Laptop Sources

[TeeDee]

I know we have a good band of techy minded people - I guess bushcraft is a therapy of sorts/

Anyway - time to get a new Laptop as the one I'm using is on its last legs.

So rather do what I normally do and go down to PC World and end up purchasing a generic whatever unit they have been told to sell in volume type thing as they have a pallet full, I thought I would be a tad more discerning and see if there is any recommendations for maybe a smaller direct outlet that me being a non techy person would be oblivious too.

So I know the question will be what do I need it for - General computer home stuff , nothing high end - just something solid and preloaded with an operating system. No high end audio visual prog requirements.

 

[Broch]

I have bought directly from DELL for the last 20 years. My current one is an Inspiron 14 5430 i7 and is one year old - the way I use them I would expect it to last about 5 years. My last one managed 8 before the power connector got iffy (it's now embedded in the Defender as my OS map navigation PC).

Dell's always rate highly in enterprise reliability lists and I like the robustness (aluminium cases not plastic - though that's an option). They are not the cheapest but certainly not the most expensive either - mine would cost about £580 to replace today.

 

[Stew]

I bought mine from dell outlet recently. Very happy!

 

[slaine_23]

Worth checking argos, the clearance section, specifically if you have one local as sometimes they have stuff that’s about to go back to the warehouse so sometimes they drop the price dramatically. Son got lucky with a touchscreen HP machine for 200 EUR, book price was more than 500, a real bargain as he doesn’t use it for any heavy workload.

 

[Great egret]

Screen size might be worth looking into. A bigger screen is easier to read . Generally 12" is considered small and 17" is large.

 

[Kepis]

Recently bought a Lenovo 15" laptop to replace my old tower PC, got it from AO.com, good price, excellent customer service and in the end i got a higher spec machine than i was originally looking at for less money than i had budgeted for.

 

[Broch]

Recently bought a Lenovo 15" laptop to replace my old tower PC, got it from AO.com, good price, excellent customer service and in the end i got a higher spec machine than i was originally looking at for less money than i had budgeted for.

Lenovos rank very high for reliability in consumer surveys; they are good value. The last two laptops I've bought the missus have been Lenovos - the last one only failed because she dropped it. She's now done the same to this one so I've had to plastic weld the case closed.

 

[Kepis]

Lenovos rank very high for reliability in consumer surveys; they are good value. The last two laptops I've bought the missus have been Lenovos - the last one only failed because she dropped it. She's now done the same to this one so I've had to plastic weld the case closed.

Im very happy with mine, when i bought it i took out a repair or replace policy with it for a fiver a month, seemed silly not too for such a low price and the peace of mind it gives.

I do quite like Lenovo stuff, so much so that when i bought a new tablet i got a Lenovo one and its great, well built and superb value for money, funny thing was i bought it to use when i was in hospital, in the end, i never took it out of my bag lol

 

[Broch]

I think my only solution is to buy her a military cased version next time

 

[Keith_Beef]

I think my only solution is to buy her a military cased version next time

Panasonic toughbook?

 

[Chris]

Something like the Dell Inspiron 16 would be fine if you don’t need it for gaming. Decent sized screen, and if you need a bit more storage (1TB as opposed to 512GB) I’d get the Ryzen 7 version. That’ll be solid for ‘general home use’ for a good few years.

Of course if you plug into a monitor and don’t need a larger screen, or are generally happy with the smaller screen then the Inspiron 14 that Broch mentioned would be fine, though it appears they don’t have the 1TB drive option. External USB SSD drives are great these days though so not really a big deal.

 

[Broch]

Something like the Dell Inspiron 16 would be fine if you don’t need it for gaming. Decent sized screen, and if you need a bit more storage (1TB as opposed to 512GB) I’d get the Ryzen 7 version. That’ll be solid for ‘general home use’ for a good few years.

Of course if you plug into a monitor and don’t need a larger screen, or are generally happy with the smaller screen then the Inspiron 14 that Broch mentioned would be fine, though it appears they don’t have the 1TB drive option. External USB SSD drives are great these days though so not really a big deal.

It's horses for courses - I have a photography/graphics/gaming machine with a 44" monitor for serious work that acts as a server for most of my data (such as photographs etc.) that I don't need every day. But sitting in the lounge, doing emails, browsing, writing articles, finance spreadsheets etc. the Inspiron 14 does everything I need. Mine is fitted with a 1TB drive so maybe they've changed the spec. or it's a 'build your own' option. The 16, which I've had in the past was too big for lugging around on my travels - for me anyway. I guess we all have our preferences and different needs.

Write a requirements spec @TeeDee

 

[bearbait]

Another long-term Dell customer here, Laptops and Desktops (although why they're called that I'll never know as they sit on the floor under the desk).

 

[Pattree]

Well………. Once upon a time….

 

[rarms]

I used to be a windows fan, but having had a Mac for a few years now I have to say it is cracking. Battery life is amazing, and it must be 7 years old ish.

 

[GreyCat]

Amazon Renewed. Had a couple of Dell laptops off there, as new, much lower price, better spec than minimum. Often the best ones are ex company spares that were never issued.

Had a couple of monitors off these too.

GC

 

[slaine_23]

Well………. Once upon a time….

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Where does one insert the crank handle?