02-08-2016, 03:37 PM
I've had good results from Lenovo laptops. My one came with Vista pre-installed, and it was surprisingly good - going to 7 didn't make much difference to the overall performance. But Vista on a cheap Packard Bell desktop machine of similar spec was a lot worse - partly because of drivers/crapware/etc.
The Toshiba has the SSD, but the Lenovo the better CPU. Without Googling for more detail, I'd lean towards the latter, but you'd obviously have to factor in age and condition. The quality of the screen would be a big factor - my ultra-cheap Lenovo has the worst LCD this side of the millennium (aside from my previous "corporate" HP, which had terrible contouring). Often, the screen type is an option when you order it, so you can't tell by model number alone. Also, weight is a big deal in my line of work. Having carted my heavy Lenovo around London and Manchester for 4 years, I'm paying the extra to get a lighter model next time!
We had Toshiba laptops at work many years ago, but they didn't survive very well (but Dell were much worse). IBM were the best by quite a margin - but that backfired on me because choosing one meant I had to keep it for 8 years before I eventually got it replaced - meanwhile, everyone else had gone through 2 or 3 Dells in that time! Today it's HP only, and they're OK - not quite IBM/Lenovo, but better than Dell and Toshiba. But obviously, those are "corporate" machines - the "consumer" machines will be different. All I can say is that the in-laws haven't broken their £250 Lenovo yet.
Either look pretty good at a glance though. But that money could buy you a brand new machine...
The Toshiba has the SSD, but the Lenovo the better CPU. Without Googling for more detail, I'd lean towards the latter, but you'd obviously have to factor in age and condition. The quality of the screen would be a big factor - my ultra-cheap Lenovo has the worst LCD this side of the millennium (aside from my previous "corporate" HP, which had terrible contouring). Often, the screen type is an option when you order it, so you can't tell by model number alone. Also, weight is a big deal in my line of work. Having carted my heavy Lenovo around London and Manchester for 4 years, I'm paying the extra to get a lighter model next time!
We had Toshiba laptops at work many years ago, but they didn't survive very well (but Dell were much worse). IBM were the best by quite a margin - but that backfired on me because choosing one meant I had to keep it for 8 years before I eventually got it replaced - meanwhile, everyone else had gone through 2 or 3 Dells in that time! Today it's HP only, and they're OK - not quite IBM/Lenovo, but better than Dell and Toshiba. But obviously, those are "corporate" machines - the "consumer" machines will be different. All I can say is that the in-laws haven't broken their £250 Lenovo yet.
Either look pretty good at a glance though. But that money could buy you a brand new machine...
