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After wandering around pc world in a daze i'm none the wiser even after trying to explain my needs to staff there.
For home and office use, watching films and vids, surfing the net and emailing etc. Won't be used for gaming or stuff like that. Won't be taken out and about so doesn't need to be super slim / light and would like a 17" screen. Not a Mac and must be as idiot proof as possible as I will hate the need for it and will have no interest in it whatsoever other than turning it on and using it.
What size memory / h drive etc,
What can anyone recommend.
I'd suggest a 'known' brand; Lenovo, Dell, HP, Toshiba, etc etc. Avoid the labels you've never heard of.
Beyond that, any 17" laptop in PC World will satisfy your exacting requirements.
Go to john Lewis, choose one that feels robust from a good brand with 17" screen. Don't get hooked up on the fact that one has half a nano more warp factor than the next - build quality is more important IMO.
Pay.
I'm typing on a £350 2008 dell from PC World that has been bounced all the way around Australia in a camper van and used pretty much every day since purchase, amazed it is still going. I've had to replace the hard drive but that was easy. Would buy one again.
Go to HP website, got the HP Envy for £160 less iirc, full HD ,i5, 1TB, 8gb memory.. Whats not to like 😀
Luckily, Mac dont make a 17 inch anymore, so no-one can suggest it
Either get a used windows 7 lappy (don't know an IT support company that recommend using win 8) or wait till the end of the year when we will hopefully see windows 10.
Win 8 is a dog!
Until I borked the keyboard, the 17" HP Pavilion (can't remember the spec) currently sat in our lounge has been faultless for a good few years.
As for W8, I quite like it, but I am using it as it's meant to be used - on a touchscreen (Surface Pro 3)
W8, does seem good with a touchscreen useless otherwise but 'classic shell' fixes it. Anecdotally, win8 seems to run like a dog though, seen brand new i5's that lag, & i3's are stupidly slow