£600 ish laptop- ar...
 

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£600 ish laptop- are any of these any good?

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Hi,

Last laptop has lasted 14 years. Its time for a new one.

Budget about £600. Used for teams, a bit of light excell and bookkeeping, pugging in to an old lazerjet printer, old usb based guitar effect pedals, bit of video editing from a go pro, bit of music editing but nothing super powered.

Are any of these any good? I apreciate not many laptops will survive 14 years without getting dropped or just being unable to run newer software. 

 

https://www.johnlewis.com/samsung-galaxy-book4-laptop-intel-core-5-processor-8gb-ram-256gb-ssd-15-6-inch-full-hd-grey/p111653386

https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/p/laptops/ideapad/ideapad-300/lenovo-ideapad-slim-3i-gen-10-16-inch-intel/83k5cto1wwgb1#ports_slots

https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/acer-aspire-3-intel-core-i7-16gb-ram-1tb-ssd-15.6-inch-windows-11-laptop-nx.k6sek.00e/version.asp

https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/hp-255-g9-ryzen-7-16gb-ram-512gb-ssd-15.6-inch-windows-11-laptop-7n078es/version.asp

https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/medion-akoya-e15443-intel-core-i5-16gb-ram-1tb-ssd-15.6-inch-windows-11-lap-30040721/version.asp

 

The last link is a Medion Akoya. never heard of them, Intel Core i5 32GB RAM 1TB SSD 15.6 Inch, Best specifications but I've never heard of them, could that be a problem?

Current laptop is a Samsung, Are they still good or did I just get very lucky?

Will a core i7 last longer than a core i5? Will it make any difference in the near term?

 

Thanks for any help


 
Posted : 28/10/2025 9:58 pm
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Posted by: tall_martin

could that be a problem?

Yes.


 
Posted : 28/10/2025 10:24 pm
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As for the rest,

You don't need a current-gen i7 for your use case.  You barely need much more than an etch-a-sketch.  

AMD (Ryzen) based systems are generally better bang-for-your-buck than their Intel brethren.

I've yet to meet a consumer-grade HP which wasn't garbage.

I bought a new laptop a couple of months ago for my partner's birthday.  I got a Lenovo.  Bundles change, it was almost this:

https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/configurator/cto/index.html?bundleId=21MVCTO1WWGB4

Switch the Memory for a single 16GB SODIMM (not the 2x8GB ones) and Storage for one of the TLC drives, 512GB seems like a sweet spot.  £623, and you can save £50 if you're confident in installing W11 yourself.  Is your old laptop licence attached to a Microsoft account?

 


 
Posted : 28/10/2025 10:50 pm
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Oh, and,

Posted by: tall_martin

I apreciate not many laptops will survive 14 years without getting dropped or just being unable to run newer software. 

One of the laptops next to me is 14 years old (manufacture date 11/11).  It's still going strong.  It's a Lenovo.


 
Posted : 28/10/2025 11:01 pm
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Oh, and, and,

Whatever you choose, you'll probably need some sort of converter for your legacy hardware.


 
Posted : 28/10/2025 11:04 pm
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jesus ****ing christ... an i7? lol, do you even need a laptop?

 

Those two things should never be used in the same sentence.

 

If you really need to be mobile, consider screen size an the weight of the thing, that's your primary concern.

Is a 13 inch screen ok, or do you want a 16" ?

For convinience, and portability, and battery life, I'd strongly suggest the former. preferably with an OLED screen.


 
Posted : 29/10/2025 12:00 am
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If I had to buy something from laptops direct right now, like actually ****ing  forced to, put a gun to my head, I'd buy this:

 

Why? because it's a decent spec and it had an OLED scren, and OLED screens are the tits.

 

https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/lenovo-ideapad-slim-intel-core-ultra-5-16gb-ram-512ssd-14-inch-windows-11-h-83da001uuk/version.asp


 
Posted : 29/10/2025 12:14 am
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+1 for a Lenovo IdeaPad. I'm typing on one now (IdeaPad Pro). Go for AMD over Intel if possible (better integrated graphics, lower power draw) although that Intel one posted above is a steal. Minimum 16gb RAM for Windows 11, 512gb SSD is enough.


 
Posted : 29/10/2025 10:17 am
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Some (most? all?) IdeaPads have RAM soldered directly onto the mainboard, slots are sacrificed for 'slim.'  As one of the OP's requirements is future-proofing, that's a no from me.


 
Posted : 29/10/2025 10:26 am
tall_martin reacted
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 Thanks!

Work has given me a tiny 14 inch screen one in the past, I'd rather have a larger screen for spreadsheets.

The lap top gets lugged In to the garage for fork rebuilds, and occasionally out thr house. I have though about a desk top,  but would rather have a laptop.

So this one

https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/configurator/cto/index.html?bundleId=83K5CTO1WWGB1

Has a 16 inch screen, core i5, 16gb, 1 tb hard drive.

16 GB DDR5-4800MT/s (8 GB Soldered + 8 GB SODIMM)

Is the soldered ram likely to mean much in the future?

 


 
Posted : 29/10/2025 10:38 am
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I get these for my work. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-Vivobook-X1505VA-i7-13620H-Windows/dp/B0DM6GFTYP

the screen is lovely, and they seem quicker than the equivalent lenovo (which I always used to get)

IME:

Hp can be a bit iffy, 

Acer can be a bit off the mark too. 

Lenovo are decent enough, but ASUS have been consistently good performers. 

we've 15 Vivobooks, and 8 lenovo's, and a mix of Acer, Hp, microsoft and samsung laptops 

I wouldn't touch a budget samsung or budget surface laptop, they've all had problems setting up. 

I've had decent experience of laptops with the new snapdragon processor, seems pretty swift. 

 


 
Posted : 29/10/2025 10:46 am
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@tall_martin

No idea about which manufacturer is best - people seem to have very specific ideas here but I've found Asus to be rubbish and Surface to be great so reckon they are all basically the same and its the luck of the draw!

What I would do on your spec is pay the extra £20 for better Wifi (7 v 6) and a bigger battery. Also if you need 365, £69 seems as cheap as you'll ever get it (legally) for a year subscription.

When I bought my daughters laptop last month for Uni (HP), I also paid an extra £90 to take the warranty to three years as I've had a couple of bad experiences with laptops failing in 2 years.


 
Posted : 29/10/2025 11:25 am
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Posted by: tall_martin

The lap top gets lugged In to the garage for fork rebuilds, and occasionally out thr house. I have though about a desk top,  but would rather have a laptop.

So whyTF are you looking at 'slim' models where you pay a premium for a compromise spec?


 
Posted : 29/10/2025 1:37 pm
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Lenovo Ideapads feel nice but they lack robustness of X and T-series of the old. My son dropped his Ideapad and frame was bent from impact way smaller than I have seen premium models to survive repeatedly.

We managed to fix the Ideapad but are looking at used pro models now.


 
Posted : 29/10/2025 1:48 pm

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