Laptop for elderly but computer aware pensioner

DarthDaisy

I have been tasked with finding a cheap laptop for an elderly but computer aware pensioner.

They really want it mostly for browsing and email

They said they want to install Linux

I found a laptop based on an N150 which seems great value, a decent amount of memory and SSD.

It is a proper laptop not a tablet and seems OK for what they want to use it for.

Looking online this CPU seems to have been around since 2024

Any known issues with this CPU?

Laptop is from Chinese company but ships from UK, that registered an alert for me and TrustPilot has mixed reviews of the company.

Still I thought I might find a similar spec from a UK based supplier.

It is a long time since I bought a laptop, I know some CPU seem throttled but this one seems OK for basic purposes they plan to use it.

I would be tempted myself but I can't stand those tile keyboards.

Any suggestions for sub £300 budget would be useful to compare with.

Isthisforreal99

This is the credit card board.

fwor

I've used Linux with Intel chipsets for years and never had any major problems, so something based on a N150 will probably be fine.

My personal choice would not be to buy from a Chinese company with stock in the UK. My experience of that situation (for general electronic gear, not specifically laptops) is that if you hit any sort of issue, they won't want to know. They may initially pretend to be helpful but the typical theme is that they just want you to go away.

I would buy (for example) an HP laptop from an established UK seller, and I would make sure to retain an image of the factory-supplied Windows installation so that if there's a problem you can reinstate Windows and demonstrate that the problem exists there (as well as under Linux).

If you want recs for actual products, it would help to say what size screen (for example) and a few other basics, or the choice on the market is really just too wide to pick anything specific.

[Edit - agreed - it's not really in the right part of the forum! Perhaps someone will move it for you…]

DarthDaisy

Sorry for wrong part of forum.

The screen I have found is 18 inches, it has 16gb ram and 500gb SSD

My concern would be driver availability but they do not have the budget for HP and other big brands.

QrizB

My concern would be driver availability but they do not have the budget for HP and other big brands.

A secondhand ex-corprate laptop by HP or Dell or Lenovo, 3-4 years old, might cost under £200.

Last year for example I bought a Dell Latitude 7300 that would have cost the original corporation £1000+ for £84. It works perfectly well and will be my "travel laptop" for the next 5-6 years.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81615920/#Comment_81615920

(I did recently add a new battery for another £20.)

sausage_time

I moved to Techie Stuff