Laptop Recommendations

[GolfR12]

Hi guys,

Hope everyone is keeping well. I may be required to work from home soon so figured I’d buy a laptop as I’ve been thinking of getting one for a while.

I’m not great with techy stuff but I’ve done a bit of research and filtered down to the below specs which I would like:

Operating System - Windows
Processor - Intel Core i7 (would consider i5)
Memory (RAM) - 8GB+
Storage - SSD
Screen Size - 14-16 inches
Screen Resolution - 1920x1080 pixels (Full HD 1080p)
Battery Life - 8 hours+

My budget is £800.00. I will be using this as an everyday home laptop. Not into gaming etc (apart from Football Manager maybe haha)

I have come across the below two laptops which seem pretty decent for my budget. I would appreciate if you guys could provide me with some of your recommendations?

HP Pavilion 14-ce0505sa
Lenovo Ideapad 530s

[S6PNJ]

Dell outlet?
£480 plus VAT and whatever they are currently charging for P&P etc
https://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/SecondaryInven...

i7, 8Gb, 512 SSD, 15.6" dunno about runtime though

[GolfR12]

S6PNJ said:

Dell outlet?
£480 plus VAT and whatever they are currently charging for P&P etc
https://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/SecondaryInven...

i7, 8Gb, 512 SSD, 15.6" dunno about runtime though

Thanks for the recommendation. I should have mentioned that I am after something a bit more modern aesthetically

[anonymous-user]

As we love to overspend £984 XPS 13- https://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/SecondaryInven...

I got my wife a used Carbon X1 i7 16gb and upgraded the SSD to a larger size came with a dock. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lenovo-ThinkPad-X1-Carb...

[ninepoint2]

Refurbished ex business Dell/Lenovo from reputable e-bay suppliers, have bought a couple of very good machines this way recently

[Somebody]

Does it have to be new? I much prefer the bullet proof feel of business laptops rather than consumer laptops. I still use a Thinkpad X61 as an everyday laptop and the wife is using an Elitebook 6930p to WFH via VPN to her work. Both bought refurbished some years ago and perfectly usable with SSDs installed. Parts are easily replaceable and serviceable unlike consumer laptops.

[jonwm]

Somebody said:

Does it have to be new? I much prefer the bullet proof feel of business laptops rather than consumer laptops. I still use a Thinkpad X61 as an everyday laptop and the wife is using an Elitebook 6930p to WFH via VPN to her work. Both bought refurbished some years ago and perfectly usable with SSDs installed. Parts are easily replaceable and serviceable unlike consumer laptops.

Second this.
I purchased an I5 HP Elitebook 850 G3 from ebay before Christmas, I paid £180 if I recall delivered, I spent £40 on an SSD and its immaculate, 16GB of Ram and its 3 year old, when I logged on it said it have 8 months of HP warranty left too. A quick google suggested this was £1k plus when new.

So far its faultless, only issue which isn't an issue is a locked BIOS, HP business machines are hard to crack but its not needed to do anything except BIOS updates as far as I can see, apparently HP used to issue an SMC.BIN file to overcome this but stopped early last year (i checked with support to ensure the machine wasn't stolen).

I was able to install fresh SSD and Windows 10 with no issues at all.

[Jinx]

jonwm said:

Somebody said:

Does it have to be new? I much prefer the bullet proof feel of business laptops rather than consumer laptops. I still use a Thinkpad X61 as an everyday laptop and the wife is using an Elitebook 6930p to WFH via VPN to her work. Both bought refurbished some years ago and perfectly usable with SSDs installed. Parts are easily replaceable and serviceable unlike consumer laptops.

Second this.
I purchased an I5 HP Elitebook 850 G3 from ebay before Christmas, I paid £180 if I recall delivered, I spent £40 on an SSD and its immaculate, 16GB of Ram and its 3 year old, when I logged on it said it have 8 months of HP warranty left too. A quick google suggested this was £1k plus when new.

So far its faultless, only issue which isn't an issue is a locked BIOS, HP business machines are hard to crack but its not needed to do anything except BIOS updates as far as I can see, apparently HP used to issue an SMC.BIN file to overcome this but stopped early last year (i checked with support to ensure the machine wasn't stolen).

I was able to install fresh SSD and Windows 10 with no issues at all.

My main concern with second hand laptops would be battery life - not a problem if you have it plugged in on a desk all the time but replacement batteries can be expensive and are rarely as good as the original.
A second vote here for Dell outlet - I've now purchased 7 machines from there over the years - desktops and laptops and all have been unscratched and un-dented even though they have been advertised as such (still had the plastic on in some cases) . All three desktops are in continuous use (purchased in 2009, 2012 and 2018) and three of the laptops are still being used (the only one that isn't is the Inspiron mini - poor thing had an unfortunately gravity based accident). The older ones are of course running Linux as would struggle with windows 10.