New Laptop suggestions

[hughesie27]

9 minutes ago, Lovecraft said:

 Yep.  That one is much better.

 

Dedicated video too.

 

 

 

 

27 minutes ago, Justin Z said:

 

Yep, I think for the 50 quid that RAM upgrade plus the AMD processor is worth it. Here's a comparison of the two processors

 

 

from here. Also, I just noticed another huge difference between the two . . . the cheaper one comes with Windows 10 S, which is a locked down, terrible version of Windows in which you can only download apps from the Microsoft Store and use Microsoft Edge for browsing. The £50 more one, you get a standard Windows 10 install with freedom to do what you want.

Alternatively Argos have this one which looks like an even better processor? I can also get some discount with Argos of 7%

 

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/1979824

[Lovecraft]

6 minutes ago, hughesie27 said:

 

Alternatively Argos have this one which looks like an even better processor? I can also get some discount with Argos of 7%

 

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/1979824

Bigger screen   15.6 vs 14" on the Ryzen

 

Shared video card

 

CPU is better than the Ryzen too.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 29, 2019 by Lovecraft

[Lovecraft]

Could be a good shout to wait for Black Friday.

 

 

[hughesie27]

2 minutes ago, Lovecraft said:

Bigger screen   15.6 vs 14" on the Ryzen

 

Shared video card

 

CPU is better than the Ryzen too.

 

 

 

 

Which one would you say is the better option? 

[Lovecraft]

Just now, hughesie27 said:

Which one would you say is the better option? 

 Never underestimate the extra pleasure from 1.6"  😉

 

The https://www.argos.co.uk/product/1979824 one has more bang  for your buck, but less portable.  So if it never leaves the house/table/toilet.   That one wins.

 

 

[Lovecraft]

Are you genuinely gonna use it as a tablet at any point, or is it just a - would be nice to have?

 

If you have kids flipping between tablet and laptop mode, it will break at some point.

 

 

[hughesie27]

9 minutes ago, Lovecraft said:

Are you genuinely gonna use it as a tablet at any point, or is it just a - would be nice to have?

 

If you have kids flipping between tablet and laptop mode, it will break at some point.

 

 

Yeah I use my laptop a fair bit on my lap/ in  ed and do genuinely think it has a usage for me. It's not really an appeal that I think would be nice to have or fancy and more that would actually benefit me. No kids to worry about thankfully.

 

There is also the small point that the Crmurrys one needs picked up from Dunfermline wheras Argos have it in stock in Longstone...

[Lovecraft]

2 minutes ago, hughesie27 said:

Yeah I use my laptop a fair bit on my lap/ in  ed and do genuinely think it has a usage for me. It's not really an appeal that I think would be nice to have or fancy and more that would actually benefit me. No kids to worry about thankfully.

 

There is also the small point that the Crmurrys one needs picked up from Dunfermline wheras Argos have it in stock in Longstone...

 Go for it then.

 

Both the Ryzen and the i3 will do you for another 5 years.

 

 

[hughesie27]

41 minutes ago, Lovecraft said:

 Go for it then.

 

Both the Ryzen and the i3 will do you for another 5 years.

 

 

👍 cheers for your help with this and everyone else.

[Lovecraft]

39 minutes ago, hughesie27 said:

👍 cheers for your help with this and everyone else.

 Anytime.

 

Hope it does the job for you.

 

 

First job is delete all the guff that comes pre-installed.

 

 

 

Edited October 29, 2019 by Lovecraft

[Alan_R]

HELP PLEASE JKB!? Got my last laptop of the back of a jkb recommendation!

 

I know roughly what im looking for...

 

Ex businness/refurbished laptop. 8gb ram, i5 and preferably 14"+ screen. Its for my parents so doesnt need to be fantastic but something which will last them a few years would be great. Budget is £250ish (could stretch to 300) Not too battered as a gift. Ive found lots of machines but they are grade 3s with too much cosmetic damage.

 

alot of ebay sellers have random user profiles (as opposed to a tech company/computer specialist) makes me unsure of some of them.

[Harry Potter]

Got a jumper laptop, 180 pounds, was not sure of the name but seems fine.

Windows 10 installed and 6 GB memory, very fast, great for kickback 🙂.

Came with a keyboard cover, dont know if most do that now.

Edited September 21, 2020 by Harry Potter

[Tommy Brown]

On 28/10/2019 at 09:08, hmfc_liam06 said:

 

I'm pretty sure you posted the same video the last time there was a laptop discussion.

 

And I posted the same response. I've had 2 Macbooks since 2007/2008ish with zero problems. I've no doubt folk run into problems, happens with any tech. A £300/400 windows laptop will turn into a bag of shit within 2 or 3 years and take an absolute age to boot up.

This is where I side with @jonesy.

Most laptops turn to shit, yes, but imo mainly to bloatware installed by PC world, etc.

Wipe the ****ers, reinstall windows or Linux. It will work like new.

And stay off ****ing dodgy websites 

 

Some will develop hardware issues, which is a different issue altogether.

 

 

Edit

Just seen its a well bumped thread. Points still stand, though🤭

Edited September 21, 2020 by Tommy Brown

[Spellczech]

On 27/10/2019 at 21:02, hmfc_liam06 said:

 

And that is why Macbook's are the obvious choice.

 

Expensive? Yes. But they'll outlast £400 laptops by years.

So will expensive PCs TBH. I use a computer bought for me by a previous employer in 2012! HP Elitebook 8770W. It has been switched on constantly for 8 years and still works perfectly even got a free upgrade from Windows 7 to 10. I did replace the battery last year. Was about £1200 new

Edited September 21, 2020 by Spellczech

[Bigsmak]

3 hours ago, Alan_R said:

HELP PLEASE JKB!? Got my last laptop of the back of a jkb recommendation!

 

I know roughly what im looking for...

 

Ex businness/refurbished laptop. 8gb ram, i5 and preferably 14"+ screen. Its for my parents so doesnt need to be fantastic but something which will last them a few years would be great. Budget is £250ish (could stretch to 300) Not too battered as a gift. Ive found lots of machines but they are grade 3s with too much cosmetic damage.

 

alot of ebay sellers have random user profiles (as opposed to a tech company/computer specialist) makes me unsure of some of them.

 

What will you be using it for - Start with that and then work out what you need. 

 

Spreadsheets / Word etc?

Emails? 

Streaming TV? 

Games? 

 

[EH11_2NL]

6 hours ago, Harry Potter said:

Got a jumper laptop, 180 pounds, was not sure of the name but seems fine.

Windows 10 installed and 6 GB memory, very fast, great for kickback 🙂.

Came with a keyboard cover, dont know if most do that now.

 Now why would someone need that???

[Harry Potter]

31 minutes ago, EH11_2NL said:

 Now why would someone need that???

[Bull's-eye]

6 hours ago, Harry Potter said:

Got a jumper laptop, 180 pounds, was not sure of the name but seems fine.

Windows 10 installed and 6 GB memory, very fast, great for kickback 🙂.

Came with a keyboard cover, dont know if most do that now.

 

Handy for catching the slaver.

 

Good idea.

[Alan_R]

5 hours ago, Bigsmak said:

 

What will you be using it for - Start with that and then work out what you need. 

 

Spreadsheets / Word etc?

Emails? 

Streaming TV? 

Games? 

 

Aye not too much tbh. But want it to last a few years.

 

Graphics not important, no gaming.

 

8gb, i5, 14"+ screen. You'd think that should be easy but not finding much that the casing isnt battered to bits 

 

Any recommended sellers/sites?

[redjambo]

1 hour ago, EH11_2NL said:

 Now why would someone need that???

 

Protection from ectoplasm of course.

[redjambo]

@Alan_R: I bought a refurbished travelling laptop from Dell and it's a nice wee beastie. You just have to visit from time to time and see if there is a sale, or subscribe to their newsletter. A quick check shows that there's currently a Latitude E5270 going at £300. Note that the limited warranty is only 180 days.

 

Edit: Sorry, that E5270 has a 12.5" screen. Still worth checking the site though just in case.

 

https://www.dellrefurbished.co.uk/

Edited September 21, 2020 by redjambo

[King prawn]

48 minutes ago, redjambo said:

@Alan_R: I bought a refurbished travelling laptop from Dell and it's a nice wee beastie. You just have to visit from time to time and see if there is a sale, or subscribe to their newsletter. A quick check shows that there's currently a Latitude E5270 going at £300. Note that the limited warranty is only 180 days.

 

Edit: Sorry, that E5270 has a 12.5" screen. Still worth checking the site though just in case.

 

https://www.dellrefurbished.co.uk/

Thanks for posting @redjambo, I have a Dell at the moment but I didn't know about this. Will check it out in the future when the day comes that I'll need to replace this one. 

[milky_26]

1 hour ago, Alan_R said:

Aye not too much tbh. But want it to last a few years.

 

Graphics not important, no gaming.

 

8gb, i5, 14"+ screen. You'd think that should be easy but not finding much that the casing isnt battered to bits 

 

Any recommended sellers/sites?

if you could stretch to £360 this one from the link posted by @redjambo would match your requirements

 

https://www.dellrefurbished.co.uk/laptops/dell-latitude-14-7000-series-e7440-61937.html

[Tommy Brown]

https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/nav/pt/laptops/screenband/13-to-14/c/refurbished/procgrp/core-i3-and-better/mc/laptops-and-netbooks?tref=refurb-i3-laptops

 

Used this company in the past and were no problem

 

[Alan_R]

Cheers for replies. Ended up taking a chance on this. "Renew laptops ltd" if anyones heard of them?

 

14", i5, SSD, 8gb ram... cant really understand why it was so cheap at £160 probably the older casing. But sure itll be sufficient for my parents browsing

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353209922441

[Harry Potter]

16 hours ago, Bull's-eye said:

 

Handy for catching the slaver.

 

Good idea.

Correct BE, plenty of that as you are well aware.😀.

[Harry Potter]

10 hours ago, Alan_R said:

Cheers for replies. Ended up taking a chance on this. "Renew laptops ltd" if anyones heard of them?

 

14", i5, SSD, 8gb ram... cant really understand why it was so cheap at £160 probably the older casing. But sure itll be sufficient for my parents browsing

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353209922441

plenty memory there.

[Lovecraft]

15 hours ago, Alan_R said:

Cheers for replies. Ended up taking a chance on this. "Renew laptops ltd" if anyones heard of them?

 

14", i5, SSD, 8gb ram... cant really understand why it was so cheap at £160 probably the older casing. But sure itll be sufficient for my parents browsing

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353209922441

 It's a really old laptop that they have stuck an SSD in.  Should be fine for browsing the net, but it is about 8 or 9 years old.

 

The CPU isn't up to much either.

 

PS - that's not cheap.  You can get the laptop on Ebay for about £70 and it costs about £20 for a 120 GB SSD nowadays.

 

 

 

Edited September 22, 2020 by Lovecraft

[Alan_R]

5 hours ago, Lovecraft said:

 It's a really old laptop that they have stuck an SSD in.  Should be fine for browsing the net, but it is about 8 or 9 years old.

 

The CPU isn't up to much either.

 

PS - that's not cheap.  You can get the laptop on Ebay for about £70 and it costs about £20 for a 120 GB SSD nowadays.

 

 

 

Any other 8gb ram laptop on the bay was alot more or cosmetically poor.

 

I figured they just rejigged the insides on old model but sure itll be fine

 

Whats with the new trend of laptops being tiny? I found loads of good spec machines with 11-12" screens. Old dear didnt want that.

[redjambo]

1 minute ago, Alan_R said:

Any other 8gb ram laptop on the bay was alot more or cosmetically poor.

 

I figured they just rejigged the insides on old model but sure itll be fine

 

Whats with the new trend of laptops being tiny? I found loads of good spec machines with 11-12" screens. Old dear didnt want that.

 

Lightweight for travel, I would imagine. My wee travel laptop is 12.5" but I couldn't really use smaller than that now. However, I did have a Samsung N140 10.1" laptop for several years - I've no idea how I managed to see the screen, let alone use it for so long.

[milky_26]

3 minutes ago, redjambo said:

 

Lightweight for travel, I would imagine. My wee travel laptop is 12.5" but I couldn't really use smaller than that now. However, I did have a Samsung N140 10.1" laptop for several years - I've no idea how I managed to see the screen, let alone use it for so long.

it is part travel and part people can have especially for home working or in the office docking stations with monitors etc connected so they have a larger screen and are just using the laptop like a computer base but can use it as a laptop if needed

[redjambo]

Just now, milky_26 said:

it is part travel and part people can have especially for home working or in the office docking stations with monitors etc connected so they have a larger screen and are just using the laptop like a computer base but can use it as a laptop if needed

 

Ah, good call. I didn't think of that.

[Ritchez]

I'm looking for a new laptop. Main things I'll be using it for:

 

- Photo editing (Adobe Lightroom / Photoshop)

- Microsoft Office 

- Light gaming (web based, nothing intense)

- Light 1080p video editing 

 

I've set a budget of £500, although can extend if needed.

 

Any recommendations? Photo editing is the priority, so an SSD for quick access and 16GB RAM (that's what Adobe recommends) is probably essential.

[superjack]

hey folks. I'm looking for a new laptop and thought i would bump this thread instead of starting another.

having a look an amazon, i noticed a make of laptop i've never heard of before, SGIN.

the prices are quite low for what they claim is high spec. i'm just wondering if anyone on here has bough 1 of them previously?

[kila]

46 minutes ago, superjack said:

hey folks. I'm looking for a new laptop and thought i would bump this thread instead of starting another.

having a look an amazon, i noticed a make of laptop i've never heard of before, SGIN.

the prices are quite low for what they claim is high spec. i'm just wondering if anyone on here has bough 1 of them previously?

 

What's your budget?

 

[Japan Jambo]

On 27/10/2019 at 12:29, Craig_ said:

 

We've got an HP 2-in-1, the hinge of which has slowly worked its way free and started cracking the screen. Apparently it's a known fault with these models, but HP aren't in the slightest bit interested. Only ever used the flip setup for watching fitba or following recipes, tge thing was far too cumbersome to use as a tablet.

 

Going to replace it with a Surface Pro. Not cheap, but they come very highly rated. 

 

Surface Pro's are getting a really good press with my colleagues here. Easier to humph around too.

 

I find I'm travelling with an iPad more than a laptop these days particularly if there is no serious work to be covered off.

[Tazio]

Just now, Japan Jambo said:

 

Surface Pro's are getting a really good press with my colleagues here. Easier to humph around too.

 

I find I'm travelling with an iPad more than a laptop these days particularly if there is no serious work to be covered off.

Tablets with keyboards are becoming more practical as companies are moving more and more to cloud based storage. In non work life I very rarely use my laptop as I’ve an iPad Pro and it’s big enough that you don’t really lose the advantage of a good sized high quality screen. 

[superjack]

59 minutes ago, kila said:

 

What's your budget?

 

Around 350. I seen a decent Lenovo for 280, but then I seen the sgin. 

To be fair, the more I start thinking that its cheap for a reason.

[Jim_Duncan]

3 hours ago, Japan Jambo said:

 

Surface Pro's are getting a really good press with my colleagues here. Easier to humph around too.

 

I find I'm travelling with an iPad more than a laptop these days particularly if there is no serious work to be covered off.

I was iPad only for about three years. Fine until you wanted multiple windows or tabs. Now switched the opposite direction and use an iMac. Can’t go back to laptops now!

[Thunder and Lightning]

On 27/10/2019 at 21:02, hmfc_liam06 said:

 

And that is why Macbook's are the obvious choice.

 

Expensive? Yes. But they'll outlast £400 laptops by years.

Wow, a £1700 mac out lasts a £400 laptop. Amazing. 😂 

[Ulysses]

8 hours ago, superjack said:

hey folks. I'm looking for a new laptop and thought i would bump this thread instead of starting another.

having a look an amazon, i noticed a make of laptop i've never heard of before, SGIN.

the prices are quite low for what they claim is high spec. i'm just wondering if anyone on here has bough 1 of them previously?

 

You get what you pay for.  If you read the reviews on Amazon, you'll see a lot of 1-star ratings.

[Spellczech]

I have an LG Gram - 17" screen, boots in about 3 secs and weighs less than a bag of sugar... I love it

[Bindy Badgy]

17 hours ago, superjack said:

hey folks. I'm looking for a new laptop and thought i would bump this thread instead of starting another.

having a look an amazon, i noticed a make of laptop i've never heard of before, SGIN.

the prices are quite low for what they claim is high spec. i'm just wondering if anyone on here has bough 1 of them previously?

 

I bought a noname Chinese brand off Amazon. It was a good spec for the price but build quality was poor. The WiFi card stopped working after around six months. The company had disappeared off Amazon by that point and Amazon weren't interested as it was outside the A to Z guarantee time period. I worked around it by tethering my mobile when using the internet so it wasn't the end of the world.