Other Best sub £200 laptops for charity project

Hi all,

I'm looking at creating a budget ICT suite for disadvantaged young people in King's Lynn as part of a wider youth project that I'm responsible for.

These laptops would largely be used for browsing, information gathering, job searching, etc.

I'd like them to have a least a 14" screen and be a little more robust for public use, which eliminates the vast majority of netbooks.

I was considering something like this (although it currently out of stock):
https://www.tesco.com/direct/hp-14-...-1tb-black-laptop/760-8535.prd?skuId=760-8535

Anyone have any alternative suggestions or useful links to a company that might do us a deal?

Budgets are tight, so I'm ideally looking at something for around £200 per laptop.

Many thanks,
Ben / FuSS

 

would a desktop not be better as easier to replace broken bits independently and often cheaper than laptops?

 

Maybe a bit left field, but what about Chromebooks? They'd give you all the functions you're after and there's not much to go wrong with them?

 

I know where you're coming from - but it's useful if they can be more mobile, possibility of using at additional venues or moving more easily for training sessions, etc.

 

Any good? https://uk.gearbest.com/laptops/pp_603954.html?wid=25

I assume you could get ex.VAT on these. https://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/comp...m-14-ax055sa-14-laptop-grey-10169990-pdt.html Plus you could try calling PC World Business and explain you’re a charity and they might do charity pricing.

 

This seems like the same chassis as PCSpecialists' Lafité series. If it is, they're solid little machines especially with an SSD. The fan spools up quite a bit but some liquid metal should help with that.

 

Looked at Ez Books and think they're excellent machines, but for a charity buy I probably can't justify buying from outside the UK, I especially couldn't justify "accidentally" avoiding import duty as you or I would as individuals either. Might try to find them from a slightly more reputable UK source though.

 

Having used the previously A4 APU range on a laptop with a rust spinner, slow is not the word I would use for it.

Most charities that I have worked for are actually not VAT registered as its more work than its worth in savings.

I have a contact at Dell Outlook sales that used to look after me pretty well. Let me know if I can introduce you.

 

We are VAT registered but it actually depends on each funder/grant - if the funding you're using to purchase something is inclusive of VAT then you must pay the VAT on that item, even if you're VAT registered....it's a complicated old business!

I'd definitely be happy to make any contacts that might be able to help us access charity rates on new or refurbished laptops, I'm currently after between 5 and 10 of them.

 

I'll dig out her details and pm them to you.

Have you had a look a techsoup? I can't remember what the UK arm is called now used to be called charity exchange.

They offer access to foundation giving programs for smaller charities. Grants include hardware and software.

That would be a good place to start.

 

Thanks very much, appriciate it.

Yes we use TT-exchange (their UK branch) for our Office and Windows licences, I do need to have a hunt around the website and see if there's any other helpful software kicking about though. I've not spotted any hardware opportunities sadly.

 

Is second-hand out of the window? Plenty of ex-corporate ThinkPads kicking around the place; they might have a bit of wear (shiny keys, knocks and scuffs, etc), but they're built like tanks and easy to repair/upgrade. I don't know of any off the top of my head, but there are companies out there selling reconditioned ex-corporate stock.

 

I can get you what you need. Something like i5 Hp 8440s maybe? Robust, solid and pretty quick. I have an almost unlimited supply of these.

 

I work for Tier1 IT recycling.

 

Thanks all, Sonic has sorted it for us

 

I did sort it, but unfortunately, MF didn't end up going for them. I have no idea why, as radio silence seems to be the order of the day. Made me look a bit of a plum in front of my new boss, which is.....unfortunate! Ah well, I tried to do a good turn....

 

Every now and then, we get laptops that I haven't seen since the early 80's!

Also, it seems I was just left out of the loop. Red tape got in the way, so everything I said in the last post can be fully ignored. My bad!

 

I'll have a word with the gaffer and sort something out. Sounds interesting!