replacement laptop after rejecting Acer

soolin

Firstly I have sinned, I bought a laptop based on a recommendation from someone without checking on here first, and I bought it from Currys/PC World. I bought an Acer Aspire 3 (ACER - Aspire 3 15.6" Laptop - Intel® Core™ i5, 256 GB SSD) and whilst I love the speed and use of it my integral webcam has been a problem from the moment it was first turned on. On first use it failed completely, all you could see was my eyes and none of the settings made any difference. I reset the laptop and tried again and over just a short use the webcam started to show issues with varying wildly between over dark and over light as though someone was switching a light on and off. I went through the whole checking driver updates etc without success. I rejected the laptop on day 3 and very long story short have spent 8 days trying to get a return sorted , with  phones not being answered, being cut off when you do get through and when completing the online return form- being told you need to follow up with a phone call- which they cut you off from, it is however now resolved and laptop is being collected tomorrow. 

1st question - has anyone done a return to Currys recently, does the box need to be resealed or open to allow the courier to check contents? The agent cut me off before I could ask.

Second question- I think I want to avoid using Currys again, I have spent hours and hours on the phone to them and can't face having another problem and doing all this again, so where else to try? My budget is only around £500-£600 , I don't use it at all for gaming , just mainly for Zoom/Team meetings etc plus some paperwork, photos etc. I think this time I should concentrate on buying one with a good integral camera and microphone , but on the other hand don't want to lose the start up speed on this one and the ease of use. I think I have been spoilt in that my old ipad which I currently use for work (although it is not ideal for some of the things I need it to do and the size is a problem) has such a good camera and microphone and whilst I had been warned I might notice a drop in quality on a laptop, I wasn't prepared for using something that looked like those old black and white films from the 1900s where everything is faint and goes from very very bright to very very dark in a matter of seconds. 

Thank you for any recommendations.

jbainbridge

For some reason laptops are in short supply at the moment 

If you're desperate I'd get https://www.ebuyer.com/973044-lenovo-v15-ryzen-5-8gb-256gb-ssd-15-6-win10-home-laptop-82c70005uk

If you can wait I'd get https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/laptops/inspiron-15-3000/spd/inspiron-15-3505-laptop/cn30511?view=configurations&configurationid=152d50be-3381-4fad-ac20-3ed7e6328685

My preference is for Dell at the moment ... but we've bought Lenovo too and had no problems.

CoastingHatbox

I don't recommend the Inspiron laptops. The Latitudes being business machines are built to a higher standard and likely to provide better return on investment. Current recommendation, but remember the price is ex-VAT:

https://www.dell.com/en-uk/work/shop/business-laptop-desktop-workstation-servers-accessories-deals/latitude-5410/spd/latitude-14-5410-laptop/s035l541014ukie

HereToday

CoastingHatbox said:

I don't recommend the Inspiron laptops. The Latitudes being business machines are built to a higher standard and likely to provide better return on investment. Current recommendation, but remember the price is ex-VAT:

https://www.dell.com/en-uk/work/shop/business-laptop-desktop-workstation-servers-accessories-deals/latitude-5410/spd/latitude-14-5410-laptop/s035l541014ukie

Really not helpful when you don't even try to find something within budget and worse still, point to a device with a smaller screen than at which the OP is looking  Take note of the name of this forum, it's relevant.

HereToday

• Latitude 15” 5000 (5510)
  £685.00 after 10% discount

  1 in stock 
• Certified Refurbished
  Dell Outlet Latitude 15 - 5510 Laptop

  Intel Core 10th Generation i5-10310U Processor (Quad Core, Up to 4.40GHz, 6MB Cache, 15W)

  Windows 10 Pro

  8GB (1X8GB) Up to 3200MHz DDR4 Non-ECC

  512GB PCIe M.2 NVMe Class 35 Solid State Drive

  Intel UHD Graphics

  Software

  Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 2x2 802.11ax 160MHz + Bluetooth 5

  Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer - LCD Back Cover (Non-Touch Screen), WLAN/WWAN Capable

  Bottom Door

  No WWAN Card

  Power Cord 250V

  4-Cell, 68 WHr Battery (Express Charge Capable)

  15.6 inch FHD (1920 x 1080) Wide View Angle Anti-Glare 220-nits 45% color gamut Non-Touch Display

  UK/Irish Dual Pointing Qwerty Backlit Keyboard
• Standard Shipping FREE
• 
  is a better example; though still over-budget.

soolin

I’m not really looking at anything too fancy, it won’t be used much. My freelance work requires me to be visible on screen for several hours a day and able to interact usually on Teams, but no more than perhaps 5 or 6 times a month. Apart from a few small documents and the ability to view the occasional presentation that is all the work I do. My own casual browsing or for sitting on here is perfectly easily done on my iPad. I also don’t need it to be particularly light as I don’t intend to take it anywhere.

once this pandemic is over I will go back into offices and will just use the laptop in case my main PC breaks down.

HereToday

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-Latitude-E7480-Laptop-NEW/164647086957 looks ok at that price(£300), as no bids. No bids because of the lack of specification. Not even clear if it has a webcam or an IPS FHD screen and probably too late to get an answer from the seller before bidding ends.

Money_Grabber13579

soolin said:

I’m not really looking at anything too fancy, it won’t be used much. My freelance work requires me to be visible on screen for several hours a day and able to interact usually on Teams, but no more than perhaps 5 or 6 times a month. Apart from a few small documents and the ability to view the occasional presentation that is all the work I do. My own casual browsing or for sitting on here is perfectly easily done on my iPad. I also don’t need it to be particularly light as I don’t intend to take it anywhere.

once this pandemic is over I will go back into offices and will just use the laptop in case my main PC breaks down.

You mention your main PC, is this at home or the office? If it’s at home, could you not just buy a plug in webcam for it?