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I want something that will run Windows, Adobe software and allow for a bit of simple gaming (new Monkey Island)
Has to be a laptop.
Are they all about the same at that price point?
Adobe - if you mean Photoshop and the like, then unlikely to run very well on a £300 laptop….
Yeah PS and Premiere elements
I bought a refurbed i5 laptop from Tier1 for under £200, added an SSD and extra Ram and it runs Photoshop perfectly well.
Also copes with music software and recording,v etc.
You can get very good bang for your buck getting refurbs.
Yeah - refurb is your best bet. i5, SSD and as much RAM as you can (8Gb minimum I would say, 16Gb preferable for PS etc)
ah good thinking. I've used music magpie for phones in the past. Who's best for refurblaptops?
Dell outlet would be worth a check but doubt there will be a huge selection at the £300 mark.
As always, it's always tempting to spend a little bit more!
I got a refurb laptop from Tier 1 following a recommendation here. Customer service was good and laptop has been great.
If you do buy new at that price I'd factor in an SSD and then do a clean Windows install, remove all the manufacturers bloatware, will make a big performance difference and 3asy to do.
I use itzoo for refurb laptops. Something like a t480 is built amazingly robustly and will outlast a Currys laptop by a decade
Something like a t480 is built amazingly robustly and will outlast a Currys laptop by a decade
I have a T420 on my desk here. It looks like it's just fallen out of the 1990s but every time I go back to it I'm reminded how much nicer it is than everything that came after it.
But, yeah. As others have mostly already said: a decent keyboard, solid state storage, as much RAM as you can muster and for Adobeage an external monitor. Anything else is gravy.
+1 for ex-corp Thinkpad.
Spent about £150 on a X240 for my daughter in lockdown and it’s been great. Get one with an SSD and it’ll be snappy and nice to use. Great keyboards, easy spares availability if things break or batteries lose charge, and built for road warrior (ab)use.
I'm looking for similar and don't require great processing power but reliability and durability are paramount as funds are minimal.
I seem to remember ThinkPads and ..was it latitudes were recommended ?
Any/ all advice appreciated.thanks
Thinkpads are pretty damn tough. It's what most schools give to teachers (for good reason!)
I've also been very impressed with an HP Elitebook I got a few years ago. Aluminium case is tough as old boots, and it's been gigged heavily (using virtual synths + controller keyboard in a sweaty alt rock band) and lived to tell the tale.
Thinkpads are pretty damn tough.
They have to be, the keyboards are so damn aweful they give you the rage really quickly!
I would go with
https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/refurbished-hp-elitebook-840-g3-core-i5-6300u-8gb-256gb-14-inch-touchscreen-t1-840g3-256gb-t/version.asp
That's what we've used at the last place I worked and they were great.
The i7 isn't much more though either!
https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/refurbished-hp-840-g3-core-i7-6600-8gb-256gb-14-inch-windows-10-professiona-t1-hp840g3i78gb256gbw10p/version.asp
fatbrad
Free MemberThe i7 isn’t much more though either!
https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/refurbished-hp-840-g3-core-i7-6600-8gb-256gb-14-inch-windows-10-professiona-t1-hp840g3i78gb256gbw10p/version.asp/blockquote >There's a reason it's cheap, the screen is 14" @ 1366 x 768 and no good for photoshop.
It's also a skylake/kaby lake CPU, which whilst still very good, is not compatible with windows 11, full stop. It's a perfectly capable CPU but the crap screen and the fact microsoft simply won't entertain chips of this vintage for windows 11, makes it pretty much worthless......unless you just want it as a laptop for surfing or whatever, but then youd want a newer model i3 or i5 for the lower power consumption, not an 'old' i7.
That’s what we’ve used at the last place I worked and they were great.
I have one of them elitebook 840s for work. They had a brief deviation from Dell to hp for a short period I ended up stuck with one of them hateful pieces of crap replacing my decade old dell workhorse.
It's battery's swollen -the screens curved , it has wobblers about drivers and won't boot until they are updated. It won't stay logged into the server without full reboots.
Me nor the unfortunate other 2 members of my team stuck with the elitebook 840£ would recommend them .....
Redeeming features - batteries last ages and they are light/thin.
I'd second the tier1 refurb option. I've bought two for my two fake kids.
Lasted years and worked well for that time.
It’s what most schools give to teachers (for good reason!)
Err no it’s not. Well, not in any of the 50 plus schools that I know of…. 🤷♂️
Most schools round here teachers have Microsoft surface convertibles.....the kids have Chromebooks
That or what ever the schools could get when lockdown hit.
Just make sure if you go intel, it's an 8th gen cpu or newer, or whatever the AMD equivelent is.
A gen 6 i7 laptop with a 720 screen is no good, especially for photoshop. Although a laptop is really the wrong tool for the job if your'e doing graphics work.
Err no it’s not. Well, not in any of the 50 plus schools that I know of
2 out if the 3 schools I've worked in over the last 10yrs (and the other does desktops, so no laptop action). Obviously that's just my experience.
Most schools round here teachers have Microsoft surface convertibles…..the kids have Chromebooks
Ooh, posh. Not down here in deepest Devon.
I would beg to differ. Photoshop does run well on a 6th gen i7. Plus it will happily run W11 as does my 4th gen i5.
Photoshop does run well on a 6th gen i7.
I'm sure it does at 720p.
Plus it will happily run W11 as does my 4th gen i5.
You must have hacked it, Microsoft simply don't support CPUs that old for w11.
@5lab i just wanted to thank you for recommending itzoo.
i was looking for a reasonably priced laptop and checked them out.
i now have a reconditioned p50 thinkbook with an i7 and 24gb ram 15.7" screen that i bought for £344.
am well chuffed with it (it can definitely play pc games for sure).
And om late to the party with itzoo....
Some good kit
Those Lenovo black rectangles that used to be IBM ThinkPads may have an aluminium chassis but they have a fairly lightweight plastic shell on which the corners will shatter if you drop it.
I've had two, albeit a whole ago. The first one had a dodgy RAM slot, broke easily, had a bad connection to the magnet that told it when the screen was closed, and the WiFi antenna plug fell off. The one that replaced it was better made and fault free except the plastic case was slightly proud of the chassis on top so it clicked and moved about when typing.
Others I've seen don't seem bad, to be fair.
@racefaceec90 Hi matey - great news. Can I ask what grade & condition it was/is? I'm tempted by one of their ThinkPads too, but nervous by their grade B description!
Cheers 👍
@bearnecessities how are you good sir,I hope you are well 👍
There are a few scratches on the outside but nothing bad at all tbh. The screen and keyboard etc are perfectly fine and the laptop is all working (it came with a 12 month warranty also).
Am very happy with it I have to say (no way I could afford a brand new similar spec pc).
Edit apologies it was a b grade
Bookmarking for later, that website looks mucho cheapness.
it was this one i bought https://itzoo.co.uk/products/refurbished-lenovo-thinkpad-p50-notebook-pc-15-6-display-intel-i7-6820hq-core-i7-2-7ghz-cpu-256gb-ssd-24gb-ram-b-grade-windows-10-home-installed-qwerty-us-keyboard
They have to be, the keyboards are so damn awful
For software engineers such as myself, a ThinkPad keyboard is by far the best laptop keyboard to ever exist.
It changes slightly generation-on-generation. But it has the right amount of travel. The right amount of feedback. The perfect response time per keypress.
I have never, ever - until now - heard of *anyone* who thinks that a ThinkPad keyboard is sh*t.
I currently have two ThinkPads of different generations.
Day-to-day they're docked and I use a mechanical keyboard.
Undocked, both are a a pleasure to use.
Thanks @racefaceec90 - I've gone all in with a p52 & 32gb...but am still dubious of what will turn up for the frankly ridiculously cheap price!
@bearnecessities oh very nice enjoy 🙂 (it should come with a 12 month warranty if any issues).
i hope your laptop is fine too when you get it.
Thanks @racefaceec90 - I've gone for it with one of these that have just been listed, just in case anyone else is interested. Seems like insane value to me and I'll let update thread with what turns up.
Edit: how did that happen?! Anyhow, cheers matey 🙂
Well it's immaculate - it was a grade A mind you, but it's spot on. Delivered next day as well which was a bonus. Cheers again 5lab & RF.
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Edit: Battery health info
DESIGN CAPACITY 90,000 mWh
FULL CHARGE CAPACITY 84,960 mWh
CYCLE COUNT 101
Son1 has run that laptop through the last couple of years at uni. It's been excellent and I see no reason to upgrade for his forthcoming PhD. Prior to that he ran an older Lenovo that was also excellent, complete with extended battery and docking station.
I could also do with some help here.
The boy has a laptop that struggles with games. It is an Asus ViviBook 15. £300 during lockdown.
It has the following spec:
Processor Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU 5405U @ 2.30GHz 2.30 GHz
Installed RAM 4.00 GB (3.86 GB usable)
Would upping the RAM to say 16GB help it, or with the onboard graphics and CPU always be the limiting factor.
I'm well aware this is no gaming laptop, but something to tie him over when he saves for a better setup would be a nice start / Xmas present.
Cheers, Neil.
@neilforrow or anyone else interested, ITZoo stock seems to turn over stock fast, but also they appear to use a random number generator to create their prices! This has just been listed, which is absolutely mind-blowingly ridiculous value - I'd have bought this instead of mine had it been available!
Sign up for their newsletter and you get 10% off, so it's £315 for a Grade A, 8th Gen i7, P52 with NVIDIA GPU, 16gb of DDR4 ram & 12 month warranty.
Bonkers.
(Mine also came with Win 10 pro, not home)
Cheers for that - I was looking to upgrade my laptop and that seems like an absolute bargain.
Appreciated 👍
@bearnecessities nice one. Wife has just gone on may leave and her works nabbed her laptop. She requested something for doing email, so I got her that i7. Can't have too much power right 😂