Off Topic New laptop advice

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askewshair

askewshair

Well-Known Member
Jan 28, 2011
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Forget Which and reviews, I come on here for proper advice!
I'm looking at purchasing a new laptop.
It is just general use. I do have an iPad, which I use daily for most things, it is is quite old and won't take some of the new apps but plenty of life in it yet, I hate throwing anything away when it still has shelf life! Problem is because it has an old operating system, When that is charging, or the odd occasion I have to type a document, I go to my laptop, which is probably 10 -15 years old (when it's replacement died, I went back to that)!! Some may suggest I update the iPad, but I can't think of life without a laptop (I do have a work one for any docs I'd have to type... Can't download software onto this one).
So fairly certain I am going down the laptop route. Anyone advise on any good offers? I only need entry level so don't want to spend more than £300. Also, what's everyone's thoughts on Mac books? I've always just bought from PC World / Currys but I am more aware now of wanting to give my trade to small businesses.
 
Over the years I've had Dell, Asus, HP, Sony.

I'd try and go Dell every time. Currys seem to have a couple either side of £300, both with SSD. Appreciate what you say about buying local but at that sort of price bracket it may not be possible. Have you thought about going for a used one?

Oh and I think Apple are just over-priced.
 
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askewshair said:
Forget Which and reviews, I come on here for proper advice!
I'm looking at purchasing a new laptop.
It is just general use. I do have an iPad, which I use daily for most things, it is is quite old and won't take some of the new apps but plenty of life in it yet, I hate throwing anything away when it still has shelf life! Problem is because it has an old operating system, When that is charging, or the odd occasion I have to type a document, I go to my laptop, which is probably 10 -15 years old (when it's replacement died, I went back to that)!! Some may suggest I update the iPad, but I can't think of life without a laptop (I do have a work one for any docs I'd have to type... Can't download software onto this one).
So fairly certain I am going down the laptop route. Anyone advise on any good offers? I only need entry level so don't want to spend more than £300. Also, what's everyone's thoughts on Mac books? I've always just bought from PC World / Currys but I am more aware now of wanting to give my trade to small businesses.
Click to expand...

If you want to spend £300, there’s not much use looking at a Mac Book, they start at about a grand.

My last three have been Dell’s and they’ve been very good, though as I’m on mine all day every day, I have their top of the range items. I don’t know what their entry level stuff is like (though they do start under £300).
 
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Its a hard question really. Dell at the budget end as a generalisation aren't as good as other brands, including Asus.

Where they excel though is after sale customer services where Asus blow goats.

Then you need to look at what spec you need for what you intend to use it for. Either way, at that price range, its going to be AMD Ryzen I'd guess for power per pound.

Define the need, get the spec, then put it in a website, find the laptops then go find it at the right price. Really, its best to plan ahead and buy laptops/phones and PCs in November though, black friday month.
 
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I’ve been using surface pro’s for a few years now. Same sort of footprint and portability as an iPad with the capability of a laptop. I run engineering CAD/CAM software on both my SP4 i5 and SP7 i7 which are very demanding programs which they handle without a hitch although graphical rendering is a cut below my purpose built desktop PC at work.

The current range is obviously well out of your budget but surplus stock of the older models can be picked up cheap if you can find them. Couldn’t recommend them enough.
 
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For the past 12/15 years I've gone with Acer, from AcerDirect - with bulletproof reliability and decent prices I can't fault them in any way.
 
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askewshair said:
Forget Which and reviews, I come on here for proper advice!
I'm looking at purchasing a new laptop.
It is just general use. I do have an iPad, which I use daily for most things, it is is quite old and won't take some of the new apps but plenty of life in it yet, I hate throwing anything away when it still has shelf life! Problem is because it has an old operating system, When that is charging, or the odd occasion I have to type a document, I go to my laptop, which is probably 10 -15 years old (when it's replacement died, I went back to that)!! Some may suggest I update the iPad, but I can't think of life without a laptop (I do have a work one for any docs I'd have to type... Can't download software onto this one).
So fairly certain I am going down the laptop route. Anyone advise on any good offers? I only need entry level so don't want to spend more than £300. Also, what's everyone's thoughts on Mac books? I've always just bought from PC World / Currys but I am more aware now of wanting to give my trade to small businesses.
Click to expand...
Just rub the Vaseline off your camera that you use to make yourself look all ‘soft focussed’ and figure out how to turn your mic up so you can be ****ing heard!
 
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Plum said:
Over the years I've had Dell, Asus, HP, Sony.

I'd try and go Dell every time. Currys seem to have a couple either side of £300, both with SSD. Appreciate what you say about buying local but at that sort of price bracket it may not be possible. Have you thought about going for a used one?

Oh and I think Apple are just over-priced.
Click to expand...

I know very little about computers so open to be criticised .. But had a Dell laptop (inspiron 3000 series?) that cost around £300 a few years ago. It was awful, the ssd memory was too low, so kept on getting snarled up with the windows updates and the ram(?) was so poor that my old computer, which the dell had been bought to replace, was quicker. After 6 months I binned it. My wife, through work, has a dell that cost around £800 and she thinks it's the best laptop she's had. I remember reading that the low end dells are awful, have the worst quality package to reduce the price and allow them to exploit the brand name and better off getting an Asus or lenovo model with better components.
 
My usage is very general, so don't need specific strengths. Just a good value pc, with a reasonable spec for that price. As Dennis alluded to, three of us tried a virtual jam the other night. The camera, speakers and microphone were useless (probably for the best). It's not something we're likely to do regularly (actually never, after the lockdown), but reminded me how old and limited it is.

What should I be looking for? I understand rams and roms. What processors are good at entry level?
 
tip for everybody with windows: turn off the indexing of files to allegedly speed up searches. it slows you down the rest of the time.

get an ssd. my laptop is more than five years old. i put a 1tb ssd in it last year. with an internet connection speed of more than 200mbps it's like a rocket with a rocket up its backside.

use a lan cable rather than wifi if you can. if i use wifi for my laptop, i only get a third of the speed i get with cable.
 
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