I’m not getting anywhere researching this and hot UK deals is full of posters dismissing deals that are flagged but the same posters won’t link to what is better.
Budget is ideally £300 unless there is some very good reason to go more, not just an incremental increase.
For college, poss UNI in two years. Word and maybe some number crunching. I suspect that any machine will do this but I’d rather get the best for money.
Is the general consensus now to look for ssd rather than a hard drive.
Are chromebooks any good?
Probably looking for a full size 15″ model.
Factory refurbished wouldn’t be an issue.
Thanks in advance,

For that sort of money I’d recommend second hand/refurbished or maybe a Chromebook. Most Windows laptops at that price are of poor quality with low resolution screens etc.

My wife and daughter both have refurbished Lenovo Thinkpads, both cost less than £300 and are solid well specced machines. They are not however all that light or trendy looking.

https://www.encore-pc.co.uk/laptops/windows-laptops

My lad had a basic Lenovo last Xmas, pretty sure it was within your budget. It’s been spot on for him. Runs Minecraft perfectly, stood up to being knocked etc, as a 12yr old can do. I was hung up on the must have an SSD but it runs Office 360 well.

It’s a joy to lug around compared to my Dell Precision that work gave me.

STW, yesterday:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/what-laptop-for-a-teacher

SSD does make a big difference on cheap machines.
It’s more important than the amount of ram or the processor if it’s just an Internet /office machine.
A typical hard drive spins at 7200 rpm, but almost all laptops are fitted with 5200 rpm drives which are even worse.. They are fine for bulk storage drives but not for system drives.

Don’t know who it was, but someone on here recommended gigarefurb.co.uk. I have them bookmarked for a refurbished laptop when the time comes, certainly worth a look.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/laptop-recommendations-under-30000
We bought a refurbished Dell after recommendations on here

This any good then…..

http://m.dell.com/h5/m/uk/SecondaryInventorySearch?p=%2FOnline%2FSecondaryInventorySearch.aspx%3Fc%3Duk%26cs%3Dukdfh1%26l%3Den%26s%3Ddfh%26sign%3DPXhcOSHtr1T4IOw%252fPR7UdcS7ZOF2ETq%252fuiapKz42zjNW6suUj53RZ6aM%252btI8zTC%252fQaGBJ164rzB46vKjKu3XeJcxpoy8AcWC7vHd1UFlYoYf%252baCsAv3kpYX9H3h58pFVosCWp7BTpL9Mm9f4raOMth%252f%252faKZxgutKk3IVOkPJ5D6FSC5tSZFMxylV1zlyyT0tnf3v1sCKwdVN8%252bbMqWOw1uY15sgRjbGisRNM%252fvQNLu2j8GL%252bizR2%252bWiX69fu9ac8t27TYJg%252bhO6yRZDJEUsN8A%253d%253d

Bit over budget but a ssd drive….

Reconditioned lenovo. With an ssd drive. Because the iPad generation aren’t used to waiting for bootup.

And lightness trumps power.

Son1 sports a tiny 12″ lenovo with 256Gb HD, 16Gb memory and an upgraded 9hr battery for Uni. I sits in a docking station on his desk and he carries it everwhere.