OT: Help me buy a new laptop (or complain about tech)

Desperately need a no-fuss laptop that won't crap out on me.

My current Macbook is a late 2008 unibody, which is somehow still going. I've upgraded the ram to 8gb, and need to replace the swollen battery and maybe upgrade the hard drive.... it's my stay-at-home machine, I use it for watching movies and so on, but it doesn't leave the house.

I need something I could carry.

Considering the cost, the high end thinkpads and macbook airs are out the question, but I would like something with a keyboard not tooo much smaller than the one on this macbook. I have tried the keyboard with the netbook I acquired (Acer I think, windows, horribly slow, horrible tiny keyboard, death absolute death) and definitely need something that isn't miniature. Tactile is good. Heavy is bad.

Apparently this macbook is 2kg. Options must be light or ultralight.
Specs must be respectable for word processing, internet surfing, document reading, and be able to run a video off youtube, microsoft office, and adobe reader all without ridiculous lag.

It doesn't need to be the latest newest option, but ideally it needs to be upgradeable ram and so on, if it's not already fast as standard.

The key is that it works, and it's light. Those guys who take the train with their ultraportable thinkpads are getting me down.

Budget is tight. Really I don't want to spend more than £200, but I don't want a chromebook so I will spend up to £400. For £500 it needs to whisper how well I type.

Any thoughts?

Just an update, looks like there were two notebooks hanging around (family goes through this stuff a little fast).

One netbook was rrrrubbish, a tablet with keyboard type thing. The other is an Acer Aspire V5-171. I think it needs a full reset to get working at a real speed again. Weighs in at 1.4kg and looks like I could upgrade the ram. So I'm looking at anything at a good price which is better than that notebook. Ideally lighter, and thinkpad-y.

I'd be tempted by a secondhand Lenovo X220
Maybe something along these lines
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CHEAP-FAST-Lenovo-ThinkPad-X220-i5-2520-2-5Ghz-8GB-320GB-Win-7-Laptop-Webcam-/400767762429?hash=item5d4f9ebffd:g:UNgAAOSwR0JUO8js

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WINDOWS-7-IBM-Lenovo-X220-FAST-Laptop-Core-i7-2-80Ghz-4Gb-Ram-1-Year-Warranty-/321923182321?hash=item4af41deef1:g:QyUAAOSwBLlU-YQx

Update to an SSD for a bit of a performance boost. It's not ultralight but it's better than most of the cheap laptops and it has a nice keyboard.

Nice, good shout. That's the kind of thing I'm thinking. Apparently 1.5-1.8kg depending on setup, so pretty close to the money.

13" Dell XPS - I haz one with a touch screen and love it for work and travel. Solid speakers for movies of an evening as well

Have a Surface Pro if interested...
quite small, but Core i5, SSD and 1080p res

I'd really like to avoid touch screens and fablets... Not sure what to make of the Surface series (mother dearest has one for work, seems to like it). @fidbod Dells are no longer made of cheese?

No worries. They're great bits of kit, Surface 3 is a step up from the original series (have both). But they're proper laptops at least rather than an Android/iPad rival. Honestly reckon the current ones rival Macbooks in terms of their finish.

I have a current generation XPS, my business partner has the previous generation XPS which I also had at a previous company - all three are rock solid.

Having said that I also have a dell lattitude as a desktop replacement - that is distinctly meh.

Thanks @duncs you're right the new ones do look great. Just something about them, maybe I should test one out.

@fidbod hmm interesting, maybe their higher end stuff is better now. My parents have used a bunch for business over the years, and previous girlfriends had horrible Dell machines both desktop and notebook. Even an extortionate gaming spec machine (I think it was a custom order job) in Germany wouldn't even come back from sleep properly for my ex over there.

I remember opening up an older Dell where all the compartments were plastic and brightly coloured. It looked really weird after seeing traditional metal casing.

FWIW I use Dell at home and work and the decent spec ones seem to last forever. Full disclosure: I've worked for them as a supplier for 6 years. I can tell you some tales about them in other ways, but the laptops I've used from them have been very tough.

Professional DJ use (Traktor) and never missed a beat.

Our company use one model of Dell ultraportable laptop for everyone (who doesn't get a Mac) and they are lightweight, great battery life, and I hate mine with a burning passion.

Keep it up and I'll change the thread title to "Dell = Marmite"

Mine last ~3 months before needing replacement

Don't you break everything though?
My XPS 13 is lovely, much more sturdy than my old Samsung Series 9 (although with slightly more heft too)

My wife's just got a Tosh Portege from Morgan - i7, 8Gb, SSD. £400 but there's a £50 off code knocking around which I think still works - PM if you want it. Decent enough performance and keyboard, will take Win10, battery showing its age but off-brand replacements aren't expensive.

They've also got a couple of other, cheaper options - another Portege and an HP Elitebook at least.

So you've broken at least two laptops within three months? What are you doing to them?

Don't you break everything though?

Such as?

Garmins, power meters? Not meant as a dig thought that was your experience with bike tech? (although one could argue Garmins ship broken I guess)

I have had issues with two second hand power meters it is true - not with any of them that I purchased new however.

Garmin are as you point out shipped with many undocumented features.

*cough* 😋

Ordered a Thinkpad X220 i5 with 320gb hdd, 8gb ram, for £145 off the evil auction site. We'll see how it looks when it arrives this week.

The unit should have been i5-2520, arrived and the specs are i5-2410. Only a small difference but a frustrating one, if I wanted to eek every last bit of power for low money. Hopefully getting an equally small partial refund from the seller (he offered £15, I replied £20), to ease the pain.

Other than that I'd be interested to see how it goes. Thinking of picking up one of those X220s for a friend.

Apart from the battery not feeling rock solid against the case (is it normal?) the machine feels quite okay. I've not really done anything on it except install office, and work out it's the wrong spec.

Definitely feels light enough but not unbelievable. Trackpad is as naff as any other.

EDIT: Realised why the hotkeys didn't work - seller had done a fresh install but didn't bother with the specific thinkpad s/w off of lenovo. Finally got them downloaded and installed, so I can actually turn bluetooh off for example. Checked all the system stuff and looks like the battery's had a good few cycles, barely 50% life left in it, but at least it has a few hours per charge, so say.