Laptops & Notebooks

[CaaC (John)+]

27 minutes ago, Bluebird Hewitt said:

Just seen the Amazon Prime Day discounts on laptops and not sure what to make of them really (haven't had a proper chance to look into them more). 

Any of these in the link stand out that aren't ridiculously pricey (I know I said £400, but that can be flexible if any particularly stand out)? 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/deal/c2cab8b3?showVariations=true&ref=deals_primeday_deals-grid_slot-6_4951_mw_dcell_img_3_c2cab8b3

Don't think Huawei's a good idea mind. 

I got the one below (picture) for £199.00 on my Amazon account about a year ago as my old Acer laptop was slowing down like fuck and the wife's one packed in.

A Google Chrome laptop and it might be small but it's Google, not MSN, you can still get MSN on it but they don't control it like the Acer one I have, has a lot of features Google wise and easy to take out with you in a laptop case. 

 

[Bluebird Hewitt]

On 21/06/2021 at 11:51, CaaC (John) said:

I got the one below (picture) for £199.00 on my Amazon account about a year ago as my old Acer laptop was slowing down like fuck and the wife's one packed in.

A Google Chrome laptop and it might be small but it's Google, not MSN, you can still get MSN on it but they don't control it like the Acer one I have, has a lot of features Google wise and easy to take out with you in a laptop case. 

 

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Cheers for the suggestion. Admittedly, I'm looking for something with a bit more power to be able to run some games, but thanks for the thought. 

@nudge, a mate of mine who is pretty good with PC's and specs had recommended one which was pretty good compared to the price, but it was a HP Pavilion (which you mentioned should be avoided like the plague).

Were there any particular issues with HP you're aware of?

I'm also wondering if my mate is thinking too much on the gaming aspect as the HP is more of a gaming laptop, which is fine but I don't need a monster (basically one that could run FM well, if I even get it, at most). 

[nudge+]

29 minutes ago, Bluebird Hewitt said:

Cheers for the suggestion. Admittedly, I'm looking for something with a bit more power to be able to run some games, but thanks for the thought. 

@nudge, a mate of mine who is pretty good with PC's and specs had recommended one which was pretty good compared to the price, but it was a HP Pavilion (which you mentioned should be avoided like the plague).

Were there any particular issues with HP you're aware of?

I'm also wondering if my mate is thinking too much on the gaming aspect as the HP is more of a gaming laptop, which is fine but I don't need a monster (basically one that could run FM well, if I even get it, at most). 

From my personal experience, it's the overall build quality that's simply atrocious. Cheap plastic hinges that couldn't properly support the weight of the display, in particular. My HP laptop literally broke within half a year, despite only being opened and closed shut on several occasions; also the cooling was awful, even when performing relatively simple tasks. Heard similar experiences from other people, too - I think in the end, it's a bit of a lottery (like Dell, too - but I will still endorse Dell because they literally sent me spare parts free of charge to the other end of the world without even asking for my warranty number), and maybe they have improved their QC in recent years, but personally, I wouldn't touch another one of their products... 

[Bluebird Hewitt]

18 minutes ago, nudge said:

From my personal experience, it's the overall build quality that's simply atrocious. Cheap plastic hinges that couldn't properly support the weight of the display, in particular. My HP laptop literally broke within half a year, despite only being opened and closed shut on several occasions; also the cooling was awful, even when performing relatively simple tasks. Heard similar experiences from other people, too - I think in the end, it's a bit of a lottery (like Dell, too - but I will still endorse Dell because they literally sent me spare parts free of charge to the other end of the world without even asking for my warranty number), and maybe they have improved their QC in recent years, but personally, I wouldn't touch another one of their products... 

Ah ok. Cheers for that. 

My mate was recommending me this you see. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/HP-Pavilion-15-ec1001na-Gaming-Laptop/dp/B0877L4KMD/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=hp+pavilion+15&qid=1624272521&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&sr=8-3

As I was generally browsing Amazon and had ideas as to what was considered good CPU and performance wise compared to cost, I came across this one. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-VivoBook-5-5500U-Backlit-Keyboard/dp/B08CR1HR2Y?ref_=Oct_DLandingS_M_c2cab8b3_68&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

I was told the Asus was pretty good as well in comparison, though not sure how good overall and if Asus are that good. 

EDIT: I did look at Lenovo ones on Amazon, but was struggling to find one at a reasonable price. Might just be me though expecting too much or looking at too high a CPU for what I need. 

[nudge+]

1 hour ago, Bluebird Hewitt said:

Ah ok. Cheers for that. 

My mate was recommending me this you see. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/HP-Pavilion-15-ec1001na-Gaming-Laptop/dp/B0877L4KMD/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=hp+pavilion+15&qid=1624272521&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&sr=8-3

As I was generally browsing Amazon and had ideas as to what was considered good CPU and performance wise compared to cost, I came across this one. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-VivoBook-5-5500U-Backlit-Keyboard/dp/B08CR1HR2Y?ref_=Oct_DLandingS_M_c2cab8b3_68&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

I was told the Asus was pretty good as well in comparison, though not sure how good overall and if Asus are that good. 

EDIT: I did look at Lenovo ones on Amazon, but was struggling to find one at a reasonable price. Might just be me though expecting too much or looking at too high a CPU for what I need. 

Both the HP and Asus look good to me specs-wise; I also like Asus in general and have had good experiences with them. I bought a gaming laptop a while ago after my ThinkPad ceased to be (got an MSI with an i7 processor, 16gb RAM, GTX1650 GPU), but soon realised that I had little need for it, and my niece was bugging me about giving it to her, so that's what I did before I left. Now I have two laptops I use, the first one is my old backup Acer, and I bought a newer smaller Acer (for portability) a while ago. Personally, the specs that I need are basically:

1. An i5 processor (I prefer it over Ryzen, but I don't think there's any difference performance wise) 

2. 8gb RAM

3. 512gb SSD

Anything above it is obviously good, but I find that those are the most cost-effective specs and thus offer the ideal price-quality ratio for me. 

As for brands, my personal favorites are Lenovo (but only ThinkPad), and then either Dell, Asus or Acer.

[Bluebird Hewitt]

3 minutes ago, nudge said:

Both the HP and Asus look good to me specs-wise; I also like Asus in general and have had good experiences with them. I bought a gaming laptop a while ago after my ThinkPad ceased to be (got an MSI with an i7 processor, 16gb RAM, GTX1650 GPU), but soon realised that I had little need for it, and my niece was bugging me about giving it to her, so that's what I did before I left. Now I have two laptops I use, the first one is my old backup Acer, and I bought a newer smaller Acer (for portability) a while ago. Personally, the specs that I need are basically:

1. An i5 processor (I prefer it over Ryzen, but I don't think there's any difference performance wise) 

2. 8gb RAM

3. 512gb SSD

Anything above it is obviously good, but I find that those are the most cost-effective specs and thus offer the ideal price-quality ratio for me. 

As for brands, my personal favorites are Lenovo (but only ThinkPad), and then either Dell, Asus or Acer.

I was told the same as well in regards to the processor and RAM. The SSD could probably be lowered for me as other than some games, others will likely be minimal to the point that it barely affects the storage. 

Cheers for this though. Really helps. 

[nudge+]

8 minutes ago, Bluebird Hewitt said:

I was told the same as well in regards to the processor and RAM. The SSD could probably be lowered for me as other than some games, others will likely be minimal to the point that it barely affects the storage. 

Cheers for this though. Really helps. 

Yeah, I handle pretty large volumes of data for work, so need to have more storage, but if it wasn't for that, I think 256gb would be just fine, too. 

And no problem, let us know what you end up buying! 

[Rab]

17 hours ago, nudge said:

Both the HP and Asus look good to me specs-wise; I also like Asus in general and have had good experiences with them. I bought a gaming laptop a while ago after my ThinkPad ceased to be (got an MSI with an i7 processor, 16gb RAM, GTX1650 GPU), but soon realised that I had little need for it, and my niece was bugging me about giving it to her, so that's what I did before I left. Now I have two laptops I use, the first one is my old backup Acer, and I bought a newer smaller Acer (for portability) a while ago. Personally, the specs that I need are basically:

1. An i5 processor (I prefer it over Ryzen, but I don't think there's any difference performance wise) 

2. 8gb RAM

3. 512gb SSD

Anything above it is obviously good, but I find that those are the most cost-effective specs and thus offer the ideal price-quality ratio for me. 

As for brands, my personal favorites are Lenovo (but only ThinkPad), and then either Dell, Asus or Acer.

Intel poops on AMD except for the most recent AMD processor which isn't gonna be in a laptop.

[Bluebird Hewitt]

Sorry about the wait. Naturally I leave things close to the last minute, though I have been going back and forth with a mate for a few of them. 

After checking it with him as well, this one appears to be a good shout, bearing in mind that I'm not looking for something ridiculously powerful that it can play AAA games but could do with the extra power for something like Football Manager or anything I might do in uni. 

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/gaming/pc-gaming/gaming-laptops/acer-nitro-5-15-6-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i5-gtx-1650-512-gb-ssd-10221142-pdt.html

Admittedly, this basically goes against everything I said back in June, but there are credit deals in place and I can apparently get it interest free for 12 months (my plan is to spread it out a little prior to the interest kicking in and then paying the remainder off by then), so is not too bad overall. 

Thoughts @nudge, @Raband anyone else? 

[nudge+]

43 minutes ago, Bluebird Hewitt said:

Sorry about the wait. Naturally I leave things close to the last minute, though I have been going back and forth with a mate for a few of them. 

After checking it with him as well, this one appears to be a good shout, bearing in mind that I'm not looking for something ridiculously powerful that it can play AAA games but could do with the extra power for something like Football Manager or anything I might do in uni. 

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/gaming/pc-gaming/gaming-laptops/acer-nitro-5-15-6-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i5-gtx-1650-512-gb-ssd-10221142-pdt.html

Admittedly, this basically goes against everything I said back in June, but there are credit deals in place and I can apparently get it interest free for 12 months (my plan is to spread it out a little prior to the interest kicking in and then paying the remainder off by then), so is not too bad overall. 

Thoughts @nudge, @Raband anyone else? 

Looks good to me! 

[Rab]

1 hour ago, Bluebird Hewitt said:

Sorry about the wait. Naturally I leave things close to the last minute, though I have been going back and forth with a mate for a few of them. 

After checking it with him as well, this one appears to be a good shout, bearing in mind that I'm not looking for something ridiculously powerful that it can play AAA games but could do with the extra power for something like Football Manager or anything I might do in uni. 

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/gaming/pc-gaming/gaming-laptops/acer-nitro-5-15-6-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i5-gtx-1650-512-gb-ssd-10221142-pdt.html

Admittedly, this basically goes against everything I said back in June, but there are credit deals in place and I can apparently get it interest free for 12 months (my plan is to spread it out a little prior to the interest kicking in and then paying the remainder off by then), so is not too bad overall. 

Thoughts @nudge, @Raband anyone else? 

This is the way.

[Bluebird Hewitt]

1 hour ago, nudge said:

Looks good to me! 

 

3 minutes ago, Rab said:

This is the way.

Cheers both. Before looking into that one further, my mate did alert me to one on ebay via Argos. I was told that the CPU is a year older and it's a refurbishment, but the graphics card is apparently better and is £100 cheaper compared to the previous one. 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/363508077471?mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&siteid=3&campid=5336549684&customid=2228395703&toolid=10001&mkevt=1

Probably look at one or the other tbh. 

[nudge+]

7 minutes ago, Bluebird Hewitt said:

 

Cheers both. Before looking into that one further, my mate did alert me to one on ebay via Argos. I was told that the CPU is a year older and it's a refurbishment, but the graphics card is apparently better and is £100 cheaper compared to the previous one. 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/363508077471?mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&siteid=3&campid=5336549684&customid=2228395703&toolid=10001&mkevt=1

Probably look at one or the other tbh. 

I personally love refurbs, but there's certainly always a risk as you don't really know what issues it might have and how long it may take for them to start acting up. I had more good than bad experiences, but I also always go only for the "business" line models with strong build and known endurance (I know I said it a million times already, but I simply love ThinkPads). 

[Rab]

2 hours ago, Bluebird Hewitt said:

 

Cheers both. Before looking into that one further, my mate did alert me to one on ebay via Argos. I was told that the CPU is a year older and it's a refurbishment, but the graphics card is apparently better and is £100 cheaper compared to the previous one. 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/363508077471?mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&siteid=3&campid=5336549684&customid=2228395703&toolid=10001&mkevt=1

Probably look at one or the other tbh. 

The graphics card on the refurb is only really worth it if you're going to be proper gaming. The 1650 will be more than enough for shit like FM.

[Bluebird Hewitt]

9 hours ago, nudge said:

I personally love refurbs, but there's certainly always a risk as you don't really know what issues it might have and how long it may take for them to start acting up. I had more good than bad experiences, but I also always go only for the "business" line models with strong build and known endurance (I know I said it a million times already, but I simply love ThinkPads). 

 

7 hours ago, Rab said:

The graphics card on the refurb is only really worth it if you're going to be proper gaming. The 1650 will be more than enough for shit like FM.

Cheers for this. Much appreciated. 

[Bluebird Hewitt]

Thanks for the help with this everyone.

I have ordered the laptop mentioned from Currys as while the other one may have been cheaper and have a better graphics card, as @Rab mentioned, I'm not looking to play AAA games on it (FM was mentioned mainly for the grunt needed in the background) and wanted a laptop to do the job for uni as well (especially if I need anything installed that might need a bigger processor), so will need to install Office on it (I should be able to get it for very little if what I saw on the uni site is true). 

Once again, many thanks for the help. 

 

[Mel81x+]

13 hours ago, Bluebird Hewitt said:

Thanks for the help with this everyone.

I have ordered the laptop mentioned from Currys as while the other one may have been cheaper and have a better graphics card, as @Rab mentioned, I'm not looking to play AAA games on it (FM was mentioned mainly for the grunt needed in the background) and wanted a laptop to do the job for uni as well (especially if I need anything installed that might need a bigger processor), so will need to install Office on it (I should be able to get it for very little if what I saw on the uni site is true). 

Once again, many thanks for the help. 

 

Just seeing this. Congrats on the laptop. I agree with what was said above that GFX on the laptop is going to be plenty powerful for the tasks you mentioned.

[Azeem]

Compaq should've stayed independent 

[JoshBRFC+]

Got this from work, a brand new decent tablet/laptop - surface pro. Very good and fast and runs anything no issues. Never used them before, but definitely recommended. Touch screen etc. And the keyboard comes off just as easy it attaches. 

Hard at work as you can see…

 

 

[Bluebird Hewitt]

1 hour ago, JoshBRFC said:

Got this from work, a brand new decent tablet/laptop - surface pro. Very good and fast and runs anything no issues. Never used them before, but definitely recommended. Touch screen etc. And the keyboard comes off just as easy it attaches. 

Hard at work as you can see…

 

 

Nice one. My work one is a general Dell laptop. Does the job in fairness and I can't ask for anything major, especially as you'd be paying for it. 

[MUFC]

Have any of you ever removed keys from your laptop? Last week I spilt fizzy vimto on my laptop. The enter and plus key on the numerical side of the keyboard are really cranky. I'ts a Dell gaming laptop directly brought from Dell a couple of years ago. I've seen videos on Youtube of it being done and they keys being cleaned it. Even so I got it at 30% off sale. Brand new it's still a £1100 laptop and I really don't want to fuck it up. What pisses me off is that anything I have techwise. I'm always ultra carful and they tend to last years. The Laptop is similar to the one in the picture. As you can see I'm referring to the enter key which is bottom right and the key above it.

[Mel81x+]

30 minutes ago, MUFC said:

Have any of you ever removed keys from your laptop? Last week I spilt fizzy vimto on my laptop. The enter and plus key on the numerical side of the keyboard are really cranky. I'ts a Dell gaming laptop directly brought from Dell a couple of years ago. I've seen videos on Youtube of it being done and they keys being cleaned it. Even so I got it at 30% off sale. Brand new it's still a £1100 laptop and I really don't want to fuck it up. What pisses me off is that anything I have techwise. I'm always ultra carful and they tend to last years. The Laptop is similar to the one in the picture. As you can see I'm referring to the enter key which is bottom right and the key above it.

I've cleaned a Thinkpad before but that is totally different to these where you have to disengage the bottom cover to get to the keyboard. Just follow the vids and you'll be just fine.

[Dr. Gonzo]

Anyone got any suggestions for a docking station for a laptop to be connected to external monitors and stuff as a desktop sort of replacement.

I'm thinking of getting a new laptop... basically ASAP... to replace my personal laptop as well as my desktop computer. But I still want to use my upstairs space where I've got my desktop right now for 95% (or more) of my computing with that computer and I want to use my dual monitor setup.

[Rab]

1 hour ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Anyone got any suggestions for a docking station for a laptop to be connected to external monitors and stuff as a desktop sort of replacement.

I'm thinking of getting a new laptop... basically ASAP... to replace my personal laptop as well as my desktop computer. But I still want to use my upstairs space where I've got my desktop right now for 95% (or more) of my computing with that computer and I want to use my dual monitor setup.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dell-D3100-Docking-Station-452-BBOT/dp/B00O0M46KO

Expensive but worth it.

[Mel81x+]

This should be a Public Service Announcement to anyone using Windows laptops.