New Laptop help

Shrimply

Thanks, I hadn't even considered the battery life. I don't need it to be awesome, if I could get 3 or 4 hours for on the train every couple of weeks that would be great.

I don't think I'm likely to want to increase the ram 8GB should be plenty for what I do.

Thanks for your thoughts, I will have think about it and will also look at some of the Dell options.

Cisco001

Here is an alternative. To meet your requirement of SSD + HDD + optical drive, you probably need to spend about £600.
If you already has OS, you can skip it about £500

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/ultraNoteIII-15/

Shrimply

Thanks, have you got any experience of PCSpecialist?

I have maybe been unclear but while I'd like a SSD and HDD, I don't have any real need of an optical drive.

Le_Kirk

I have specified and purchased three systems now from PCSpecialist and all three are still running well (admittedly all were towers not laptops) and the speccing and buying process were slick and (the only time) I needed support, it was available at the end of a phone with an English speaking techy.

Fightsback

Shrimply wrote: »

Thanks, have you got any experience of PCSpecialist?

I have maybe been unclear but while I'd like a SSD and HDD, I don't have any real need of an optical drive.

This person has and they are having trouble with them over a laptop at the moment, they are currently seeking advice in the consumer rights section of this very forum:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/71342649#Comment_71342649

Shrimply

Hmm, not so good but I guess you can't judge a company on one case.

I had a horrendous time with Dell ( my current machine is actually a replacement under warranty which took a lot of fighting and many "repairs" on the previous machine). As an aside if I remember correctly it had 3 new screens, a new motherboard, 3 new touchpads and a new webcam. I lost my rag when they tried to tell me they wanted to replace the motherboard again.

I still haven't made any decisions, it is very much a case of me wanting more than I can afford I guess. I emailed the place selling the Asus as I have my doubts it's got UK keyboard, not being able to find the particular model for sale anywhere else in the UK. But haven't had a reply, so that doesn't say too much for their customer service.

Shrimply

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? I can get it for £610, which is more than I really want to spend but it does tick all the boxes I think. Part of me thinks buying the 250 G5 is a much better deal, but it becomes less so if you factor in the cost of a large capacity SD card plus a portable harddrive.

http://store.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Product.aspx?id=W8Y48EA&opt=ABU&sel=NTB

Shrimply

Well I'm leaning towards getting the HP Envy I think having read a few reviews. I could also get the 360 version for £650 but I don't think I'd really benefit much from it.

Unless anyone has any thoughts on alternatives which are better value?

esuhl

Shrimply wrote: »

Thanks, I hadn't even considered the battery life. I don't need it to be awesome, if I could get 3 or 4 hours for on the train every couple of weeks that would be great.

If you only occasionally need a long battery life, you might consider an external battery, like the ones you can get for mobile phones.

A random web search brought up this, as an example:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/28000mah-Outputs-Output-Multi-voltage-Samsung/dp/B0151IBSQ0/ref=pd_lpo_23_bs_lp_t_2/252-4698839-9275128?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=HC40XXDTYDMCD7T1FRG3

grant_uk

Purchased a laptop from PCSpecialist a few months ago. No issues with them whatsoever from us and the laptop is the sort of specs you're looking for at around £500.

Shrimply wrote: »

Thanks, have you got any experience of PCSpecialist?

I have maybe been unclear but while I'd like a SSD and HDD, I don't have any real need of an optical drive.