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• #602
6 years after starting this thread I'm back!
I need to buy a laptop for my mum. Just for internet, photos, iplayer and typing.
I'd like it to be a i3,i5,i7 running Windows 10 (ideally) with 4gb ram and any sort of hard drive really. Just want something solid that will do the above job without any bells/whistles. Around £300-400 price point.
I'm conisdering a Dell Inspiron 15 5000 http://www.dell.com/uk/p/inspiron-15-5558-laptop/pd?oc=cn55801&model_id=inspiron-15-5558-laptop
My limited knowledge of PCs bloated with big company spamware screams no but this does seem like a solid deal. Any other suggestions?
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• #603
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• #604
We use Dell's at work. They're ugly and heavy but tough and reliable. From what I hear they're not too bad with bloatware but even if they are, a couple of hours of setting up should sort it out.
If it is just browsing and stuff and you want something simple then a chromebook might be worth a look, nice and simple and reliable. If they're doing much with photos though then it's probably not the solution.
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• #605
Where's a good place to buy a laptop from?
I'm not looking for some ultra power machine, just something to replace my old laptop that is now grindingly slow. Just want to get a reasonable deal with an acceptable level of service. All suggestions appreciated.
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• #606
John Lewis for the pricematch and the warranty.
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• #607
Yeah, I'm pretty middle class too so that figures.
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• #608
Ok, anyone want to give me the short version on Chromebook vs. Windows machine?
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• #609
Basically, a Chromebook pretty much runs Chrome and that's it. There is actually quite a bit that runs on Chrome (for instance this is a pretty good text editor - Caret https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/caret/fljalecfjciodhpcledpamjachpmelml?hl=en ) but for a large number of things such as editing photos, managing a music library, etc they're not much cop.
Hard drives are preety small (normally a 32GB ssd), they're obviously more designed to work with the cloud, they integrate ery well with Google Drive.
The upside is that they're very stable, good battery life, cheaper than a standard laptop, a very secure OS. If you're technically minded it's easy to install linux as a second OS.
The downside is that there's a good chance that there's at least one program that you need that you won't be able to run.
I'd say that they're a good second computer (maybe view as an ipad with a proper keyboard) but you wouldn't want it as your sole machine.
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• #610
Cheers.
It'd be a sole machine so going to go with Windows. TechRadar reckon Lewis to be a good deal on a non-gaming general use Lenovo so might pop over there this evening and see if they've got one in.
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• #611
Thanks for that. I think I'll go for it.
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• #612
The X250 is capped to only take 8GB RAM (as all current generation of laptops are - it's a limit of this generation of high performance yet low power CPU).
Time for a RAM upgrade in my X250 - it's currently running on just 4GB and keeps falling over.
@Velocio are you aware that the X250 now officially supports 16GB RAM?
It's a shame such a stick is incredibly expensive at the moment. Looks like I'll be going for 8GB until 16GB models come down in price.
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• #613
I was not aware, but cool.
Now we know what the spec is, surely we can find a cheaper working version.
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• #614
Heh, apparently not.
Damn it's expensive, the cheapest I could find is EUR 329 !
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• #615
Damn it's expensive, the cheapest I could find is EUR 329 !
I know, crazy money!
Just snapped up an 8GB stick for £30.
I can't imagine I'll need more than 8GB but it's nice to know 16GB is now an option - making this machine that little bit more future proof. :)
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• #616
Time is approaching to bite the bullet and replace my laptop. And I need your help!
I know very little about IT so be gentle...
All i want it for is:
Mostly browsing / streaming video and iplayer / using Zwift
Basic excel and word
Storing music and picsBudget around £400. Doesn't have to be fantastic, just steady and reliable, and preferably relatively portable.
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• #617
There was some recent chat here https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/277909/
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• #618
My Laptop died :(
Need to replace it. But all I really do these days is check work mail, browse the web, and watch vids on it (including training vids via trainerroad).
I'm thinking of getting one of the those Windows book thingies. Maybe With an external harddrive for media Storage.
But I have no frigging idea. So I'm asking a bike forum....????
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• #619
Guys, is the HP SPECTRE worth it comparing to a similarly priced macbook pro?
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• #620
I bought a 17" Dell laptop and a 11" chromebook at similar times (lappy for heavy lifting and chromebook for coffee shop poncing)
Laptop rarely gets used and the chromebook copes with almost everything I need (browsing, films from a memory stick, polarr for photo editing)
It's the ideal tool for social media and browsing.enter code here
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• #621
It's v. nice, powerful, looks great.
This is really a Windows vs OSX question though. What do you want to use?
They're both excellent laptops.
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• #622
The latest version of Chrome OS (on the dev channel) allows you to install android apps. Only had a brief test but looks to work quite well.
Plus installing Linux on a Chromebook to run alongside chrome os is pretty straightforward.
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• #623
it would be probably for playing the occasional game and maybe some archicad/photoshop/rendering stuff...
its maybe overkill , since i have an iMac for those things already,
main idea was to replace my old laptop, is an old one but still i was playing skyrim with no problems on medium settings...and diablo 3 also on medium is ok -
• #624
Looking to move over to windows, would like to get a laptop first before swapping the desktop.
Need something relatively powerful, will be running a few different CAD packages, photoshop etc..
Don't want to spend vast sums without being sure, so planning on buying second hand to start with, and have been looking at lenovo x1 carbon and dell xps13. Any hints or suggestions greatly welcomed.
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• #625
XPS13/15 erry day.
I have a Lenovo T440S, i5 CPU, 8GB RAM and 180GB SSD if that's of any interest?