Laptop advice

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PTR said:
Probably just needs a vanilla Windows install tbh.
Unless you are robbed, a £400 2 year old machine should be spot on for what you said you want it for.

What are the specs?
SSD upgrade would likely make it fly
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Whilst I hate PC's and do prefer Mac's this is the best advice. An SSD would significantly improve it and none of the OP"s original uses are intensive. Could also be the case that the virus check is particularly bloated and something like Avast (free) would be better. Owned mac's since 2009 and it is a way better experience.
 


What spec and model exactly is the Lenovo?

Many you just have to clone the old crap technology spinning disk onto a super fast SSD and upgrade the ram to at least 8gb and Win 10 runs great on them.

jlaws said:
Whilst I hate PC's and do prefer Mac's this is the best advice. An SSD would significantly improve it and none of the OP"s original uses are intensive. Could also be the case that the virus check is particularly bloated and something like Avast (free) would be better. Owned mac's since 2009 and it is a way better experience.
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Older Mac's running spinning disks with the newer OS are utterly garbage, every single older Mac I manage has an SSD. Plenty of my customers with newish iMac's have made the HUGE mistake of buying it without the fusion drive option. Had to cut out the glue around the screen and fit an Apple SSD bought on ebay blade on a few to DIY a fusion drive setup to more than a few!
 
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jlaws said:
Whilst I hate PC's and do prefer Mac's this is the best advice. An SSD would significantly improve it and none of the OP"s original uses are intensive. Could also be the case that the virus check is particularly bloated and something like Avast (free) would be better. Owned mac's since 2009 and it is a way better experience.
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Microsoft Security Essentials is absolutely fine, and built in. Unless you need extra protection because you do something a bit dodgy.
I've used nowt other than MSE for 5+ years

As for the SSD - depends on the spec, but you'd think he's got at least an i5 and 8gb ram if he spent £400. That's totally fine today.

GavMackem® said:
Many you just have to clone the old crap technology spinning disk onto a super fast SSD and upgrade the ram to at least 8gb and Win 10 runs great on them.
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Urgh, don't clone.
Get rid of that vendor bloatware-OS and get a fresh vanilla Windows install on it. Can make a huge difference, even without an SSD replacement.
 
PTR said:
Microsoft Security Essentials is absolutely fine, and built in. Unless you need extra protection because you do something a bit dodgy.
I've used nowt other than MSE for 5+ years

As for the SSD - depends on the spec, but you'd think he's got at least an i5 and 8gb ram if he spent £400. That's totally fine today.


Urgh, don't clone.
Get rid of that vendor bloatware-OS and get a fresh vanilla Windows install on it. Can make a huge difference, even without an SSD replacement.
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Depends on the model, for the past 5 years I only really support and sell business grade kit from HP and Dell and not the retail junkware tat. Most of the Probook 450 G3/G4 laptops I've supply new for clients I get them to buy the hard drive model, buy an aftermarket Samsung or Crucial SSD and use the Win 10 Pro restore DVD's for a fresh install.

Oh and stick to the aforementioned two manufacturers for SSD particularly for the Mac. Kingston and cheaper models avoid!
 
GavMackem® said:
Depends on the model, for the past 5 years I only really support and sell business grade kit from HP and Dell and not the retail junkware tat. Most of the Probook 450 G3/G4 laptops I've supply new for clients I get them to buy the hard drive model, buy an aftermarket Samsung or Crucial SSD and use the Win 10 Pro restore DVD's for a fresh install.

Oh and stick to the aforementioned two manufacturers for SSD particularly for the Mac. Kingston and cheaper models avoid!
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Totally agree with both points! Although Lenovo's mid & high ranges are spot on imo. They do make the king of laptops of course (Thinkpad) ;)

Mind, even Dell and HP sell tat around the £250-300 mark. Spend an extra £75 and buy at the right time, and you can get something pretty decent - £400 is the sweet spot for non-gaming home user laptops imo. But only if you buy the right one, which is the hard bit!

I wouldn't touch any SSD that isn't Samsung or Crucial (are Intel still making them, theirs were excellent but expensive IIRC)
 
PTR said:
Totally agree with both points! Although Lenovo's mid & high ranges are spot on imo. They do make the king of laptops of course (Thinkpad) ;)

Mind, even Dell and HP sell tat around the £250-300 mark. Spend an extra £75 and buy at the right time, and you can get something pretty decent - £400 is the sweet spot for non-gaming home user laptops imo. But only if you buy the right one, which is the hard bit!

I wouldn't touch any SSD that isn't Samsung or Crucial (are Intel still making them, theirs were excellent but expensive IIRC)
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The cheapest bread and butter model I sell most of all by far myself is the HP Probook 450 G4 at around £400-450 for the i3/i5/500 Gb HDD/4Gb model Win 10 Pro. Client buys SSD and 4Gb module from Amazon or Crucial. Even for kids with splash proof keyboards, grippable lid and steel chassis they are far more durable than the cheap and nasty retail plastic models, plus the parts are very cheap and time involved to fix them as they are designed to be taken apart. My girls have the same model as their laptops. An identical part like a CPU fan for an equivalent retail HP model can cost 4x as much!
 
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Sleepy said:
That's rubbish though (sorry)

People still rocking Macs from 2008-2009 and they run absolutely mint.

Others pay a few hundred quid every couple of/few years for a cheap windows laptop.
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So don't pay a few hundred quid for a Windows laptop and get one that is twice as powerful as the Mac.
Or if you don't have the money, get a system as powerful as the Mac and pay half the price.
Win-Win for Windows
 
HebburnMackem said:
So don't pay a few hundred quid for a Windows laptop and get one that is twice as powerful as the Mac.
Or if you don't have the money, get a system as powerful as the Mac and pay half the price.
Win-Win for Windows
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This.

Find it weird when people go cheap on windows laptops but will happily pay through the nose for a Mac.
 
Some Random Guy said:
This.

Find it weird when people go cheap on windows laptops but will happily pay through the nose for a Mac.
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Exactly. You can get a Windows laptop from cheap and cheerful (shit) one all the way up to literally military grade.
Same with Android phones too.
But when Apple fanbois want to argue, they only ever compare the the very worst of both scenarios and usually from 5+ years ago as that's the only way they can win.
 
HebburnMackem said:
Exactly. You can get a Windows laptop from cheap and cheerful (shit) one all the way up to literally military grade.
Same with Android phones too.
But when Apple fanbois want to argue, they only ever compare the the very worst of both scenarios and usually from 5+ years ago as that's the only way they can win.
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I've just ordered a MSI laptop for £600, the spec equivalent on a MacBook is £1300 - can not justify the different for a fruit sticker.
 
Phil_Harmonic said:
To be honest, the one I'm getting is gaming light - it's the latest quad core i5, 8gb Ram, 1tb/250gb hdd/ssd, and a Nvidia MX 150 2GB card - enough for internet, office and footy manager/civilization/sim city.
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I was looking at the same spec one today. That's exactly what I need mine for too. I reckon they might be really cheap on Black Friday.
Are they actually any good though? Any idea what the screen quality is like?
 
PTR said:
I was looking at the same spec one today. That's exactly what I need mine for too. I reckon they might be really cheap on Black Friday.
Are they actually any good though? Any idea what the screen quality is like?
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Not sure mate. Decent enough reviews on the American sites. £600 is very good for that spec mind, I can't image they'll go much lower.
 
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