# Please help me buy a Windows 11 Laptop (thanks all, ordered) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Tags:** computer-hardware\ **Created:** [September 22, 2025, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-buy-a-windows-11-laptop-thanks-all-ordered/1023311 "2025-09-22T21:26:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2025, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-buy-a-windows-11-laptop-thanks-all-ordered/1023311/21 "2025-09-23T15:16:11Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > I think refurb laptops are great, especially if you’re willing to add a service plan to them (optional but nice if anything does fail). Agreed, as above: > [@ParallelLines](#): > > f weight and battery life are a priority, I’d get the hub and eat the additional price, shop for a savings, or consider a quality reconditioned last-year model. With emphasis on the “quality reconditioned” element though. Would I buy a Dell, HP, Windows Surface, Lenovo reconditioned directly from their website if the price was right? Sure. Would I from Amazon… much more hesitation, due to worry that they actually did the multipoint inspection and made sure that components hadn’t been stripped by the prior owner who returned it for any reason. And I probably _wouldn’t_ trust a used device from Craigslist, Ebay or the like. I’m positive many (most?) are legitimate, and Ebay would probably try to make me whole, but it’s an extra layer of worry I wouldn’t want to put up with to save a few hundred. ETA - > [@What\_Exit](#): > > NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER While this is an old card, it’s a noticeable jump from most default graphics - a quick pull from amazon for a possible model (lots of options in this card) shows: 755 MHz; Memory Detail: 4096 MB GDDR6 If you’re comfortable, maybe suggest a couple of the games you still enjoy playing and would install on the laptop, and we can try to benchmark it vs the computers you’re looking at. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2025, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-buy-a-windows-11-laptop-thanks-all-ordered/1023311/22 "2025-09-23T15:25:04Z")
The refurb appears to be done by Dell but sold by Amazon. It appear to be a 2022 Core i5 with 4 processors. Details on Prime are fuzzy at best. Apparently this was the last one, I’m glad I ordered it after talking to my wife. The price is only $296.99. > **[Amazon.com: Dell Latitude 5420 Laptop | 14" 1920x1080 FHD | Core i5-1145G7-1TB...](https://www.amazon.com/Dell-Latitude-5420-Laptop-i5-1TB/dp/B0C4CYNMVM)** > > Amazon.com: Dell Latitude 5420 Laptop | 14" 1920x1080 FHD | Core i5-1145G7-1TB SSD Hard Drive - 32GB RAM | 4 cores @ 4.4 GHz Win 11 Pro Black (Renewed) : Electronics I have 30 days to return it for full refund, so I’m taking the chance. * * * * * * * * * The games I play most are pretty old. Hex Empire, an old Flash game ported forward: > **[Hex Empire 🕹️ Play on CrazyGames](https://www.crazygames.com/game/hex-empire)** > > Hex Empire is the action packed turn-based strategy game in which you will try and conquer all by domination of territory. You will start with a single nation, then your goal is to strategize and dominate the map by overruling countries attacking... Conquest, an ancient Windows 3.11 Risk-like game that originally came on one 3.5" diskette. Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic with a lot of Mods, but still it is from 2003 or so. I play Chess, but there are a lot of very basic ones. No stress for graphics on most of them. Occasionally I play AAA, an Axis & Allies clone, again simple graphics. As this laptop will not be my primary, it should be fine. I’ll find out. Laptop also has to run Office with some complicated Spreadsheet and their macros. (VB). The memory will handle this with ease and graphics don’t come into play. Biggest thing is just browser use and again the 32gb will do great. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2025, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-buy-a-windows-11-laptop-thanks-all-ordered/1023311/23 "2025-09-23T15:34:41Z")
I think you’ll be fine with that, and a great price too. If you want, you can stress-test it with software that really pushes the CPU and RAM, like [Cinebench 2024 Downloads](https://www.maxon.net/en/downloads/cinebench-2024-downloads) or [GIMPS - Free Prime95 software downloads - PrimeNet](https://www.mersenne.org/download/#stresstest). It’s not really the performance you’d care about, it’s really just to see if you can cause the laptop to thermally throttle itself (which is normal and fine) or crash under sustained load (not good). But, those would be extreme edge cases you’d probably never encounter in regular use… at $300 I wouldn’t even really worry about it all that much, personally. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2025, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-buy-a-windows-11-laptop-thanks-all-ordered/1023311/24 "2025-09-23T15:37:46Z")
The price is incredible all things considered. I’ll try the benchmark test before I get it all set up for myself and then after I do it. Many thanks to all. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2025, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-buy-a-windows-11-laptop-thanks-all-ordered/1023311/25 "2025-09-23T16:05:23Z")
Given the games you mention, then I have zero concerns that you’ll have a problem with the system you snagged. That’s on the very “lite” end of what I consider lite gaming (duh, I did mention getting a bespoke low-end gaming laptop). Odds are good especially on a 2021 system (the refurb you ordered) that there’s no real advantage to having stripped it, so less of a worry than a newer model may have run. I think that Core is just past the cutoff of the bad batch of Intel chips, but may have been returned by someone worried about that issue. So yes, stress test it, test that all the ports work, and otherwise seems like a lot of bang for buck. Congratulations! ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2025, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-buy-a-windows-11-laptop-thanks-all-ordered/1023311/26 "2025-09-23T16:18:04Z")
A bonus is that if the battery life isn’t so good anymore (the chemistry naturally degrades with age & use), it looks like you can pretty easily replace it on your own with just a screwdriver: [How to Replace the Battery on Latitude 5420 | Dell US](https://www.dell.com/support/contents/en-us/videos/videoplayer/how-to-replace-the-battery-on-latitude-5420/6367710089112) Ah, I miss those days of self-serviceable laptops… ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2025, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-buy-a-windows-11-laptop-thanks-all-ordered/1023311/27 "2025-09-23T16:22:18Z")
Same here, for my daughter’s birthday of her Sophomore year of college I replaced her screen, battery and upgraded her ram. It was all very easy, the screen a little bit less so but still easy. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2025, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-buy-a-windows-11-laptop-thanks-all-ordered/1023311/28 "2025-09-23T16:33:03Z")
I’m also lowkey looking for a 14" PC laptop. Now that my formerly beloved Tigerdirect has gone claws up, I’ve been cruising [slickdeals.net](http://slickdeals.net), a crowdsourced dealsite that’s been around a while. The frontpage is most of the good stuff and it inly takes a minutebto scan now that I’ve been checking roughly daily. There’s gold in the forums, too, lots of 10-15 year old accounts (like mine), deal centered moderation. > **[Slickdeals: The Best Deals, Coupons, Promo Codes & Discounts](https://slickdeals.net)** > > Your search for great deals and coupon savings ends here. Find the best bargains and money-saving offers, discounts, promo codes, freebies and price comparisons from the trusted Slickdeals community. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2025, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-buy-a-windows-11-laptop-thanks-all-ordered/1023311/29 "2025-09-24T19:39:10Z")
New Laptop has arrived and I’m partially setup. I removed the preinstalled garbage programs already. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-buy-a-windows-11-laptop-thanks-all-ordered/1023311.md?page=1)