Time to buy a new laptop

silverdream

So my old reliable HP laptop has given up on me after 6+ years and it's fair to say it has had a bit of a hard life.

I'm looking to buy a new one but don't want to spend a fortune as I will only be using it for casual browsing. Can anyone recommend any reasonably priced, reliable makes/models? How much is a 'minimum spend' for a decent laptop? What should you look for when buying a new laptop (e.g. processing speeds, memory etc)?

Thank you in advance

grumpycrab

Cheap (new) laptops are not as well built as they used to be. Lenovo and ASUS may be slightly better than others and an extended warranty may be a bonus.
Have a look on Hotukdeals.
e.g.
https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/costco-online-asus-vivobook-max-x541ua-intel-core-i5-8gb-ram-1tb-hard-drive-156-inch-notebook-37999-costco-2777935
Then, perhaps, refurb Dells may be a good value alternative
e.g. (don't forget to add 20%)
http://mcscom.co.uk/shop/dell-laptops/inspiron-xps/

Frozen_up_north

Laptops come in four flavours:

Chrome books, basically a cut down laptop, no personal experience but would not even consider one.
New budget models, circa £250~£300, Acer or Asus from Argos, Tesco, etc.
New premium models, £500+
Used premium models at similar cost to a new budget model.

Many on here recommend buying used, there are lots on the market, but be very wary, laptops are often abused and may have intermittent faults, poor batteries, etc.

My OH and her colleagues have works issued Lenovo laptops, they seem to have a lot of failures, not sure what the issues are.

Try before you buy, by their very nature laptops are often used in awkward places, such as your lap... necessitating the use of the track pad and the left/right "buttons". The feel of the keyboard is important too, as are screen reflections. Beware of screen sizes other than about 15.6", smaller is harder to see, larger gets heavy quickly. Look for user changeable batteries that run for at least 4 hours.

My own personal favourite would be an Asus costing under £300. Mine is an old X55A model but is plenty fast enough for basic CAD work, let alone home office stuff and web browsing.

I_have_spoken

I'd look for a refurbished HP Elitebook 840 G2 or G3

silverdream

Thank you all for your replies! I've not heard of ASUS before, do they have a good reputation?