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Haven't bought one for years but now need a Windows laptop for work stuff.
I've been using a tablet with a keyboard and a Chromebook but neither are good enough with PowerPoint.
A bloke in Currys said the generation of the CPU was more important than whether it was an i5 or an i7 but no idea if that's true.
If I can spend no more than about 600 pounds that would be good.
For me? Battery life, weight.
In this order:
1. A keyboard and trackpad that are nice to use.
2. Decent build quality without being too heavy.
3. Portable, but with the largest screen you can get for the size.
4. Great battery life
5. Decent performance for whatever it is you need it to do.
If you can’t get the above then the laptop won’t move far from your desk and you might as well get a desktop.
A 2023 i5 is probably faster and more efficient than a 2018 i7, sure. What will you use the laptop for?
Good point. It does need to be portable. Just need to ensure it can do the work as well. But doesn't need to be crazy powerful
Aluminium or even titanium.
A pricetag that only a Muppet would spend.
Lots of different views and quite a few subjective things. Keep in mind that some stuff can be upgraded whilst others cannot.
CPU: Anything i5 equivalent or above will be more than fine for Windows and PowerPoint. Even a generation or two old will be fine. On a laptop the CPU is normally soldered and cannot be upgraded. Not used one but i3 may well be fine.
RAM: Get at least 8GB, preferably 16GB. Some laptops have it soldered in, others you can replace or buy more which may be cheaper than buying the next model up or getting the manufacturer to add more RAM.
SSD/Hard Disk: Ensure it has an SSD. Most laptops will. I'd go for a minimum of 256GB but 512GB is better.
GPU/Graphics card: Built in graphics are fine. Don't pay more for Nvidia.
Now lots of subjective things. I hate half height return keys. I have an old Acer and prefer the keyboard on that to my Dell as the Pg-Up and Pg-down and Home and End keys are dedicated keys. On the Dell they're shared with the Function keys. But sometimes I want to use F10 and F11 so have to use the Fn-Lock button. Obviously if you're using a separate keyboard not an issue.
Similarly screen. Needs to be at least full HD but some have better colour rendition than others.
Do you need a backlit keyboard and what size, will it be desk based or used on trains, planes and automobiles? In a similar vein what is battery life like?
Having said all that £600 will get you something good.
Mostly Microsoft office work and video calls. maybe some web design.
May need to handle large amounts of spreadsheet data and will want to run Tableau (which makes my work laptop go slow).
Screen size plays a big part, a 13inch is much more portable than a 17"
Screen pannel type is also important, IPS screens are loads better than cheaper TN screens.
A bloke in Currys said the generation of the CPU was more important than whether it was an i5 or an i7 but no idea if that’s true.
He's somewhat right, a current gen14 i7 laptop would be silly for powerpoint/office work, I'd go with an i5 gen10 or more recent.
But a gen10 i3 or older, for example is a pile of crap. Don't even look at pentiums or celerons, they are also piles of crap.
You also want at least a 250gb SSD, and at least 16gb of ram.
This is a nifty little machine for a shade under £600
https://uk.store.asus.com/asus-vivobook-14-x1404-3969-20963.html
Also available here for the same price:
https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/asus-vivobook-14-intel-core-i5-16gb-ram-512gb-ssd-14-inch-windows-11-fhd-la-x1404va-eb076w/version.asp
Slim, light, decent screen and solid spec.
for £600 you can get a ASUS Zenbook 14 which is a step up in build quality from Vivobook (except only 8Gb) https://www.currys.co.uk/products/asus-zenbook-14-ux3402za-14-laptop-intel-core-i5-512-gb-ssd-blue-10254681.html
for work I've been buying Lenovo V15 as they have Windows Pro and ok spec for less than £350 inc vat these will run Power Point no problem https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/lenovo-v15-amd-ryzen-3-8gb-ram-256gb-ssd-15.6-inch-windows-11-pro-laptop-82yu00fvuk/version.asp
The only thing neither have is touch screen for those users that really needed that I bought Lenovo T450s Ideapads refurbs that were like new from a seller on Amazon, maybe less than £300? Search for 'renewed laptops' on Amazon the beauty is if you don't like them you can just return plus you get 1 year warranty which usually means just returning for refund.
Adequate resolution imo
fooman
Full Memberfor £600 you can get a ASUS Zenbook 14 which is a step up in build quality from Vivobook (except only 8Gb) https://www.currys.co.uk/products/asus-zenbook-14-ux3402za-14-laptop-intel-core-i5-512-gb-ssd-blue-10254681.html /blockquote>
Thats pretty good to be fair, but why only 8gb ram? DDR5 is cheap as chips at the moment, if you'll excuse the pun.
Theres always a fly in the ointment! but you are getting a better chassis and what looks to be a better screen.
The CPU's are roughly the same in both.
Wipe down keyboard and screen?
I bought a new laptop between Christmas and NY, end of last year. I had a £200 John Lewis voucher, so was pushed towards something from there, really.
I visited a store and spent ages going back and forth between about 4 different laptops, once I'd narrowed it down.
It was a bit of a compromise and trying to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of one over the other. It's really difficult to directly compare when you don't really have a chance to try them back to back in anger.
Ended up going for a HP Pavillion. This one
It had a bit of HP bollocks that needed uninstalling, as well as McAfee and some other crap. But since removing all that I've been really pleased with it.
Things that swayed it for me:
Build quality
Screen
Keyboard and track pad feel
Graphics performance seemed like a higher spec compared to others
13th gen processor compared to 12 on some others
Since using for a while, I feel like I made a good choice.
Battery life is very good, screen is great, track pad works well and it runs nice and cool.
There might be better options, but no complaints from here.
May need to handle large amounts of spreadsheet data and will want to run Tableau (which makes my work laptop go slow).
Oooh, useful to know. In that case, IMHO:
16GB RAM, Intel i5 or above; CPU generation is probably less vital as anything numbered with a 12/13/14 will be fine, and the main difference is newer=more expensive
Graphics sounds reasonably redundant as you're not gaming on it?
15" screen minimum; but be wary of 17" or above as it'll be heavy/ chunky and you won't want to carry it around. Good resolution on that, but don't get carried away with "higher is better" as beyond a certain point you'll need a magnifying glass to see more actual data on screen - it'll just make what's on screen a bit smoother (and use more battery life).
Decent keyboard/ trackpad; but you may need to test it to really know how good it is.
For me, decent battery life - I need to know I can get 5 hours away from the plug, which often means a claimed battery life of, say, 8 hours.
My most important feature is a Backlit keyboard. OLED screens are also very nice to have but not a deal breaker. Really, you will have to compromise somewhere. Personally I never game so most of my past laptops have only had an integrated GPU.
What’s important in a laptop?
An M1 processor or above
USBCs - so you can easily plug in external SSD and external monitors etc.
Different priorities for different uses.
For me, I'd want something that could do gaming. So I'd probably want an Nvidia 4060 graphics card as a minimum; option to install at least 16GB memory if it doesn't come with that much (crazy how some laptops still come with non-removeable soldered-in memory sticks); at least an Intel i3-12100 cpu (good for single-threaded apps) but ideally an i5-12400 or better (better multi-threaded performance iirc).
A non-glossy screen for me.
15 inch screen minimum, but 4k is not really needed at that size as you will scale it up anyway.
Probably a decent warranty as fixing a laptop is not as easy as a desktop.
The faster processor and the most memory (if it is not upgradable) will ensure the laptop remains useful for as long as possible.
With intel based machines an fancy graphics are only really used in specialised programs, normal stuff uses the built in on-board graphics.
I always buy refurbished form places like europc.co.uk
Reliability .
Open lid and ready to go!
I just checked when I bought my current works laptop for myself, 2009! New fangled i7 had just been introduced, and I specified a decent display which explains its longevity.
Dell Studio 1557 Intel® Core™ i7-720QM Mobile
15.6in Widescreen Full High Definition (1920 x 1080)
DVD writer!
In practice the main thing I notice about working on a newer laptop is battery life, it's pretty dire on the Dell but rarely goes full mobile. In reality it still does Office / emails fine but a black line has appeared on the display so I've got a Lenovo V17 under the desk to replace it when I've time - I wanted a bigger screen and I don't really need it to be portable, though it's lighter and no bigger than my old Dell.
It has had a lot of replacements over the years though; SSD upgrade, new screen (I dropped it) new hinges, new keyboard / touchpad (made it feel like new again) several new batteries and PSUs, new fan. I thought I'd upgraded the 4Gb memory but apparently not. The SSD made a big different but they are all SSD these days.
Surely it's an Apple logo?