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Having had to return my Dell work laptop I now find myself needing to buy one. I haven’t bought a laptop, ever, as always had work ones, plus iPads etc. I have a home setup that I was able to keep from work with twin monitors, keyboard, mouse, webcam etc, and they all plug into a Dell WD15 monitor dock, which then plugged into laptop with a usb shaped plug. I can’t recall the model number of my work laptop.
I will only be using it for very basic word and excel stuff, cv’s job applications, some PP probably, finance trackers etc, so no need for anything fancy.
i have found a Dell Latitude 5400 with windows 11 Pro (renewed) on Amazon for £200, plus another £114 for MS Office 24. I’m assuming/hoping that this would just plug straight in ?
any better option that folks can suggest ?
Latitude 5400s go for about £100 on ebay (refurbs). I bought my Lenovo from www.laptopoutlet.co.uk
After a decent amount of research into the spec and screen size I wanted, they had the best deal. Service was great.
Everyone will come up with something different though, so you pays yer money you takes yer choice.
Thanks, are most Dell ones likely to plug in ok to a Dell monitor dock ? The 5400 isn’t listed against the WD15 one I have and I’d ideally not buy another connector unit.
The monitor dock won't have to plug into a Dell laptop, any laptop with the right USB port will do. You say it's a USB-shaped plug, which particular USB shape?
Many thanks, am away from home hence my vagueness! Will check at end of week, cheers
the link above from laptop outlet has a 5490 at £220 which is on the list for the dock compatibility and on Windows 10 Pro, so more than enough for my simple needs, so will probs order.
Get one with Windows 11. Windows 10 support stops soon so no security updates.
Don't spend £114 on Office. Get a code from overclockers or similar for £20. I registered mine with Microsoft and they were happy it was legal.
Otherwise literally any laptop you can buy today will do what you want.
More or less any windows 10 laptop with an intel 8th generation procecssor (so e.g. i5-8XXX) will update to Windows 11 via Windows Updates (so late 2017 onwards). Not sure re. the AMD processors, but imagine it's similar era.
Basically don't pay any more for a laptop that advertises as having windows 11 or pay for a win 11 upgrade over windows 10. It's a free upgrade.
are most Dell ones likely to plug in ok to a Dell monitor dock ?
That's not a docking station, it's a port replicator. Your "USB-shaped plug" will be USB-C, any make of laptop which outputs DisplayPort over USB-C should work. That's going to be your stumbling block, not brand.
For "very basic" office duties you have multiple options. Microsoft Office itself is free to use in a web browser, it's not fully-featured but you're unlikely to be needing things like team collaboration. Google has its own office suite, again online. Or if you want a traditional full-fat desktop suite then Libre Office is compatible with its MS counterpart and is free.
Most home users who think they "need" MS Office don't, it's just habit. You can write a letter in Wordpad.
^^ thanks, shows how little I know having always been given one through work 🙄.
Will get the Dell 5490 ordered up, cheers
This will work fine, unless you’re trying to edit GoPro videos!
... or expecting that Dell dock to work.
It's tricky to get proper specs without an actual model number, but it looks like it supports one external monitor over HDMI and that's it.
I just spotted this on amazon...looks like a good deal...? I don't need one but it looks good for the money to me...
