Laptop Question and Price Difference

I’ll go with 16/528…stick with Intel? 20 years ago the thought was that AMD was shit.

No longer the case. The AMD Ryzen processors are at least as good as the comparable Intel CPU.

Note that AIUI this is a one-way thing. You can’t switch back.

Thanks. It looks like MS has adapted to the times.

The important thing to remember is that if a device/location is writeable and connected, there’s a good chance the virus will scramble it. Microsoft appears to be keeping some historical copies of all your data and will preserve them if it detects a virus attack.

The point with a laptop is that there is a need - sometimes - to work away from the network and central server, and sometimes offline, so a decent sized drive is desirable. But yes, 256GB is HUGE and unless you need VM’s, very large databases, reams of photos, etc. anything too big is overkill. It’s only been a few years that more than 256GB was normal for a regular HDD. For desktop workstations, yes, you don’t want or need large drives if there is a central server for data. Often, the workstations are not backed up, but the server is, so data kept local on the workstation is at risk of loss or (accidental) erasure.

Updating: So what do you all think of this one? Gimme the good, bad, and ugly:

So the specs look good, but it is a bit of a frankenlaptop as it’s been upgraded by the seller and may or may not have an HP warranty.

It says it has a 1 year HP warranty. Is that bad that they have popped it open to upgrade the RAM and HDD?

My concern is that it is a grey market import and only covered by the seller’s warranty and not HP.

I kinda wonder what “Seal is opened for Hardware/Software upgrade only to enhance performance.” means (first item under “About this item”). It sounds fishy. Like: “Yeah, we opened it up even though we weren’t supposed to but we only did it for you! We promise we added some neat stuff while we voided your warranty!!”

Yeah, I’d be concerned about the HP warranty even without that note. Disclosure: I know a bit about making my own computers do what I need them to do (graphics, Photoshop, video production) and ensuring they have proper, high-quality components. But I am probably not as knowledgeable as others here about business purchasing.

So, if I understand correctly, this company takes HP laptops and upgrades the components themselves. That may be perfectly legit, or it may be a con job where they are substituting knock off parts and taking the OEM HP stuff so I am really buying a pig in a poke?

And it really voids a warranty to upgrade memory or a HDD?

In the US that won’t void the warranty, but it can make it a bigger pain to deal with. If you call HP because the SSD is defective they won’t help you, because it came from some other company. Similar for memory or any other parts that were replaced.

HP, Dell and others tend to mark up memory and storage sometimes by 2-5 times over the retail price, so it may be a valid trade-off. If you need more storage than the default offering it’s a valid decision to replace it on your own (or pay somebody else to replace it). You’re still going to be ahead of what the OEM would charge for the extra storage.