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What laptop do you have and do you rate it?

61 replies

Graphista · 02/03/2021 22:43

As per title really

Looking at buying a laptop and totally overwhelmed with the choice

I THINK I want/need

8gb ram
256gb ssd
A good quality screen and camera
Decent battery life
Comfortable illuminated keyboard with numeric keypad (this never seems to be described!)

Am I wishful thinking?

OP posts:

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Nannyamc · 02/03/2021 22:53

I recently bought an asos
500 euro and great specs

NeedanIdea · 02/03/2021 23:09

I have a macbook pro retina from 2012. Still going strong (so far!) 10/10.

ILoveAllRainbowsx · 02/03/2021 23:11

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

HilaryBriss · 02/03/2021 23:14

There are very few laptops around now with numeric keypads in my experience.

I bought myself an Asus Swift 3 about 6 months ago (Its purple with a 1TB SSD and I love it) I've also got a new one from work, a Lenovo Thinkbook 14-iil and that one is also a decent laptop, not much different from my own. The Asus has a back-lit keyboard though, the Lenovo one doesn't.

What's your budget?

HilaryBriss · 02/03/2021 23:18

Oops mine is an Acer, not an Asus!

Longdistance · 02/03/2021 23:20

My old laptop that I gave to my dd to tinker with that I bought in 2014 has a numerical pad. I’ve got a MacBook and miss the numerical keypad.
John Lewis had a decent range of laptops last time I looked.

Anoisagusaris · 02/03/2021 23:21

I bought an Acer last year and it has a numeric keypad. Had to switch recently to a Dell provided by work and it doesn’t have it, plus the screen is smaller.

Anoisagusaris · 02/03/2021 23:22

As you might be able to tell from my in-depth comparison, I’m not very technically minded 😆

VanGoghsDog · 02/03/2021 23:25

Numeric quick keypad depends on size of laptop, not make so much.

I just bought a Lenovo Legion and it's fab. It's 17" but they do smaller sizes.

hennaoj · 02/03/2021 23:25

We have 4 dell laptops in this house. They are supposed to be the best manufacturer, although lately I've been doubting that. Last one took weeks to arrive after it was ordered direct from dell which was odd as any we bought before took days.
Any time I phone their customer service I get nowhere as it's a foreign (possibly Asian) call centre and they don't have a clue what I mean.
Found out that the batteries in our current laptops can't even be replaced by us, they have to go back to dell. Not impressed.
Not sure what to replace with!

noname55 · 02/03/2021 23:29

Lenovo Ideapad 5 is excellent but doesn't have they keyboard you want.

WinterStrawbsAreLikeTurnip · 02/03/2021 23:32

Lenovo flex 5 with ryzen 3500u processor. It's a 2 in 1 and was the best hack for the buck when I bought it last summer.

mycatscausehell · 02/03/2021 23:39

acer nitro 5, it is primarily a gaming one though

Kazzyhoward · 02/03/2021 23:46

We use Lenovo thinkpads - very reliable and robust, but no numeric keypad.

We've had a couple of Dells but each was very poor quality and didn't last, even with pretty light use.

Comefromaway · 02/03/2021 23:51

What speed processor do you think you’ll need? I’d look at the Ryzen 5 (preferable 4500u not 3500), the i7 or the Ryzen 7.

I’ve got a 13 inch HP Envy bought a year ago aq model with i7 and 512gb SSP but the new ba model isn’t as good, it’s fast and with more memory but the keyboard and speakers are a bit rubbish on the new one.

Dd just had an Envy 360 which is great, she really liked the Asus but it was more expensive for a lower speed processor. The screen and keyboard are great on it though.

The spec on some of the Lenovo ones are fantastic but watch the screens and some of the keyboards are a bit flexy.

If money were no object I’d buy a Surface 3 or a Dell XPS

Comefromaway · 02/03/2021 23:52

@WinterStrawbsAreLikeTurnip

Lenovo flex 5 with ryzen 3500u processor. It's a 2 in 1 and was the best hack for the buck when I bought it last summer.

Dd was just looking at them but every review she read said the screen was poor. She was used to a Surface Go which had a fantastic screen but the old Gold processor just didn’t cut it.

FinallyHere · 02/03/2021 23:56

Another vote for a Microsoft Surface, really good design and reliable.

The best bet for a numerical keyboard is to plug in an external keyboard.

Number3BigCupOfTea · 03/03/2021 00:00

how much would you all expect to spend? is 500 too little these days? so long since i've bought one.

TheyCallMeJustice · 03/03/2021 08:04

I have a Dell Xps 13, its my second one now and I love it. Great size, light weight, high spec. It was quite expensive, almost £1900, but I got about 15% off due to Black Friday. Also, paid on Amex and for some reason, this gave £100 cashback on sales with Dell. Definitely lucked out.

PleaseReferToMeAsBritneySpears · 03/03/2021 08:10

ASUS ZenBook 14 UM433DA-A5005T 14" Full HD Display ... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07YF2XPPX/ref=cm swwr smssapi fabcc4D76RR6QW4173FVEFQAV?encoding=UTF8&psc=

It has a light up touch numeric pad in the touch pad thing. Works really well.
Unavailable from Amazon but you might find it elsewhere.

Comefromaway · 03/03/2021 08:28

@Number3BigCupOfTea

how much would you all expect to spend? is 500 too little these days? so long since i've bought one.

You can get a decent spec for £500 but will have to compromise on some things, most often screen and sound.

DD’s HP Envy 360 was £630 from Curry’s as they had a 10% discount offer on.

The ASUS listed above is a slightly slower processor and is out of stock most places. The one with the updated processor is £649 in Curry’s.

www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/asus-zenbook-14-um433iq-a5037t-14-laptop-amd-ryzen-5-256-gb-ssd-grey-10208034-pdt.html

Oldraver · 03/03/2021 08:41

I bought a HP Envy 15" i7 and one of the reasons was how clear the screen is. I think it's glass

It had touchscreen as well but I kept forgetting to use it

Taikoo · 03/03/2021 10:10

My MacBook Air shits on every other laptop I have ever owned.
Whenever I have to replace it, hopefully not for a good few years yet, I'm getting another Apple laptop.

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murbblurb · 03/03/2021 11:50

Lenovo V155 with Ryzen 5 I think is exactly your spec. Bought in January 2020 and very glad I did!

I paid £350, looks like out of stock now (superseded?), prices have rocketed of course. But remember folks, inflation is really low according to the government.

Graphista · 03/03/2021 12:05

Budget is probably £500-600 maybe a bit more

Last laptop was an acer - admittedly a while back - and it was pretty rubbish to be honest kinda put me off them really

@Anoisagusaris - I USED to be good at this stuff I'm out of practice I'm annoying myself with my lack of knowledge here!

@VanGoghsDog that's an interesting note that the type of keyboard relates to unit size

@hennaoj I heard dell were good but they're quite pricey for what you get I think?

@WinterStrawbsAreLikeTurnip yea the processor thing confuses me a bit too. Intel I'm familiar with think an I3 is probably about right for me? But an I5 would be nice, Ryzen is new to me and I don't know what to think of it. Gamers seem to love it but gaming isn't my thing. How good is it for more traditional writing and admin type work?

My use may well be light to begin with as I've been without a laptop for so long and I'm used to using my phone and tablet, it's going to take me a while to get back into using a laptop...but my HOPE is I will be using it to hopefully ease my way off benefits and into work again. I'm quite limited what I can do, but I should be able to manage VA, admin, transcription, writing type work. I have decent qualifications including an English degree. I may be limited physically/energy wise but I'm fed up with not using my brain! And I'm fed up feeling like an unemployed burden!

Ms surface go is one I've been looking at

The best bet for a numerical keyboard is to plug in an external keyboard.

Yea I was wondering about that possibility, I also have a vague recollection that it's possible to download software/apps that can turn a standard keypad into one that has a numerical keypad function. Reason this is something I would like is I have done bookkeeping, data processing and some light accountancy work in the past and that's an area I think would be useful and profitable for me to get into, I'm even wondering whether to do an AAT course (which I started some years ago but life circumstances meant I had to abandon at the time which was frustrating)

Needs to be bought from either Currys or Argos as I have vouchers to use

A MacBook would be lovely but out of my price range I'm afraid.

Thanks for all replies on this and I look forward to more

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