Laptop guidance!

jonewer · 3 July 2017 at 11:54AM

Hello!

I'm looking to buy a laptop for general media and entertainment purposes with occasional office use also, ideally I'd like an SSD and a DVD drive.

I'm looking at spending up to £350 but have no idea what I should be looking for.

Can anyone advise?

Thanks!

almillar · 3 July 2017 at 1:58PM

DVD drive means a big laptop (relatively, these days). Your search will be easier, and allow better possibilities, if you leave the DVD drive to the side. You can buy a USB powered DVD burner for <£20, so I'd suggest one of those, unless you use DVDs daily.
SSD is a very good idea for a laptop since you lose some moving parts to break...
13"? 15"?

jonewer · 3 July 2017 at 2:03PM

almillar wrote: »

DVD drive means a big laptop (relatively, these days). Your search will be easier, and allow better possibilities, if you leave the DVD drive to the side. You can buy a USB powered DVD burner for <£20, so I'd suggest one of those, unless you use DVDs daily.
SSD is a very good idea for a laptop since you lose some moving parts to break...
13"? 15"?

Thanks for the input

15" would probably be better for the occasional office use.

Our current laptop is a 17" HP chunker that's made out of recycled Russian tanks.

grumpycrab · 3 July 2017 at 2:24PM

EDIT: Nothing (obvious) new. This for £[STRIKE]324[/STRIKE]330 - 256GB SSD other specs a bit dull...
[STRIKE]http://www.misco.co.uk/product/2673874/HP-255-G5-Laptop-AMD-A6-7310-15-6inch-4GB-RAM-256GB-SSD-Windows-10-Home[/STRIKE]
https://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/1LU05ESABU-HP-255-G5_2154772.html

toshi · 4 July 2017 at 9:29AM

jonewer wrote: »

I'd like an SSD and a DVD drive.

SSD! Yes, definitely good move :T I am not sure if this would be your option, if you would upgrade the existing notebook with a replacement of the an existing hard disk with an SSD, you would be able to save a couple of hundred pounds.

As I explained before, CPU cost/performance is more or less flat in last 5-7 years, your new computer may be more or less the same performance as the current existing one.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=72351323#post72351323

If you would be interested in this option, please let me know the details of existing computer model no etc.

Happy SSD computing

jonewer · 4 July 2017 at 12:07PM

toshi wrote: »

SSD! Yes, definitely good move :T I am not sure if this would be your option, if you would upgrade the existing notebook with a replacement of the an existing hard disk with an SSD, you would be able to save a couple of hundred pounds.

As I explained before, CPU cost/performance is more or less flat in last 5-7 years, your new computer may be more or less the same performance as the current existing one.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=72351323#post72351323

If you would be interested in this option, please let me know the details of existing computer model no etc.

Happy SSD computing

Wow, thanks for the offer of help! I'll get you the details when I get home.

By the way, how would I go about transferring the contents of the HDD to the SSD, including the OS install? I'd like to do this with my desktop as well to reduce boot times.

WAYT · 4 July 2017 at 12:34PM

jonewer wrote: »

Wow, thanks for the offer of help! I'll get you the details when I get home.

By the way, how would I go about transferring the contents of the HDD to the SSD, including the OS install? I'd like to do this with my desktop as well to reduce boot times.

Always run a clean install to SSD. You can put the old laptop HDD in to an external caddy costing around £4, creating an external HDD that you can plug in to the laptop in order to move data over at your leisure.

When it comes to a PC, you can often leave the old HDD in place and just add the SSD as a boot drive.

almillar · 4 July 2017 at 12:40PM

You CAN simply clone the drive - copy every single little thing, including formatting information, but I'd rather put the blank SSD in, install the OS from a USB drive, then install apps, and copy user data back on.
You have to ensure that TRIM is enabled for SSD drives (evens out where data is written to), which Windows does on install, or just look out for the option on the cloning software.

jonewer · 4 July 2017 at 8:10PM

almillar wrote: »

install the OS from a USB drive

Thanks but you might have to explain how I do this - when I got the laptop there was no Windows DVD, it was already installed on the HDD, so how would I run install the OS from a USB? Won't it ask me for a licence key or some such?

WAYT · 4 July 2017 at 8:30PM

jonewer wrote: »

Thanks but you might have to explain how I do this - when I got the laptop there was no Windows DVD, it was already installed on the HDD, so how would I run install the OS from a USB? Won't it ask me for a licence key or some such?

To which laptop are you referring? Full model number.

jonewer · 4 July 2017 at 8:58PM

WAYT wrote: »

To which laptop are you referring? Full model number.

Its an HP G72 Notebook PC model number XF103EA#ABU which I gather translates into the G72-b01SA

https://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/XF103EAABU-HP-G72-b01SA_1006276.html

There is actually a Windows 7 product key on the back

Laptop guidance!

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