# Laptop recommendations



## Estoril-5 (Mar 8, 2007)

Hi All,

Our laptop at home has died a death, it served me well for 8 years so I can't complain.

Now my son, 9 years old is increasingly requiring use of a computer for school homework and the iPad isn't really suitable anymore.

I need use of the laptop every now and again for MS Word and MS Excel, and the odd browsing.

So with that in mind that it doesn't need to be a gaming laptop or super powerful but be able to do the basics, what do you guys suggest?

I have £250 in my Quidco account which if boosted into Argos vouchers results in £265.

It would be great if I can find a suitable laptop in that price range however I'm ok to spend more uptown £300ish.

It doesn't have to be from Argos but better if it is.

I am crap with computers so appreciate any guidance 

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk


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## DimitriUK (Jan 18, 2017)

Go to amazon sort by price and pick the one with highest review score for the money you want to spend.
Avoid Lenovo I had really bad experience with 2 of them regarding overheating (solved by replacing myself the thermal paste) and battery level suddenly dropping to 5% from 60% (levono support was a waste of time)
For ms office buy a key for amazon they go for about GBP20, they are legal and download it online do not waste money on office 365 (around GBP70 for a year) or office retail (around GBP150).


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## mar00 (Jun 24, 2018)

if you have to use Argos this is probably the best option for budget https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8577810 no DVD drive though but not that many do now, only a celeron CPU so not going to be fastest but has a SSD hard drive so will make up for that a bit, ideally an intel i3 CPU would be better,

I buy several hundred Lenovo each year and only had one issue in 5 years which was a hard drive failure out of the box, nothing in your budget is going to be hard wearing now and unlikely to last 8 years again but lenovo do tend to be the best of the budget end, avoid HP and Dell budget stuff and most of the high end too,

the keys sold on ebay and amazon for a few pounds are at best grey keys and worst ilegal, normally MSDN/developer keys and not for resale, unless you have a COA either physical or digital you are not the owner or licenced to use it, microsoft can blacklist or remove activation, obviously a lot cheaper but you take a gamble,

there is also genuine boxed office software around a bit more expensive but is is for other regions most of the time it won't activate so people contact the supplier then they send a different key with is illegal but activates,

there are some free office software packages too, open office and LibreOffice tend to be the most popular and work well


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## DimitriUK (Jan 18, 2017)

mar00 said:


> the keys sold on ebay and amazon for a few pounds are at best grey keys and worst ilegal, normally MSDN/developer keys and not for resale, unless you have a COA either physical or digital you are not the owner or licenced to use it, microsoft can blacklist or remove activation, obviously a lot cheaper but you take a gamble,


I bought from amazon and when I checked the license says retail no developer etc stuff.


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## pxr5 (Feb 13, 2012)

mar00 said:


> if you have to use Argos this is probably the best option for budget https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8577810 no DVD drive though but not that many do now, only a celeron CPU so not going to be fastest but has a SSD hard drive so will make up for that a bit, ideally an intel i3 CPU would be better,


I've got that Lenovo Laptop and it's absolutely fine for day-today tasks. I agree it's the SSD that makes the difference. I'd never buy any PC without a SSD for the OS. The CPU is in fact a Pentium 4415 and not much different than an I3, and is quick enough. https://www.cpubenchmark.net/laptop.html


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## mar00 (Jun 24, 2018)

the i3 is about 40-50% more powerful so if you can get one for around £300 with the series 7 worth the bit extra will make a difference on heavier applications, they use a m.2 hynix SSD not the fastest but ok for the price and upgradable, but either CPU will be ok,

most of the office codes from any source will activate generated codes can be retail but without COA you don't have a licence and can be deactivated or blacklisted or prosecuted but can see them doing that to an individual, but the have to businesses already for using these codes,


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## Estoril-5 (Mar 8, 2007)

Cheers guys, think I'll settle for the Argos one! It does the job it needs to plus I have my work laptop for any complex stuff but prefer my son not to use.

Now to see if they have it in stock!

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk


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## Estoril-5 (Mar 8, 2007)

Update: that particular one seems to be out of stock everywhere and not available for home delivery.

Looks like I'll fork out a little more and go for the next model up.

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## Estoril-5 (Mar 8, 2007)

The one from Argos mentioned previously Is hard to get hold of locally.

I did see this one with a ssd and HDD, any opinions before I purchase?

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8525075

Cheers

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## Starbuck88 (Nov 12, 2013)

Estoril-5 said:


> The one from Argos mentioned previously Is hard to get hold of locally.
> 
> I did see this one with a ssd and HDD, any opinions before I purchase?
> 
> ...


The SSD will certainly improve loading times etc and that processor turbo boost to 2.4ghz, should be a tidy laptop that :thumb:


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## mar00 (Jun 24, 2018)

Estoril-5 said:


> The one from Argos mentioned previously Is hard to get hold of locally.
> 
> I did see this one with a ssd and HDD, any opinions before I purchase?
> 
> ...


thats old and outdated and over priced a lot, I'd avoid acer too,


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## minotaur uk (Dec 13, 2018)

I get all my laptops and desktops from the UK Dell outlet store....great bargains!


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## Estoril-5 (Mar 8, 2007)

I'm in limbo, unsure which one to get.

I have however requested my Quidco in Argos e-gift card so have to spend the money there.

Any other suggestions, feel free suggest 

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## mar00 (Jun 24, 2018)

Estoril-5 said:


> I'm in limbo, unsure which one to get.
> 
> I have however requested my Quidco in Argos e-gift card so have to spend the money there.
> 
> ...


it may be worth traveling a bit if possible to get that one it's better than the more expensive ones on argos, most on there are years old and overpriced buy £100,


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## mar00 (Jun 24, 2018)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lenovo-I...042012?hash=item520dcfd2dc:g:yOMAAOSw1cdbuH2R

they have it new on argos ebay shop but not sure if you can use the vouchers


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## ollienoclue (Jan 30, 2017)

I would never buy a Dell.

Lenovo are fine for this price range. Not sure if Acer or Asus make machines in this bracket.

I generally loathe laptops to be fair.


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## DimitriUK (Jan 18, 2017)

ollienoclue said:


> I would never buy a Dell.
> 
> Lenovo are fine for this price range. Not sure if Acer or Asus make machines in this bracket.
> 
> I generally loathe laptops to be fair.


Have the opposite experience with Lenovo, have 2 of them battery out of the blue drops from 60% to 0%.
On one of them had to change the thermal paste as it was overheating


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## DimitriUK (Jan 18, 2017)

minotaur uk said:


> I get all my laptops and desktops from the UK Dell outlet store....great bargains!


Same here, I bought a used one from amazon GBP 200, had a wobbly fan which I asked the seller to send me a replacement one and it works perfect.

99% of the population do email, google, facebook and youtube, you do not need anything fancy for these tasks.


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## Christian6984 (Dec 20, 2007)

Dont buy a cheap acer, my mum has one and it gets used for very basic activities, bit of browsing the web and office duties and its only a few years old and its terribly slow and problematic, Im on my third Dell in about 12 years, they are only ok reliability wise but never owned any cheap ones but the price of them has got a bit much in recent years. 

was surprised to find the new one didn't have a cd/dvd drive but you can get USB attached ones for any needs like that.


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## Estoril-5 (Mar 8, 2007)

Managed to find the Lenovo relatively close to me. Picked it up. Having to get used to the new windows set up, but it's ok so far, haven't used it in anger yet!

Thanks for all the advice folks

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## Naddy37 (Oct 27, 2005)

Estoril-5 said:


> Managed to find the Lenovo relatively close to me. Picked it up. Having to get used to the new windows set up, but it's ok so far, haven't used it in anger yet!
> 
> Thanks for all the advice folks
> 
> Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk


I've had my Lenovo around 4yrs now. It's only a basic model, it was a xmas present from my mum. It does it's job perfectly well. I've just upgraded the RAM. No issues at all for everyday tasks as email, browsing etc.


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## mar00 (Jun 24, 2018)

Estoril-5 said:


> Managed to find the Lenovo relatively close to me. Picked it up. Having to get used to the new windows set up, but it's ok so far, haven't used it in anger yet!
> 
> Thanks for all the advice folks
> 
> Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk


if you know how I'd suggest wipe it and do a fresh install of windows 10 from a usb stick, will increase speed and gain you about another 20GB of hard drive space,

it's easy to do and doesn't take long just need a USB stick with 8GB or more space,


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## Emancipator (Nov 28, 2018)

According to your budget, here some picks: 

1. ASUS Vivobook Thin & Lightweight Laptop. 
2. Acer Aspire E15 – E5-576-392H
3. Dell Inspiron 3565


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