Looking for decent laptop in January sales

Katherine.S

Hello

Hope somebody technical minded can help me with some advice.

We urgently need to replace my husbands laptop as it no longer even starts up (it was about 6 years old). It is mainly used for web browsing, MS Office and limited use of Photoshop. He needs it for a postgrad course he is doing so I really need to get it before the start of next term. He will possibly take it to work (so he can do his course work during his lunchbreak) so prefer something that won't be too heavy to lug around commuting.

Our top budget is £400 but if we can spend less then even better as this is going onto our otherwise empty credit card. It's a horrible month, my iPhone 3GS has totally packed up and my PC keeps restarting every few hours so we are facing a bit of a hit on the technology front.

I understand from reading other threads that I should look at an i3 processor and that 4GB or more of RAM is important.

How does this one look:
(From Argos but as a new user I can't link)

HP Pavilion 15
Intel Core i3 dual core .
3217M processor.
1.8GHz processor speed.
8GB RAM.
1024GB hard drive.
Microsoft Windows 8
£349.99

If anyone can link any others that would be a good buy it would be much appreciated. Ideally want to get this purchased tonight!

TheSaint_2

That is ok, at this price they are all about the same spec. But you may be able to squeeze an i5 for your budget, which if you are doing PhotoShop will help you out (in the absence of dedicated graphics processing).


If you don't care about PhotoShop, how about a dell venue tablet. They come with office free which saves some money. You could use an external monitor and keyboard / mouse to turn it into a full pc as it runs full windows. The monitor would need to support wireless streaming though as there is not port to plug in to. It isn't the fastest tablet in the world, but for £250 it would let you get it and then buy an external screen later when you can afford it.


Here is an i5 laptop for the same money.
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/laptops-netbooks/laptops/laptops/hp-pavilion-15-n096ea-15-6-laptop-21748974-pdt.html

Katherine.S

Thanks TheSaint.

I used to be a graphic designer and still do some freelance work so really would like the option of having Photoshop on the laptop (and even Illustrator if possible). While it will be my husbands machine primarily it makes sense to have one that I can use when needed.

Software isn't an issue as we have a spare licence for Office (and Adobe CS3) off the machine that has broken. I assume I can reuse the licences as that machine is defunct, as far as I am aware the software wasn't OEM and I have the discs (somewhere).

We do have a shared iPad so really don't want to go the tablet route.

The one you linked looks good though. Although I hate PC World!

I_have_spoken

Also from Argos, Asus S400E 14 Inch VivoBook at a relatively portable 1.8Kg

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5089844.htm#pdpFullProductInformation

Sparx

What's wrong with your iPhone 3GS? Anything a factory reset would fix? Or is it a physical fault/damaged?

What's wrong with your Desktop PC? Anything that couldn't be cleaned up with anti virus, anti malware, CCleaner, etc? Or again a factory reset or reformatting it with a fresh install of Windows?

What's wrong with the laptop re start up? It could possibly be fixed.

Edit - if you definitely need a new laptop this is a great spec for less money (£329)
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/laptops-netbooks/laptops/laptops/asus-x551ca-sx024h-15-6-laptop-21707561-pdt.html

Katherine.S

Thank you I have spoken I have some brand loyalty towards ASUS so that is a good option. I'm a bit indecisive though as I'm finding it hard to differentiate between these low cost options. I'm wondering if the i5 processor based machine linked earlier is the best option just due to the fact that it is the best processor of the bunch.

Sparx, I wish everything hadn't all gone at once. Right on top of Christmas too!

Sorry my iPhone model was a typo, it's an iPhone 3, not 3GS. The battery on it doesn't hold a charge, it only works plugged into the main and although I have investigated getting a new battery for it I'm not sure it is worth it on such an old phone. It's very slow and the IOS can't be updated which means I can't use a lot of the apps I'd like to (things like Instagram). I brought it outright over 4 years ago and I only spend £60 / year on usage and plan to buy another phone out right but it is second in priority to the laptop!

On my PC I reformatted it and did a fresh reinstall of Windows and it still keeps restarting. It's five years old and quite noisy. I'm not adept enough to trouble shoot beyond reinstalling Windows but only two of the USB ports work now (rear ones) which is a real pain. The fans all seem to be working and it can reboot right after start up. I contacted a few local PC shops to ask if it could be upgraded but they all told me that due to it's age I'd be better going for a new machine. It's third on the priority list.

Laptop starts up, gets a blue screen, comes up with loads of stuff I don't understand and then will work if we use safe mode but we have no networking or sound. Again it's old, about 6 years, and had been slow and clunky for a while.

All three things I'm replacing are 5-6 years old and were brought at the same time. I'm guessing that buying them all together again means the same thing will happen and they will all die at the same time.

I hate it but we are getting the credit cards out for the laptop, I've recently come off maternity leave so the savings took a bit of a battering for that. I plan to save up for the PC and will see how long I can go phoneless for but think that will be a half and half purchase.

Katherine.S

Just seen your edit with the link Sparx. I really like the look of that. Will the 4GB of RAM not make it much slower compared to the 8GB of the similarly priced HP HP Pavilion 15 Ci3 8GB 1TB Laptop (on Argos) though? Brand wise I would prefer ASUS.

Sparx

Do you mean the HP from PC World that TheSaint linked you too? Overall that is a better laptop. It has an i5 processor, double the RAM (8GB over 4) and double the hard drive space (1TB over 500GB). But it's £70 more.

I would say get the Asus I linked for what you use. But after recapping your original post, if he works in Photoshop he'd benefit from more RAM (8GB) and the extra hard disk space.

But at the same time the Asus £329 would still do the job very well. It depends how desperate you want to save money. If you aren't bothered get the HP £399 as it will perform much better in Photoshop.

Skintstudent

Hi,

I got this one yesterday from my partner, it's a good laptop, light and very functional with good storage etc.

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/toshiba-c50d-a-13g-15-6-laptop-21731465-pdt.html#longDesc

I have to say that when it comes to processors etc I have no clue so if any techie people think this is not great then please feel free to comment

For me this is a brilliant laptop that will meet my needs.

TheSaint_2

Asus is a great brand, I also rate hp. As sparx says if you don't do much PhotoShop and can't stand to spend the cash go for the cheaper option. But if you do a lot of PhotoShop the i5 and more ram on the hp will make a huge difference. Generally though 4gb is plenty for normal windows use.


P.S. I hate pc world too. Awful service.

NiftyDigits

Katherine.S wrote: »

Thank you I have spoken I have some brand loyalty towards ASUS so that is a good option. I'm a bit indecisive though as I'm finding it hard to differentiate between these low cost options. I'm wondering if the i5 processor based machine linked earlier is the best option just due to the fact that it is the best processor of the bunch.

Sparx, I wish everything hadn't all gone at once. Right on top of Christmas too!

Sorry my iPhone model was a typo, it's an iPhone 3, not 3GS. The battery on it doesn't hold a charge, it only works plugged into the main and although I have investigated getting a new battery for it I'm not sure it is worth it on such an old phone. It's very slow and the IOS can't be updated which means I can't use a lot of the apps I'd like to (things like Instagram). I brought it outright over 4 years ago and I only spend £60 / year on usage and plan to buy another phone out right but it is second in priority to the laptop!

On my PC I reformatted it and did a fresh reinstall of Windows and it still keeps restarting. It's five years old and quite noisy. I'm not adept enough to trouble shoot beyond reinstalling Windows but only two of the USB ports work now (rear ones) which is a real pain. The fans all seem to be working and it can reboot right after start up. I contacted a few local PC shops to ask if it could be upgraded but they all told me that due to it's age I'd be better going for a new machine. It's third on the priority list.

Laptop starts up, gets a blue screen, comes up with loads of stuff I don't understand and then will work if we use safe mode but we have no networking or sound. Again it's old, about 6 years, and had been slow and clunky for a while.

All three things I'm replacing are 5-6 years old and were brought at the same time. I'm guessing that buying them all together again means the same thing will happen and they will all die at the same time.

I hate it but we are getting the credit cards out for the laptop, I've recently come off maternity leave so the savings took a bit of a battering for that. I plan to save up for the PC and will see how long I can go phoneless for but think that will be a half and half purchase.

Five to six years is not old, unless you bought rubbish in the first place.

My PC is more than six years old and my laptop coming up to five years old.

Both were cheap, but decent quality.

Do these things have brand names and full model numbers?
On both of the machines you'll have to "Disable automatic restart on system failure"
Will tell you how after you supply the details requested.

Did you clean all of the the dust out that was inside the case of the PC?