Best refurbished TP under £250-270?

[glossywhite]

Hi.

I have a friend who needs a Thinkpad, prefers 15.4" and would like i7 (if sameish price as i5) or i5, SSD, 8GB ram (I can fit the SSD), and Windows 7 is imperative. Now, we need a model which can send HDMI (HAS to send audio over HDMI) to an external TV for streaming viewing, but ultimately this machine HAS to be reliable, since they've had their VAIO sent in for GPU reballing twice, and this has resulted in the decision to buy TP.

Oh, and optical drive is a MUST.

Any ideas which would be best? They're going to buy from a reputable refurbished eBay outlet.

Many thanks.

[MikalE]

You should be able to find a decent W510 or W520 for that much money.

You should be able to find an awesome T520 for that much. i7, 8 GB of memory, 500 GB spinner drive or 150/320 SSD, and a decent display.

[glossywhite]

You should be able to find a decent W510 or W520 for that much money.

You should be able to find an awesome T520 for that much. i7, 8 GB of memory, 500 GB spinner drive or 150/320 SSD, and a decent display.

Thank you so much, my friend will be very happy indeed. I can see eBay is FULL of refurb'd T520 and T510 (are they the same machine?)

thank you.

[MikalE]

No. The T520/W520 are a generation newer and have a newer Intel processor installed than the T510/W510 series.

[glossywhite]

No. The T520/W520 are a generation newer and have a newer Intel processor installed than the T510/W510 series.

Thank you. Does the T520 send audio over HDMI? Imperative!

[MikalE]

I can't answer that. Sorry.

[glossywhite]

I can't answer that. Sorry.

Okay.

Maybe someone else can help?

[TankPad]

I can't answer that. Sorry.

Okay.

Maybe someone else can help?

The 520 doesn't actually have a HDMI port, so I'm assuming you'll be using a DisplayPort to HDMI adapter. It does send audio over DisplayPort though, so as long as you have a good adapter then it should be no problem at all to send it to HDMI.

I've had issues with cheapo adapters either not working at all or not carrying sound, only video with various ThinkPads.
Aparently this is the one reccomended by Lenovo.
https://www.amazon.com/SIIG-DisplayPort ... B0021AEYS6

[glossywhite]

Okay.

Maybe someone else can help?

The 520 doesn't actually have a HDMI port, so I'm assuming you'll be using a DisplayPort to HDMI adapter. It does send audio over DisplayPort though, so as long as you have a good adapter then it should be no problem at all to send it to HDMI.

I've had issues with cheapo adapters either not working at all or not carrying sound, only video with various ThinkPads.
Aparently this is the one reccomended by Lenovo.
https://www.amazon.com/SIIG-DisplayPort ... B0021AEYS6

Yes, I assumed everyone would have known I was talking about when using a DP to HDMI converter - sorry, didn't clarify that. You've answered my question, and I also saw the same question over at Lenovo forums, where someone reports the "Startech" adapter working well with sound.

Thank you!