Thoughts on a new laptop?

cash_mad

Hi all, I have an aging Acer Aspire 5735 which ran on Vista - then upgraded to Win7 Pro, with free Office installed, with AVG Free protection, (thanks to my local PC shop).
Eventually the noisy fan drove me to youtube, where I learned to take off the back, and fit a new one. (£85 saved).
Then the screen blanked out, at first intermittent and after fitting a new inverter(?) finally dying for good, whilst making fritzing noise under the keyboard. (£8 wasted).
Now the thing growls and farts occasionally - sounds like the speaker or sound card are packing up.
It is also prone to freezing on a whim, but catches up eventually (just like my dial up days).
I love the thing but want something newer - it has served me well, burning countless discs on the DVD drive, recording hours of music, and keeping endless photos (all on usb sticks) for keeps.
I went to Currys and finally pared my choice to Acer Swift 3 i5 8th gen processor-8GB Ram-256GB SSD- with lit keys, 14inch matt screen, for £599...
Also, Lenovo Ideapad 530s-Ryzen 7 2700u processor-8GB Ram-256GB SSD- with lit keys, 14inch matt screen, which looked crisper in store, compared to the Acer. £544.
However, Acer has 3 usb ports, Lenovo has only 2...
Whilst I will try to make Win 10 suitable for me (already reading things to do) I would be interested to know what you think.
I do not want to try to improve my old laptop, it is now time for a change.
I will also do quite a lot less on it - but want a laptop that will last and weather the Win updates.
Does anyone have a better laptop - all the things, matt screen, lit keys, processor and memory are a must btw.
Thank you.

EveryWhere

cash_mad wrote: »

Hi all, I have an aging Acer Aspire 5735 which ran on Vista - then upgraded to Win7 Pro, with free Office installed, with AVG Free protection, (thanks to my local PC shop).
Eventually the noisy fan drove me to youtube, where I learned to take off the back, and fit a new one. (£85 saved).
Then the screen blanked out, at first intermittent and after fitting a new inverter(?) finally dying for good, whilst making fritzing noise under the keyboard. (£8 wasted).
Now the thing growls and farts occasionally - sounds like the speaker or sound card are packing up.
It is also prone to freezing on a whim, but catches up eventually (just like my dial up days).
I love the thing but want something newer - it has served me well, burning countless discs on the DVD drive, recording hours of music, and keeping endless photos (all on usb sticks) for keeps.
I went to Currys and finally pared my choice to Acer Swift 3 i5 8th gen processor-8GB Ram-256GB SSD- with lit keys, 14inch matt screen, for £599...
Also, Lenovo Ideapad 530s-Ryzen 7 2700u processor-8GB Ram-256GB SSD- with lit keys, 14inch matt screen, which looked crisper in store, compared to the Acer. £544.
However, Acer has 3 usb ports, Lenovo has only 2...
Whilst I will try to make Win 10 suitable for me (already reading things to do) I would be interested to know what you think.
I do not want to try to improve my old laptop, it is now time for a change.
I will also do quite a lot less on it - but want a laptop that will last and weather the Win updates.
Does anyone have a better laptop - all the things, matt screen, lit keys, processor and memory are a must btw.
Thank you.

Actually the Lenovo is £490...

DCFC79

Do you really need to go to Currys for it ?

Paula_Smith

What do you actually use it for?

If all you do is fairly lightweight plus internet stuff you could do worse than getting a chromebook

Neil49

If you want to buy from Curry's then, if the price is £500 plus, then purchase online and use code LAPTOPS10 for a 10% discount but go via Topcashback for a £30 cashback deal.

If you have an HSBC ot First Direct visa card then there is a promotion of £10% off at Currys for online purchases using the card.

There could be other offers out there but this is just to highlight the fact that you shouldn't just walk into the store and hand over your money.

cash_mad

Thanks for that advice, and good discount tip - I shall keep researching.

cranford

If you don't want to splash your cash in I. One go Very are offering until 3/10/19 12 months interest free and 20 percent off for laptops over £500. I have just saved £170 on what I would have paid elsewhere but must make sure I pay within the year.