IronJambo Posted November 12, 2020 Share Posted November 12, 2020 (edited) Looking for pointers from the techy folks on here on what spec I should be looking for. I've a computer guru mate that tells me I need a recent i7 processor with 16gb ram with a graphics card with 8gb dedicated to it. I think he's ovetshooting it but I don't want to ignore him and fall short. It's only really going to be used for browsing, streaming (netflix/sky go/Disney plus/prime TV), and occasional photo editing. Not interested in a big screen and 13/14" probably hits the sweet spot. Being able to flip the screen for video use would be handy. Fast WiFi would also be useful. Any pointers on spec and any recommendations on a machine would be greatly appreciated. I'm not hung up on what it costs to a max of £1k but I'd happily spend half of that if it gets what I'm needing. Edit: I'm not going to be paying full whack with black Friday on the way Edited November 12, 2020 by IronJambo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmarkus1981 Posted November 12, 2020 Share Posted November 12, 2020 I bought the Mrs a Chromebook as its only used for browsing, nifty feature that it flips round and turns into a tablet so would suit your video watching needs. Not so sure it would be any good for photo editing mind you. Something like this might be ok, as it runs Windows 10 rather than ChromeOS. https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/acer-spin-5-sp513-53n-13-3-intel-core-i5-2-in-1-laptop-256-gb-ssd-silver-10194248-pdt.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ULSTER HEARTS Posted November 12, 2020 Share Posted November 12, 2020 I'm not going to pretend that I'm clued up but I think you should be looking for one that has solid state drive rather than a hard disk drive as I think this gives you better start up speed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankblack Posted November 12, 2020 Share Posted November 12, 2020 20 minutes ago, ULSTER HEARTS said: I'm not going to pretend that I'm clued up but I think you should be looking for one that has solid state drive rather than a hard disk drive as I think this gives you better start up speed Solid state drive for the operating system, second hard drive for the porn data. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hughesie27 Posted November 12, 2020 Share Posted November 12, 2020 It depends what you mean when you say photo editing. Are you a professional when it comes to that or are you just touching up hobbyist shots? 8GB graphics card sounds overkill to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redjambo Posted November 12, 2020 Share Posted November 12, 2020 If you're not going to be gaming, I'd go for i5/i7 (with a CPU mark more than say 7,000 at https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php), 8GB RAM, 256GB SDD (more if you have lots of movies etc.). You probably don't need a specialised graphics card. If it's a laptop, get something with a good battery life (min. 8 hours?). If you're going to be carting it about, get something lightweight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Z Posted November 12, 2020 Share Posted November 12, 2020 20 minutes ago, hughesie27 said: It depends what you mean when you say photo editing. Are you a professional when it comes to that or are you just touching up hobbyist shots? 8GB graphics card sounds overkill to me. Agree. @IronJambo your computer guru mate is forgetting this computer isn't for him. Two Christmases ago I bought a corporate-used and refurbished HP zBook 15 g3 that retailed for over £1,800 new, for about £400, but it took a lot of diligent searching to locate—it was off eBay. Came with a docking bar too, and it's an i7 and has 16GB of RAM, a 500GB SSD, and would be just fine for everything you're talking doing for several more years. Had a warranty too (since expired) which I used for a new charger, as mine went bad. You don't need to spend anywhere near £1k, especially if you go refurbished. Mine doesn't swivel around like you want but I'm sure you'll find something. Agreed with redjambo's suggestion on checking the processor performance, and 7,000 seems like a reasonable approximate baseline, although if you can find 16GB of RAM, I'd take it for future-proofing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronJambo Posted November 12, 2020 Author Share Posted November 12, 2020 Cheers folks, I think you've helped me agree with my own thoughts. Quite happy to bash on and pull the trigger when I see something come up that looks decent now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superjack Posted November 12, 2020 Share Posted November 12, 2020 recently got my daughter a Huawei matebook pro. she is using it for browsing, Netflix etc, as well as uni work. for the price, I could not find another laptop with as good a spec, think it was an I5. checked all the reviews online, the common theme, normally you would have to spend about a grand to match this spec and build quality. cost about £600 from pc world, couldn't find it any cheaper else where. part of her course involves a lot of photo editing as her course involves a lot of design. come black Friday, there may hopefully be some good deals on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankblack Posted November 12, 2020 Share Posted November 12, 2020 1 hour ago, IronJambo said: Cheers folks, I think you've helped me agree with my own thoughts. Quite happy to bash on and pull the trigger when I see something come up that looks decent now. Seriously my point about having an SSD and a standard hard drive are valid. You don't need the difference in speed on your work files, but the SSD as the master drive speeds the machine up immensely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobboM Posted November 12, 2020 Share Posted November 12, 2020 10 minutes ago, frankblack said: Seriously my point about having an SSD and a standard hard drive are valid. You don't need the difference in speed on your work files, but the SSD as the master drive speeds the machine up immensely. Agreed plus they are near silent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redjambo Posted November 12, 2020 Share Posted November 12, 2020 19 minutes ago, frankblack said: Seriously my point about having an SSD and a standard hard drive are valid. You don't need the difference in speed on your work files, but the SSD as the master drive speeds the machine up immensely. I replaced the terabyte drive in my laptop with a SSD recently - it was like getting a new machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whodanny Posted November 12, 2020 Share Posted November 12, 2020 (edited) 5 hours ago, IronJambo said: Looking for pointers from the techy folks on here on what spec I should be looking for. I've a computer guru mate that tells me I need a recent i7 processor with 16gb ram with a graphics card with 8gb dedicated to it. I think he's ovetshooting it but I don't want to ignore him and fall short. It's only really going to be used for browsing, streaming (netflix/sky go/Disney plus/prime TV), and occasional photo editing. Not interested in a big screen and 13/14" probably hits the sweet spot. Being able to flip the screen for video use would be handy. Fast WiFi would also be useful. Any pointers on spec and any recommendations on a machine would be greatly appreciated. I'm not hung up on what it costs to a max of £1k but I'd happily spend half of that if it gets what I'm needing. Edit: I'm not going to be paying full whack with black Friday on the way Take a look at this, I bought one even though I didn't really need a new laptop, it's very impressive for the spec. The AMD Ryzen 5 processor really is very fast, I've passed my old Dell machine on to my nephew now. https://www.techradar.com/uk/news/this-early-black-friday-laptop-deal-is-the-best-laptop-you-can-get-for-under-pound500 Edited November 12, 2020 by whodanny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazo Posted November 12, 2020 Share Posted November 12, 2020 2 hours ago, IronJambo said: Cheers folks, I think you've helped me agree with my own thoughts. Quite happy to bash on and pull the trigger when I see something come up that looks decent now. Simple rule of thumb get the best spec you can afford and unless you are gaming cpu, ram, hard drive, weight is where you want to spend your money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronJambo Posted November 12, 2020 Author Share Posted November 12, 2020 1 hour ago, frankblack said: Seriously my point about having an SSD and a standard hard drive are valid. You don't need the difference in speed on your work files, but the SSD as the master drive speeds the machine up immensely. Aye I'm up on things like that, the 6 year old Lenovo I'm replacing has one in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronJambo Posted December 2, 2020 Author Share Posted December 2, 2020 On 12/11/2020 at 11:06, redjambo said: If you're not going to be gaming, I'd go for i5/i7 (with a CPU mark more than say 7,000 at https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php), 8GB RAM, 256GB SDD (more if you have lots of movies etc.). You probably don't need a specialised graphics card. If it's a laptop, get something with a good battery life (min. 8 hours?). If you're going to be carting it about, get something lightweight. Cheers for this red, I reckon your link and guidance on CPU speeds was the single most helpful post here. It helped me properly evaluate what mattered most for my needs and was insanely insightful on what was being offered spec wise. I'd have liked 16gb ram but I don't really reckon I need it. I finally took delivery of an HP convertible with 8gb/256gb(don't really rate physical storage much these days!) and a good Ryzen 5 that kicks the arse out of any i5/i7 that was on offer at similar prices. Was quite happy to pay £720 for this in the end https://store.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Product.aspx?id=2S897EA&opt=ABU&sel=NTB Cheers all for sharing your knowledge! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EH11_2NL Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 My son has just told me our 10 year old laptop has finally died. This post helps me too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.