Laptop purchase no idea

[Lanerboy]

We need to buy a new laptop but have no idea what to buy, we will use it for surfing the net, we will also need programs like word and excel and will need a disc drive. We would like a Windows operating system not apple

We want it to be as fast as possible for the money and would like to keep the cost to below £500 if possible, I have attached a picture of our present laptop spec and would not want to go below this, so all you computer experts out there please throw me some advise

 

[Reallyretired]

Unless you need a huge disk drive worth considering solid state drives. Lighter thinner and no moving parts to get jolted.
These days with so much in the cloud I find 256Gb to be more than adequate. Starts up faster too.

 

[DBK]

Curry's are having a sale, lots here around the £500 mark. As suggested, go for SSD and not less that 256 Gigglebites.

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[Figaro]

I'm in same position and I've been looking at Chromebooks but I like to do a little video editing. Whilst not out of the question with a Chromebook, it does seem a bit more limiting.
For £500 you should get a decent solid state laptop, I was recommended to get an i5 processor with 8GB of ram, doesn't mean much to me but Currys have plenty.
You can get a MS office package or there are free alternative programs.
good luck with the search, I may be at Currys too later if the rain continues !

 

[NorthernSands]

If buying new:
CPU: i3, i5 (8th gen, not 7th) or AMD equivalent
RAM: 8GB
HDD: ~256GB SSD

If 2nd hand:
Go for an i5 or i7 Lenovo ThinkPad. If you want a large screen go for a T5**, smaller go for a T4**. If smaller still an X***. Whichever, go for a 1080P screen or higher. Not bling, but a damn good workhorse and knowing nods from serious IT folk.

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[autorouter]

Looking at the software, all the tasks you mention can be done easily by free software. Firefox for web browsing, Thunderbird for email/calendar, Libre Office for word processor, spreadsheet, presentations and simple drawing. There are various other free programs for viewing/editing photos, doing backup, reading/writing DVD/Blueray/USB stick.

 

[Figaro]

Looking at the software, all the tasks you mention can be done easily by free software. Firefox for web browsing, Thunderbird for email/calendar, Libre Office for word processor, spreadsheet, presentations and simple drawing. There are various other free programs for viewing/editing photos, doing backup, reading/writing DVD/Blueray/USB stick.

Is Firefox an alternative to say chrome ?
What does thunderbird do please ?
What are the advantages
Thanks

 

[Gellyneck]

Before going into Currys, or elsewhere, have a look here.
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You can filter by a number of options.
Once you've narrowed the field down you can then Google for the best price for the particular model\s you're interested in.

 

[Gellyneck]

Is Firefox an alternative to say chrome ?
What does thunderbird do please ?
What are the advantages
Thanks

Firefox is a web browser and is an alternative to Chrome, Safari, Opera, etc, etc, etc, ......
Thunderbird is an e-mail client from the same stable as Firefox (Mozilla)
Advantages are in the eye of the beholder as it's a personal preference thing! I use both but others will swear by Chrome, etc, etc, etc, ......

 

[The Wino]

I would just stick to what you are used to for browser etc

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[NorthernSands]

Re. email; if you use GMail, Hotmail or any other web based email system, just use the website and don't bother with a client (like Thunderbird). If you get your email through your internet provider, then I would use Thunderbird (whatever you do, avoid POP email delivery at all costs! Use IMAP).

Unless you're using the laptop for work purposes and need to easily share documents with other colleagues / companies, I'd go with the above advice and use LibreOffice rather than paying for Microsoft Office.

Web browsers are a personal thing and if you are used to one in particular, use that (unless it's IE). Avoid Internet Explorer (IE) at all costs, but Edge (which is from Microsoft and comes bundled with Windows 10) is OK, but do try Chrome, Firefox and / or Opera. In my opinion they are all better than Edge (which I just find deeply annoying).

Returning to hardware advice, a decent amount of RAM (8GB minimum) and a faster hard drive (i.e. an SSD) are far more important than a faster CPU. If you have a choice of models and one has an i5 CPU and another an i3, but the i3 has 8GB RAM and an SSD, whereas the i5 has 4GB RAM and / or a non SSD hard drive, the i3 is the one to go for all day long. Also make sure the SSD is at least ~256GB (it may be 240GB or above). More RAM and a faster hard drive (SSD) is really that important.

 

[HandyAndy]

Can't beat Open office for a bit of free software for your letters / spreadsheets / documents etc
Made by Apache I think

 

[NorthernSands]

Can't beat Open office for a bit of free software for your letters / spreadsheets / documents etc
Made by Apache I think

Ah now, that's a hornets nest! OpenOffice was the original (actually StarOffice by IBM I think, but that's ancient history), but taken over by Oracle and a lot of the original developers didn't appreciate how Oracle work and how they changed the licensing model. OpenOffice was then forked (the free source code legally copied, if you like) by these dev's and they created LibreOffice. This latter one is generally the preferred option now, not only because of the politics, but it's the most developed and has improved beyond OpenOffice.

I believe LibreOffice uses the Apache free software licence model, though I'm not sure

 

[The Wino]

I used to use open office but now just use google drive it saves as you go along and you can access it from anywhere

 

[autorouter]

I used to use open office but now just use google drive it saves as you go along and you can access it from anywhere

Anywhere? I know places even in central London where you can't. Cloud access is problematic in motorhomes.

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[autorouter]

Unless you're using the laptop for work purposes and need to easily share documents with other colleagues / companies, I'd go with the above advice and use LibreOffice rather than paying for Microsoft Office.

On the other hand, I've found that in Libre Office sometimes I can read/convert a document that was written in an old version of Word, that my MS Office won't open. Libre Office is sometimes more compatible with MS Word than MS Word itself.

 

[Figaro]

Cloud access is problematic in motorhomes

Why's that please ?
Also some processors are described as 7th or 8th generation. Do you know the difference ?

 

[autorouter]

Why's that please ?

Cellphone coverage is over 90% of the population, not the land area. Motorhomes often go to locations well away from population centres, where coverage is poor or non-existent.

 

[Gellyneck]

Why's that please ?
Also some processors are described as 7th or 8th generation. Do you know the difference ?

Intel \ AMD (the two main laptop cpu manufacturers) release new processors with great regularity. Intel are now on 10th gen for their "Core" family processor.

 

[mitzimad]

processors plateaued 10 years ago for the normal user everything since is just froth you need lots of ram and fast drives now

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[RandallC]

Hi
If you dont specifically need windows for a particular APP....... Then maybe installing something like linux mint or peppermint will allow your old laptop to fly for free.

Perhaps others would care to confirm linux breathes new life into old windows running hardware and offer libre office etc

 

[Gellyneck]

Hi
If you dont specifically need windows for a particular APP....... Then maybe installing something like linux mint or peppermint will allow your old laptop to fly for free.

Perhaps others would care to confirm linux breathes new life into old windows running hardware and offer libre office etc

I tend to install Mint Cinnamon onto older kit and it works effectively. Mint XCFE(?) is even lighter. There are even lighter lighterweight Linux distributions, as well.

 

[Rusty Pumper]

I appreciate that this is £100 over your budget, but in addition to all the excellent advice above, you might find this guide helpful:
What's the best laptop for university under £600?

What's the best laptop for university under £600?

Linda’s history-studying son needs a portable computer. Which model would deliver value for money on a budget?

www.theguardian.com

 

[Rusty Pumper]

And this has now appeared which I hope is helpful:

What’s the best laptop for a student for under £500?

Ruqayyah needs a laptop costing up to £500 for her teacher training course. What are her best options?

www.theguardian.com

 

[HandyAndy]

processors plateaued 10 years ago for the normal user everything since is just froth you need lots of ram and fast drives now

I guess I'm just being greedy then

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[Allanm]

The trend now seems to be for small ssd disc drives and storing everything in a cloud based server.
Great if you have good fast internet access or very small files to upload.
I bucked that trend. We don’t have particularly fast internet access at home and even worse when in the van, so I went for a large hard drive, actually, I went for two, both 1tb ssd’s because I store all my photos and documents on my laptop, but regularly back up both drives.
I’m afraid I don’t have any definitive laptop recommendations for you, I prefer Apple, it works for me, but I’m sure almost any new laptop will suit your purpose for light use.

 

[NorthernSands]

Actually, I went for two, both 1TB SSDs

Did you RAID them?

 

[Lanerboy]

We are still looking and need to buy now Thanks for all the replies some of which are possibly very helpfull but I'm afraid it just means nothing to me
We need one that will run a programme at uni called cad my some is studying to be a chartered surveyor and I think this cad is some sort of drawing programme but not sure
His tutor has told him he needs a 3i processor or more and his current laptop is only a 2 processor
I do not think we will get what we need for anywhere near £500 so budget has gone out the window and just need to get the right laptop but expecting to pay £1000-£1500 now
We are going to call laptops direct tomorrow for a chat and explain what he is doing and see what they recommend

 

[HandyAndy]

CAD will be seriously graphic intensive. Your best bet would be a "gaming" orientated "rig" at least that way it should have a decent graphics card in it.
This is a completely different kettle of fish compared to what you originally asked for it to do

 

[NorthernSands]

We are still looking and need to buy now Thanks for all the replies some of which are possibly very helpfull but I'm afraid it just means nothing to me
We need one that will run a programme at uni called cad my some is studying to be a chartered surveyor and I think this cad is some sort of drawing programme but not sure
His tutor has told him he needs a 3i processor or more and his current laptop is only a 2 processor
I do not think we will get what we need for anywhere near £500 so budget has gone out the window and just need to get the right laptop but expecting to pay £1000-£1500 now
We are going to call laptops direct tomorrow for a chat and explain what he is doing and see what they recommend

Please do not spend so much money before understanding what you are getting; e.g. it's i3, not 3i. So much you need to know....

Which CAD package is it?

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