# New laptop - looking for recommendations



## macca666 (Mar 30, 2010)

As per title i'm thinking of looking for a new laptop as my current one is about 10 year old and weighs almost as much as me - or at least feels like it.

Background is that over the next year or so i'm going to be travelling a bit with work both in the UK and abroad so although i've got the tablet with a bluetooth keyboard I was thinking of buying a cheap laptop for whilst i'm away.

I'm looking for something that is relatively light and probably about a 15" screen (seen an HP with a 15.6" screen which I think is a decent size) Don't want anything too large to carry about.

I will be using it for microsoft based applications mainly word but potentially excel and powerpoint. I will be surfing the net and watching the likes of netflix or similar for movies so wouldn't mind a decent sound from it. I'll not be gaming on it and don't anticipate running multiple applications at the same time it's more for some work but mainly personal. I may also store pictures from the camera on it so that I can email them so potentially a card reader and/or similar to increase the memory if it's a small memory. Also I may have stuff stored on a memory stick so USB also if possible.

I would like to spend around 3-400 or thereabouts obviously the cheaper the better though I don't want to be frustrated and ready to throw it out the window as it's so slow.

Think i'd prefer a windows laptop as well rather than a chromebook.

Any recommendations both for a laptop and/or any suggestions as to where the best place to buy is?


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## insanejim69 (Nov 13, 2011)

It's not technically a laptop but I love my Surface Pro 3 to bits. It's basically a tablet with a super slim keyboard added (that is also detachable). It even plays some pretty modern pc games too thanks to steam with the added benefit of just attaching my Xbox one controller to it. 

Overall the last 2 years its been flawless and hasn't skipped a beat at all. The Pro 4 is out now all G with a few different variations. But 2 nd hand models do come up nice and cheap on gumtree so always worth a watch.

James.


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## Andyblue (Jun 20, 2017)

Best place to go - from personal experience with father in laws laptop - John Lewis, fantastic customer service from him.

If you can and don't need the on board storage, I'd opt for an SSD over a HDD, you gain so much more with speed etc, but do loose with storage (unless you really pay)...


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## macca666 (Mar 30, 2010)

Jim - I have seen the surface pros and they look very nice but think they're well put my price range. Might keep an eye second hand though.

Andy - thanks gives me something to think about. I don't like the likes of Currys where I feel as if they're just trying to sell me something rather than what I need so good to hear JL is decent service :thumb:


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## davies20 (Feb 22, 2009)

I'm also in the market for a new laptop. I've been keeping my eye on hotdealsuk.

Recently a Dell came up, 8gd ram, full HD screen. Only downside it had a HDD - but for the price, circa £260 it was worth buying & putting an SSD in myself for what it costs!


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## LeeH (Jan 29, 2006)

Try the Argos outlet on eBay. 


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## ncd (Dec 12, 2005)

One thing I would say is what ever laptop you buy make sure it has a proper Full HD screen - 1920 x 1080 and not the usual HD screen of 1366 x 768. It makes such a difference. 

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## pinewood (Jan 25, 2018)

any laptop with Intel i5 and 8Gb memory and a 1TB HDD is the basic spec you want these days. It keeps it reasonably future proof. It will cost a bit more, but money better spent than the £299 Celeron CPU budget offerings.

I'm a HP Engineer with 20 years experience


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## In2detailing (Feb 23, 2016)

Check out the Dell Outlet

Got my last laptop and a couple of the work desktops from there.
Always get the scratch and dent models, I have never found a scratch or dent on any of them.
Huge savings over the 'Brand New' models but still come with a good warranty.
Need to be quick though as a lot of people buy them to sell on eBay etc

Imran
:driver:


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## Brian1612 (Apr 5, 2015)

I find Asus laptops always great value for money and powerful for what you pay 

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## davies20 (Feb 22, 2009)

In2detailing said:


> Check out the Dell Outlet
> 
> Got my last laptop and a couple of the work desktops from there.
> Always get the scratch and dent models, I have never found a scratch or dent on any of them.
> ...


Just had a look at these.

Cant tell if their werent any bargains, or whether i'm just a tight ****!


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## scooobydont (Feb 25, 2017)

I use dell outlet as well, some crazy bargains back in the day, the best was a laptop for £22 delivered , doesn't happen now though.

I still keep an eye on it, scratch and dent is fine, you will never find it unless you are looking for it. They all have full warranties as well.


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## scooobydont (Feb 25, 2017)

On the outlet just now, £338 delivered inc vat

http://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/...f9Xp+GhWl/xhu230wSOkDOxC6kh9vwnxYYxkQkNyRSVE=

Inspiron 15 - 5567 
£281.72
1 in stock
Scratch and Dent
Inspiron 15 - 5567
Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-7200U (Dual Core,3M Cache, up to 3.10 GHz,15W)
Windows 10 Home (64bit)
8GB (1x8GB) 2400MHz DDR4 Non-ECC
1 TB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
8X DVD+/- RW Drive
Intel HD Graphics
Software
Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3165 802.11ac, 1x1, 2.4 & 5GHz + Bluetooth 4.2
LCD Back Cover for Non-Touch Screen with HD Camera-Black
Primary 3-cell 42W/HR Battery
15.6 inch FHD (1920 x 1080) Non-Touch Anti-Glare LED-Backlit Display
Internal UK/Irish (QWERTY) Keyboard
Standard ShippingFREE
Outlet Price£281.72


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## pinewood (Jan 25, 2018)

Decent spec


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## Caledoniandream (Oct 9, 2009)

Bought my wife a Lenovo with a ssd, decent deal under 300, does all the singing and dancing. 
Have a look at Curry's while not my favourite shop, sometimes they do good deals.


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## scooobydont (Feb 25, 2017)

£334 delivered

Inspiron 15 - 3543 
£279.12
1 in stock
Certified Refurbished
Inspiron 15 - 3543
Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-5200U (3M Cache, up to 2.70 GHz) With Nvidia GeForce 820M 2GB Graphics
Windows 10 Home (64bit)
4 GB DDR3 (1x4GB) 1600MHz
500 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
8X DVD+/- RW Drive
Software
Dell Wireless-N 1704 + Bluetooth 4.0
LCD Back Cover - Black (Non-Touch Screen)
Battery: Primary 4-cell 40W/HR
15.6 inch LED Backlit Display with Truelife and HD resolution (1366 x 768)
Internal Qwerty Keyboard
Standard ShippingFREE
Outlet Price£279.12


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## scooobydont (Feb 25, 2017)

£354 delivered:

Inspiron 15 - 5567 
£295.13
1 in stock
Certified Refurbished
Inspiron 15 - 5567
Processor: Intel® Core™ i3-7100U (2 Core,3M Cache,2.40 GHz,15W)
Windows 10 Home (64bit)
8GB (1x8GB) 2400MHz DDR4 Non-ECC
1 TB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
8X DVD+/- RW Drive
Intel HD Graphics
Software
Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3165 802.11ac, 1x1, 2.4 & 5GHz + Bluetooth 4.2
LCD Back Cover for Non-Touch Screen with HD Camera-Midnight Blue
Primary 3-cell 42W/HR Battery
15.6 Inch HD (1366x768) Truelife Non- Touch LED-Backlit Display
Internal UK/Irish (QWERTY) Keyboard


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## spyk3d (Nov 25, 2007)

What about any of the Lenovo business laptops?

I run a Lenovo T460, you can get refurbished ones on ebay for relatively little money and some of them come with Office because of the type of license on the install.

The battery on them can last upto 16 hours dependant on which batteries you have installed as they have two batteries, 1 internal and 1 external. If the external battery dies you can pick up a new one relatively cheap as the batteries don't seem to change within the model range (same battery in the T440 as in the current T470).

AS they are business laptops they are built to take a bashing some what and have a decent runtime from the battery.

Something like this?


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## SuperchargedLlama (Apr 25, 2008)

Second hand Mac's are pretty good - they don't really slow down much (like windows ones) - you could get an Air for the sort of money you'd like to spend I suspect.


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## jr2007 (Oct 5, 2016)

Mother-Goose said:


> Second hand Mac's are pretty good - they don't really slow down much (like windows ones) - you could get an Air for the sort of money you'd like to spend I suspect.


£400 could probably get a first gen retina macbook pro with 256SSD, 8GB RAM and a 2.3Ghz i7 processor. A fair few out there to be had now that owners are upgrading to touch bar MBPs.


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## DrEskimo (Jan 7, 2016)

jr2007 said:


> £400 could probably get a first gen retina macbook pro with 256SSD, 8GB RAM and a 2.3Ghz i7 processor. A fair few out there to be had now that owners are upgrading to touch bar MBPs.


Agreed. Spec wise the previous gen MacBook Pro is great value. 1440p IPS screen and PCIe flash storage are often overlooked. Not a fan of the new one with such limited I/O and increased price though...

I think the other thing that's massively overlooked is the trackpad. I have yet to use a single Windows laptop where I haven't got fed up with the trackpad and wanted to swap to a mouse. The trackpad on the Pro is great. Never need to reach for a mouse. Such an important thing on a laptop I feel.

And of course BootCamp means setting up a Windows 11 partition is dead simple if OSX isn't your cup of tea.


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## JJ_ (Oct 26, 2005)

We've just changed a few laptops/desktops in the work. 

I went for a macbook air and a toshiba protege. The protege has an i7 and a 256gb ssd. 

They are very quick and the toshiba I can upgrade if needs be. 

All items were bought off eBay from a company that refurbs corporate stock. 

John


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## JJ_ (Oct 26, 2005)

jr2007 said:


> £400 could probably get a first gen retina macbook pro with 256SSD, 8GB RAM and a 2.3Ghz i7 processor. A fair few out there to be had now that owners are upgrading to touch bar MBPs.


I found the macbook's to be more affordable than the airs, but it's just a sign of the times I suppose.


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## jr2007 (Oct 5, 2016)

JJ_ said:


> I found the macbook's to be more affordable than the airs, but it's just a sign of the times I suppose.


The Air hasn't been updated in a while and was pretty much superseded when the MacBook came out. Now that macs are so much more popular, second hand supply is pushing prices down as idiots like me keep buying new ones!

My advice on buying second hand would be check the basics (screen and water damage, rounded screw heads, sticky keys etc are a definite no-no), and then get the ifixit battery kit for £70. With a bit of patience, it can be installed without taking everything apart and will give you another 4-5 years of solid use.

To check water damage, open the bottom case and look at the doughnut markers dotted around the inside. If any are starting to turn pink (or are red!) there has been water ingress.


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## voon (Apr 28, 2010)

If you want a sleek device, I'd seriously consider a Dell XPS13. We had dozens of notebooks around here of the mobile, thin kind .. like Asus etc, but this new Dell I saw actually is probably the best I ever saw.


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## shl-kelso (Dec 27, 2012)

I also use the Dell XPS13 range, and have bought 10 over the last 3-4 years from the outlet store (at around 30-40% off the new retail prices). 

Reliability has been decent although I’ve had a keyboard failure on one (covered under an extended next-business-day warranty bought at the point of sale) and two LCD failures. Both had the complete top half of the laptop replaced, so not cheap. One had some physical damage long before the screen eventually failed. The other failed after two years and had never left the house/barely moved. The technician who visited said we were very unlucky as he rarely replaced screens that failed without physical damage. Repairs were not cheap - 80% of the cost of a new machine from the outlet store, but in my case the time saves in getting back up and running without needing to set up a new machine and transfer all software and files over made the high repair costs worth it.


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