<p>There is a groupon available right now that is selling a refurbished Asus u47a bgr4 for $530, just curious on what you guys think? I don’t really have a big budget for a laptop, so when I saw this I thought it might be ideal.</p>
<p>Things that concern me about it are the screen size and resolution for mechanical engineering and working with CAD etc. Secondly, and this is not even something I know about but while reading reviews it says its only a dual core instead of a quad core, but its still decent cos its an i7, is that something that will be a problem for an engineer? I would like my laptop to last me the next 3 years at least, if this isnt a great deal can you think of anything substantially better for not more than 2-300 more? Should I be avoiding refurbished?</p>
<p>Thanks for your time.</p>
<p>list of specs:</p>
<p>Model</p>
<p>Brand
ASUS</p>
<p>Model
U47A-BGR4</p>
<p>General</p>
<p>Operating System
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit</p>
<p>CPU Type
Intel Core i7-2640M 2.8GHz</p>
<p>Screen
14"</p>
<p>Memory Size
8GB DDR3</p>
<p>Hard Disk
750GB</p>
<p>Optical Drive
DVD±R/RW</p>
<p>Graphics Card
Intel HD Graphics 3000</p>
<p>Video Memory
Shared memory</p>
<p>Communication
Gigabit LAN and WLAN</p>
<p>Dimensions
12.9" x 8.9" x 1.2"</p>
<p>Weight
4.4 lbs.</p>
<p>CPU</p>
<p>CPU Type
Intel Core i7</p>
<p>CPU Speed
2640M(2.80GHz)</p>
<p>CPU Support
4MB L3 Cache
Max Turbo Frequency 3.5 GHz</p>
<p>Display</p>
<p>Screen Size
14"</p>
<p>Wide Screen Support
Yes</p>
<p>Resolution
1366 x 768</p>
<p>LCD Features
High-definition LED-backlit open-cell</p>
<p>Operating Systems</p>
<p>Operating System
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit</p>
<p>Graphics</p>
<p>GPU/VPU
Intel HD Graphics 3000</p>
<p>Video Memory
Shared system memory</p>
<p>Graphic Type
Integrated Card</p>
<p>Hard Drive</p>
<p>HDD
750GB</p>
<p>HDD RPM
5400rpm</p>
<p>HDD Interface
SATA</p>
<p>Memory</p>
<p>Memory
8GB</p>
<p>Memory Type
204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM</p>
<p>Optical Drive</p>
<p>Optical Drive Type
DVD±R/RW</p>
<p>Communications</p>
<p>LAN
10/100/1000Mbps</p>
<p>WLAN
802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN</p>
<p>Bluetooth
Yes</p>
<p>Ports</p>
<p>USB
2 x USB 3.0
1 x USB 2.0</p>
<p>HDMI
1 x HDMI</p>
<p>Supplemental Drive</p>
<p>Webcam
Yes</p>
<p>General</p>
<p>Style
Thin and Light</p>
<p>Power</p>
<p>Battery
6-cell lithium ion</p>
<p>Physical Specifications</p>
<p>Dimensions
12.9" x 8.9" x 1.2"</p>
<p>Weight
4.4 lbs.</p>