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Old 01-10-2025, 08:02 PM   #1
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Cheap home theater 15" laptop with a lot of drive?

For browsing and watching offline shows and movies via Kodi.

5-year old Acer Aspire 5 literally fell apart. Kind of soon for $400. Display frame opened on seams, I'm in the middle of nowhere, put a duct tape, was about to put Crazy glue when get back to civilization but something leaked, can see a spot on the dead screen. Laptop is alive, put HDMI to a small TV but need a cheap laptop, my eyes and back are aching from looking at TV while typing.

Acer had 118 GB HDD, 1TB SSD, i-5 Intel, 12 GB RAM. SSD is near full, 700 GB of shows and movies, no plans to add much more. 118 GB HDD is near full too, mostly Win 10.

I see a dedicated "Kodi machine" or similar in my future, but this is another pain and expense. Need laptop anyway. With 2 drives or a 2nd bay. Or are there 2TB SDD for laptops? Year 2021-2024 with processor capable for these tasks. Oddly, Acer was stuttering on MP3 music sometimes and pixelating on old shows - with i-5 and 12 GB RAM, go figure. Onboard video card sucks but I'm not paying $$$ for gaming quality machine to watch 1980-s shows. Yeah, I'm that old.

Any pointers, $350-450? No long words please , I'm not that advanced, just talking like one.
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Old 01-10-2025, 09:27 PM   #2
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Take a look at Inspiron laptops at dell.com/outlet. I found several under $500. You can set filters for your requirements.
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Old 01-11-2025, 07:51 AM   #3
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You don't need a power house computer to run KODI. I have a mini PC with an external 12TB USB hard drive plugged into it hooked to my TV. You can get a mini PC on Amazon for less than $150. A 4TB to 5TB USB hard drive would be less than $150. You will also need a mouse and keyboard.
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Old 01-11-2025, 07:51 AM   #4
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you are going to get what you pay for with a $450 laptop as you found with your old one, id be surprised if you could find one with those spec's. Watch the sales and try to find a gamming laptop the specs are better than the regular laptops in the same price range. I watched the sales and now have 2 gamming laptops that i picked up for around $800 one was for my kid, i have them docked to much large screens and i really quite happy with them, they are over spec for what i need. Anything i have ever purchased in computers under $500 have not lasted or been junk right out the door and i used to be a tech so i know better. If i spend the money on a good computer i easily get over 10 years out of it and they are still usually running strong.
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Old 01-11-2025, 08:56 AM   #5
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What operating system are you planning to use? Many of the older laptops will not qualify for use with Windows 11. I have several extra Dell Lattitude E6530 and E6550 laptops that are Win 10 but will not work with Windows 11.
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Old 01-11-2025, 09:16 AM   #6
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Take a look at Inspiron laptops at dell.com/outlet. I found several under $500. You can set filters for your requirements.
May just be me but we use Dell at work and i find the laptops are a real PIA. it seems weekly i have to do a dell update and if i don't something does not work, or the opposite i do the update and something does not work. I spend more time with our tech support getting me back up and running than working some days. Not using any real specific software that normally would cause issues. Only reason the company uses them is warranty, once the warranty runs out the laptop is replaced. in the last couple of years of using them i have had to change out my laptop a few times. I know they are one of the most used computers in the business world but im sure my laptop at home would work much better.
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Old 01-11-2025, 10:11 AM   #7
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I know every use case is different. I have a 5 year old Inspiron with core I7 processor. I have never done a Dell update and very rarely get any kind of pop up regarding Dell updates. This is my 4th Dell laptop.
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Old 01-11-2025, 03:52 PM   #8
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You can save a lot of dollars by going to a Pawn shop and picking up a PC. Since you don't need the newest, fastest, most recent Windows system you will find a good selection.
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Old 01-11-2025, 03:55 PM   #9
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Thanks for suggestions people.

The failure was purely mechanical and was partially my fault, should've been more careful with lid (and it took a couple of hits as well). The frame/bezel can be opened for repairs so I opened it and found what happened. The reason why bezel didn't stay closed was that the big metal hinge holding the screen had separated from the screen - there is a small tab with screws, it came loose and was preventing the bezel from closing and eventually this tab cracked the edge of the screen. Should've opened the bezel and tightened the screw when noticed weirdness in the lid behavior MONTHS ago.

Will see if laptop repair shops in Chinatown will replace the screen for under $150, apparently this can be done, and will stay another few years with this. If not then will get new laptop. All laptops that I've seen currently have Win 11. There is Acer Aspire Go 15 for $250 with a small SDD, at this point $300 Dell Inspiron 1TB from the "outlet" (refurbished) could make sense. Either one is i-3, not i-5, is this really important? 2TB SDD will add $100-130. Good sales are mostly in winter when I'm away from "the land of the stuff".
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Old 01-11-2025, 04:18 PM   #10
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You don't need a power house computer to run KODI. I have a mini PC with an external 12TB USB hard drive plugged into it hooked to my TV. You can get a mini PC on Amazon for less than $150. A 4TB to 5TB USB hard drive would be less than $150. You will also need a mouse and keyboard.
Thanks Tom, I'm seriously leaning towards a dedicated "watching machine". No laptop to crack , no HDMI to plug in/out, and video card will be probably better even with a cheap mini PC. I understand that mouse and keyboard are mostly for changing something in Kodi. For watching I would get air mouse or IR remote or whatever is the thing now. If it comes to this. My smart TV is dumber than previous non-smart, signal on HDMI input does not make it switch to this input automatically, and it's forcing laptop to switch to "2nd monitor only" even though I set it to "duplicate monitors" i.e. picture on both TV and laptop. If I can't see picture on laptop might as well stuck a mini PC behind the TV.
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Old 01-11-2025, 04:40 PM   #11
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For browsing and watching offline shows and movies via Kodi.

5-year old Acer Aspire 5 literally fell apart. Kind of soon for $400. Display frame opened on seams, I'm in the middle of nowhere, put a duct tape, was about to put Crazy glue when get back to civilization but something leaked, can see a spot on the dead screen. Laptop is alive, put HDMI to a small TV but need a cheap laptop, my eyes and back are aching from looking at TV while typing.

Acer had 118 GB HDD, 1TB SSD, i-5 Intel, 12 GB RAM. SSD is near full, 700 GB of shows and movies, no plans to add much more. 118 GB HDD is near full too, mostly Win 10.

I see a dedicated "Kodi machine" or similar in my future, but this is another pain and expense. Need laptop anyway. With 2 drives or a 2nd bay. Or are there 2TB SDD for laptops? Year 2021-2024 with processor capable for these tasks. Oddly, Acer was stuttering on MP3 music sometimes and pixelating on old shows - with i-5 and 12 GB RAM, go figure. Onboard video card sucks but I'm not paying $$$ for gaming quality machine to watch 1980-s shows. Yeah, I'm that old.

Any pointers, $350-450? No long words please , I'm not that advanced, just talking like one.
So, you can update the Aspire easy enough if your computer savvy. You mention that you have both a HDD and SDD drive, is one internal and one external? Some notes on what you have-

i5 intel processor is fine but 12gb of ram is not. That would need to be increased and can be contributing to the streaming bottleneck.

There are 4TB SSD's made by "Crucial" available for laptops but you would need to go to the Crucial website and use there very easy to use compatibility tool.

Another issue with laptops, even 5 year old ones is that your WiFi card is probably obsolete and would need to be replaced but these are not expensive. This is probably contributing to your streaming issue.

Also, if you have two USB ports, you have another option as well as the ones already mentioned, I use a ROKU Streaming Stick 4K on my non smart TV at home which has a ton of content and is very easy to use.

Last, unless you love this laptop, you will still be spending around $400 or more to upgrade to a larger SSD, WiFi card and memory sticks, at least 64GB if your laptop supports it which may not be worth the investment and effort.

Safe Travels!
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Old 01-12-2025, 09:19 AM   #12
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Another issue with laptops, even 5 year old ones is that your WiFi card is probably obsolete and would need to be replaced but these are not expensive. This is probably contributing to your streaming issue.
WIFI cards to not really go obsolete a card from 20 years ago will still work with today's routers and such. Most of the updates to routers other than 5g are just BS and no one will ever take advantage of them. I just replaced my home router last year with a much better unit than my 10 year old unit and other than signal strength and 5g their was absolutely no difference in performance, even my 10 year old computer connected flawlessly, now all the computers in the house have been swapped out and still no performance difference.
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Old 01-12-2025, 09:29 AM   #13
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WIFI cards to not really go obsolete a card from 20 years ago will still work with today's routers and such. Most of the updates to routers other than 5g are just BS and no one will ever take advantage of them. I just replaced my home router last year with a much better unit than my 10 year old unit and other than signal strength and 5g their was absolutely no difference in performance, even my 10 year old computer connected flawlessly, now all the computers in the house have been swapped out and still no performance difference.
WiFi technology changes just as fast as computer technology does. Almost all WiFi cards will connect but that doesn’t mean you’re making the most of your router or hot spot speeds. Do a speed test and see if the laptop upload/download speed is the same as your router’s capabilities. With old outdated cards I would be surprised if you were getting 50% of what you should be. Besides, the investment is about 20 bucks and is well worth it.

Safe Travels!
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Old 01-12-2025, 09:36 AM   #14
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RVfixit- 12 GB RAM is not enough for MP3 music and offline shows ripped from 1990s standard resolution DVD, some are VERY old, recorded in pre-LCD era with 240p resolution? Besides, same music and shows play fine on 10-year old desktop with slightly smaller RAM though faster processor speeds (don't remember the numbers). There is for sure some bottleneck in that Acer, I blame processor.
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