DELL Latitude E7240 UltraBook

We've been buying Christmas gifts for our family, and we were in the market for a small Windows laptop for our college daughter. I specifically wanted a laptop with a 13" or 14" 1980x1024 touch screen, and a backlit keyboard, that did not top $600. I looked at a few possibilities, but I was mostly disappointed with some of the offers in that price range. A newegg.com email changed that for me today:

DELL Latitude E7240 Core i7-4600U UltraBook (refurbished)

I checked several reviews and learned that a couple years ago this laptop (with the listed specs) was easily in the $1,700+ range. This refurbished model is on sale this week for $560, with a $100 rebate that brings the total down to $460. It comes with Windows 7 Pro and has a 3-year warranty. While the 12.5" screen is a tad smaller than what I was shopping for, it's not enough of a difference to be a big deal, especially for our 21-year-old kiddo.

There are a couple of cheaper offerings of the same model with lesser specs at the bottom of the link, but the $100 rebate on this model made it the better deal. The only thing I can think of doing to make this a better deal is to add a second 4GB stick of RAM.

I placed the order a short while ago and it is scheduled to arrive this Friday. Newegg considers anything purchased from Nov 1 as a holiday purchase and will extend returns until Jan 31st.

UPDATE: I ordered a 4GB stick of Crucial RAM, for $22.

Looks like a very nice unit.  A couple of the others appear to have Windows 8, not 7 Pro.  You got lucky!

Indeed. 

I do not plan on upgrading it to Windows 10 anytime in the near future. But ultimately it will be my daughter's decision.

JA, IMO yes.  Just because Extended Support ends doesn't mean that Win 7 will stop functioning.  Or, that one must upgrade to win 10 to continue using the laptop.

The reality is that banking security, and for that matter online buying, is reasonably the function of the bank or online store.  If people are foolish enough to use public wifi for those transactions, they are responsible for the consequences.  You're beginning to sound like Microsoft, scaring folks into win 10 over security issues.

I'm in the same camp as Bill on this. I see absolutely no compelling reason to upgrade to anything above Windows 7, even after it's no longer supported by Microsoft. After the last FORCED (key word there) Windows 10 Anniversary Update fiasco, Microsoft has proven itself incompetent beyond words. You have no idea how tempted I am to go through the trouble of installing Windows 7 on my home systems and kicking Windows 10 to the curb.

As for banking, etc., you can always use a VPN if you're that paranoid. But with normal security measures I don't see that as an issue.

Well said!

That's why you have choices, JA. We all evaluate, pick and choose whatever is appropriate for our needs.

Quick update:

The laptop arrived late Friday while we were out, so I didn't get to do much of anything until Saturday. When I pulled it out the box I was very impressed and pleased with the overall look and feel. The product looks brand new and there was nothing to indicate it's a refurbished unit. It has a little bit of heft at 3 lbs, 6 oz, but it feels like I'm holding a high-quality product. The carbon fiber lid is sweet and has a very slight rubbery feel that aids in holding it. The 1920x1080 touch-screen is sharp and usable at pretty much any angle. The keyboard and touchpad are both quite usable and responsive, and the backlit keyboard is great at night. The sound is respectable, considering it's a laptop.

I was frustrated at the difficulty of updating Windows 7 Pro, as it took a really long time (as in totally unacceptable). I started Windows Update at about 1 pm yesterday after multiple failed attempts. I left Update running and went to work, and I came home after midnight. When I checked, Update was still stuck in the "checking for updates" screen. Frustrated, I left it running and went to bed. I slept in until 7:30 am and checked again. The Update screen had updated and showed "No updates available". What the??? So I decided to shut down the laptop and try later. As it were, nearly 100 updates were waiting to install on the shutdown. *sigh* I went through the process and waited about an hour for the installation to complete. Now it's going through the endless updates on top of endless updates... you know the drill.

I already installed Firefox and CCleaner, along with MS Security Essentials. I will install Malwarebytes Premium after I get all the MS updates installed. Once that's done, it'll get put away until Christmas. I'm confident my daughter will be thrilled.

BTW: I added a 4GB RAM stick that arrived the same day as the laptop. That brings the RAM to 8GB.

If I had the spare change, I would not think twice about getting one of these for myself. Unfortunately, I don't have the spare change. 

I hope she likes it, sounds pretty good.

I couldn't help it. Newegg had a Thanksgiving Day Shell Shocker deal on this computer, along with a 5% off coupon. I added the computer to the cart along with a 4GB stick of RAM. The total price, delivered, came out to $526.

Scuzzy; really, I couldn't help it.

Kind of like guns, there can never be too many, but always just one more.

So my new laptop arrived along with an extra 4GB stick of RAM bringing the total memory to 8GB. I spent the next few days installing, updating and customizing everything to my liking. A couple days ago I also ordered a Samsung 850 250GB mSATA SSD, which arrived today. I just installed it and set it as D drive, bringing the total storage to 506GB (256GB + 250GB).

The new setup is nice and sweet. Best dang laptop I've ever used.

Scuzzy; best of all it's running Windows 7 Pro.