Ok, need a mid range laptop for work/play. Used mainly for surfing and MS Office stuff. No gaming or fancy media manipulation just a solid mid performer. i5 or similar presumably.

This one looks ok though doesn’t seem to have Bluetooth. Anyone got any recommendations from recent purchases for about the £500 mark (or less preferably).

Ta.

Link doesn’t work but a) Lenovo are very good and b) I’d be shocked if any modern laptop didn’t have bluetooth (and you can add an adapter for buttons anyway).

Fixed it now. I wanted something a bit better than my creaky cheapie Compaq that went US last week.

Not much interest in new laptops then? 🙁

OK, Lenovo/fake IBM it is then but don’t say I didn’t warn you….. 🙂

trouble is ppl post these thread, expect that cause ‘quite a lot’ of ppl on here work in IT, they’ll know the latest deal…

Why the **** would we?
If you work in IT, kit is bought in bulk for a ‘price’, unless you actually looking for a new computer yourself, no-one trawls through all the listings..

You know, just a thought… sorry I can’t help otherwise 😳
(oh a m8 bought a Packardbell i5 the other week for £380).

I have bought all my laptops as dell refurbs from http://www.europc.co.uk.

there are different grades of refurb – the top grade is pretty much perfect/same as new.

if you go for the dell business range you get the 3 year warranty, although check when it started as it may have been when the original punter bought it and then returned it for some reason.

Moreover, it’s a very open question. “I’m looking for a new laptop / phone / car / bike, what do people suggest?” You want a laptop that can surf the net, well, that’s all of them.

The second half of the question is, “I’ve found this one, is it any good?” Well, yes, it is.

Above and beyond that, you’re down to personal preference really. I like to go to large stores and play with a few, check that it’s got a decent keyboard and so on.

Ok thanks. I suppose all these sort of threads end up with what people have recently bought and how they have found it/them. I suppose a ‘wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole’ response is the most useful. In this case, I think Lenovo have a decent rep for making solid good quality kit (well they did in IBM guise anyway) and in the absence of any ‘I got an i7′ 2TB, 8gb fantastic ultra book for £50’ replies, it’s as good as any similar kit from the big names.

Anyway it’s ordered and after Quidco/money off voucher/Lenovo cash back, was just over £400 which int bad for a decent quality i5, 1TB, 8gb notebook and it’ll get me off this hateful iPad…

I’ve just bought a Lenovo, very good for the money. Once I’d ripped out all the crappy & intrusive free software it came loaded with, that is.

I suppose a ‘wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole’ response is the most useful.

No-one’s going to say that though really. Laptops are all basically the same. They all have basically the same bits inside and out, and all run windows or MacOS.

What makes individual laptops great or rubbish to use is how well they are maintained and looked after.

No-one’s going to say that though really. Laptops are all basically the same. They all have basically the same bits inside and out, and all run windows or MacOS.

and they all have screens as good as each other, and cooling systems as efficient as each other, and the same battery life, and as good keyboards…

All those things vary, but a) they are pretty minor for MOST people and b) they aren’t specifically brand orientated. It’s not true to say that ALL HPs have bad screens or whatever.

Battery life is mainly dictated by the chipset and cpu technology anyway, which they all share, I think. All the E-450s I looked at anyway had similar figures quoted.

Generally, it’s build quality and whatever features you want at the price. Which why I would always just look at whatever’s on sale and pick the nicest one in your budget.

screen quality varies quite a lot – which can be very important if you want to do any photo editing, for example – how can you color/exposure correct if the screen can’t render colors somewhat accurately? Even watching films/tv needs accurate color rendition.

Also keyboard quality vary quite a lot between laptops – for instance none of the Asus laptops we looked at were acceptable to the wife as the keyboards were so poor, so she had to have a Sony which do have rather good keyboard. Lenovos should be decent as well.

All the same?

Bit like cars, MTB’s, motorcycles etc. All basilcally performing the same function as each other so why do we bother with all the sillyness of choice?

Taking this to it’s logical conclusion Moly, you should be able to fix your crappy Pasat with bits off a Beatle shouldn’t you as all VW’s are basically the same? 🙂

Anyway, they aren’t all the same. Some are crap and some are betterer. The one I have now was cheap and feels it though is probably the fastest I’ve ever had. The replacement is more mid range so should hopefully be more pleasant to use and will be a whole lot better than the crappy iPad I’m using now.

BTW, anyone using a combined tablet/PC yet? Best of both worlds or worst?

I fancy one of those lenovo foldy things (yoga ?) for my wife, who’s after a new lappy.,

Anyone had a go ?

I’ve never even met her.

Very good. 🙂 😆

I’ve never even met her.

regardless, do you have a laptab (or whatever kack name we’re having for them) to swap ?

Got an Acer this year from Acer Direct that has so far been excellent.

It’s quite flexy but it’s got a 17.3″ screen which doesn’t help & I only use it for home use so wasn’t overly fussed about paying through the nose for something more solid.

i5, 6gb RAM, 750gb hdd, 17.3″ screen for £550. That was Feb/Mar time.

All basilcally performing the same function as each other so why do we bother with all the sillyness of choice?

Well that’s a good question. If someone comes on and asks what the best bike is for £1,500 we say ‘they are all good, try a few out and get whichever feels right’. Same for lappies, which is why Cougar’s advice is good.

screen quality varies quite a lot

It does, but last time I looked around most manufacturers were offering a variety of screen options, the good ones of which were all good.