Recommended laptop.

Dave M

Dave M

Admin Team
United-Kingdom
My Dell laptop is now coming up to seven years old and is starting to slow down and freeze, especially on ebay. I am told by PC World that because of its age upgrading and adding extra memory is not an option.

As with lots of other things in life there is just so much choice out there. Would anyone please be able to provide me with any recommendations. I would only be using it for club related activity, ebay and emails. I would be looking for good quality at a reasonable price.

A2OC has in effect taught me so much about using computers and for that i am grateful. I still havn,t a clue though about which makes are good and which to avoid.

Many thanks in anticipation of any replies,

Dave
:)
 
Hi Dave. We have the same issue with our Dell inspiron. I did spend a bit of money on a reconditioned hard drive and a new casing. Ours is a bit newer than yours (bought in 2011) however it's definitely scrap.

We've been quite happy using our smartphones and the Kindle for online use. I don't have any specific recommendations for you but we're likely going to get a tablet for a replacement. Don't know if you specifically want a laptop but the hybrid options with a detachable keyboard seem like the best of both worlds for me.

I'll watch with interest what the views are regarding your question. We've a few gadget gurus within the membership so if you don't mind I'll piggy back on your question and fully agree that there's plenty good sense within the team to be relied on.
 
Ideally i would still like a laptop Murdo with a 17" screen - looking to spend between £300 and £500. :)
 
17" screen? Why on earth? Everything in this house with the exception of the macbook is 15 or smaller, mostly smaller. Even my new work machine, which is a €2500+VAT monster is only going to be a 15". 17s are massive and heavy.

What OS does it need to be?

What are you going to be doing with it?

RAM has nothing to do with it freezing up.
If it's running windows, bin the HDD and replace with an SSD (yeah, one of those £50 128GB Sandisk jobs from amazon). Reinstall Windows. Be surprised at just how fast it is. Reinstall ONLY what's necessary - a decent AV, Chrome or Firefox with uBlockOrigin (ESSENTIAL!), Acrobat reader, a decent mail client and away you go.

Even Win10 is happy with 4GB of RAM, I've just got the car machine happily running with it and figured 8 might be necessary, but no, 4 is fine and 2 would also work.

I'm currently running a 2008 vintage Dell E6400 here as my personal machine and its boot time is less than 15 seconds .... into Linux. Which works beautifully for what I need. The Wife's T60 isn't anywhere near as fast, but that's not got an SSD. That is also fine.

If it's Windows and you're getting speed issues:
- Check with Task Manager quite what it is that's eating CPU cycles.
- remove Norton or Symantec. They're both well known for being very heavy on the old CPUs. This will take quite a lot of work...
- Make sure you run a decent AV scanner: run Malwarebytes, Spybot search and Destroy once and then install a decent AV (I'd suggest F-Secure, and I'm biased, but we do find a lot of stuff and even on the T60, performance is OK).
- Make sure you're running an Adblocker and the latest and greatest version of your browser.
- remove all the software you really don't need and restart the machine multiple times, make sure you're up to date on Windows Updates, too.

Oh, and if it's XP? Drop it like it's hot, assume it is infected with some malware. Because the chances are that it is infected.

- Bret
 
Looking briefly at Scan;
I'd avoid Celeron; the Pentium-named cores give far more processor power at not much more cash (if any). i5 is a decent chunk better than i3... and I'd avoid massive amounts of local storage, especially as consumer SSDs still aren't as reliable as they might be. Enterprise ones are, but are an awful lot more expensive.

17" is extremely rare (which doesn't surprise me).

There's a half-decent Asus there with the N3050 processor and a 11.5" screen. That's a 2-in-1, but it's only 2GB RAM and it's a bit pushing it for Win10. Still, £200 is not too shabby.
For the wife, I was looking at Dell's XPS13 or the Asus Zenbook.


Ebuyer has a half-decent selection, too, with this standing out: http://www.ebuyer.com/721888-asus-zenbook-ux305fa-laptop-ux305fa-ms-fc061t (they're really nice and small, full HD in 13" is awesome). with 8GB they're also decently kitted out to deal with reality. This also seems pretty good: http://www.ebuyer.com/727184-lenovo-essential-b51-80-laptop-80lm000quk - an i7 and 8GB RAM is a very nice starting point. Though I'd probably want to swap the HDD out for an SSD.

- Bret
 
Hi Bretti,

Thankyou for taking the time to reply - you,ve just blown my mind with things i don,t understand but i do appreciate your advice. When you reach middle age you become comfortable with your surroundings - your car, your wife, your home, your job etc. I am happy with buying a new 17" screen laptop because its "familiar" and i would only use it for club activity, emails and ebay. Can you recommend one please ?.

Ta
Dave
:)
 
We must have overlapped on the thread - thankyou for the two recommendations - much appreciated - any decent ones between £300 and £500 ?.
 
Hi Dave,

Physical build quality has always been my priority when buying laptops. Given that you're just going to be doing domestic stuff like browsing the 'net, sending emails, etc, every laptop on the market will be capable of fulfilling your needs. It's only stuff like audio processing and video editing that needs top-end performance.
It's been a few years since I bought a new computer, but I've always found Lenovo laptops and Dell Latitudes to have the best build quality because they're aimed at travelling business folk. When browsing their range, be aware that the Dell Inspiron laptops do not have the same ruggedness as the Latitudes. My VCDS laptop is a Dell Latitude. It is 13 years old and still works perfectly.
If I was going to buy a new laptop tomorrow, I'd have a Lenovo (they're IBM ThinkPads with a different name), but they may be out of your budget.

Hope this helps,

Tom
 
You should still be able to upgrade your current computer, but considering the age of it, it may be better to put the money towards something new.

Toshiba laptops are one of the most reliable in my opinion. I would avoid HP laptops as after 3-4 years they tend to overheat. Also avoid anything with a Celeron processor, these are budget processors that don't have much processing power, and you would find yourself upgrading again more quickly. Try and get something with 4gb RAM or more.

Demand for 17" laptops has declined a lot over the last few years, so there is not as much choice. I found this on PC Worlds website which seems pretty decent:
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/toshiba-satellite-l70-c-13c-17-3-laptop-silver-10138278-pdt.html

Tim
 
Hi Dave,
I would also advise against a 17"

I used to own one and they are awkward to use out and about

From your usage description 'eBay, A2OC, emails etc' and good quality i would suggest you take a look at the basic model MacBook and MacBook Air.

Without getting into a Mac v Windows debate on here, (I have used them both for over 20 years) you can run Mac OSX and also boot into Windows if needed, like i do for VCDS or BMW's e-sys.

If you have a family member that is at Uni, you can also buy one with a 15% discount and free 3 year warranty, in store and online using a special education access area.

The only negative is the price, which is out of your chosen budget, but the build quality of Macs are very nice.


Personally, i would break the budget

Maybe try one out in store or see if a friend will show you around the operating system.
 
That one looks perfect thankyou - also they will accept my old laptop and give me £100 as a deposit towards the new one - all good. :)
 
I like the 17" screen for when we skype the grandkids in Oz - must also make an appointment at speccsavers ! :)
 
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A little late to this thread I know but thought I'd put someone my general thoughts about buying a laptop

17" laptops are good in my opinion providing they have a high resolution. I've had many, being a graphic designer I found them much easier to work with. Ideal if you used them as a desktop replacement. I also love that many 17" laptops have two hard drive bays, excellent if you used SSD's

I agree the MacBook Air is great I've got a 13" one. I wouldn't recommend the smaller ones though.

If you don't do much graphical processing etc I'd say anything mid range from say 2010 onwards with an SSD and a fresh OS should be fine.

I've repaired many laptops, gave recommendations etc and I'd stick to a few simple rules.

Never buy a low end laptop i.e., celeron, pentium etc.

Don't buy one new unless your buying cutting edge technology. Buying reconditioned from Apple, Currys are good. Preferably buy from eBay there is always people who buy expensive laptops and have to sell quick, and to be honest have no idea about the spec. A bit of research of model specs can bag you £100's off the street price.

Install an SSD ( can't stress this enough, the best upgrade you can do). While I could have a chat for 10 hours about read/write speeds, I'll recommend the Samsung Evo line which I've used for for quite a few years without problem.

Don't get duped by the words "quad core" "i7" etc. Check the actual processor number. I'd rather buy the latest i5 over a first gen i7.
With Intel processors you can check the generation by looking at the leading number after i3, i5 or i7. I recommend ones starting with a 3 or greater.

Forget the amount of RAM. Type of RAM and maximum size that can be used is more important. If it's relatively new I wouldn't worry about this. Changing RAM is cheap and easy. If you don't game or not in the creative industries you probably don't need more than 4GB.

You don't need to by a laptop with a high capacity hard disk. Firstly because as I suggested you should replace it with an SSD. Secondly general users have little programs and don't create large files. They are mostly using space with photos and music both of which are easily stored via cloud services or on external drives. If you are still wanting a larger capacity drive it still works out a lot cheaper to buy a larger one afterwards.

When possible try and buy a laptop with a dedicated graphics card ( usually nvidia or amd). This will help if ever using graphic intensive programs. It is also a general way of telling your buying a mid range or better laptop. With newer processors the integrated graphics are more than enough for average use. If using the laptop for general use don't worry about the graphics concentrate on the processor.

Most of the upgrades mentioned above are easy enough do do without experience. YouTube probably has a video on the model you have for a ram or a hdd upgrade ( although they are pretty much the same despite model). If you have bought a Samsung SSD you get software to transfer your data over. All you need is a external caddy to put the new drive in while it copys.

As mentioned above delete all bloatware and ideally install a fresh clean copy of the OS you want.

Just typed this out on my mobile during my lunch break so no doubt there are mistakes but it might help anyone looking for a laptop.
 
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timmus said:
If I was going to buy a new laptop tomorrow, I'd have a Lenovo (they're IBM ThinkPads with a different name), but they may be out of your budget.
Click to expand...

I would also recommend Lenovo. The laptop I am using at the moment is a T60 acquired (free) from a former employer. It had been left by one of my colleagues on the roof of his car. He drove off and of course, when he braked, the laptop overtook the car! I rebuilt it (using the manual that you can download from Lenovo) replacing everything apart from the battery, mainboard and screen with readily available parts from Ebay. Yes, the screen did survive (and is still going strong) because of the metal case. The mainboard did eventually fail, so I had to rebuild it again. I have recently replaced the drive with an SSD which has halved boot-up time.

RAB
 
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