Laptop Recommendations Please

bod1467

Both daughters are looking for new laptops.

#1's main consideration is weight (low) as she is at university and has to carry it about quite a lot. I sent her this Medion link and she quite liked it, although maybe a bit bigger screen would be better.

#2's main consideration is HDD size (for all her music, videos etc.) and she doesn't really want a smaller screen than she currently has (15.6")

Neither of them need top spec machines, as the main usage is Office-type (Word, Powerpoint, Excel), browsing, email and playing music and videos. Not doing any intensive activities like video editing etc. (Their current laptops are old and battered - #1 has a Compaq and #2 has a Toshiba).

So what would you good folks recommend? Budget is up to £350 each.

bod1467

Anyone? (100+ views but no replies).

(I rarely post requests for help - I'm usually replying to threads offering help. Am I being unreasonable?)

sillygoose

How about the Asus X550CA, now despite always having the same model number this comes in many incarnations of spec, some have less ram/hard drive and a quicker processor, others the other way round!!!.

For your requirements I would consider the lower cpu/higher everything else version. It has a 1.5GHZ dual core Celeron® 1007U which is quite adequate and fairly recent, quite low power so helps battery life. This version can be had with 6GB of RAM and 1TB hard drive to compensate. Its a nice thin laptop, not too heavy.

Normally I wouldn't suggest shopping at Very.co.uk on price but if you don't have an account with them at the moment and open a new credit account for your first order they are offering 10% off, you can 'open' the credit account but still just pay off in full without taking the credit.

Also Topcashback offer 7% back for new Very customers, and although it can't be guaranteed to pay out, I have made several purchases from Very and they have always paid out well.

Potentially..

http://www.very.co.uk/asus-x550ca-intelreg-celeronreg-6gb-1tb-wifi-156-inch-laptop-dark-grey/1313448100.prd

£349

http://www.very.co.uk/web/en/first-order-discount.page

-10% = £314.1

-7% cashback potentially (Very discounts are given as refunds so cashback would be on original price) = £314 - (7% of £349 = £24.43) = £289.57

Not too bad for a new 15" laptop. Review here... (although the one on Very has a higher spec now, might be worth confirming spec is true with Very before considering buying)

bubblesbonbon

I have just got one of these:-

http://h20386.www2.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Product.aspx?id=H6Q67EA&opt=ABU&mastersku=H6Q67EA&masteropt=ABU&sel=PBNB&&jumpid=af_r11638_uk/en/hho/pps/default-td_ot_pu_ds_pd/td-generic_str/dt

Designed for business use including a toughened case but has all the functionality/connections I need.

750 Gb HDD , 6Mb ram and a pokey Intel i3 processor.

It's £458 inc VAT but you can claim £100 cashback after 30 days.

Good value at that price IMO

Presume you have the MS Office disks because new versions would make it expensive.

PS - Comes with Win 7 Pro installed but Win 8 Pro upgrade? disks

bod1467

@Silly - Thanks mate. This could be an option for #2 ... no good for #1 as it's probably too heavy.

sillygoose

bod1467 wrote: »

@Silly - Thanks mate. This could be an option for #2 ... no good for #1 as it's probably too heavy.

The Medion is hard to argue against as a good machine but 10" is small for frequent use. HP still make nice robust classy netbooks...

How about this one, same processor/RAM but 11.6" screen, but 'only' 500Gb drive. Same price. Still light 1.4kg.
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/laptops-netbooks/laptops/laptops/hp-pavilion-touchsmart-11-e030sa-11-6-touchscreen-laptop-21449719-pdt.html?gclid=CIv_zfLG4boCFVMRtAod1HsAbw&srcid=198&cmpid=ppc~gg~~~Exact&mc!!!!!gg_goog_7904&s_kwcid=AL!3391!3!28126383740!!!g!60610477675!&ef_id=UekfTAAAAepoVOkh:20131113102850:s


There is a code on Hotukdeals for 5% off all laptops too so maybe only £284!

(+ 1.5% £4.48 from Topcashback possibly so less than £280)

Cisco001

sillygoose wrote: »

The Medion is hard to argue against as a good machine but 10" is small for frequent use. HP still make nice robust classy netbooks...

How about this one, same processor/RAM but 11.6" screen, but 'only' 500Gb drive. Same price. Still light 1.4kg.
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/laptops-netbooks/laptops/laptops/hp-pavilion-touchsmart-11-e030sa-11-6-touchscreen-laptop-21449719-pdt.html?gclid=CIv_zfLG4boCFVMRtAod1HsAbw&srcid=198&cmpid=ppc~gg~~~Exact&mc!!!!!gg_goog_7904&s_kwcid=AL!3391!3!28126383740!!!g!60610477675!&ef_id=UekfTAAAAepoVOkh:20131113102850:s


There is a code on Hotukdeals for 5% off all laptops too so maybe only £284!

(+ 1.5% £4.48 from Topcashback possibly so less than £280)

John Lewis has one with A6. £330 with 2 year warranty.

http://www.johnlewis.com/hp-pavilion-touchsmart-11-e002sa-laptop-amd-a6-4gb-ram-500gb-11-6-touch-screen-black-silver/p795246

Cisco001

£350 15.6"

This with AMD A6 APU, 8GB RAM & 1TB HDD. Would be good even she need to do some light gaming.
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/laptops-netbooks/laptops/laptops/toshiba-c50d-a-13v-15-6-laptop-21750394-pdt.html

Or if you don't mind refurb
Asus K56A. intel i5, 4GB RAM, 750GB. This would probably has the fastest CPU for under £350
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ASUS-K56CA-750GB-4GB-LAPTOP-WINDOWS-8-/360789104315?pt=UK_Computing_Laptops_EH&hash=item5400b4d6bb

sillygoose

Cisco001 wrote: »

John Lewis has one with A6. £330 with 2 year warranty.

http://www.johnlewis.com/hp-pavilion-touchsmart-11-e002sa-laptop-amd-a6-4gb-ram-500gb-11-6-touch-screen-black-silver/p795246

Pretty good choice! quad core instead of dual. The same model on a Very new credit deal, (£349 - %10 = £314 + maybe + cashback to below £310)

- Definitely worth the step up.. A6-1450 benchmarks 3 times the power of the A4-1250 for the same power consumption. Be a lot nicer to use.

Cisco001

And for small laptop, you should also consider
Asus T100TA.
http://www.johnlewis.com/asus-transformer-book-t100ta-convertible-tablet-laptop-intel-atom-2gb-ram-32gb-windows-8-1-microsoft-office-2013-10-1-touch-screen/p775600

Pros - small, light. Can use as Tablet/ notebook. 9hrs battery life.
Cons - only 32GB SSD drive. May need to invest on 64GB SD card or hard drive.

If the laptop need to use for taking notes during lecture in uni. This would be a better option. Normal 11.6" laptop would possibly has 4 - 5 hr battery life. And you would need to find somewhere to charge it in between.

bod1467

Thanks for the updates guys - food for thought.