Eyup,
It my youngest's birthday next week and he wants a laptop. He's due to start A levels next year and his elder brother found this very helpful for being able to do homework etc. via the school O365 setup during free periods etc.
Probably looking for something Windows 11, portable/light for carrying around (probably an ultra book then).
Would be good if it could also handle some light gaming whilst out and about but we've already agreed it won't be a dedicated games machine. (He has a gaming PC for that anyway)
Anyway, I've had great success with refurbs in the past. The Lenovo X1 I have has been superb and also a HP I bought for the eldest has been grand also, but these were both bought a few years back.
So - what's good nowadays?
Ta muchly
Stone Refurbs?
Light / cheap / high performance, pick any two.
https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/bct/laptops-and-netbooks/laptops/lenovo/refurbished
The Lenovo professional (t series) are a good shout. Aon got one and you can buy all the replacement bits easily and they're good to work on. Think he upgraded his screen and keyboard without issue.
Also replacement batteries are easy to get.
Just make sure it comes with Windows 11, as 10 isn't supported in a few months time. There may be a few laptops being got rid of because of this.
Try Fixio in Brighton.
yeah I know who thought up that name!
The Lenovo professional (t series) are a good shout. Aon got one and you can buy all the replacement bits easily and they're good to work on.
It's what I'd do, for just that reason. But it fails the "light" criterion. Not that modern laptops are particularly heavy.
Can highly recommend
laptopoutlet.co.uk
Bought a Lenovo from them after a fair bit of research. Price was great. Brand new laptop for the price of most of the refurbs I was looking at. Worth a browse. Scammy sounding name, but I can confirm, definitely legit 🙂
I wast going to say it's worth ya swizz at laptops direct.. They do redurbs and brand new.
Thing is you need to decide what your max budget is, what screen size you want.. And 'casual gaming' what does that mean.. A laptop with a dedicated GPU will be more expensive.. And what is the minimum level of GPU performance you want?
It's kind of impossible to recommend anything without a more detailed requirements.
I have a super duper pc, and a lower spec ultra portable laptop (13.9") screen which might be too small if you don't have the option of plugging it into a bigger monitor when at home.
But for me a laptop has to be mobile and light.. Hunking around a big heavy laptop kind of defeats the purpose of a laptop.
Mines just an 11th gen i5 with 8gb ram and that's plenty for me.. I did pay a fair bit extra for an OLED touch screen on mine but it suits me perfectly, as it's for traveling, and my 'power house' of a Desktop PC takes care of heavy compute tasks and high end gaming.
Once you decide what your minimum requirements are and what your max budget is, it becomes quite a simple selection process.
But if you don't know what your own requirements are, you're basically just pissing in the wind and hoping you don't get wet.
Another Lenovo fan here. I have bought 2 refurbished, one for my son and one for myself. They are both t450 models that we got when they were a couple of years old, they are now getting on for 8 or 9 years old 😮 and still do all I need. As said easy to upgrade/repair and seem tough as old boots, not the lightest or smartest looking but functional and reliable. I wanted the bigger screen so went T series, your x series might be a better fit.
Cheers all,
Looking at the Lenovo X13 AMD on laptops direct. Being swayed by the smaller size. Any reason not to?
Also for anyone coming back to this thread - you need to be careful about display resolution. Lots are the low end 1366x768.
Cheers all,
Looking at the Lenovo X13 AMD on laptops direct. Being swayed by the smaller size. Any reason not to?Also for anyone coming back to this thread - you need to be careful about display resolution. Lots are the low end 1366x768.
Yeah... Damn... You want 1080 full HD on a laptop as some Web pages and apps are freaking awful on a 720 screen.. Most stuff is designed to be displayed at 1080 these days, and that's probably the sweet spot for laptops.
Higher resolution than that will also impact battery life significantly, especially if gaming or watching films etc.
IMHO resolution trumps screen size.
IMHO resolution trumps screen size.
It depends... 4k on a 14" screen is totally pointless IMO. It's just more expensive and uses more battery power, which is the Achilles heel of laptops. Assuming you're actually using it as a portable device and not permanently sat on a desk, in which case you should just buy a 'desktop' PC.
Think of the pixel density.... you'd be better off with a high quality 1080 screen on a laptop, than a pound shop 1440p or 4k panel at that size.
Assuming you're actually using it as a portable device and not permanently sat on a desk, in which case you should just buy a 'desktop' PC.
Hm. I use a laptop at conferences, there's usually power at the desks. It didn't occur to me that I could just pack a minitower and a CRT instead.
My old Dell has a 1920x1200 screen. It's seventeen years old and still ticking, albeit eventually.
I would agree 100% though that
4k on a 14" screen is totally pointless IMO.
Another with a refurbed Lenovo Yoga. Great build quality. I7 11th Gen, 16GB for less than £350 (12 months ago)
