Work has a PCW account, so no other suggestions please…

Whats the difference in model between Vostro or Inspiron?

Would an HP 250 G5 be any better (seems better spec – I am concerned it is plasticy)

All the online reviews are of older versions of all these models…

I had a HP work laptop once. It started falling to bits in less than 12 months. Made of cheese.

Lenovo is my default option, my laptops lead a rough life and they tend to be fairly robust.

Can you stretch to this one? https://www.pcworldbusiness.co.uk/catalogue/item/P221534P?from=category&heat=title

It’s the 15″ version of the one that I have just now. Had HP ProBooks and EliteBooks (very nice just very expensive) over the last couple of years and I like them a lot. I’m sure the HP 250 G5 would be absolutely fine, just recommending what I have!

What do you want to do with it.

Out of those 3 machines…

The Vostro will be quicker despite less RAM as it has an SSD but it is a small one. If you don’t store much that may be a better bet and then add more RAM as necessary.

The Inspiron is pretty generic in build and the HP sacrifices the processor in favour of a bigger SSD. All are low end laptops that would probably be fine for every day stuff.

What will you be using the laptop for mostly?

Out of those three I’d be on the vostro.

Though I just bought a G5, i5 version for just shy of £400 off ebuyer, but that’s no use to you and your PCW account 😉

the vostro, better processor, you can always add more ram and an SSD drive will always be quicker than a standard HD in the inspiron.

it’s a shame really as they were doing the Yoga 510 in similar spec for £350 the other week.

Use: Day to day office browsing of STW, access to our cloud system, making up office documents, presenting and showing a few video’s, occasional web editing and simple image editing (like rename and resizing).
Nothing onerous.

I am happy to add SSD or another stick of RAM – but PCW have decided to only carry a couple of options it seems – and it needs to be under or around £400-450…

Sorry for going straight for the alternatives, but that sort of money would get you an i5 on the Dell outlet, I’ve had 3 from there, all brand new. Even now, quick check:

Inspiron 15 – 5567
Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-7500U (2 Core,4MB Cache, up to 3.5 GHz)
Windows 10 Home (64bit)
8GB (1x8GB) 2400MHz SDRAM DDR4 Non-ECC
256GB 2.5 inch SATA Class 20 Solid State Drive
8X DVD+/- RW Drive
4GB AMD Radeon R7 M44x

£479

Or if you wanted an i3

Inspiron 15 – 5567
Processor: Intel® Core™ i3-7100U (2 Core,3M Cache, up to 2.40 GHz,15W)
Windows 10 Home (64bit)
8GB (1x8GB) 2400MHz SDRAM DDR4 Non-ECC
1 TB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
8X DVD+/- RW Drive

£366

If u have to go with PC World then I’d get the Vostro and add another 4Gb of ram to it.

Thank you all – I’m leaning towards vostro + RAM. Slight concern about only 128mb do SSD, but I will just need to be disciplined about saving files to cloud….

Vostro looks the best compromise. Bang the ram up to 8gb though. The ssd isn’t massive but for general office work should be fine. You can always upgrade it at a later date or go for the cheap option and get a big SD card to store documents on, or as you say save files to remote storage assuming connectivity isn’t going to be an issue.

I had a HP work laptop once. It started falling to bits in less than 12 months

HP have now split in two. HP is the consumer-grade stuff and HPE (“Enterprise”) is the, erm, enterprise kit. This is handy for purchasers, because HPE is the market leader in the server world, whereas HP is toilet.