Medium Spec Laptop guidance
Discussion
I bought my daughter a cheap ASUS laptop a couple of years ago, in which I put an SSD which transformed it and it has served her well (15.6 Inch HD, Intel Pentium N5000U, 4 GB RAM, Windows 10). It cost the princely sum of £260:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07HJLZ4YG/
She's been happy with it and it hasn't been a problem for her - It does everything she wants of it and more, the only down side of it is that its build quality isn't great and it feels like the cheap laptop it is. The keyboard is terrible and the whole thing isn't a patch on the newer Lenovo laptop that I bought my son in October
What I'm planning on doing now is replacing it for something that is better, but not necessarily a top spec laptop. I've done some looking and it's easy to slip in to something that is around £6-700 and then realise that for a few quid more, it's in gaming laptop territory. It's at this point, I have to stop and remind myself that it's not for me, it's for my daughter.
I'm not really sure what I'm looking for because the range there is massive - I like the idea of a "Yoga" style device (not the detachable keyboard type thing) but I know that decent ones are pricey. I want to make sure it's a decent spec from a decent source in case I need to do any kind of returns.
Any guidance out there - I don't want to just buy anything random...
Thanks
JTW
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07HJLZ4YG/
She's been happy with it and it hasn't been a problem for her - It does everything she wants of it and more, the only down side of it is that its build quality isn't great and it feels like the cheap laptop it is. The keyboard is terrible and the whole thing isn't a patch on the newer Lenovo laptop that I bought my son in October
What I'm planning on doing now is replacing it for something that is better, but not necessarily a top spec laptop. I've done some looking and it's easy to slip in to something that is around £6-700 and then realise that for a few quid more, it's in gaming laptop territory. It's at this point, I have to stop and remind myself that it's not for me, it's for my daughter.
I'm not really sure what I'm looking for because the range there is massive - I like the idea of a "Yoga" style device (not the detachable keyboard type thing) but I know that decent ones are pricey. I want to make sure it's a decent spec from a decent source in case I need to do any kind of returns.
Any guidance out there - I don't want to just buy anything random...
Thanks
JTW
plasticpig said:
To me medium spec is I5 processor; 8GB RAM, 256 SSD.
Which is my thought, but I don't want to be in the position where I'm crossing in to low spec gaming laptop and then for my daughter to comment on it. I will be talking to her about it when they're with me next week, but if I had some kind of area for guidance it'd be helpful.My son's Lenovo laptop is well put together which is what I want for her, but I'm looking at Dell too - Her Asus is and feels like a cheap laptop, the Lenovo feels much better put together.
Keep an eye on the Dell Outlet store, eg https://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/SecondaryInven... or if you want the flip screen https://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/SecondaryInven...
I agree with the above i5 8GB comment, mine is a few years old at that spec, but I think a 512 drive. The onboard graphics will happily play lower spec games too.
Drive size isn't too much of an issue these days unless you're installing big games, as USB/SD storage is cheap and you can always backup files to another machine in the house.
Think carefully about the "yoga style" bit though, does she really need to use it as a tablet? Mine's the Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 and I rarely use with the screen flipped right back, only really when playing drawing based games with our nieces. I can't help thinking it adds some weight and fragility, my wife has a similar 2-in-1 and it seems to have developed a dodgy connection that occasionally causes the screen to lose signal.
Touch screen is well worth it though
I agree with the above i5 8GB comment, mine is a few years old at that spec, but I think a 512 drive. The onboard graphics will happily play lower spec games too.
Drive size isn't too much of an issue these days unless you're installing big games, as USB/SD storage is cheap and you can always backup files to another machine in the house.
Think carefully about the "yoga style" bit though, does she really need to use it as a tablet? Mine's the Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 and I rarely use with the screen flipped right back, only really when playing drawing based games with our nieces. I can't help thinking it adds some weight and fragility, my wife has a similar 2-in-1 and it seems to have developed a dodgy connection that occasionally causes the screen to lose signal.
Touch screen is well worth it though
Edited by RizzoTheRat on Friday 9th April 14:40
Edited by RizzoTheRat on Friday 9th April 14:44
Having flashbacks to last year and painful conversations between Mrs ZS, her sister and me... niece need a laptop for college and SiL needed a new laptop for "studying, programs and stuff. Maybe games..." 
Trying to steer them away from spending 4 figures on something way overspecced for a bit of internet browsing and MS office was not easy.
In the end the niece ended up with this one:
https://www.johnlewis.com/hp-pavilion-15-eg0024na-...
And SiL this one:
https://www.johnlewis.com/hp-pavilion-15-eg0023na-...
Both very happy with them so far.
Trying to steer them away from spending 4 figures on something way overspecced for a bit of internet browsing and MS office was not easy.In the end the niece ended up with this one:
https://www.johnlewis.com/hp-pavilion-15-eg0024na-...
And SiL this one:
https://www.johnlewis.com/hp-pavilion-15-eg0023na-...
Both very happy with them so far.
Zetec-S said:
Having flashbacks to last year and painful conversations between Mrs ZS, her sister and me... niece need a laptop for college and SiL needed a new laptop for "studying, programs and stuff. Maybe games..." Trying to steer them away from spending 4 figures on something way overspecced for a bit of internet browsing and MS office was not easy.
In the end the niece ended up with this one:
https://www.johnlewis.com/hp-pavilion-15-eg0024na-...
And SiL this one:
https://www.johnlewis.com/hp-pavilion-15-eg0023na-...
Both very happy with them so far.
Food for thought, but £800 might be a bit much for my daughter and the cheaper one isn't much of a step up Trying to steer them away from spending 4 figures on something way overspecced for a bit of internet browsing and MS office was not easy.In the end the niece ended up with this one:
https://www.johnlewis.com/hp-pavilion-15-eg0024na-...
And SiL this one:
https://www.johnlewis.com/hp-pavilion-15-eg0023na-...
Both very happy with them so far.
RizzoTheRat said:
Keep an eye on the Dell Outlet store, eg https://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/SecondaryInven... or if you want the flip screen https://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/SecondaryInven...
I agree with the above i5 8GB comment, mine is a few years old at that spec, but I think a 512 drive. The onboard graphics will happily play lower spec games too.
Drive size isn't too much of an issue these days unless you're installing big games, as USB/SD storage is cheap and you can always backup files to another machine in the house.
Think carefully about the "yoga style" bit though, does she really need to use it as a tablet? Mine's the Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 and I rarely use with the screen flipped right back, only really when playing drawing based games with our nieces. I can't help thinking it adds some weight and fragility, my wife has a similar 2-in-1 and it seems to have developed a dodgy connection that occasionally causes the screen to lose signal.
Touch screen is well worth it though
I like the touch screen idea as I know she likes using my works one which also has touch screen - Which pen do you use though as there is one from Dell, but it says "doesn't work with HD screens".I agree with the above i5 8GB comment, mine is a few years old at that spec, but I think a 512 drive. The onboard graphics will happily play lower spec games too.
Drive size isn't too much of an issue these days unless you're installing big games, as USB/SD storage is cheap and you can always backup files to another machine in the house.
Think carefully about the "yoga style" bit though, does she really need to use it as a tablet? Mine's the Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 and I rarely use with the screen flipped right back, only really when playing drawing based games with our nieces. I can't help thinking it adds some weight and fragility, my wife has a similar 2-in-1 and it seems to have developed a dodgy connection that occasionally causes the screen to lose signal.
Touch screen is well worth it though
Probably won't go Yoga, it's a bit price hike for something she'd probably only use once or twice - I've got an X380 Yoga which I've never used as a Yoga beyond "oo, look at this"
I'd buy a refurb Thinkpad os some description:
https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/refurbished-lenovo...
or this and swap out the SSD to a bigger one:
https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/refurbished-lenovo...
I've been using an i5 thinkpad for years and years. Unless you want to play games these will serve you very well.
https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/refurbished-lenovo...
or this and swap out the SSD to a bigger one:
https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/refurbished-lenovo...
I've been using an i5 thinkpad for years and years. Unless you want to play games these will serve you very well.
james_TW said:
Which pen do you use though as there is one from Dell, but it says "doesn't work with HD screens".
I just use my finger. I find a touchscreen really useful when using the laptop without a mouse, much easier to tap a button or select a field with a finger than moving the pointer with the tracker pad.Mattt said:
I wouldn’t put 8GB RAM in anything new these days, I’d call that base spec not mid spec.
Really? I guess chrome needs a lot of resources these days 
I'm drawn to this though:
https://m.dell.com/h5/m/r/outlet.euro.dell.com/Onl...
(If the link works)
I'd think long and hard about buying Dell.
I was supplied a Dell for a customer project, was new. Went back twice, once for failed hdd once for screen issue. I ended up refusing to use it and bought a Lenovo just for the project.
Wife's company uses Dells, she's on her third hard drive in 8 months.
I was supplied a Dell for a customer project, was new. Went back twice, once for failed hdd once for screen issue. I ended up refusing to use it and bought a Lenovo just for the project.
Wife's company uses Dells, she's on her third hard drive in 8 months.
ExcitableBoy said:
I've just bought a Asus Zenbook Flip. It's i5, 8GB, SSD. I'm surprised at how speedy it is, how decent the screen is for the resolution and how good the build quality is. Works great in Tablet or laptop mode.
About £750quid and highly recommended.
Big fan of Asus Ultrabooks too. My UX31 is coming up 11 years old, still looks fantastic and has been 100% reliable. Had a tough life too.About £750quid and highly recommended.
I'm in a similar boat, looking at something 15" 8G and Lenovo stuff has treated us well although I'm not wedded to it.. What's the difference between a ideapad and a thinkbook to someone who does a bit of browsing and light business work? Realistically should I care if its windows home or pro or Intel/amd?
Get a AMD Ryzen 5 4000 series laptop and you won't regret it. AMD was miles better than 10th gen Intel processors. If screen matters get IPS screen with decent brightness. Cheaper laptops have dim and "narrower" viewing screen.
I got a Honor magicbook Pro few months ago. got it in a deal at £699.i love the laptop. It had a premium feel, very nice 16.1 inch screen. Only oddity is placement of webcam camera in keyboard but foe me it doesn't matter.
I got a Honor magicbook Pro few months ago. got it in a deal at £699.i love the laptop. It had a premium feel, very nice 16.1 inch screen. Only oddity is placement of webcam camera in keyboard but foe me it doesn't matter.
I would go Dell Latitude from the Dell outlet or a bit more used from EuroPC.
dell Inspiron is a good choice too, but if I had the choice between Latitude and Inspiron, I wold go with the former. better build quality and keyboard is better.
Latitude is also their business grade laptop and generally built to last. As for spec, I have bene using i5/9Gb RAM and a 256Gb SSD in two different machines for the last four years. Its only with my recent use of Photoshop where the machine has started to struggle and based on that I would go for 16Gb RAM if you can.
dell Inspiron is a good choice too, but if I had the choice between Latitude and Inspiron, I wold go with the former. better build quality and keyboard is better.
Latitude is also their business grade laptop and generally built to last. As for spec, I have bene using i5/9Gb RAM and a 256Gb SSD in two different machines for the last four years. Its only with my recent use of Photoshop where the machine has started to struggle and based on that I would go for 16Gb RAM if you can.
I have bought hundreds of Dell laptops over the years at work - my favourite laptop ever was a Latitude D620 I had around 2006. We bought a batch of Lenovo which we got a cheap deal on, then we tried Toshiba which were reliable but not as "nice" - so we went back to Dell.
I then went to work of a HP reseller and had middling HP ProBook's for a few years - these were unspectacular but never caused any issues and they wore very well - I managed 4 years out of my first one and it still worked fine, just the Ethernet port is worn out and can be intermittent but given I am an Network Engineer the port has lived a very hard life.
I started a new job late last year and was made up when they gave me a Dell Latitude 5411 - way better spec than the HP I had previously. It's an absolute piece of junk. It runs way too hot, it's way to noisy when connected to the overpriced Thunderbolt docking station I had to buy to get it to drive my 27" and 24" screens at the correct resolution. To me it doesn't run anywhere near fast enough for the specification most of the time, and the battery life is about 3 hours. If you rain back the performance to reduce the noise it grinds to halt. It bluescreens at least once a fortnight - often enough to be annoying but not often enough to return it. I've spent more time pissing around with drivers and firmware updates on this thing than I ever have done in 15 years in IT having gone through thousands of laptops and desktops. The forums are full of people reporting the same thing.
Given a choice, I'll never buy another Dell laptop - letting these out the door shows a real lack of QA and testing.
I'd go HP or Lenovo. I've got a Yoga 2 Pro - last personal laptop I bought with my own money - which must be 7 or 8 years old now and still going strong.
I then went to work of a HP reseller and had middling HP ProBook's for a few years - these were unspectacular but never caused any issues and they wore very well - I managed 4 years out of my first one and it still worked fine, just the Ethernet port is worn out and can be intermittent but given I am an Network Engineer the port has lived a very hard life.
I started a new job late last year and was made up when they gave me a Dell Latitude 5411 - way better spec than the HP I had previously. It's an absolute piece of junk. It runs way too hot, it's way to noisy when connected to the overpriced Thunderbolt docking station I had to buy to get it to drive my 27" and 24" screens at the correct resolution. To me it doesn't run anywhere near fast enough for the specification most of the time, and the battery life is about 3 hours. If you rain back the performance to reduce the noise it grinds to halt. It bluescreens at least once a fortnight - often enough to be annoying but not often enough to return it. I've spent more time pissing around with drivers and firmware updates on this thing than I ever have done in 15 years in IT having gone through thousands of laptops and desktops. The forums are full of people reporting the same thing.
Given a choice, I'll never buy another Dell laptop - letting these out the door shows a real lack of QA and testing.
I'd go HP or Lenovo. I've got a Yoga 2 Pro - last personal laptop I bought with my own money - which must be 7 or 8 years old now and still going strong.
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