Suggestions for new laptop?

libra10

I've just ordered a new Lenovo laptop.  My priorities were screen size, SSD drive (loads up very quickly), touchscreen for scrolling, and at least 2 USB ports.
Good luck!

HereToday

elsien said:

I’m happy with less than business standard as I’ve got my higher spec works Lenovo but also my personal incredibly old toshiba which I’m looking to replace so currently working at both ends of the spectrum. 

Was really for the OP; since they are replacing their work's device with their own. You probably have your own criteria and can begin a thread with it.

HereToday

You need to consider how you use your laptop prior to purchasing.
If, for instance, you intend to use your laptop outside, then you might wish to avoid laptops with this specification: 
SVA, 220 nits, 45% NTSC...

Standard Viewing Angle: These are usually TN screens. You can read up about them. 
220-nits is for a laptop that will be used indoors exclusively.
45% NTSC won't be great at colour reproduction.
All in all a cheap and basic screen.

If, for instance, you like to sit outside in the garden with your laptop, look for something like:

WVA, 300 - 450 nits, 72% NTSC/100% sRGB...

Another reason why you should state your criteria when requesting help with looking for a suitable laptop. I's not just about the CPU and RAM.

HereToday

Notebooks with decent screens tend to advertise the fact, though not always.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DELL-Inspiron-13-5301-11th-gen-i3-4-1ghz-8GB-256GB-SSD-13-3-1920x1080-Win-10-/353475396872
13.3-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) Anti-Glare Non-Touch Narrow Border 300nits 95% sRGB WVA Display

HereToday

Another example with a smaller screen: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353353747846
33.8 cm (13.3") diagonal, FHD (1920 x 1080), IPS, edge-to-edge glass, micro-edge, BrightView, 400 nits, 100% sRGB

Though not something I would buy unless I could extend the warranty considerably. 

katglasgow

Thanks a lot for all your suggestions.  Here Today is correct - part of the issue is I realise I have become very used to my top spec work laptop so think I will really notice if my new one is much slower.  I don't think being able to use the laptop in the garden would bother me too much.  The Dell outlet website looked really interesting.  My head tells me this is a good way to get a high spec laptop.  I am just trying to talk myself into it as its still a lot of money to spend on "scratch and dent".  Would I really notice?  Would it bother me?  Not sure.... 

J_B

katglasgow said:.  I am just trying to talk myself into it as its still a lot of money to spend on "scratch and dent".  Would I really notice?  Would it bother me?  Not sure.... 

I've bought two from there - no sign of any scratches or dents

coffeehound

Honestly?  Enjoy your Apple student discount and spend a bit more on a macbook.  You won't regret it.

OceanSound

tempus_fugit said:

katglasgow said:

I'm looking at this laptop in John Lewis. It's right at the top of my budget but they. Offer at 100 gift card which softens the blow.
https://www.johnlewis.com/hp-14s-laptop-amd-ryzen-5-processor-8gb-ram-256gb-ssd-14-inch-full-hd-silver/p5099840#ratings-and-reviews

That looks a good option to me. It’s in your budget range and you get a 2-year guarantee. 

I bought a similar HP in June last year. Mine has the older ryzen 3550h prosessor, whereas this John Lewis one is 4550H (release date Q1 2020):
https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/AMD-Ryzen-5-4500U-vs-AMD-Ryzen-5-3550H/m1052299vsm718601

One word of warning would be if you use it for web browsing and tend to have many browser tabs/windows then upgrade the memory (RAM) to 16GB. I did so when I first bought mine and it worked out well, particularly because HP reserves about 1-2 Gb through the BIOS. This memory is not available once laptop boots operating system. So, for laptop that comes with 8Gb memory you only have 6-7GB available. 

Mine says 13GB once booted. Asked shop I bought it from and searched HP forums on how to increase. Seems cannot (unless I 'reflash' the bios - not gonna take the risk and void warranty). From what I read HP has started doing this. Maybe as this is a newer model it's different, doubt it though. If you happen to check laptop in store and sales assistant shows you memory spec. Check for available memory, not total memory. They are different (at least on mine)

[Deleted User]

OceanSound said:

tempus_fugit said:

katglasgow said:

I'm looking at this laptop in John Lewis. It's right at the top of my budget but they. Offer at 100 gift card which softens the blow.
https://www.johnlewis.com/hp-14s-laptop-amd-ryzen-5-processor-8gb-ram-256gb-ssd-14-inch-full-hd-silver/p5099840#ratings-and-reviews

That looks a good option to me. It’s in your budget range and you get a 2-year guarantee. 

I bought a similar HP in June last year. Mine has the older ryzen 3550h prosessor, whereas this John Lewis one is 4550H (release date Q1 2020):
https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/AMD-Ryzen-5-4500U-vs-AMD-Ryzen-5-3550H/m1052299vsm718601

One word of warning would be if you use it for web browsing and tend to have many browser tabs/windows then upgrade the memory (RAM) to 16GB. I did so when I first bought mine and it worked out well, particularly because HP reserves about 1-2 Gb through the BIOS. This memory is not available once laptop boots operating system. So, for laptop that comes with 8Gb memory you only have 6-7GB available. 

Mine says 13GB once booted. Asked shop I bought it from and searched HP forums on how to increase. Seems cannot (unless I 'reflash' the bios - not gonna take the risk and void warranty). From what I read HP has started doing this. Maybe as this is a newer model it's different, doubt it though. If you happen to check laptop in store and sales assistant shows you memory spec. Check for available memory, not total memory. They are different (at least on mine)

This is due to the main RAM being shared with the video processing for the integrated video card and also a feature known as Microsoft PlayReady, a known issue with the HP AGESA chipsets used for Ryzen machines. You may be able to find a BIOS setting that allows you to switch off Microsoft PlayReady under the security settings to recover a 1GB for your own use and also you may be able to adjust the amount of RAM reserved for the integrated GPU.

Intel systems typically reserve 128MB for the integrated GPU from boot but are allowed to use up to half of the system memory when needed.

Shared RAM for integrated graphics affects all PC's that don't have a dedicated GPU and RAM. It is one of the many reasons that 4GB is not suitable nowadays as up to 1-2GB can end up being used for graphics leaving very little left for the system. I recommend 8GB minimum if using an integrated GPU.

I see many people on here constantly saying 4GB is more than enough without realising that on low end machines with integrated graphics you will lose up to half of that depending on what you are doing.

My dedicated GPU RAM usage is 0.4GB just idle with 2x 1080p monitors plugged in, 0.8GB when I activate my webcam at 1080p and 1.2GB at 4K. Fire up a 4K movie as well and it pushes it up to 2GB usage - you don't want that coming from the main system RAM.

So better still, get a dedicated GPU with its own RAM of at least 4GB to take away the need to share the main system RAM - doesn't need to be a high end £££ GPU to see the benefits, a basic GTX1660 with 6GB of dedicated RAM like I have in my laptop will free up a lot of main system RAM and massively outperform integrated graphics processors.