Job change means wife needs a new laptop which will also be used for kids homework etc. I know there is a huge amount of info out there but knowing who to trust etc is harder and also I’m lazy. Only real requirements are Microsoft Office, decent keyboard, robust and reliable as possible and a minimum 15″ screen, i.e. doesn’t need to be gaming powerhouse etc. Otherwise I don’t know a huge amount about minimum amount of RAM required in the real world, solid state hard drives or any of that shiz.

Recommendations of sellers with decent aftersales support should it be required also appreciated. cheers!

Thanks Davosaurusrex, I was going to ask a very similar question.

Bookmarked for thread-stalking purposes

I second the thread stalking as i too need a new laptop. though with a Blu-Ray / Disc drive too

Microsoft Office, decent keyboard, robust and reliable as possible and a minimum 15″ screen,

I’d be looking at a 2nd hand Thinkpad.

Robustness is not something I would expect to find in a budget PC. The thinkpad will be well built, have an excellent keyboard and are famously reliable.

I’ve always been very happy with Dell stuff – maybe check out the Dell Outlet site and get a refurbished model?

As for spec, ensure you get a solid state drive – they make such a big difference on performance….

I’d go with dell outlet – and for the best prices, scratch and dent. I’ve had a few and the worst ‘scratch and dent’ has been a barely perceptible scuff on the case, often you can’t spot anything. For better build quality, look at the business units.

Note stock is continually changing, so keep checking every few hours for a few days till you get a spec you want.

GQ – from the ……….. does a solid state drive make F-all difference? I really wouldn’t know

does a solid state drive make F-all difference?

I would take SSD over a processor upgrade.

I have them in all our personal laptops and home and about half of work ones. Noticeably faster working, and a couple of years still fast.

Having worked in IT for 20 years i get asked this alot. My response is always the same….

Go into PC World, pick one you like the colour of, and buy it. At that price range they all very much the same inside.

Just had a quick read. SSDs sound nice and all but won’t get one with much storage in budget. Got a USB external 1TB drive though so hmmm. I knew I’d end up having to do research and crap….

Look on eBay for a refurbished ThinkPad.

I wouldn’t be without an SSD as a boot drive – they make a lot of difference in responsiveness.

However, a reasonable sized SSD of 240Gb will set you back around £80, which is a large chunk of your budget.

If your budget is fixed, perhaps get a machine with a normal HD now and upgrade later. It really isn’t that hard to do on your own, or you could give some biscuits and a hug to your neighbourhood IT bod and get them to do it for you.

If the latter, wipe the dwarf porn off the machine first.

I would take SSD over a processor upgrade.
I have them in all our personal laptops and home and about half of work ones.

Also less likely to break if you throw it across the car park.

You should aim for:

Processor – Minimum i3 or i5.
HD – SSD if possible.
RAM – Minimum 8GB. Anything less not good (most offer 4GB which is very minimum and not good. 6GB is fine but this is an odd combination)
Touchscreen if that is your thing.
Brand: Any.

I constantly hit 55% of my 4GB RAM usage just with using Firefox browser.

😛

Lenovo at John Lewis?

It’s often pretty cheap and easy to upgrade your ram

Use the crucial memory scanner on an existing laptop, as chewk says, makes a big difference.
http://uk.crucial.com/gbr/en?gclid=COC6l-7m1tUCFU217QodR50ExQ&cm_mmc=google-_-uk-_-brand-_-null&ef_id=WTvuRwAAAG_JviB4:20170814131329:s

got a Sony Vaio cheap when my wifes work went under & it’s very nice, if u can find a decent refurb.

More RAM is always good, but you don’t need 8GB to do run Office and a bit of homework.

Where are you sourcing MS Office from (and do you actually need it, LibreOffice will do pretty much everything MS Office does)? A full retail copy will be half your budget before you’ve started.

Despite the recommendations others have made, I’d say brand is important. These no-mark house brands are all well and good until it goes pop in two years and you find you’ve no drivers, no support and no way of getting spares for it.

Cougar – Moderator
More RAM is always good, but you don’t need 8GB to do run Office and a bit of homework.

Hmmmm …

Mine constantly stay at 50%-55% RAM usage just browsing with Firefox, with some minor active stuff running in the background like Microsoft Security Essential, Bing bar and note (that post-it thingy) going.

Few days ago it hit 75% – 85% when I had several websites (8 opened) with youtbue, excel and word going as well … The system just slowed down until I close some of the websites. 😯

I should have invested for 8gb RAM when I built my system … arrgghhhh … 😡

You have no idea how Windows memory management works. RAM is there to be used, you don’t gain anything by having a pint pot if you’re drinking halves.

Cougar – Moderator
You have no idea how Windows memory management works.

Ya, that’s the problem because my 4gb has been fine until last two years. Somewhere something is consuming my RAM … 😮

RAM is there to be used, you don’t gain anything by having a pint pot if you’re drinking halves.

I would say get 8gb coz you don’t know which bloated application(s) are consuming RAM … 🙂

QED.

Maybe something like this, small drive but it’s SSD.

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/refurbished-hp-pavilion-15-au182sa-15.6-intel-core-i3-7100u-8gb-128gb-ssd-a1-1dk80ea/version.asp

I think you need to look instore like Currys if you are concerned about the keyboard / build quality. If you are going to spend the full £400 get one with an i5 CPU

I don’t think 8gb ram is crucial for homework /standard office duties, though. I’d sooner have 4gb ram and and SSD, and just not run twenty programs at a time, or a browser with a million tabs open.

This isn’t too bad.. Slightly over budget though
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-pavilion-15-au179sa-15-6-laptop-gold-10156935-pdt.html

No Ms office included, but you can get students discount on that.
It’s a fairly low resolution screen though.

Go into PC World, pick one you like the colour of, and buy it.

What if you like the person asking for the recommendation? 😀

All good stuff, ta.

Been discussing it a bit more and we have an ancient Apple eMac in the spare room that might as well go. Do you still get much more for your money with a desktop PC bearing in mind we would need a monitor to go with it? Can get a spare keyboard and mouse from work

Hmmm, desktops with SSD look out of the price range whether tower or all in one. If you get a tower can the drive generally be changed or added in later?

Yes, the nice thing about a ‘tower’ assuming it’s not a micro atx case is you can put a few drives in it, and swap out various components if you want.
With a laptop you’re pretty much stuck with what you’ve got aside from adding second ram stick.

Laptop processors are also generally cut down versions of thier desktop brethren, to extend battery life on the move.

So maybe consider first, if you really need the portability of a laptop.

But an SSD system drive is really a must for general use. A lot of the cheaper laptops on curry’s /PC world don’t even have SSD.

The current ‘high street’ trick seems to be offering a reasonable cpu and ram, and a *1 terabyte hard drive!

*hard drive is a 5200rpm record player.