Laptop for business use

kentgirl_2

I've found the sub £350 laptop thread which is really useful but would like advice on the best laptop for business use.

I am looking for one about 15.6 inches. Not bothered about graphics too much as it will be mostly for work. What is important is amount of storage on it and reliability. Am looking to spend between £400-450 on it.

Am I best going with one of the Acers on Ebuyer? Any recommendations greatly appreciated.

WelshPaul

I would not bother with Acer if i was you, i have purchased a few over the last two years all between £700 - £1000 and although nice laptops build quality ain't the best!

Had problems with everyone i have had, battery blew on one, internal jack and cable design flaw on another, fan died on another, dead pixels yadda yadda yadda.

I have now switched my business it needs to HP.

mr_fishbulb

kentgirl wrote: »

I am looking for one about 15.6 inches.

Aren't we all dear!

What sort of work will you be doing on it? What applications do you use?

kentgirl_2

Down boy

Running Windows 7 and Office at moment and everything connected with generally running a small business as a self employed person.

WelshPaul

kentgirl wrote: »

Down boy

Running Windows 7 and Office at moment and everything connected with generally running a small business as a self employed person.

If all your using it for is Office, email and internet access you do not need anything fancy, a cheap laptop of low spec will be all you need. But stick to a branded one for reliability as it is no doubt going to be powered on a lot and for longer periods of time if being used for work.

Oh and windows 7 comes as standard on almost all modern day laptops.

kentgirl_2

Good point as I forgot to say my laptop is on for hours on end.

RussJK

Aim for one you can get a reasonable extended warranty on. Alternatively, sometimes it's cheaper to insure the laptop via a 3rd party.

mr_fishbulb

Are you going to want a docking station/port replicator?

This is something which sits on your desk and connects the laptop to a monitor, proper keyboard and mouse. They are quick-release so you can quickly disconnect your laptop when you are away from your desk without having to unplug keyboard/mouse/monitor/power cable separably.

It can be useful if you are often swapping between working at your desk and on the road.

HappyMJ

Again I'd like to say another NO for Acer Aspire as a business laptop can't see any Travelmate's on Ebuyer. Great for a personal cheapie laptop but as a business person you would need something a lot better. Why do you need lots of storage? I wouldn't store very much on it if I were you. Much easier to lose a laptop full of data. Back everything up onto the desktop PC or external hard drive at home and only take with you what you need for the day/week.

Hammyman

For business use where its going to get carted around a lot and/or used in conditions other than a nice clean office I would not buy any laptop you can buy from Ebuyer, Scan, Aria, PC World, Currys, Comet etc.

I would trot off to Ebay and find a good used Lenovo Thinkpad T61 for a large laptop or a x200s for a very light portable. You should be able to find them with well over a years outstanding Lenovo International next day onsite parts and labour warranty for well under £400 with a Core 2 Duo CPU, 2GB RAM and 80GB+ HDD which will more than suffice.

It'll not be new but it'll work as well as the others, won't have a glossy screen that will drive you mental and you should find one in mint condition and it still be around long after they'd curled up their toes.

closed

or just buy a good bag (if it's going to be lugged about) and take care of it.

a £300-350 laptop with a backup device/routine and a budget for office etc would do the job

http://www.dmxdimension.com/