I seem to be the owner of a wheezing laptop and frustratingly I may need to buy a new piece of tech.

I currently have an Assus k52f which has been fine but what do I buy now?

I really am a bit rubbish when it comes to understanding what I need from laptop, or do I buy a tablet?

General usage is internet, media and very small amount of design work. I do like listening to music, watching films and frotting myself over bike filth.

Any suggestions please?

what kind of design work/apps?

If you think you could do it with any of the google chrome extension apps then a chrome book might be for you if you are generally in an “always online” environment.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/app/89-creative-tools

Im very impressed with my samsung series 3 chrome book

very small
amount of design work

how small? a tablet will do the rest fine but you’ll almost certainly not want to do the design work on a tablet ime.

You need a laptop if you are doing anything other than browsing the web or email, but tablets are pretty cool to have anyway

Some things you might want to tell us:

1. Budget?
2. Do you want a small or larger screen?
3. Will you be carrying it about?
4. What do you mean by media – editing films/etc ?

a chrome book might be for you

If it is, check your local Cash Converters; ours is full of the things.

WHich ones, the cheap acer ones?

I find cash converters/cex kind of places arent actually that good for prices, but I guess the warranty/SOGA is a benefit.

Its worth bearing in mind that only a windows 8 Tablet will do all of the internet. The rest can’t do JAVA and its hard to get Flash support. This maybe irrelevant to you

Personally I couldn’t live without at least one PC.

So I suggest you but a small laptop with a solid state hard disk. Its not much less portable than a 10″ tablet and is quick to boot. It also does all that boring stuff like Microsoft Office and Photoshop

Well worth a wander round a shop to see the options

a good laptop will do everything, a tablet will do a lot but if the thing you want only happens on a laptop then a tablet is just a toy.

There is a lot of stuff I do that works best with a mouse and keyboard and some of it will not work on any tablet.

Samsung chrome book refurbs on eBay for £165?

Check the progs you reg use. You may be surprised how little you use..

Remember there is no other way if you must have Photoshop/word etc. But there is nearly always an alternative. Chrome book can simplify drastically in my experience, but open mind is required

Thanks for the replies

Budget of £350 max
I use inkscape and gimp
Media, means watch streaming channels and download films

Already have a solid state external drive

I do use excel and word a lot for business

Laptop it is then….

I do use excel and word a lot for business

do you mean that, or do you mean you write letters and colour in boxes a lot for business? If you are not using advanced functionality then to a great extent google docs will fill the whole.

I build large excel models for a living and so keep a desktop running W7 to be able to run excel, but Ive found I can edit my smaller/simpler models on google spreadsheet and use chrome book remote desktop to access my big computer if I really need to.

I do use excel and word a lot for business

Laptop
Edit after seeing Stoner’s post
Something with a mouse an keyboard

Its worth bearing in mind that only a windows 8 Tablet will do all of the internet. The rest can’t do JAVA and its hard to get Flash support. This maybe irrelevant to you

Flash works fine on my Android tablet and I can’t remember the last time I saw a Java powered website outside of an Intranet application. (And if you’ve any sense you’ve got Java in the browser disabled anyway.)

Java is a good thing to remember if you use it (5 or 6 Java Apps here) if you have specialist needs then you need to consider it properly.

Sorry, I missed this.

WHich ones, the cheap acer ones?

Dunno TBH – I didn’t look that closely. There were a bunch in the window when I walked past one lunchtime.

I suppose java for me is occupational

http://sodaplay.com/

http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulations/category/physics

And I’ve not seen a tablet app to get any where near gimp

yep out Simulation tool is non tablet friendly (apart from the fact it would probably melt some of them)

what does the hive think to this:
link to ebay shop

Looks like a bit of a bargain.