New laptop - what do I need to be looking for?

quickstepqueen74

My Sony laptop died just before Christmas so I'm needing a replacement. (Sub £400?) But there's such a variety these days I'm overwhelmed, especially with all the numbers/processors names. I'd go into a tech store for advice, but the only one in town is Curry's! (And don't feel I'd trust their advice!)
I like the feel of my mum's Acer but hers has basic capacity. Researching, there are different processors, RAM and memory but I'm not sure what I need to be looking for. Apart from the usual basics mine will need to cope with zoom meetings and some streaming (no gaming.) 
Once I know the basics I can start looking. So if any kind person/people could give me some tips of what to look for I'd be incredibly grateful.
Qsq x

Ayr_Rage

What are the most demanding tasks that you want to do with your laptop?

What screen size do you want?

Do you store lots of data/photos?

Edit :

Whilst I wouldn't go to Currys for advice and customer service, they do occasionally have some absolute bargains.

This would very probably suit your needs @quickstepqueen74

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/acer-aspire-go-15-15.6-laptop-amd-ryzen-5-512-gb-ssd-silver-10282229.html

flaneurs_lobster

Is it used in one location or carried around?

Need a backlit keyboard?

Costco member?

How old is your Sony? What model? They didn't make cheap laptops and you might well have got used to a solid business-class machine with good keyboard etc. That's going to be a hard act to follow at your price point.

Vitor

Agree avoid Currys, best bet for semi-sensible advice is John Lewis if there's one near you.

Grumpy_chap

quickstepqueen74 said:

My Sony laptop died just before Christmas so I'm needing a replacement. (Sub £400?) But there's such a variety these days I'm overwhelmed, especially with all the numbers/processors names. I'd go into a tech store for advice, but the only one in town is Curry's! (And don't feel I'd trust their advice!)
I like the feel of my mum's Acer but hers has basic capacity. Researching, there are different processors, RAM and memory but I'm not sure what I need to be looking for. Apart from the usual basics mine will need to cope with zoom meetings and some streaming (no gaming.) 
Once I know the basics I can start looking. So if any kind person/people could give me some tips of what to look for I'd be incredibly grateful.
Qsq x

I purchased one of these in the spring which I thought was a bargain at £454.
Today it is listed at £402.
I am not sure whether the Boxing Day Discount Code from the Dell Outlet landing page can also be applied.

https://outlet.euro.dell.com/GDOOnline/Online/SecondaryInventorySearch?brandId=2210&c=uk&cs=ukdfb1&l=en&s=dfb&id=ukdfb1:3112:1_4202251_1_4187234_1_4395241_1_3886248_1_3464248_1_4442265_1_1816197_1_4178239_1_4205236_1_3316233_1_244189_1_4220248_:1_1729189_1_3670233_:PC:446.13:511&productid=1_1729189_1_3670233_&productvariant=inspiron-14-5440-laptop

Neil49

This Dell 14 inch model gets good reviews and is on the Dell Refurbished website.

https://www.dellrefurbished.co.uk/item/dell-latitude-7420-662abcbf/dell-latitude-7420/1.html?cjdata=MXxZfDB8WXwxNzM5OTc3MjA1NDc0&child=dell-latitude-7420-000118&p=1&utm_campaign=cj_affiliate_sale&utm_medium=Pepper+Deals+Ltd&utm_source=cj&utm_content=1546795&utm_term=13335020&CJEVENT=05eb9e5de27711f082d5046c0a18b8f6&publisher=

Add to cart then view the cart to enter the discount code quoted below 

4D3BHO7HQ61YDEW

Price is £509 less discount of £199.36

flaneurs_lobster

Neil49 said:

This Dell 14 inch model gets good reviews and is on the Dell Refurbished website.

https://www.dellrefurbished.co.uk/item/dell-latitude-7420-662abcbf/dell-latitude-7420/1.html?cjdata=MXxZfDB8WXwxNzM5OTc3MjA1NDc0&child=dell-latitude-7420-000118&p=1&utm_campaign=cj_affiliate_sale&utm_medium=Pepper+Deals+Ltd&utm_source=cj&utm_content=1546795&utm_term=13335020&CJEVENT=05eb9e5de27711f082d5046c0a18b8f6&publisher=

Add to cart then view the cart to enter the discount code quoted below 

4D3BHO7HQ61YDEW

Price is £509 less discount of £199.36

EDIT: It's even better than that, the discount is taken from the ex-VAT price then VAT applied, so £269.77.

 6% cashback available from Quidco too.

Frozen_up_north

That £509 Latitude looks to be quite old as my one year old Dell i5 has 12 cores, compared to only 4 with that one (assuming their quoted spec is correct).
You might check new laptops at John Lewis as they come with a 2 year warranty as standard. For example an Asus Zenbook reduced to £599 from £1099.

flaneurs_lobster

Frozen_up_north said:

That £509 Latitude looks to be quite old as my one year old Dell i5 has 12 cores, compared to only 4 with that one (assuming their quoted spec is correct).

Google says the CPU released late 2020, appearing in laptops early 2021. Doesn't mean the laptop is that old of course.

Never bought from Dell Refurbished, not surprised that the warranty is only three months, bit surprised that there is no way to extend this (at a cost).

quickstepqueen74

Thankyou all for your help.  I've at least found that 16gb RAM, 512GB internal hard drive (I store photos but have an external hard drive just in case) are my minimum requirements for my most demanding task ie. zoom meetings at home (laptop stays here.) Guess it's just whether I'd prefer an intel or AMD CPU. I didn't think I was too fussed on size but just measured my old vaio and it's 17"! Partner's screen is 15" which I think is a bit too small.  As for back-lit, I didn't even know that was an option! But at least now I have the tools to know what I'm looking for.  So for that I'm really grateful. Plus, over Christmas I was shown the microphone icon on Google so I can ask it a question. (Yes, I'm an oldie lol) Wow, that's a game changer!  I asked it the difference in cpus and instead of seeing lots of website links that would have confused me I've been able to see at a glance the capabilities of each. That's helped massively. 
So, thankyou to each and every one of you who kindly took the time to reply to this not very tech minded oldie. I really do appreciate it. Now I know what to look for to find the right laptop for me.  The power of MSE at it's best again. 
Ps. Just increased my budget due to size screen...ouch! Lol

flaneurs_lobster

Just out of interest I plugged your requirements (17", 512GB, 16GB) into Currys' (who I DO NOT RECOMMEND) current laptop selection and it returned just one 

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/hp-omnibook-7-ai-17-laptop-intel-core-ultra-5-512-gb-ssd-silver-10281525.html

Nice machine, but twice your budget. Dropping the screen requirement to 16" returns 20 items.