Laptop choice?

richmondhamptoncourt

Hi I am looking for a new laptop for my daughter as her i3 Lenovo died recently. She wants to be able to play sims and do school work. I bought the HP Envy 13 ad102 from John Lewis for £729 but it says its touchscreen but is not. John Lewis say I can return it even though I have set it up or I can keep it and will refund me £60 as misled me. She tried Sims on the HP Envy and it crashed. It’s an i5 8 gb ram 128gb. It does not have a separate graphics card but is integrated. I am wondering if I should return the hp and get a higher spec laptop for her and if so what? I prefer to buy from John Lewis or somewhere with good customer service.

Any ideas would be appreciated. Could go up to £850 or around that amount if pushed.

Thanks

were

I would get a refund.

I have no idea about Sims though.

You should be able to get away with a refurb dell e6230 Yes you may want an ssd, and at possibly a new battery? They are smaller robust and lighter than the 6430. Keep £500 towards a car.

https://reviewfinder.com/top-laptops/dell-latitude-e6430-vs-hp-envy-13-ab016nr/

cheaper still is to get the old one fixed, or by one the same as the old one and plug in the old disk, she was happy with it and simms worked

AlwaysHere

From what did the Lenovo suffer?

Get rid of the HP asap. You dodged a bullet there.

richmondhamptoncourt

Thanks both. I am going to get the Lenovo fixed to use as a spare. It’s a couple of issues need a new touchpad and some of the keys have stuck. It froze occasionally with sims.

I’ll get a refund on the hp and check out the dell.

Thanks

macman

Do a clean install/factory restore on the Lenovo and it'll probably run like new. Add some extra RAM if possible.

were

If you type the laptop model or cousin into youtube it most probably be able to show you how to replace they keyboard that you will possibly obtain from ebay.

After a quick google, there seems to be an issue with lenovo and the trackpad/mousepad drivers, so that may even be working?

EveryWhere

richmondhamptoncourt wrote: »

Thanks both. I am going to get the Lenovo fixed to use as a spare. It’s a couple of issues need a new touchpad and some of the keys have stuck. It froze occasionally with sims.

I’ll get a refund on the hp and check out the dell.

Thanks

You might want something a bit better than a five year old DELL, if you were thinking of spending as much as £850.
In all seriousness, you need something with waay better spec.

Something like this spe; https://mcscom.co.uk/product/dell-alienware-13-i5-4210u-1-70ghz-8gb-256gb-ssd-gtx-860m-13-3-fhd-6-month-gold-wty-mlw100/, but less ugly and with a Full HD Touchscreen.

EveryWhere

If she doesn't need to carry it to school, consider a full size laptop; https://mcscom.co.uk/product/dell-inspiron-17-7737-i7-4510u-2-00ghz-16gb-750gb-gt-750m-17-3-fhd-touch-win-10-1yr-rtb-wty-xmln767-free-wallet-case/
Though it has HDD. Easy for you to swap to SSD. Well within budget.
Enquire as the extent of the backlight bleeds.
Even if you don't go for it, it gives you an idea of what you need.

richmondhamptoncourt

Thanks that gives me more idea of spec. She does not need to carry it to school but sHe thinks a 17 would be too large for her. I looked at the Games she likes and they recommend NVIDA GTX 650 or better. I wish I had looked at that earlier as I am only just finding out about integrated and separate graphics cards!

EveryWhere

richmondhamptoncourt wrote: »

Thanks that gives me more idea of spec. She does not need to carry it to school but sHe thinks a 17 would be too large for her. I looked at the Games she likes and they recommend NVIDA GTX 650 or better. I wish I had looked at that earlier as I am only just finding out about integrated and separate graphics cards!

Ideally, you'll want something like the laptop linked to in post #7. Though preferably with a Full HD screen. Someone just grabbed the Full HD model off the site within the past 24 hours.
You likely are looking at a Gaming laptop if you want/need GTX, or a similar graphics card.
So forget about an ultra-portable form. Graphics cards such as these generate heat and need ample cooling. Hence a bit chunky.