windows 10 (not sure if it will be the Pro version), but we will need to purchase an activation key. If we buy Office Business and Win 10 Pro, it pushes the total cost beyond $1k. If we go for Office Home / Student and Win 10 Home, the total is a bit under $800. Decisions..........

Although I note copies of Office 2019 Business on eBay for $90-$100.

Thanks everyone.
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: capcom on December 02, 2020, 03:22:18 pm
Only Office 2007 and 2010 are the only "older" edition that can run under Win 10 Paul ... and 2007 is a lot less resource hungry.  2007 hums along on my HP

Sealed ones (PRO) on ebay (2007) are pretty cheap.  So many MS editions, it's crazy but I assume she'll want one with Outlook

Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: PaulP on December 02, 2020, 03:28:27 pm
Only Office 2007 and 2010 are the only "older" edition that can run under Win 10 Paul ... and 2007 is a lot less resource hungry.  2007 hums along on my HP

Sealed ones (PRO) on ebay (2007) are pretty cheap.  So many MS editions, it's crazy but I assume she'll want one with Outlook

Thanks Mike. Her current version is Office 2016. Yes, she does want Outlook, and would also like Teams, but that may be a bit of a stretch, since it is only available with certain Enterprise level 365 subscriptions, as far as I can tell.
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: LP on December 02, 2020, 03:42:26 pm
Thanks Mike. Her current version is Office 2016. Yes, she does want Outlook, and would also like Teams, but that may be a bit of a stretch, since it is only available with certain Enterprise level 365 subscriptions, as far as I can tell.
If internet access is always available the online version of MS Teams is free, and the subscription online version of Office 365(Now called MS 365 Business Basic) would be the best choice of the paid versions and includes the online version of MS Teams for about $7/mnth.

The Standard version with desktop programs becomes $17/mnth, it also includes MS Teams.

Otherwise I concur with earlier suggestion, if it's just for personal use then LibreOffice is free. We run both 365 Standard and LibreOffice for our users.

A big plus of the subscriptions is the OneDrive cloud storage allocation included is 1TB which is reasonable value on it's own for the Business Basic package. It is the ability to store, access and securely share files in the cloud that changes the utility of the software and all devices, not just the laptop. If your wife wants to operate as a sole trader I can't emphasise the benefits of this enough. Also nothing stops you keeping local backups on a USB pocket drive without consuming drive space on any smaller devices like phones or tablets.
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: capcom on December 02, 2020, 03:52:41 pm
Then your path appears set as 2016 can be bought with the DVD :)
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: Thryleon on December 02, 2020, 04:03:17 pm
Sometimes the best way to compare things, is to look at whats out on the market.

I.e.  Have a look around at what the same money will buy you in a new laptop, for a similar specced device.



The 2 year warranty will follow the laptop, so irrespective of them transferring ownership, HP will honour it pretty much anywhere and if their business buys the "onsite" warranty, logging a request with them can be done via the 131147 number and quoting the serial number when you get through.  From there the information is logged against the serial number and any details given is to log the request in someone's name as a contact not as the warranty holder (usually).

I have worked both sides of this fence.  Once as a technician repairing on behalf of HP.  They would give me tickets, and I would replace hardware.  Software support is provided by their service desk, and is pretty ordinary, but you would be able to download the HP software assistant which will handle all software drivers from an operating system perspective.

As a customer of HP at the hospital, we are responsible for all warranty repairs and jobs logged, and for the most part we dont get asked for purchasing information unless the repair is deemed to be outside of the warranty and there is some conjecture.  HP will track this from manufacture, so I think you can sleep soundly knowing that the 2 year warranty is still on the table.

Irrespective, do the sums, work out what your money will buy you and use that as your starting point.  Cant go wrong paul.
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: PaulP on December 04, 2020, 04:02:05 pm
Hi everyone. Just to let you know that we did end up buying the PC laptop. It will be wiped and prepared and ready for pick up in a week or two.

Thanks to all respondents, and especially to those who posted multiple times, with all manner of tips, knowledge, offers etc. Much appreciated.
Title: Re: PC Laptop price
Post by: capcom on December 04, 2020, 05:35:43 pm
I'm certain she'll be happy with it Paul.  A hidden strength in this forum is knowledge.  I, for one, wouldn't think of upgrading my car without asking here first ... not after what I've read here from the many expert opinions ....