Laptop Advice

Quick question if there are any one on here that knowstheir stuff on computers.

I’m looking to buy my daughter a new laptop but don’t wanna spend more than £400.

Anyone know anything decent that I can get for around £300 - £400 with a decent enough spec?

 

It's difficult mate. Windows 10 and 11 are both processor and memory hungry. These glossy deals at Currys etc look OK but we have bought two for family recently and performance is horrendous.
Your price bracket typically gives you a laptop with 8GB memory. Whichever you choose, make sure there is a spare memory slot and source a 2nd stick. Websites like crucial.com help you identify the correct memory, at a fraction of the cost of sourcing from the laptop manufacturer

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/jumper-Dis...mzn1.fos.d7e5a2de-8759-4da3-993c-d11b6e3d217f

 

Has that got plenty of processing power? I’ve no idea btw as I’m well out of the loop. Just keep seeing intel I3 & I5. No idea what’s what these days.

 

i5 is better than i3

And you want 16Gb RAM

 

Although out of the price range you’re looking, I’ve not looked back since getting my MacBook. Eliminates the pain of viruses and slow performance as they continuously update.

Still struggle with the shortcuts though, each day using windows for work and MacBook for personal. Leaves me confused, but that doesn’t take much.

 

1st question is….
What do you want to use it for?

 

Bit of gaming for her aswell as school work. Ideally something that’s not going to become outdated pretty quick

 

Tier One do refurbished ThinkPads. Bought quite a bit off them. Just factor in replacing the battery. Otherwise Grade B and A look in excellent condition.

 

Try Blackmore IT off eBay. Have bought decent laptops before last one was: Samsung NP900X5T Laptop 15" i7 8th Gen 16GB RAM 256GB SSD GeForce MX150 Win 11. £199.

 

I think you'll have to forget the gaming unless it's something like Minecraft, even the other free stuff like Fortnite and Apex now need a proper gaming machine, last time I looked on our PC Apex was an 150GB installation!!

Try to look at Intel i3 or i5 or go with AMD Ryzen 3 or 5, anything lower than these using the mobile chips will only last a short time. You might be able to pick up something half decent around the £4/500 mark

Go into Currys and have a look at what size you find best as they range from about 11inch to 17.5 ish. If you do find something in there at your price range don't let them bully you into buying all the unnecessary add ons like anti virus as you can pick up some decent free ones

Other options are 2nd hand/ refurbished

 

Anywhere local that can build you one - shop near me does this. Tell them what you want it for, how much you want to pay etc and they recommend a decice.

 

Might go down the desktop pc route instead.

Is this good for the price?

https://www.awd-it.co.uk/awd-ryzen-...cs-desktop-pc-monitor-package-for-gaming.html

 

I have a Lenovo IdeaPad which cost just over £100 from Currys, W11. 11" screen, 56Gb C drive (SSD) 4Gb RAM.

I use it for internet, email, photo storage and editing, spreadsheets and word documents etc.

Pros
Works fine, occasionally slow on startup.
Light and portable.

Cons
Battery life a bit short, I get 3 or 4 hours before needing to recharge.
It's a bit low on storage but has a micro SD card so I put a 128Gb card in.
Only 2 USB ports.

Depends what she's going to use it for whether you need to spend much more.

 

I know very little about laptops, but someone on here recommended getting one with a Ryzen processor when I asked a similar question about 4 years ago. Best advice I've ever been given on here. Still performs well 4 years later. I generally use it for storing photo's, some gentle word processing, and playing a few older games, but it hasn't flagged once.

 

Really cheap, but won’t game, fine if you don’t need Windows apps: Chromebook Plus

Tiny, super portable, but won’t game, Windows: Surface Go

Good build quality, Mac, amazing battery life, won’t game: Second hand/Amazon on offer M1 MacBook Air

For £400 you’ll not get decent modern gaming performance, so it’s about changing the expectation or preferred limitations

 

Yeah….im gonna go down the refurbished better spec route I think.

I’ve found this. Is this good for the money?

The store has some fantastic reviews on Trustpilot too.

https://www.stonerefurb.co.uk/lenov...6gb-ram-500gb-ssd-grade-c-enc-len16384-gradec

 

Have a look on Marketplace, you can get something decent for gaming then, that's how I started mine and then I've just upgraded it

At Grade C/fair just be careful

 

If you don’t need portability of a laptop, a desktop will always be more expandable and performant than a laptop. The machine in your post will probably take a lower end Nvidia graphics card to make it more gaming orientated too.