Okay, I'm on a budget here of no more than £300. The current computer is on it's last legs and I need to replace it.
Laptop is required for internet, photography (little bit if editing, mostly storing and looking at), bit of office stuff.
I've seen this:
[url= http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Lenovo_E555__-AMD_A8-7100_4GB_500GB_AMD_integrated_BT_DVDRW_15.6_INCH__Win7_20DH000TUK/version.asp#maindesc ]Laptop[/url]
Is this any good? Is there something better out there?
Anything I should avoid?
Many thanks for your help
Could do a lot worse - I like Lenovos.
My train of thought was that I think Lenovo are IBM? (I could be wrong). IBM made some really good laptops and I still see a lot of people using them so they must be good?...
That's about the limit of knowledge I have on modern laptops etc haha!
Used to be IBM, though that was a while ago - though they've largely kept the same ethos with decent quality no frills computers aimed mainly at business. IME they're reliable and have very good customer support.
Have a couple of them here (one running 24-7 as a server!) - they make even better value s/h though (we've got a few that way for use in the local school), which could be an option for your requirements depending on how fussed you are with having the latest tech.
Refurbished bargain?
You'll not beat Lenovo for build quality. The photography thing might lead your hand. Photo editing implies lots of RAM and a decent screen. Beyond that though, any branded laptop will serve you well for your criteria of "want to use it a bit" which is the same usage as 99.99% of everyone buying a laptop ever.
If you want something to [i]store[/i] photos I'd suggest springing for a secondary method of storage such as a USB hard disk (the question you need to ask is, what happens when the laptop hard disk fails / I lose it / the house burns down). Backups are far easier, and cheaper, to recover than broken hard drives.
There was a refurb Thinkpad i5 in Scan the other day which took my fancy. Friend bought 2 for business. I will probably be wanting to buy next month, so they might not still be there for me.
Many thanks for your help.
Looks like Lenovo should be ideal then.
Although I've just had a look at Scan and there seems to be some brilliant deals there!
This could take some time...
Er... make sure you wipe it completely on purchase and install your own OS.
I wouldn't touch lenovo with a barge-pole after they decided to install a dodgy SSL cert and intercept confidential traffic to insert ad's in (and **** knows what else). A weakness that has since been targeted by criminals to steal bank details.
Hardware wise they are built to last, if a little unexciting.
Wife got an i5 HP refurbished from PC World the other week for £300, they went up to £320 later that same week and now appear to be all gone, (the deal went redhot on UKHotDeals shortly after she ordered) but they do have some similar ones still
Hers came and it was immaculate, no marks on it at all, and it seems very fast and capable, my only slight gripe would be the keyboard is a bit plasticky to feel and the trackpad can be a bit awkward (easily solved with a seperate mouse)
It wasn't this one but was very similar spec - http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/laptops-netbooks/laptops/refurbished-laptops/hp-notebook-15-r150sa-refurbished-15-6-laptop-black-10034878-pdt.html?intcmpid=display~RR#cat-0
About 5 years ago, my T60, Lenovo made Thinkpad, kept getting a noisy fan.
I sent it off to them to be repaired under warranty, when they received it, the screen was broken, as was the case, they accused me, I said it wasn't, they agreed to replace.
6 months later, similar thing happened, fan broke.
I sent it off to them, it went missing for two weeks, turned up, they refused warranty on the grounds it was user damaged. I asked what the **** that meant, to be sent photos of a smashed laptop.
Screen, case, keyboard, bent surround as if it had been drop kicked everywhere.
They returned it to me effectively in bits and refused to warrant it.
Since then, I have had Lenovo bought for me, and I really like them, I'm typing on one now.
Not sure if I would want to risk another warranty though.
If you want your photos to have reasonable colour, I'd suggest perusing secondhand laptops of reasonable spec (8gb ram, 500-1000GB hard drive 2ghz i5ish) and make a choice based on the screen quality.
Some are terrible!
My Asus n56vm has been totally reliable and does everything I want it to very well.
Might be worth checking argos and currys outlets on ebay. Recently had a new (not refurbished) end of line laptop from currys outlet for £485 down from £720.
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Argos?category=175672&categoryName=Laptops%20&%20Netbooks