Travel laptop

J_B

'Our Kid' currently has a 15" laptop with Win7, about 3 (?) years old

He is looking to change it for something smaller for travelling.
When at home, he plugs monitor, keyboard and mouse in via usb and wishes to continue to do so.

He does NOT want an iPad nor an Android tablet - wishes to stay with a PC

He has seen an Acer Travelmate B113-m .... is that a viable option??

shaun_from_Africa

I can't see any reason why that one
http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_TM_B113-M_11.6_INCH_Core_i3_4GB_500GB_Shared_Win_7_-_Win_8_Pro_NX.V7QEK.021/version.asp?refsource=LDadwords&cr!!!!!LD&gclid=CjwKEAiAmaanBRCIt4364e2d6yUSJAA9VXTUnCxIRi-1o7A1vQ9tyRAAlBoMRuuw13yujfvFa_3NmBoC6p3w_wcB
wouldn't do exactly what is needed.

Before I joined the tablet club, I had an Acer Aspire one specifically for travelling and although it was not a particularly fast machine and was far from being high spec, it did everything that I needed and was very light.
The Travelmate is miles ahead on spec compared to what I had so should be more than adequate provided that your son realises that it will have limitations (such as no built in CD/DVD drive and the small keyboard and screen might take a bit of getting used to).

Anne_Marie_2

What does he want to use the laptop for? If it's just general use, browsing, emails, home office, that will be totally fine.

What's the budget?

I haven't gone looking as you haven't given an idea what he uses laptop for, but this one, with an SSD, might also fit the bill. It's a little bigger, but still perfectly good weight for carrying about. Although the drive is smaller, being an SSD makes it a lot quicker, if that's important.
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/laptops-netbooks/laptops/laptops/acer-aspire-v3-371-13-3-laptop-white-10029091-pdt.html#cat-0

There's also the i5 version with 6GB RAM for £449.99
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/laptops-netbooks/laptops/laptops/acer-aspire-v3-371-13-3-laptop-white-10029103-pdt.html#cat-0

Mr_Toad

For this kind of use I'd be looking at battery life between charges.

Some laptops struggle to last 2 hours before they need charging and that means you have to carry the charger with you. And of course you need a socket to plug it in to.

There are laptops that will run for 7+ hours on a charge meaning you can leave the charger at home.

Acording to the review I just looked at the Acer Travelmate B113-m battery will last about 5.5hrs, is that enough?

Anne_Marie_2

Good point Mr Toad. The Acer Aspire V3-371 which I've linked to, states 7.5 hours, which is better, if that is important.
Until we hear a bit more about usage, it's all speculation at the moment.

cookie365

Will a Chromebook count as a PC?

I've typing this in a hotel on my current travel laptop - an Acer C720 Chromebook. I love it.

Anything specific to Windows he needs?

macman

Another vote for the Acer C720 Chromebook (though since it doesn't run Windows it can't be classed as a PC). As long as he is aware of the few limitations of running the Chrome OS.
I considered a tablet, but wanted a lightweight laptop with a physical keyboard, and at £200 it's a steal.

J_B

Thanks for all replies so far - he is over retirement age but still has several business interests that he needs to keep in contact with, but nothing too complex.
He does a 'newsletter' to a group of about 20/30 regularly.
He has a 'home office' which he will use it in mainly but also has a 'holiday home' up north where he will be using it - he has wifi there
He also has a love of going up mountains with snow on and then sliding back down again with sticks attached to his feet - is it called skiing??
He then wishes to use his laptop from his hotel room, presumably via wifi to check e mails, banking etc.

I personally know nothing about chromebooks, do they rely on a decent internet connection?? His speed is around the 2 meg range

Budget is a bit of a grey area, he wants the best value he can get for the least price .... of course.

cookie365

I doubt the hotel wifi I'm using gets near 2Mb shared between all the guests, and the chromebook's working fine. Obviously the bigger the files the better the wifi connection needs to be to keep your sanity.

Same as any laptop really.

Perfectly possible to use a chromebook offline

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2453999/chromebooks-beyond-the-cloud-everything-chromebooks-can-do-offline.html

http://gizmodo.com/get-the-most-from-your-chromebook-even-when-its-offline-1647253854

J_B

Hi again

We think the Windows option would be best, rather than a new 'learning curve' of chrome - yes, I know, it would be easy, but his wife has an iPad and he hates it!!

He would also prefer Win7 if possible, but maybe Classic Shell on W8 would suffice??

grumpycrab

Anne_Marie wrote: »

...There's also the i5 version with 6GB RAM for £449.99
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/laptops-netbooks/laptops/laptops/acer-aspire-v3-371-13-3-laptop-white-10029103-pdt.html#cat-0

More feedback on this here
https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/acer-aspire-v3-371-13-3-fhd-i5-laptop-with-120gb-ssd-449-99-currys-2146852

J_B wrote: »

He would also prefer Win7 if possible, but maybe Classic Shell on W8 would suffice??

It normally would.