Mend or Replace my laptop

[Deleted User]

I have a 7 year old Asus i5  - 2.6Ghz laptop that has been slowly getting physically sicker and sicker over the last few years

It has a broken DVD drive and screws keep falling out from the case - also the battery needs replacing again (I replaced it 3 years agi at £49.99)

On the plus side - I have fitted a 1Tb SSD and it starts up from cold in less than 10 seconds - I have also upgraded the RAM to 8Gb - and it has a 17" screen

I am now wondering whether to replace it or fix it - it may not be Windows 11 compatible

I need a 17" and it needs to be at least as quick as my Asus - what are my options ?

I have had Acers and HP's before and don't find them as robust as my Asus

What is the downside to a gaming laptop - they have upgraded graphics but at what cost ?

I don't NEED a gaming laptop but am willing to consider one

[Deleted User]

Probably not Windows 11 compatible but you will get until 2025 of fully supported Windows 10.

Gaming laptops - I have an entry level gaming laptop for home and business use rather than gaming (well sometimes game but not much) - Dell G5 5587 i5-8300H

Pro's

• Very fast, most laptop's are tuned for battery life and the CPU's are weaker than the desktop equivalents but a gaming laptop should have a high performance version of the CPU / RAM and SSD to give it the edge. 
  
  
• See the "H" in my CPU model above - for example it performs better than an i7-10610U for example but most people would just look and see i7 Gen 10 > i5 Gen 8 and decide the i7 must better and be wrong.
  
  
• Tuned for performance - For example you will find that most budget laptops won't have the fastest possible RAM the motherboard will support or use a slower M.2 SATA SSD to save a few quid and lots of other technical things that end users don't know about are usually economised because specs like "PCIe Gen 4" doesn't sell laptops unless you know what you are looking for.
  
  
• More options to tune the performance and overclock.
  
  
• Separate graphics card - useful for gaming / video processing so if you don't do that you might not see much advantage. Many gaming laptops still use the integrated GPU for lightweight graphics and only fire up the dedicated GPU for intensive tasks to avoid excess heat - but you can override that and use it for everything - I do. 
  
  
• One often overlooked advantage of a dedicated GPU is that it doesn't share your main RAM - integrated GPU's can end up eating away at 1-2GB of RAM or more without you realising but a dedicated GPU will typically have 6GB of it's own faster and specifically designed GDDR RAM to play with.
  
  
• Sturdy / well built - tend to have stronger cases / screens / more metal for rigidity.
  
  
• Upgradability and maintenance - usually more headroom for upgrades in terms of storage / ram / high speed ports and more accessible - eg 1 screw in mine and I can access all upgradeable components and clean the heatsinks and fans.

Con's

• Battery life won't be as good as average laptop as they are designed for performance rather than long run times, and also related is a bigger heavier power brick - eg mine has a 180W power adaptor that is not small or light.
  
  
• Heat / noise - they will run hotter, usually have a couple of powerful fans that can get noisy when pushing the CPU/GPU hard - on mine I can tune for quiet / cool / performance / optimised modes that will trade off heat / noise / performance as required.
  
  
• Typically heavier than average laptop so not as portable - suited for mostly desk based use.
  

You mentioned a DVD - you won't find many laptops with one nowadays - I just have a USB one for the odd times I need to use it. I'd rather the space a DVD player takes up was better utilised anyway for battery / hard drive / cooling or whatever so I wouldn't ever look for a machine with a DVD nowadays.

[Deleted User]

So any recommendations ?

Neil_Jones

How much do you want to spend?

Bearing in mind:  1) Gaming laptops are not cheap anyway, and 2) 17" laptops are expensive.  The trend as of late has been for smaller screens.

GDB2222

"screws keep falling out from the case" - it must be cheaper to buy a small screwdriver than a new laptop. 

/MSE

[Deleted User]

Neil_Jones said:

How much do you want to spend?

Bearing in mind:  1) Gaming laptops are not cheap anyway, and 2) 17" laptops are expensive.  The trend as of late has been for smaller screens.

Maximum £1k

OnlyTheBestWillDo

Fix what? You haven't stated what needs fixing. The screws falling out? Replace optical drive? Does battery need to cost £50?

I would say hold off or buy second hand, as prices are ridiculous(other than ACER Nitro 2021 range) at the moment. You can easily pay £600+ for a bulk standard device; which is quite ridiculous. Same device could be purchased for more than £200 less not so long ago. So it's not the best time to buy IMO.

Gaming laptop? Do you want garish keyboard lighting?  https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8841694
I don't know if you can switch it to normal.

Neil_Jones

Screws falling out is relatively immaterial, the laptop will be held together by clips.  Optical drives are cheap, USB ones may be more).  Batteries don't last forever, though I'd have thought it would have lasted longer than three years.  They are cheap to obtain.

If the laptop does everything you want and these are the only "issues", just get a new battery and drive.

OnlyTheBestWillDo

https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/laptops/ideapad/s-series/IdeaPad-3i-Gen-6-17-Intel/p/82H9008HUK is an example of what £700 gets you currently
I would not go lower spec than that if I was looking to buy a new device. 

Biggus_Dickus

@Deleted_User   When it comes to the 17” laptop market things certainly ain’t what they used to be. A lack of choice and a lack of supply that’s got more acute over the last few years. Not to mention the spiralling prices.

I’m looking to replace my (3 year old!) rapidly disintegrating HP 17” laptop with something a bit more sturdy. I reckon my HP laptop case/hinges were made from marzipan. Thank god for gaffer tape.

I’m not a Gamer and the laptop doesn’t need to be particularly portable but this one caught my eye;...a very rapid AMD Ryzen 5 4600H processor, 8GB ram and 512GB SSD. £729 including delivery which doesn’t seem too bad given todays prices.

https://www.very.co.uk/asus-tuf-fa706ih-h7114t-geforce-gtx-1650-ryzen-5-8gb-ram-512gb-ssd-17in-fhd-ips-120hz-gaming-laptop-black-with-mouse/1600567699.prd

I’m rather hoping that ‘tuf’ means just that!

I’ve never had a laptop with a backlit keyboard and I’d certainly find that particular feature very useful on occasion.I haven’t made a final decision yet though.

a

I'm with Neil_Jones. If the clips dont hold, then get some hot glue and stick the two halves together that way - not epoxy. Some shops use that trick and it fixes hinges too