Help me spend my tax refund - any laptop recommendations?
 

Hi all!

I'm supposed to be working but it's too hot and I had an ace supervision with my PhD supervisor this morning so I'm excusing myself from an afternoon of work to be on the Dibb :blush: But anyway, I wanted to just scream from the rooftops that I got a letter this morning stating that the tax man owes me £550! I worked until September 2019 then returned to study so I'd overpaid on the tax in the earlier part of the financial year, it was a great surprise.

I have needed a new laptop for a while- I got my Dell laptop when I started my undergrad in 2014 but I think it's time for a new one. During Zoom calls my camera is constantly shutting off, the updates are unreal and slow and (I think) 6 years is a pretty good lifetime for a laptop. I was tied between getting new furniture for the lounge or getting myself a new laptop but maybe I can justify both now:grin:

So... does anyone have any good recommendations for laptops? It doesn't really need to be anything special. I'm not really a gamer on the pc, I use it mainly for research and word processing. A quick look on Argos shows there are loads within my tax refund budget but there's so much choice and I don't know where to start. Let me know what laptops you have and why you love them!

Dell is still a good brand to be considering, others like HP and Lenovo are good as well.

What size is your current Dell screen and are you happy with that (14" to 15" is the most common size to go for).

Processor wise something like an Intel i3 or AMD Ryzen 3 would suffice for what you want to do and be good for a number of years.

Memory wise 4Gb should be the minimum you would want, 8GB better but would push the price up.

Hard Drive wise, for most a 128Gb SSD drive would suffice if you don't store much locally or use cloud storage such as Google Drive. Otherwise consider a 256Gb SSD.

You should be able to get something that meets your needs for under £400.

HP example - https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/comput...93335-pdt.html

Lenovo - https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/comput...99300-pdt.html

Dell - https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/comput...06390-pdt.html

Personally I would stay away from the likes of Acer, not bad kit, but don't tend to be as durable.

Bit of a curve ball for you, if you don't use any specialist software, then Chromebooks are good and can be well priced.

I would avoid buying a carrier bag from Currys let alone a laptop. Out of 22,000 reviews on trustpilot they have an average 1.5 out of 5 satisfaction due to their dreadful aftersales service (still amazed they are in business).

Have a look at John Lewis because they have good aftersales, plus they give a full 2 year parts and labour warranty whereas Currys gives just a one year on laptops.

Currys was just an example as they have plenty of choice to use as examples.

John Lewis are good for warranties, but customer service has gone very much downhill over the last few years and I would specifically buy from them for that reason.

Wow you are right because on trustpilot JL have 10,000 feedbacks and a score of 2 out of 5 which isn't good.

I ordered a TV from JL some weeks back because it was cheaper than RS, but the next day RS reduced it to match JL's price, and being RS give a 6 year warranty over the 5 year JL warranty, I called JL to cancel it. The girl I spoke to at JL told me it was too late to cancel it and to just refuse when it was delivered. I told her that it was only ordered the day before and wasn't being delivered until the following week, and I asked her to please look it up on her system. She looked it up and then said she could cancel it, so had I not pushed her to check her PC in seconds, they would have wasted their time delivering it. I must admit I wasn't very impressed.

If you don't mind the fact that it may have been sent to a company and then returned as not needed then https://www.dellrefurbished.co.uk/laptops are great.

Got myself a £900 computer for £315 earlier this year, not such good deals right now, but often some crackers available

keep saving and get yourself a mac.

It will last you longer and you won't look back.

WoW - what a lovely surprise and yes treat yourself .

I personally always buy from JL - I have found their customer service to be excellent (and I have no patience’s for poor service) plus i like to think I am keeping the stores alive (a personal thing) - Curry/Dixon/carphone warehouse will never see a penny of my money after a family issue.

I too think I may be in for a tax rebate form last year but not heard anything (I am PAYE) - did you get a letter or just a cheque etc ? (Sorry please don’t feel you have to answer if its too personal)

i got £568 tax refund this week aswell , packed in work in December to retire early,

I’d personally go for a a MacBook- more to buy but last a lot longer and hold value.

I’m after a new MacBook or iMac for myself but now holding on for the new ARM chip at year end- the ARM chips in iPads and iPhones are just incredible. For example, I’ve got a fairly new mid range £600 laptop from work and it will not even play 4K 10 bit video- won’t play it. I edit this video on an iPad! I also have a Surface Pro from work and that’s junk to be honest.