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Laptop for parents

Gaz

By Gaz
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Gaz

Gaz

Posted
Posted

My parents have asked me to get them a laptop and they have given me a reasonable budget of £600.

They will use it for emailing, web browsing, viewing photos and videos, skype etc etc. I want something that is going to last them a good while but I'm struggling to find a spec I would be happy with.

I've been looking for something along the lines of Core i5, 8GB ram, 250GB SSD, USB 3.0, Dualband Wifi, bluetooth, win 7 or 8. All of the top brands such as Dell, HP, Lenovo, Acer etc all have laptops in the price range but not with an SSD or the amount of RAM. I would rather not have to retro fit these items as I want something that is configured and warranted out of the box. I can build what I want on pcspecialist.co.uk for £559 inc VAT and del but I've no idea about their long term reliability.

sonofsanta

sonofsanta

Posted
Posted

Honestly, with laptops, you'll not get an SSD on any reasonably priced device. We buy separate SSDs as standard* and re-image; Samsung & Crucial SSDs both come with software to let you image the SSD, so long as you have a way of connecting it (e.g. USB <-> SATA dock/cable). You can normally get an i3, 4GB + 256GB SSD for about £400, so you'd likely get the i5/8GB for £500 if you buy a separate 250GB Samsung 840 EVO or 256GB Crucial MX100.

 

*as in, anytime we recommend a laptop to someone, we tell them to do this and just quickly reimage it for them.

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mthomas08

mthomas08

Posted
Posted (edited)

With £600 for a laptop that essentially does basics only and lasts, you can get something for just under £400 and a brand name.

 

If you wanted something with the pretty/slick and also 13 inch screen instead of the big clunky laptop here is a very good one.

 

Lenovo Essential M30-70 Laptop - Laptops at Ebuyer

 

I am a fan of this laptop, nice screen, light, looks pretty. It really does feel/look like a Mac Book but a lot cheaper plus I will be surprised if it didn't last some Years.

 

Also looks like there is a cashback deal with this laptop. Out of all the laptops I've used/purchased over the Years for work this is by far my favourite + priced.

Edited by mthomas08
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Gaz

Gaz

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Posted

Yeah I totally agree it would be a viable solution and its what I would do for myself, but for my parents I want something turn key which it looks like pcspecialist are the only ones that can provide that.

I don't want the hassle of supporting this should something go wrong with the imaging process incompatibilities, driver issues etc etc. At work yes, at home no!

15" screen

Core i5 4210m

8GB ram

250GB Samsung SSD

Intel dualband wifi + bluetooth

usb3

3 year warranty

£623 delivered.

 

No one else can offer that unfortunately.

davyboi

davyboi

Posted
Posted
Have you had a look on the Dell outlet site? I got a pretty decent refurbished laptop from there recently albeit not with SSD and its like brand new!
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Sagima

Sagima

Posted
Posted
I think you'll be fine with an i3. Sonofsanta's i3 spec will likely be all they need - i'd probably go for a 1080p screen over the i5 processor.
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Norphy

Norphy

Posted
Posted
My parents have asked me to get them a laptop and they have given me a reasonable budget of £600.

They will use it for emailing, web browsing, viewing photos and videos, skype etc etc. I want something that is going to last them a good while but I'm struggling to find a spec I would be happy with.

I've been looking for something along the lines of Core i5, 8GB ram, 250GB SSD, USB 3.0, Dualband Wifi, bluetooth, win 7 or 8. All of the top brands such as Dell, HP, Lenovo, Acer etc all have laptops in the price range but not with an SSD or the amount of RAM. I would rather not have to retro fit these items as I want something that is configured and warranted out of the box. I can build what I want on pcspecialist.co.uk for £559 inc VAT and del but I've no idea about their long term reliability.

 

Looking at the pretty pictures on their site, the 15" laptops appear to be Clevos. The pattern on the finish is a little different but it otherwise looks identical to the Stone and VeryPC equivalents.

 

At work, we've been buying them from Stone for the last five years and they've lasted well. They've stood up to staff and student usage well and I can't imagine that your parents would be any rougher on one than our population here. They're reasonably light for 15" notebooks and quite nicely built. They're not as nice as a Macbook or a Lenovo but then you're not paying anywhere near as much.

 

I have no idea what PC Perspective are like to deal with as a company though, it's still caveat emptor with them as far as I'm concerned.

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VeryPC_Colin_M

VeryPC_Colin_M

Posted
Posted
Yeah I totally agree it would be a viable solution and its what I would do for myself, but for my parents I want something turn key which it looks like pcspecialist are the only ones that can provide that.

I don't want the hassle of supporting this should something go wrong with the imaging process incompatibilities, driver issues etc etc. At work yes, at home no!

15" screen

Core i5 4210m

8GB ram

250GB Samsung SSD

Intel dualband wifi + bluetooth

usb3

3 year warranty

£623 delivered.

 

No one else can offer that unfortunately.

 

I can do this for £620 delivered if you prefer @Gaz, and match the warranty.?

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sonofsanta

sonofsanta

Posted
Posted
Hi Colin that is a very kind offer and I shall let them know! Thank you.

 

Toying with the idea of going down the upgrade route this looks like a good base system, just add SSD and RAM.

Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E540 15.6" Laptop - Core i3 2.5GHz, 4GB, 500GB - 20C600JFUK - CCL Computers

 

We did exactly that a year ago when we needed new devices in work; bloomin' lovely things them ThinkPads, the keyboard is a marvel. The touchpad's not so hot, though, so a wireless mouse might be in order.

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abillybob

abillybob

Posted
Posted

Told the Mrs to get:

Lenovo Essential B50-30 Laptop - Laptops at ebuyer

Kingston 240GB V300 SSDNow 2.5inch SSD - Ebuyer

 

and it performs tasks much quicker than her dad's i5 MacBook Pro.... Most computers with an SSD in them don't need a powerful processor and let's face it these are your parents as long as it's fast and runs well will they care? Be nice, save them the money and go for the above, they don't need an i3 or i5.

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LosOjos

LosOjos

Posted
Posted

If they'd consider a refurb machine, you can get some stunning deals on business laptops ~18 months old - I just picked up a Thinkpad T420 for £165 with dual core i5, 1600x900 display (the lower res 1366x768 is much more common) and 4GB RAM. I'll probably spend another £150 upgrading memory and adding an SSD, bagging me a pretty decent laptop for £300.

 

That said, Thinkpads aren't for everyone - they're chunky, ugly beasts! Beauty of them is you can replace just about everything - I was speaking to one guy who built one entirely from salvaged parts! You can even replace the CPU in them; I'm considering dropping a quad core i7 in mine, but going to see if it's really necessary once it has an SSD first.

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Gaz

Gaz

Posted
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We did exactly that a year ago when we needed new devices in work; bloomin' lovely things them ThinkPads, the keyboard is a marvel. The touchpad's not so hot, though, so a wireless mouse might be in order.

 

They are trackpad whores. :D no idea how they manage it! I cant stand to use them. How bad is the trackpad? can the sensitivity be adjusted?

 

Get 'em a £400 laptop and pocket the £200 for a short break to Spain. Done.

 

You had me until you mentioned Spain. :lol:

sonofsanta

sonofsanta

Posted
Posted
They are trackpad whores. :D no idea how they manage it! I cant stand to use them. How bad is the trackpad? can the sensitivity be adjusted?

 

It's more the fact that it doesn't have separate buttons for clicking: you use the top left corner to left click and the bottom right (or something similarly daft) for right click. Lenovo have since reverted to a sane design, but sadly for the E540, they took leave of their senses.

Gaz

Gaz

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Ugh yeah the Acers I just got for work are like that, I wouldn't mind but there are sensitivity issues.
Gaz

Gaz

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Doh could you not have posted that yesterday! I placed an order for the old one last night, I wonder if I can cancel it.

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