Ideas for a cheapish small laptop

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  • psychic_teabag
    psychic_teabag Posts: 2,865 Forumite
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    bouicca21 wrote: »
    II need something for using away from home. It would mainly be for collecting information, so mostly Word and Excel but maybe Access, and maybe for storing photos until I get home. It needs to be light and small but still comfortable for typing.


    Sorry for asking a stupid question, but what sort of information do you collect that requires word / excel / access, rather than just using a simple text editor (or even just a voice recorder). I tend to just use a notepad app on my smartphone (or take a photo) but obviously I'm collecting different info.

    Isnt a flash stick, or the camera itself, sufficient for storing photos ?
  • bouicca21
    bouicca21 Posts: 6,513 Forumite
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    No voice recorder permitted - I collect info in archives and libraries. Lots of photos which sometimes need to be removed from a full sd card or that need checking on the pc as you can't always tell how legible the info is on the camera screen. I do have a spare sd card though, so photos not massively important.

    Excel because that's the way catalogues download hit lists. Access because I'm checking data.

    I have an ancient orphan free text database that is basically a text editor. I might, when I am feeling rich, upgrade to something fancy like FileMaker but at the moment my miserly soul thinks it's way too expensive.
  • Frozen_up_north
    Frozen_up_north Posts: 2,420 Forumite
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    For use in libraries, I would look at laptops with the longest running time on battery power. The cheap ones tend to be heavy, slow and only run 3 or 4 hours, max... a good refurbished Thinkpad is worth considering, especially if it has a good warranty and new battery.

    BTW, Access went out with the arc.
  • bouicca21
    bouicca21 Posts: 6,513 Forumite
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    Access may have gone out with the ark, but I have stuff in it that I will need to check and dump into something else!

    I am possibly the only person in the universe who can use access but struggles with excel.
  • psychic_teabag
    psychic_teabag Posts: 2,865 Forumite
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    Frozen_up_north wrote: »
    For use in libraries, I would look at laptops with the longest running time on battery power.

    Can you just plug in your charger in the library ?
  • motorguy
    motorguy Posts: 22,473 Forumite
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    Tarambor wrote: »
    I'd go for a refurbished laptop. Lenovo Thinkpad X220 or X240 from Ebay. Corporate grade small 12.1" screen bomb proof sub-portables that cost over £1000 new.

    +1

    I'm using a Thinkpad X240 here and its a great machine. Very robust and full business spec and quality.

    Go for one with 8GB RAM Win10 and an SSD

    https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lenovo-ThinkPad-X240-Laptop-Core-i7-4600u-2-10GHz-8GB-500GB-HDD-SSD-Touch-Screen/263819754152?hash=item3d6ce1faa8:g:w1EAAOSwojdbTRx4

    An i7 isnt necessary - i've an i5 variant and its plenty quick - but thats a great spec machine there for humble money.
  • motorguy
    motorguy Posts: 22,473 Forumite
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    If battery life is important, then thats another vote for the Thinkpad X240 - it runs two batteries.
  • bouicca21
    bouicca21 Posts: 6,513 Forumite
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    Ta, all this is very useful. And yes battery life is important - there isn't always a handy socket.
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