Please recommend me a laptop

[robsco]

Hello all,

Looking for a recommendation, I'm used to Windows operating systems so Apple Macs don't interest me. Usage would be for business purposes, I'm not into gaming or anything like that. Just really looking for a quality laptop which runs quickly and efficiently, and cruicially, represents good value; I don't know where to begin! Not sure if I've covered what's required here but any advice is welcome and appreciated.

Rob

[SpamDisco]

robsco said:

Hello all,

Looking for a recommendation, I'm used to Windows operating systems so Apple Macs don't interest me. Usage would be for business purposes, I'm not into gaming or anything like that. Just really looking for a quality laptop which runs quickly and efficiently, and cruicially, represents good value; I don't know where to begin! Not sure if I've covered what's required here but any advice is welcome and appreciated.

Rob

Dell outlet are good value, but you'll need to give a bit more info if you want a laptop recommending, price, use, screen size, etc...

https://www.dell.com/uk/dfh/p/?~ck=mn

[ging84]

Chromebook

[deckster]

What's your definition of 'value'? Something that is never going to let you down and will perform as well in five years time as it does today is what I would consider to have value, particularly for a business machine - but it's not going to be cheap to buy.

The default answer for a business machine btw is Lenovo. I've been using nothing but T-series Lenovos for well over ten years and whilst they're far from sexy there's nothing to beat them for a machine that you need to use all day, every day. But as said, you get what you pay for.

[robsco]

SpamDisco said:

robsco said:

Hello all,

Looking for a recommendation, I'm used to Windows operating systems so Apple Macs don't interest me. Usage would be for business purposes, I'm not into gaming or anything like that. Just really looking for a quality laptop which runs quickly and efficiently, and cruicially, represents good value; I don't know where to begin! Not sure if I've covered what's required here but any advice is welcome and appreciated.

Rob

Dell outlet are good value, but you'll need to give a bit more info if you want a laptop recommending, price, use, screen size, etc...

https://www.dell.com/uk/dfh/p/?~ck=mn

Thanks; screen size I haven't given much thought. The sole use would be for automotive sales, internet based. At least this is the aim. Does £300 get you a quality machine these days, I am so out of touch.

[SpamDisco]

ging84 said:

Chromebook

Chromebooks are great for browsing, emails and office type docs, but the only thing that stopped me buying another was the built in obsolescence by their End Of Life policy, I have a perfectly functional chromebook, with a processor that benchmarks better than some new models, but no longer receives updates.

[SpamDisco]

robsco said:

Thanks; screen size I haven't given much thought. The sole use would be for automotive sales, internet based. At least this is the aim. Does £300 get you a quality machine these days, I am so out of touch.

At £300 you will get a budget/basic laptop that will be ok for internet browsing, go down to PC World and see what you like the look of size wise, they have quite a few around that price. Dell outlet will have better value laptops though.

Biggest difference beside screen size at this price is the hard drives, SSD or HDD.
Solid state drives (SSD) tend to be smaller, around 128gb, but the laptop will run significantly quicker.
Hard disk drives (HDD) are bigger, 1TB+, 8 times larger then SSD, but run a lot slower.
If you don't need a lot of storage get SSD.

[Robbo 27]

I am out of touch on software issues and what is needed, but my old computer has Word and Excel which I need and perhaps the OP does too if the computer is being used for business.

Someone told me that you need to pay ongoing fees for the use of those programs, is this right?

[AC43]

Robbo 27 said:

I am out of touch on software issues and what is needed, but my old computer has Word and Excel which I need and perhaps the OP does too if the computer is being used for business.

Someone told me that you need to pay ongoing fees for the use of those programs, is this right?

The IT guy at my work is an HP fan so I've been looking at this for my son. It's a nice bit of kit but I might go for the one in Argos which is £450 but has twice the memory and disc. Nothing wrong with this one.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/HP-4AW19EA-Pavilion-15-cw...

I used to pwn office licences but now i pay a recurring fee for MS Office which covers 4 x machines and include MS Onedrive cloud for each one.

EDIT £80 a year for MS Office Home & Student for up to 6 people. There are 4 of us so it's not too bad

With Office 365 you also get 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage per person.

But I use Google Drive for that so not bothered.

Edited by AC43 on Sunday 13th October 15:47

[AJB88]

SpamDisco said:

Chromebooks are great for browsing, emails and office type docs, but the only thing that stopped me buying another was the built in obsolescence by their End Of Life policy, I have a perfectly functional chromebook, with a processor that benchmarks better than some new models, but no longer receives updates.

Try putting it on the beta channel, mine got updates on the beta channel when it didn't on the stable one.

[AJB88]

@Robsco what software do you use if any?

If you are 100% internet based then a Chromebook will be fine, £300-400 will get you a decent Chromebook with small SSD.

[parabolica]

AC43 said:

The IT guy at my work is an HP fan so I've been looking at this for my son. It's a nice bit of kit but I might go for the one in Argos which is £450 but has twice the memory and disc. Nothing wrong with this one.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/HP-4AW19EA-Pavilion-15-cw...

I have this laptop only with Ryzen 5 (incs Vega graphics) and a larger SSD; really can't fault it. Only thing I wish it had was a backlit keyboard.

[AC43]

parabolica said:

AC43 said:

The IT guy at my work is an HP fan so I've been looking at this for my son. It's a nice bit of kit but I might go for the one in Argos which is £450 but has twice the memory and disc. Nothing wrong with this one.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/HP-4AW19EA-Pavilion-15-cw...

I have this laptop only with Ryzen 5 (incs Vega graphics) and a larger SSD; really can't fault it. Only thing I wish it had was a backlit keyboard.

FWIW I ended up with a version with th Ryzen 3, 8gb RAM and a 256Gb SSD for £450 fro Argos.

The logic being that addition memory was potentially more useful than a massive hard drive.

My son is very happy with it. And so he should be!

[Mr Pointy]

robsco said:

Thanks; screen size I haven't given much thought. The sole use would be for automotive sales, internet based. At least this is the aim. Does £300 get you a quality machine these days, I am so out of touch.

Does it have to be new? You'll get far more for your money buying a refurbished machine.

[craig1912]

Bought my son a HP (about £400) and it only lasted 2 years due to an issue with the motherboard that would have cost £200 to repair!!
I bought both of them mac book airs and the oldest is 7 years and one son just gone to uni with his 3 year old one. Both have been absolutely faultless.
The Dell i used for work was excellent

[RizzoTheRat]

Another vote for the Dell Outlet, I've got an Inspiron 13 2-in-1 and my wife liked it so much she bought the 17@ version. Bear in mind their prices are ex-VAT though.

However personally I'd steer clear of the Celeron ones and go for an i3 minimum, in which case you're looking at around £400+VAT.

[AC43]

RizzoTheRat said:

Another vote for the Dell Outlet, I've got an Inspiron 13 2-in-1 and my wife liked it so much she bought the 17@ version. Bear in mind their prices are ex-VAT though.

However personally I'd steer clear of the Celeron ones and go for an i3 minimum, in which case you're looking at around £400+VAT.

I've had Dells for work at the last three places. One failure in 9 years. Bought myself a cheap s/h one.

My wife's more bothered about the look and feel hence the HP Envy for her. And the Pavillion that my son wanted.

I don't care so have a chunky old Dell which gets the job done.

[aaron_2000]

Refurbished Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon, hands down.

[SpamDisco]

AJB88 said:

Try putting it on the beta channel, mine got updates on the beta channel when it didn't on the stable one.

Thanks, its showing "chromebook is up to date" on the beta channel, I'd replaced the chomebook a few months back when it came up with the warnings, but it'll keep it going for bit longer.
Cheers.

[AC43]

SpamDisco said:

AJB88 said:

Try putting it on the beta channel, mine got updates on the beta channel when it didn't on the stable one.

Thanks, its showing "chromebook is up to date" on the beta channel, I'd replaced the chomebook a few months back when it came up with the warnings, but it'll keep it going for bit longer.
Cheers.

I've got a Chromebase which is fine for basic browsing but refuses to work with things like Now TV and some of the homework packages that my kids need to use.

Nearly integrating with everything isn't good enough for me unfortunately.

At times it's infuriating.

I've now got a Chromebase AND three home laptops....