Topic: New Laptop? (Read 4320 times)

regiment · « **on:** June 27, 2018, 01:26:34 pm »

which is the best lap top windows 10
pentium
intel celeron
and the best make
£350 to spend thanks gordon
ps not wanted for games etc

canabus · « **Reply #1 on:** June 27, 2018, 02:10:15 pm »

Hi mate
Pentium I5, 8 Gig memory, solid state hard drive and a good brand name like HP, etc.
Good size screen 15 and 1/2" for the old eyes !!!
Canabus

Colin Bishop · « **Reply #2 on:** June 27, 2018, 03:12:25 pm »

Also bear in mind that many laptops don't come with a CD/DVD drive these days which can be a problem if you use those.
Colin

regiment · « **Reply #3 on:** June 27, 2018, 03:31:25 pm »

as long as i can get mayhem ok

steamboat66 · « **Reply #4 on:** June 27, 2018, 05:33:37 pm »

chrome book? i gave up with windows, my chrome book does everything i need.

tigertiger · « **Reply #5 on:** June 27, 2018, 05:47:01 pm »

If you are on a budget, you won't get top spec. But for 350 you can get something equivalent to what was top spec a few short years ago.
Solid state memory is way faster, but for the money much smaller. For example at the lower end of budgets, you might only get 128GB solid state memory, but 500 GB of disk memory. Unless you are a power user (gaming etc) you probably will not notice the speed difference that much, but if you download a lot of video 128GB will fill up fast. Remember that a HD movie can be several GB now.
Screens are much higher resolution and easier to read than they used to be. 15.5 inch is great for visibility now.
If you go to the big retailers you can sometimes buy what they call refurbished. This is a new computer that may have only been out of the box once before being returned, but cannot be sold as new. They come with a full guarantee, and big price reduction.

Brands. All the major brands are pretty solid. Computers are pretty reliable nowadays. If you travel or are heavy handed with stuff, the Lenovo ThinkPad are robust. The rest of the Lenovo range have less expensive casings than many other laptops, and this is reflected in the price. Lenovo are a Chinese company that bought IBM's computer manufacturing.

Go the the retailer, see what is on offer, then Google the reviews. I don't usually understand too much about the tech reviews, but the star ratings give me some confidence in purchasing choice. Lemons are rare, but the reviews will find them out.

TheLongBuild · « **Reply #6 on:** June 27, 2018, 06:08:21 pm »

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/lenovo-computing/laptops/laptops/315_3226_30328_1700_xx/120-299_xx_xx_xx_5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-20-21-22-23-24-25-26-27-28-29-criteria.html

Any of these would be suitable.

Brian60 · « **Reply #7 on:** June 27, 2018, 06:57:23 pm »

Check out Acer brand. I was looking at one today, 8Gb of ram, 2Tb hard drive, intel celeron i5, 430€ so around £380-390 in the UK, fantastic spec for the money, I am seriously considering one even though I get a Spanish keyboard over here - yes a big difference, some letters come with a tilde above them and also upside down ? and !

roycv · « **Reply #8 on:** June 27, 2018, 08:45:56 pm »

Hi all, I replaced my laptop 18 months ago, no DVD player. So bought a recommended one and made the mistake of reading the instructions! Took ages to get it working but fine now. I did spend a bit more money than previous threads have mentioned but I went for a larger screen 15.5 inch and I have B & O sound which I use a lot. Also backlit keyboard, I am happy with my purchase (HP Envy 15).
I bought mine from J.Lewis who give a 2 year warranty. If you buy direct with HP you get 3 years but I heard that it is not easy if you have problems, dealing with HP direct.
Good idea to look at last years best buys and see if there is a discounted one around.
regards Roy

tigertiger · « **Reply #9 on:** June 28, 2018, 05:13:55 am »

Quote from: TheLongBuild on June 27, 2018, 06:08:21 pm

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/lenovo-computing/laptops/laptops/315_3226_30328_1700_xx/120-299_xx_xx_xx_5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-20-21-22-23-24-25-26-27-28-29-criteria.html

Any of these would be suitable.

Looking at these, ignore what I said about HDD sizes, it seems you can get a lot more storage for your money now.
BUT look at the laptops listed carefully, some have very big storage (1TB) which gives you future proofing (files and applications are getting bigger every year), some very small (32GB which won't run much more than your OS, and/or offer any real storage).

roycv · « **Reply #10 on:** June 28, 2018, 08:16:18 am »

Hi all, a second disc is a good idea for simple back-up, they are quite cheap as well.
regards Roy

malcolmfrary · « **Reply #11 on:** June 28, 2018, 09:51:29 am »

I got my present Toshiba almost 2 years ago as a bargain from Argos as it was "back to school sale" time of year.
No disc drive, but I took the old drive out of the dead Compaq that it was replacing, put it in a £10 case and it gets used the odd times that it is wanted. Much the same with the old hard drive from it, but that was a £7 case.
A Solid State Hard Drive (SSHD) is almost compulsory today, and they are getting big enough to be useful, but an external drive, if only for back-ups, is essential.
The only downside of the Toshiba is the dodgy keyboard, careful proof-reading is vital to spot the odd missing character, including the ones that I have actually missed. That, and as with all of the other laptops, I use a mouse rather than the track pad. New ones will almost certainly have a touch screen, so the mouse might not be needed.

tigertiger · « **Reply #12 on:** June 28, 2018, 11:32:19 am »

A proper mouse is really helpful. I have a wireless one, which I find easier to use. I also use a separate full size keyboard for fat finger Joe.

grendel · « **Reply #13 on:** June 28, 2018, 12:24:22 pm »

I have just repaired a laptop that had the hard drive die, a 500Gb SSD drive for it was just over £100, I created a win10 usb installation media from the microsoft site, and loaded windows 10 back onto it, it automatically found the product codes even with a new hard drive, and there is the added bonus that the machine is a lot faster than it used to be.
I have my storage on an old XP desktop machine 3Tb in total, that is more than half full now (I have 5 hard drives running in that desktop, but the main ones are a 1Tb and a 2Tb) I also have several SATA hard drives on an external sata hot swap caddy, this enables me to access data on several other hard drives when I need to. to use this I just turn the caddy off, remove one hard drive and put in a different one, then turn it on again.

Martin (Admin) · « **Reply #14 on:** June 28, 2018, 12:47:17 pm »

Have a look at:
https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-14-bp060sa-14-laptop-white-10165278-pdt.html
https://www.ebuyer.com/819843-hp-250-g6-i3-laptop-2sy33es-2sy33es-abu

( I don't like celeron & pentium these days, "i" series much more like real processors! )

Peter Fitness · « **Reply #15 on:** June 28, 2018, 11:55:41 pm »

I bought a new laptop towards the end of last year, after my old one died. The new one is an HP 250 Core i5 with a 240 Gb SSD (solid state drive) and 8 Gb RAM, running Windows 10. It also has a built in DVD drive which is a bonus these days. I'm very happy with it, particularly the speed of the SSD, booting up is extremely quick. I use several external HDDs for storage and back up.

Peter.

RAAArtyGunner · « **Reply #16 on:** June 29, 2018, 12:01:55 am »

Quote from: Colin Bishop on June 27, 2018, 03:12:25 pm

Also bear in mind that many laptops don't come with a CD/DVD drive these days which can be a problem if you use those.
Colin

Not necessary according to Microsoft

Gurus say that Microsoft didn't include a DVD player in Win10 because we all now live stream.

tigertiger · « **Reply #17 on:** June 29, 2018, 01:51:03 am »

People are mostly streaming. In China it used to be that there were many places you could buy pirate discs, but these have nearly all gone now. Win10 still comes with a media player and a film editor. All you need to play CD/DVD is an external disc drive, that plugs into a USB port. No problem. Personally, I have not watched a DVD in 4 or 5 years, and I used to buy many. I am now watching a lot of downloaded content.
My old laptop is now sitting on a shelf, permanently connected to the TV, and a couple of 1TB external hard drives. It has an internal disc drive, but it never gets used.

RAAArtyGunner · « **Reply #18 on:** June 29, 2018, 02:33:45 am »

Yes I too used to buy DVD's but no longer as they, the latest movies, are available free from the Library.

Whilst I also have Netflix and Iview, compliments of my children, I still prefer to watch a DVD, as I can pause, go back, watch the extras, such as how stunts or scenes were filmed etc. Whilst this may be also possible with streaming, am getting a bit long in the tooth to master the art.

The DVD is simpler and I do subscribe to KISS.

regiment · « **Reply #19 on:** July 06, 2018, 01:40:05 pm »

my family are going to buy me a new laptop 17 inch screen which is the best both from argos hp 17 ak0114va or asus x 75 inatyoo
price does not matter thanks gordon

Brian60 · « **Reply #20 on:** July 06, 2018, 04:38:48 pm »

I can't comment on those individually, however, I have always had great service from HP laptops, and my 10 inch tablet is an Asus, both have given me no trouple at all.
But you do need to watch for storage size on either of them. Most manufacturers nowadays are opting to install small hard disks because they expect you to store your information in the 'Cloud'. Personally pick the one with the largest ram - preferably over 4Gb, the bigger the better if you like dabbling with various software, and also look for the largest hard disk you can. Again forget any of those offering say 32 Gb's you will not store anything on that bar a few photos and music tracks.

Until I managed to get the spare board for this laptop ( stupidly damaged by yours truly) I was looking at a 12Gb ram (think ready memory) and a 3 terabyte disk, but then I do a lot of photo manipulation, music downloading, 3d drawing, 2 d drawing, so need all of that.

roycv · « **Reply #21 on:** July 06, 2018, 08:19:03 pm »

Hi regiment, my last laptop was a 17 inch one, I now have a 15 inch one and hardly notice the difference. I have an HP Envy15, very pleased with it and if you want to spend the extra there is a top class screen available, mine is good for me though. If you also listen to the sound then this laptop has a B & O sound system. (Which liked it too)
regards Roy

Peter Fitness · « **Reply #22 on:** July 06, 2018, 11:30:24 pm »

I agree with Brian, you need plenty of RAM, my HP has 8 Gb plus it has a solid state drive (SSD) which gives a much faster start up and access time. SSDs are also not prone to mechanical faults, mainly because they aren't mechanical

When I'm at home I connect my laptop to a 21" monitor, use a wireless mouse and the laptop keyboard. When we are away I use it as a normal laptop, although I do take the mouse as I'm not keen on the touchpad.

Peter.

Andyn · « **Reply #23 on:** July 07, 2018, 02:26:44 am »

If price isn't an issue go for a Razer Blade Pro
https://www.razer.com/gb-en/gaming-laptops/razer-blade-pro/shop

Bear in mind the X75 is long since discontinued. Another good shout would be any of the Asus ROG Strix line

tigertiger · « **Reply #24 on:** July 07, 2018, 03:58:59 am »

Yes, I also noticed that the Asus X75 is listed as old model in several searches online.

I don't know how to check this, but the new high res 15" screens are as easy to read as my old 17" screen.
The 15" is easier to transport too.
If you are always going to be sat at the same desk, a desktop PC will give you so much more for a lot less money; including the chance of a much bigger screen.

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Author Topic: New Laptop? (Read 4320 times)