Hi All,

My currently laptop is over 10 years old running Windows XP and is about to die. Its running really slowly and making weird noises. Thought I’d try and get a new one before this one actually breaks.

I haven’t followed the computer market for ages so no idea what processor I need or amount of RAM etc … So need some advise on what to get.

I’m not really a power user, mainly use the computer for web browsing, photo editing and sometimes remote connecting to work. Don’t particularly need a long battery life or portability either. I only have a laptop as I live in a flat and don’t have space for a workstation.

I have a friend who can get a discount on a Dell Inspiron 15 7000 series. Are they any good?

Specs:

Inspiron 15 – 7537
Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-4200U Processor (3M Cache, up to 2.6 GHz) + nVidia N14P-GT 2GB GDDR5
Windows® 8
6 GB Memory (1x4GB + 1x2GB) 1600MHz DDR3 Dual Channel
500 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
15.6 inch LED Backlit Touch Display with Truelife and HD resolution (1366 x 768)
Back Up Media Not Included
Windows® 8 64bit (Englilsh)
Intel® Dual Band Wireless-N 7260 2×2 AGN + Bluetooth 4.0
LCD Back Cover : Silver (Touch)
Battery : Primary 4 Cell 58WHr
Internal Qwerty Backlit Keyboard

Anything else I should be looking act. ideally I’d like to keep budget around £400 – 500.

thanks

One thing I would say is try and wait until after Christmas to buy.
I scanned the market a 6 weeks ago as mine is slowly expiring and the majority of prices have gone up by 10% – 15% in the past month leading up to Christmas!!!

To future proof and at that budget you could look for i3 or i5 processors and most laptops come with at least 4gb RAM and 500gb HDD these days which is ample for general home use.

You also need to seriously look at the Windows 8 software, I’m already decided that I Def don’t want it as I use W7 at home and work and it’s being maintained by MS for business use. W8 seems to work great for touchscreen but appears to be a pain for keyboard use. But certainly check it out for yourself and decide.

Check out http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk they usually have the cheapest prices and a good filtering system to highlight specific machines with platform, processor, RAM and hard drive requirements.

@jairaj – make sure you get your important data backed up quickly, don’t wait till you buy a new machine ! You can get free storage with GoogleDrive and Dropbox – copy stuff there. You can buy an external hard drive for £50 which may be a very good investment longer term.

I had a dell inspiron – it was ok for the price. It didn’t last 3 years though.

on that spec i’d want a faster HD ( the rpm figure 😉 )and i’d recommend going to a 17″ screen.
good points above wrt win 8 IMO.

As per @Del I noticed hard drive rpm was 5400, new ones are 7200 and that would be better (although given your likely usage and the age of your current machine anything new is going to feel like lightening !). At your price point you won’t get an SSD – solid state drive – which are very very fast as no moving parts – but smaller capacity. You don’t want a cheap SSD as it will probably fail.

and i’d recommend going to a 17″ screen.

I wouldn’t if you will carry it about much. I’d probably go for 15″ and a cheapy monitor if using it mainly at home too, looks like it has decent discrete graphics.

Had many Dells in the past, they generally feel a bit cheap and plasticky, but they have never given me any bother, and the support pages are (to me) well laid out and kept current.

But I too would also wait till after Christmas unless you’re desperate 🙂

On @100mphplus link I found this HP machine which with a trade in is £320 linky

It is obviously older stock as it’s windows 7 with an upgrade disk to windows 8 but based upon comments you could leave it at Windows 7.

Ok thanks all for the pointers, really helpful. So looks like the basic spec is OK for my needs but I could do with a faster hard drive. I’ll and look at other brands too with similar spec levels.

I’m in no real hurry to get a new one so as long as the current one keeps going I guess I’ll wait for the post Christmas bargains.

yep I’ve already backed up my data on external hard drive already.

thanks again.