Laptop Recommendations

Peterlmack

Hi All, new to the forum so hello to all! Looking for some advice.
My wife has gone back to University, and she’s doing really well! I want to get her a laptop but all the cheaper models, even from what I’d think are good brands HP, Acer, Lenovo from the reviews stop working after a couple of weeks because of windows 10 updates being too big.
I don’t have a massive amount to spend, but want to get something that’ll last a few years. Any advice on what to buy? From where? Anyone bought a windows ten laptop more than 6 months ago without any issues? Thanks in advance!

Browntoa

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5947296/can-anyone-recommend-a-good-cheap-laptop&highlight=laptop

Long running thread on the subject

motorguy

Peterlmack wrote: »

Hi All, new to the forum so hello to all! Looking for some advice.
My wife has gone back to University, and she’s doing really well! I want to get her a laptop but all the cheaper models, even from what I’d think are good brands HP, Acer, Lenovo from the reviews stop working after a couple of weeks because of windows 10 updates being too big.
I don’t have a massive amount to spend, but want to get something that’ll last a few years. Any advice on what to buy? From where? Anyone bought a windows ten laptop more than 6 months ago without any issues? Thanks in advance!

Keywords you need to be looking for with laptops -
* The processor speed - you need to see processor names like i3, i5, i7. If they're saying "pentium dual core" or whatever - avoid.
* You really want to be looking for a machine these days with an SSD. Absolute bare min should be 120GB, ideally 240GB upwards.
* Ram should be a min of 4GB, ideally 8GB though.

To get i3 or i5, 8GB, SSD you'd probably need to budget £350+. Check https://www.hotukdeals.com and search for laptops, theres been some HOT deals at around that price point.

Alternative would be an ex business, used machine. Loads available from big resellers on ebay. Hunt around for a nice, clean Grade A quality machine from a reputable reseller.

My two choices would be either
* Lenovo Thinkpad T450 - i5, 8GB, 240GB SSD. Prices should be £250-275 for a nice one.
* Lenovo Thinkpad X220 - i5, 8GB, 240GB SSD. Prices should be £200-250 for a nice one.

Both of these will have a much higher build quality and be more robust than an entry level consumer grade laptop, and are easily repaired / upgradable if required.

You can do searched on ebay for "Lenovo X220 i5 8GB SSD" to help narrow the results down.

Hope that helps.

EveryWhere

Peterlmack wrote: »

Hi All, new to the forum so hello to all! Looking for some advice.
My wife has gone back to University, and she’s doing really well! I want to get her a laptop but all the cheaper models, even from what I’d think are good brands HP, Acer, Lenovo from the reviews stop working after a couple of weeks because of windows 10 updates being too big.
I don’t have a massive amount to spend, but want to get something that’ll last a few years. Any advice on what to buy? From where? Anyone bought a windows ten laptop more than 6 months ago without any issues? Thanks in advance!

Stop buying cheap laptops with 32 GB eMMC storage. Those laptops literally use an SD card for storage.

Buy her a good quality second user device for £150; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-Latitude-E7240-Ultrabook-i5-4300U-4GB-128GB-SSD-Touchscreen-Laptop/232902237137

https://www.blackmoreit.com/be-dell-latitude-e7240--i5-cpu--4gb-ram--128gb-ssd--12-touchscreen-laptop.html

No need to purchase the Windows 10 option, as you can install it for free yourself by downloading it directly from Microsoft. We here can show you how.

Ask them to send you one in the best condition possible.

Clearly if you are buying devices with 32 GB eMMC drive, your budget isn't as high as £250.
No need to spend that much if you don't have it. £150 will do for a good quality business class device.

grumpycrab

Peterlmack wrote: »

all the cheaper models... from the reviews stop working after a couple of weeks because of windows 10 updates being too big.

motorguy seems to think you've owned these before; either that or you've been reading reviews of tablets, or tablets pretending to be laptops; the main thing is windows 10 is fine(**) provided you buy a laptop with a normal sized disk; so min spec I suggest should be 8GB memory, 256GB SSD drive.
Whether your wife would prefer second-hand or new is up to you (and the decision may be cost related). For new, prices have crept up but this one is good value at £389 (with £40 discount until end of the month with voucher LAPTOP40 )
https://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/lenovo-ideapad-330s-14ikb-14-intel-core-i3-laptop-256-gb-ssd-blue-10185218-pdt.html

(**) some information about windows 10 "updates"; they come in 2 forms - regular security updates and patches which, provided your laptop is on for more than 5 mins a day will be downloaded and installed without you knowing (with the occasional prompt to reboot at the end of the day).
Twice a year Microsoft, in its wisdom, sends out patches which are very large. These are complete reinstalls. It is generally a good idea to accept these but you should be given plenty of notice and usually can be kicked off when you finish work at the end of the day and it'll be be done and dusted by the morning.

motorguy

grumpycrab wrote: »

motorguy seems to think you've owned these before; either that or you've been reading reviews of tablets, or tablets pretending to be laptops; the main thing is windows 10 is fine(**) provided you buy a laptop with a normal sized disk; so min spec I suggest should be 8GB memory, 256GB SSD drive.
Whether your wife would prefer second-hand or new is up to you (and the decision may be cost related). For new, prices have crept up but this one is good value at £389 (with £40 discount until end of the month with voucher LAPTOP40 )
https://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/lenovo-ideapad-330s-14ikb-14-intel-core-i3-laptop-256-gb-ssd-blue-10185218-pdt.html

(**) some information about windows 10 "updates"; they come in 2 forms - regular security updates and patches which, provided your laptop is on for more than 5 mins a day will be downloaded and installed without you knowing (with the occasional prompt to reboot at the end of the day).
Twice a year Microsoft, in its wisdom, sends out patches which are very large. These are complete reinstalls. It is generally a good idea to accept these but you should be given plenty of notice and usually can be kicked off when you finish work at the end of the day and it'll be be done and dusted by the morning.

I think i might have misread the original post. Now edited.

EveryWhere

grumpycrab wrote: »

motorguy seems to think you've owned these before; either that or you've been reading reviews of tablets, or tablets pretending to be laptops; the main thing is windows 10 is fine(**) provided you buy a laptop with a normal sized disk; so min spec I suggest should be 8GB memory, 256GB SSD drive.
Whether your wife would prefer second-hand or new is up to you (and the decision may be cost related). For new, prices have crept up but this one is good value at £389 (with £40 discount until end of the month with voucher LAPTOP40 )
https://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/lenovo-ideapad-330s-14ikb-14-intel-core-i3-laptop-256-gb-ssd-blue-10185218-pdt.html

(**) some information about windows 10 "updates"; they come in 2 forms - regular security updates and patches which, provided your laptop is on for more than 5 mins a day will be downloaded and installed without you knowing (with the occasional prompt to reboot at the end of the day).
Twice a year Microsoft, in its wisdom, sends out patches which are very large. These are complete reinstalls. It is generally a good idea to accept these but you should be given plenty of notice and usually can be kicked off when you finish work at the end of the day and it'll be be done and dusted by the morning.

On this we disagree. It's generally a good idea to defer these until everyone else tests them.

motorguy

EveryWhere wrote: »

Clearly if you are buying devices with 32 GB eMMC drive, your budget isn't as high as £250.
No need to spend that much if you don't have it. £150 will do for a good quality business class device.

You didnt read the O/P correctly either - the O/P doesnt actually say they've been buying 32GB eMMC machines, so their budget may not be £150.

As such, i'd propose spending a little more than on your 4GB, 128GB SSD, no operating system machine at £150 and going for an 8GB, 240GB SSD, Win10 preinstalled laptop that will be ready to go and better RAM and storage for £199.99, as per my original post.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lenovo-Thinkpad-X220-Core-i5-2-50GHz-16GB-Office-2016-240-SSD-Windows-10-Laptop/264097522065?hash=item3d7d706191:m:m2vzftxERekDxKo2pbMTFJw:rk:1:pf:0

That new Lenovo that grumpycrab posted is a good balance if the O/P wants to go new and did well on hotukdeals

https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/lenovo-ideapad-14-full-hd-256gb-ssd-laptop-389-pc-world-3167469

grumpycrab

EveryWhere wrote: »

On this we disagree [accepting the twice yearly full upgrades without deferal.] It's generally a good idea to defer these until everyone else tests them.

I agree with your point. Does the average punter know how to defer these upgrades? Possibly. But by the time they get to the average punter they should be ok. (sorry if this is bit off topic)

Chino

motorguy wrote: »

and going for an 8GB, 240GB SSD, Win10 preinstalled laptop that will be ready to go and better RAM and storage for £199.99, as per my original post.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lenovo-Thinkpad-X220-Core-i5-2-50GHz-16GB-Office-2016-240-SSD-Windows-10-Laptop/264097522065?hash=item3d7d706191:m:m2vzftxERekDxKo2pbMTFJw:rk:1:pf:0

According to the following link, the Lenovo Thinkpad X220 has the following display spec:
"(Premium) 12.5" (317.5mm) HD (1366x768) TFT color"
https://support.lenovo.com/gb/en/solutions/pd015812

With only a 1366x768 display, the OP should steer well clear.

EveryWhere

grumpycrab wrote: »

I agree with your point. Does the average punter know how to defer these upgrades? Possibly. But by the time they get to the average punter they should be ok. (sorry if this is bit off topic)

Nope. Windows 10 1809 was released, pulled and subsequently re-released the next month and people are still complaining.

Never install feature updates as soon as they are released. For this reason, I recommend people to not buy a laptop with Windows 10 Home, as they are effectively guinea pigs.

All my devices with Windows 10 are the Pro version and all Feature Updates are deferred for at least 90 days.