new laptop recommendations

roytom

I need a new laptop but don't want to spend too much, say, up to about £550-£650, but less if possible. It just, mainly, for office stuff, not gaming.
I need at least 1tb hard drive (I don't like SSDs) as I plan to also install Windows 8.1 for it to be dual boot with the supplied Win 10.
It needs to have a decent screen 15.6" (I've looked at some HP Pavilion screens and they're quite dull. Also a Lenovo 330-15IKB had a rubbish screen too.)
I want an Intel i5 if possible.
It would be very good to have 3 usb ports and a new usb C one too.

Any possible ideas?
Ta

Neil_Jones

Why don't you like SSDs? Decent size SSDs have fallen in price dramatically - a 480Gb you can now get from £50, they used to cost hundreds.

That being said, why Windows 8.1? Hardly any new laptops will have 8.1 as standard and driver support will almost certainly be limited to Windows 10.

Gloomendoom

Each to their own but, having used both, I can't understand why anybody would want 8.1 rather than 10.

Frozen_up_north

OP, your requirements are nonsense. All the high end laptops use SSD, it’s faster and more reliable than spinning rust. You also don’t need 1TB of storage, 250 GB (or even 128) is quite adequate for most purposes. Any important work, photos, etc. all need backing up away from the laptop.

As to wanting Win 8 and 10, why? If you don’t like the start menu of 10, change it to look and behave like XP or 7 with “Start is Back” or the older “Classic Shell”.

There are plenty of business grade laptops around from Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc. If you don’t mind refurbished, there are some good value ones too. Factor in a new battery for a refurbished laptop as most seem to only include the old battery.

Neil_Jones

I think the only time it would be argued against having an SSD is for the storage capacity, which is understandable to an extent in a budget laptop.

However that is increasingly a false argument because I've just jumped on Amazon and I can see a 1Tb SSD going on offer for £97. £97! It should be closer to £140.

J_B

Sorry OP, just checking if you've been back on line.

You have, but haven't commented.
In a previous thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5973455/new-laptop-reset-my-pc
you said "Ive just bought a brand new laptop"
Are you after another one???

Cisco001

May be Acer Swift 3?
https://www.box.co.uk/NX.H1MEK.004-Acer-Swift-3-SF315-52-52YX_2424523.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_7bwsMCL4QIVBTbTCh2GfgB-EAkYBCABEgIuw_D_BwE