Decent budget laptop?

[anonymous-user]

Sorry for the probably daft question but I have absolutely no idea what I'm looking for or at when it comes to a decent budget laptop.

I'm looking to try and find a decent laptop for my wife to replace a very very very old laptop she's been using for the last 10 years. I imagine even the lower spec ones on sale now would be a vast improvement on this?

It'll be used for mainly word/power point and internet browsing (she's a primary school teacher).

I don't have a huge budget but can get things VAT free, I was looking to spend between £200-300? Is this even possible?

Really appreciate any help!


EDIT:

I'd be willing to spend more if it means that it won't be more than an electronic paper weight.

Thank you

Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 24th November 16:03

[anonymous-user]

In a word, No. I wouldn't consider anything that wasn't an Intel i3 or AMD Ryzen minimum. Do not buy anything without an SSD, looking at the Dell outlet site they still amazingly sell non SSD latops. You are probably going to want a minimum of 8GB ram and 256GB SSD.

The only way you would get something decent for that price is to get a secondhand refurbished one.

[anonymous-user]

Noted.

So with that in mind, what sort of example should I be looking at?

I know nothing about computing, guitars or bikes and I'm good but this is outside of my comfort zone!

[dcb]

Tom1312 said:

I don't have a huge budget but can get things VAT free, I was looking to spend between £200-300? Is this even possible?

Cheapest laptop I could see on pcspecialist.co.uk is this little thing:

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/gemini-IV...

I don't suppose it is any good, but it is cheap - about £190.
Surprisingly, if you spec it without Microsoft, then it is only about £20 cheaper.

[S6PNJ]

Dell Outlet Black Friday deals is where I'd head - plenty of sub £300 laptops more than capable of web browsing and MS office applications etc - plenty powerful enough with 4Gb RAM and easy to upgrade to 8Gb for an additional around £20 or so (assuming you are capable of operating a screwdriver and watching a YouTube video).

https://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/InventorySearc...

Or specifically - https://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/SecondaryInven... for the cheapest (with SSD) on offer at the moment. Yes, I hear the nay sayers cry - it's only 128Gb SSD, but how much storage do you actually need?

Dell outlet offers change all the time (links die if someone chooses that laptop so won't stay active, just use the search facility on the Dell Outlet UK site.)

[S6PNJ]

to add - if you need more (temporary?) storage, a 256Gb USB pen drive is only £17 - https://www.mymemory.co.uk/mymemory-plus-256gb-usb... Not the fastest, others are available, or just plug in an external 2.5" drive or other external storage facility.

Or replace the internal NVMe card with a bigger one such as https://www.cclonline.com/product/305545/WDS500G2B... 500Gb for only £35 - but check the interface is the right one.

[paddy1970]

Refurb is the way to go and good for the environment...

Some options:

If you want fast...
https://www.own4less.co.uk/product/22834/tecra-z40...

If you prioritise memory...
https://www.own4less.co.uk/product/41836/lenovo-th...

If you want both
https://www.own4less.co.uk/product/25567/ideapad-3

[S6PNJ]

paddy1970 said:

Refurb is the way to go and good for the environment...

Some options:

If you want fast...
https://www.own4less.co.uk/product/22834/tecra-z40...

If you prioritise memory...
https://www.own4less.co.uk/product/41836/lenovo-th...

If you want both
https://www.own4less.co.uk/product/25567/ideapad-3

Great suggestions!! The 1st one linked (i5-5600U) is marginally faster than the N5030 I linked above - so very similar performance specs but more memory, probably slightly slower SSD performance (not really noticeable for day to day running) but possibly better build quality - for less money. Good Toshiba.

[anonymous-user]

Brilliant, thank you guys.

Just so I'm getting this right, the Dell ones linked are also refurbished units too?

Really appreciate your input everybody, in totally clueless.

[S6PNJ]

Tom1312 said:

Just so I'm getting this right, the Dell ones linked are also refurbished units too?

They are 'refurbed' but by Dell themselves and are typically cancelled orders, buyers regret or where there is a tiny bit of damage (scratch) on the case etc. Many on here have bought them (as have I) and they are practically brand new - come with 12 months warranty etc.

[xeny]

paddy1970 said:

Refurb is the way to go and good for the environment...

The first two of those (I've not checked the 3rd) don't meet the supported spec required for Windows 11, so potentially have a drop dead date of some time in 2025.

That's near enough I'd not recommend buying them to someone with that potential problem, especially someone who isn't going to be in a rush to buy another PC. I know it may well work, but Microsoft's "you are not entitled to updates" is presumably there for a reason.

I'd go Dell outlet with 8 GB of RAM and a minimum of an i3 and ideally a 256GB SSD.

I acknowledge this is over budget, but is likely to have a reasonable lifespan https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/dell-inspiron-156...

Edited by xeny on Wednesday 24th November 20:08

[anonymous-user]

S6PNJ said:

Tom1312 said:

Just so I'm getting this right, the Dell ones linked are also refurbished units too?

They are 'refurbed' but by Dell themselves and are typically cancelled orders, buyers regret or where there is a tiny bit of damage (scratch) on the case etc. Many on here have bought them (as have I) and they are practically brand new - come with 12 months warranty etc.

I bought a Dell Outlet laptop for my daughter earlier in the year and it turned up looking absolutely brand new, I could not see a single mark, scratch or spec of dust on the thing. They do come in business packaging as opposed to retail packaging, but this is no concern and the charger was brand new and sealed.

This is probably the best laptop you will find on there, i3, 256GB SSD, 8 GB Ram for £360.

https://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/SecondaryInven...

Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 24th November 20:19

[RVB]

xeny said:

The first two of those (I've not checked the 3rd) don't meet the supported spec required for Windows 11, so potentially have a drop dead date of some time in 2025.

That's near enough I'd not recommend buying them to someone with that potential problem, especially someone who isn't going to be in a rush to buy another PC. I know it may well work, but Microsoft's "you are not entitled to updates" is presumably there for a reason.

Microsoft are updating W11 on older machines at the moment. As I type, my >10yr old Pentium is downloading KB5007262 for W11.
I'm can't see why Microsoft would need to refuse to allow W11 updates on under-spec machines in the future, especially as W11 is really only a small evolution of W10.
The jump from W7 or W8 to W10 seems far greater and more likely to have required minimum specs than going from W10 to W11.

[pokethepope]

xeny said:

The first two of those (I've not checked the 3rd) don't meet the supported spec required for Windows 11, so potentially have a drop dead date of some time in 2025.

That's near enough I'd not recommend buying them to someone with that potential problem, especially someone who isn't going to be in a rush to buy another PC. I know it may well work, but Microsoft's "you are not entitled to updates" is presumably there for a reason.

I'd go Dell outlet with 8 GB of RAM and a minimum of an i3 and ideally a 256GB SSD.

I acknowledge this is over budget, but is likely to have a reasonable lifespan https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/dell-inspiron-156...

Edited by xeny on Wednesday 24th November 20:08

Definitely worth stretching your budget to ~£400 and getting the Dell linked above by Xeny, or this one (11th gen i5) - https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/dell-inspiron-15-...

[xeny]

RVB said:

Microsoft are updating W11 on older machines at the moment. As I type, my >10yr old Pentium is downloading KB5007262 for W11.
I'm can't see why Microsoft would need to refuse to allow W11 updates on under-spec machines in the future, especially as W11 is really only a small evolution of W10. .

I can see a couple of potential reasons (they want to make some longer term architectural changes for performance or security reasons that rely on features in newer CPUs is the obvious one), and unless they have that in mind I don't see why the disclaimer is there.

If I were the OP and tight for cash, I'd be pretty peeved at a recommendation that ends up stopping being useful in 4 years, and we've got no guarantee that won't happen, and indeed a warning from the software manufacturer that it might.

[S6PNJ]

xeny said:

If I were the OP and tight for cash, I'd be pretty peeved at a recommendation that ends up stopping being useful in 4 years, and we've got no guarantee that won't happen, and indeed a warning from the software manufacturer that it might.

I don't disagree, but (oh dear, I said the 'but' word...) working on the premise that the OP's wife's laptop was on possibly still on WIn 7, that stopped being supported (originally) in 2015, so they've already been (possibly) using an unsupported OS for a while. The extended support date was 2020 - a further 5 years after the mainstream end date.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/product...

I'm quite sure, Microsoft won't simply end the Win 10 OS at the end date and will continue to support it for security fixes for a while after the mainstream end date - too many computers out there in the 'business world' to not support it
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/product...

MS also continued to support XP for 5 years past it's ,mainstream end date, so there is precedence for this.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/product...

[xeny]

S6PNJ said:

I don't disagree, but (oh dear, I said the 'but' word...) working on the premise that the OP's wife's laptop was on possibly still on WIn 7, that stopped being supported (originally) in 2015, so they've already been (possibly) using an unsupported OS for a while. The extended support date was 2020 - a further 5 years after the mainstream end date.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/product...

I'm quite sure, Microsoft won't simply end the Win 10 OS at the end date and will continue to support it for security fixes for a while after the mainstream end date - too many computers out there in the 'business world' to not support it
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/product...

MS also continued to support XP for 5 years past it's ,mainstream end date, so there is precedence for this.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/product...

7 coffered a free update to 10, and pretty much anything that ran 7 runs 10, so given the bombardment of offers of 7 machines to update to 10 you'd be hard pressed not to have without conscious effort.

MS historically had always offered extended support after the end of mainstream, and those dates were available some time before the end of mainstream, which was essentially when you stopped getting new features or new hardware support (e.g. the way 7 doesn't work properly/easily on Ryzen, despite it being released while 7 was under extended support).

The language they are using around 10 isn't mentioning mainstream or extended, just "retirement" date. I'm rather less confident than you are.

[anonymous-user]

Nice one.

I've no idea what OS her laptop is running but the fact it won't connect to a WiFi printer would suggest it's knackered....

I'll have a look through and see what I can stretch too

Really appreciate your help everyone!

[imck]

Ebay for a Refurb ex-Corporate Laptop.

Lenovo T450 for your budget. 8GB Ram with SSD will run well for your requirements.
Well made. Easy to get Batteries, Chargers and Spares.

Lots of Sellers on Ebay that buy ex Company Laptops.

One Year Warranty from this Seller
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/125014991008