Are cheap Windows laptops any good these days?
Discussion
Now then.
My parents are in the market for a cheap laptop.
Last time I bought a cheap laptop (a £300 Toshiba) it was utterly useless to the point of being unusable - mostly down to the poor video card which couldn't play Youtube videos at anything other than the lowest resolution and in the smallest box possible - all the other machines at the same price point seemed to have the same hardware to it wasn't just that one machine's spec. (plus it ran Windows 8 which was also rubbish as it often thought you were on a tablet so you had to use the touchscreen not the mouse).
My own solution was to buy a cheap Macbook Air in the sale and that is still doing sterling service 6 years later making it the cheapest computing I've experienced in nearly 40 years of home computing.
However, the folks want to spend as little as possible. I see that somewhere like Currys has plenty of laptops from £199-250 from brands you've heard of.
They would only be doing basic tasks like watching videoes, storing photos, sending emails, doing some online shopping etc - would they be capable of that?
Or should I just give them my old Macbook which should be good for another couple of years of Apple updates (it is a 2014 model, and my 2012 model Mac Mini has only just stopped getting the newest OS updates) and get myself a new laptop?
My parents are in the market for a cheap laptop.
Last time I bought a cheap laptop (a £300 Toshiba) it was utterly useless to the point of being unusable - mostly down to the poor video card which couldn't play Youtube videos at anything other than the lowest resolution and in the smallest box possible - all the other machines at the same price point seemed to have the same hardware to it wasn't just that one machine's spec. (plus it ran Windows 8 which was also rubbish as it often thought you were on a tablet so you had to use the touchscreen not the mouse).
My own solution was to buy a cheap Macbook Air in the sale and that is still doing sterling service 6 years later making it the cheapest computing I've experienced in nearly 40 years of home computing.
However, the folks want to spend as little as possible. I see that somewhere like Currys has plenty of laptops from £199-250 from brands you've heard of.
They would only be doing basic tasks like watching videoes, storing photos, sending emails, doing some online shopping etc - would they be capable of that?
Or should I just give them my old Macbook which should be good for another couple of years of Apple updates (it is a 2014 model, and my 2012 model Mac Mini has only just stopped getting the newest OS updates) and get myself a new laptop?
KingofKong said:
My parents are hopeless on laptops, both in their late 60’s. I got them an iPad and they seem to manage quite well on it and remote support is a doddle for me (press up/down/power for 5 seconds).
They replaced their last laptop with a tablet, as I thought that would be good enough for their needs, but that too is very poor at basic tasks and at 45yrs old and having spent my life in IT I'm starting to find phones and tablets 'non-intuative' in the way they do things after a lifetime of desktop/mouse user interfaces, so being family 'IT support' takes longer and longer.Truckosaurus said:
Now then.
My parents are in the market for a cheap laptop.
Last time I bought a cheap laptop (a £300 Toshiba) it was utterly useless to the point of being unusable - mostly down to the poor video card which couldn't play Youtube videos at anything other than the lowest resolution and in the smallest box possible - all the other machines at the same price point seemed to have the same hardware to it wasn't just that one machine's spec. (plus it ran Windows 8 which was also rubbish as it often thought you were on a tablet so you had to use the touchscreen not the mouse).
My own solution was to buy a cheap Macbook Air in the sale and that is still doing sterling service 6 years later making it the cheapest computing I've experienced in nearly 40 years of home computing.
However, the folks want to spend as little as possible. I see that somewhere like Currys has plenty of laptops from £199-250 from brands you've heard of.
They would only be doing basic tasks like watching videoes, storing photos, sending emails, doing some online shopping etc - would they be capable of that?
Or should I just give them my old Macbook which should be good for another couple of years of Apple updates (it is a 2014 model, and my 2012 model Mac Mini has only just stopped getting the newest OS updates) and get myself a new laptop?
Chromebook? My wife is a self-confessed ludite and I got her a Chromebook which meets all of the requirements you've mentioned. My parents are in the market for a cheap laptop.
Last time I bought a cheap laptop (a £300 Toshiba) it was utterly useless to the point of being unusable - mostly down to the poor video card which couldn't play Youtube videos at anything other than the lowest resolution and in the smallest box possible - all the other machines at the same price point seemed to have the same hardware to it wasn't just that one machine's spec. (plus it ran Windows 8 which was also rubbish as it often thought you were on a tablet so you had to use the touchscreen not the mouse).
My own solution was to buy a cheap Macbook Air in the sale and that is still doing sterling service 6 years later making it the cheapest computing I've experienced in nearly 40 years of home computing.
However, the folks want to spend as little as possible. I see that somewhere like Currys has plenty of laptops from £199-250 from brands you've heard of.
They would only be doing basic tasks like watching videoes, storing photos, sending emails, doing some online shopping etc - would they be capable of that?
Or should I just give them my old Macbook which should be good for another couple of years of Apple updates (it is a 2014 model, and my 2012 model Mac Mini has only just stopped getting the newest OS updates) and get myself a new laptop?
As above, the answer is get a Chromebook (assuming they have wifi).
Or if they have an old laptop now running very slowly, try converting it to a chromebook for free as it may be perfectly fine.
https://www.neverware.com/freedownload#intro-text
Or if they have an old laptop now running very slowly, try converting it to a chromebook for free as it may be perfectly fine.
https://www.neverware.com/freedownload#intro-text
hyphen said:
Perhaps a tablet may be more suitable than a laptop?
If I could only have one machine, laptop all day.I've got an iPad Pro 12.9 and a Lenovo 15.6" gaming laptop. Both quite expensive machines, but, if I want a job doing properly, the laptop is a no brainer. Much better browser for starters, and the laptop is simply more powerful, versatile and efficient.
We're talking about cheap machines here and my advice still stands, go laptop. Unless you go iPad most cheap tablets are a bit naff really. Even then, the iPad is quite compromised in certain areas.
Chromebook is a very good shout, as long as they don't need to run Windows apps.
My choice is Windows though, however, most cheap laptops are pretty rubbish. Ergo, I second the suggestion of a second hand Lenovo Thinkpad for 200 quid. I paid £190 for my T460 with an i5 CPU, 180Gb SSD, 8Gb RAM and 1080P touch screen. It's so good I've kept it for TV duties after I got my gaming laptop.
Edit: Re-reading your post, OP, I think deep down you want a new toy, so give them the Mac and buy yourself a new toy
Edited by TameRacingDriver on Wednesday 20th January 18:58
devnull said:
Used Thinkpad (as above) is a sound choice.
Chromebooks are a new thing to learn. If it detracts from basically what looks and operates like windows, then you'll have issues.
To be fair to the Chromebooks, the fundamentals are largely exactly the same as windows. It has a cursor, a bottom placed taskbar, a start (search) menu, a notification tray, similar alt+tab and virtual desktops, I would say it was easier to switch from Windows to CB than it is Windows to MacOS.Chromebooks are a new thing to learn. If it detracts from basically what looks and operates like windows, then you'll have issues.
Either your old (or a second hand) Mac would be my choice having just bought what I consider a bargain for a similar budget.
I've just bought an old Macbook Pro from 2012. The last None retina one so upgradeable and more easily repairable. It might be old but its sill an i7 processer, 16GB of memory and most importantly a 1TB SSD rather than a harddrive. Mine came upgraded and absolutely like new for £315
MacOS could potentially be a lot easier to support than windows, although if they really did want Windows it was an absolute doddle to install Windows 10 using Bootcamp assistant. All in including a HDMI to DP and a windows licence I've spent less than 350.
I've just bought an old Macbook Pro from 2012. The last None retina one so upgradeable and more easily repairable. It might be old but its sill an i7 processer, 16GB of memory and most importantly a 1TB SSD rather than a harddrive. Mine came upgraded and absolutely like new for £315
MacOS could potentially be a lot easier to support than windows, although if they really did want Windows it was an absolute doddle to install Windows 10 using Bootcamp assistant. All in including a HDMI to DP and a windows licence I've spent less than 350.
I put my parents on tablets about 8 years ago, they are in there 80's now. Both on android tablets for day to day stuff, Dad still has a pc as he seems to think he needs one to do some stuff. It has cut my service desk role considerably. They just seem to get tablets, or tablets wont let them mess stuff up, any how its easier for me.
My father in law upgraded his laptop, so gave me his old compaq one. Its probably about 6 years old so nothing flash. Cant even remember the specs, just a dual core cpu etc.
The best upgrades i did were an SSD (£20) and another stick of ram (£5) and its pretty quick and loads almost instantly now. I just use it for browsing and what not, but a few upgrades like that made the world of difference!
The best upgrades i did were an SSD (£20) and another stick of ram (£5) and its pretty quick and loads almost instantly now. I just use it for browsing and what not, but a few upgrades like that made the world of difference!
Jim the Sunderer said:
Used ThinkPads are good for these requirements and price.
It's what I did for a cheap schoolwork one for my eldest. Used X240, Intel i5, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD was well under £200 and it flies. Spares easy to get and cheap - if you broke a screen or power supply or the battery went bad). Else if buying new the only thing I'd really care about is SSD storage. CPUs are pretty much all fast enough these days, you can get by with less memory, but slow storage is horrible.
I have bought multiple refurbished laptops from laptops direct and save on laptops in the past
Also worth looking on the Acer outlet on eBay, I picked up a Windows 10 ,14inch laptop with hd screen an SSD for £119 a couple of years ago , it's been spot on for general browsing,bit of music an picture editing an the odd Word document.
Also worth looking on the Acer outlet on eBay, I picked up a Windows 10 ,14inch laptop with hd screen an SSD for £119 a couple of years ago , it's been spot on for general browsing,bit of music an picture editing an the odd Word document.
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