Recommend me a laptop for home use.

[Martin]

I need to buy myself a laptop, and I'm willing to spend up to £500 ish....
There's a huge choice out there. Any pointers would be appreciated, also any makes to go for or avoid.
Thanks

 

[Nin]

Mid 2012 Non-retina MacBook Pro i7 with RAM and SSD upgrade. Just a wee bit less performance than the current model, upgradeable, with iOS. You should find one for your budget, and it’ll last years.


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[wessie]

You need to ask yourself a few questions.

First is storage: do you want lots of space for pictures etc? If you do then at your budget you will be looking at spinning rust i.e. a mechanical hard disk with 500GBC or 1TB of storage. You will sacrifice speed but this is unlikely to matter at the price.

You can improve speed by going for a SSD (solid state drive so no moving parts). You don't get much for £500 so either budget for some storage online such as dropbox or buy a separate storage device.

Do you need Windows e.g. to run Mapsource or some other software you have a Windows licence for? If not, consider a Chromebook

How portable do you want it? 15" is quite bulky. I have a 12" Dell supplied by work which is much easier to carry around. My personal 13" Samsung is not too bad either. Small laptops will mean you get a smaller keyboard. Is that okay?

I buy my laptops from John Lewis - same prices as Currys but usually a longer guarantee. Many have 3 year guarantees included
https://www.johnlewis.com/browse/el...l-laptops-macbooks/price=400-600/_/N-a8fZ6me5
For £500 I'd probably pick a Lenovo 320 then choose between 1TB hard disk or the smaller but quicker SSD. 14" or 15" screens.
This one is £100 cheaper if you have a grey one https://www.johnlewis.com/lenovo-id...-8gb-128gb-ssd-14-inch/platinum-grey/p3262148

JL does not tend to stock the less reliable brands so I'd consider any of those that have the storage & physical size you want.

 

[adventuredon]

My lenovo Yoga 300 works fine for the usual, internet, you tube and ukgser. Cost about £300. touch screen and keyboard simultaneously. I make use of online storage or an external HD plugged in via USB, or even a large USB device so storage was never my main issue. NB, as soon as you buy, there is always something bigger and better out there. But work around the limitations with free google storage/dropbox/apple i cloud etc and its all good. This acts as a laptop/tablet and a viewing device. can be folded over completely if desired, light and small enough for multi use. Happy with mine

 

[lagauk]

If you've used Windows or Macs then stick to one of those. I bought a Chromebook for my wife and it's very frustrating to use. It's probably because we're used to Windows machines but for me the Chrome operating system is not easy to navigate so I would say avoid anything with a Chrome OS.....but then I am biased.

 

[Bounce]

I’ve been using a Microsoft Surface Pro (work supplied) for the past year, and can confidently say it’s the best laptop I’ve ever used.

Can be used as a laptop, or has a detachable keyboard to become a tablet. Screen is a good size, item weight is very light and certainly appears to have a quick processor, as I’ll often have a number of applications open @ the same time.

Brand new they’re not cheap, but a 2nd hand one from a reliable retailer may tick the box...certainly worth a look imho.




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[steveC]

First decision for you to make is the operating system (OS). What are you used to, Microsoft or mackintosh ? So it's either Windows 10 or whatever the latest version software from Apple is.

When you have decided that check the previously mentioned John Lewis site out. They have a page dedicated to helping you choose the right model.

For your £500 a new apple laptop is not possible. But don't discount a used one, they will be in you price range. But you need to know your subject well !

Buying a Pc (win10) for your cash will have your head swirling with choice.

Size 13" is a good size. As to spec, if it was me i3 chip, 4GB ram, and an SSD. That is the basis of a good all round laptop. As to make well that's where it gets complicated.

One suggestion was JL. They have a excellent reputation and the brands they stock are up there with the best. Being safe that's my suggestion as well.

 

[Blackal]

A colleague has a 17" Toshiba, which with 1920 resolution, HDMI output and 8Gb Ram - for under £500 - seems good.

Very clear graphics, good keyboard, and the charger is fairly small/light.

If you want a laptop principally for home use - a 17" might be just the job?

Al

 

[Deleted account 210604001]

Couple of comments...

1) Re the used macbook, they are awesome and I use Mac's myself, however there is a problem with the batteries expanding and causing all sorts of problems (I've had two of these happen), both of a vintage of around 5/6 years. Solved by buying a new battery, but thats £100+ down the drain.

2) Recently purchased a couple of PC/windows laptops for nieces/nephews and find John Lewis really good. You also have 30 days to take them back if any issues (I had one that failed at 30+ days, and John Lewis just exchanged it even though it technically should have been a warranty repair). You can set a budget and go through their website selection tool and then just google the laptop or see what reviews there are. I started with little knowledge and a morning surfing on their website and googling components (e.g. i5 versus i7 chipset) gave me everything I needed to know.

RBW.

 

[Wapping]

If you just want it to do your email, look at websites, look at pictures.... then get yourself an iPad. Unless I want to do something in BaseCamp, I now rarely touch my computer.

 

[Buckingham]

+1 for John Lewis - so straightforward to deal with when things go wrong.


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