Laptop recommendations please

[parkgirl]

I am after a new laptop. I just need it for general emails and document storage. I generally use an iPad and my work laptop for things but I have just been made redundant so not work laptop anymore!

Any suggestions? I am thinking of up to about £500. I almost bought an HP intel3 last weekend but the hard sell in curry’s put me off. It’s given me time to have a think too.

[DisneyD]

I’m in exactly the same situation!

I was thinking of the MacBook - Curry’s are doing £200 cash back if you trade in an old laptop so makes it £599. I’m using one of the kids old laptops to exchange.

[Leggibone]

IMO A MacBook is sumwhat over powered and over priced as an email/document device (they also have tiny hard disks so you’d likely need a use hard drive too)

Have a look on eBay for a refurbished Lenovo (a t430 or higher) they are ex business laptops, you can pick up a decent one for less then £250, work extremely well for internet, documents and light gaming type applications. (Some of them also have proper sized hard drives still if that’s a priority)
I’m not saying MacBooks are bad here (they are very nice machines, if you use them a lot for more power intensive programs) just expensive for basic computing.
I haven’t looked at laptops in a while, but my brother who is very savvy recommends refurbished Lenovo’s and we both run them! (He uses his for university and lab work too)

[Guest]

I think £500 for a laptop to do emails and store documents is waaay too much. You can easily get something for around £300 for that. I have usually had Acer laptops. I would not even consider a MacBook for email and document storage.

[parkgirl]

Originally Posted by Claudette

I think £500 for a laptop to do emails and store documents is waaay too much. You can easily get something for around £300 for that. I have usually had Acer laptops. I would not even consider a MacBook for email and document storage.

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I think that’s why I walked away in curry’s as it seemed a lot of money - they recommended a 8gb intel3i processor but I didn’t think I needed so much spec.

[pad406]

Agree with Claudette. Way too much for what you need. Why not use the iPad with online storage? Or do you need access offline? Typing on iPad the issue?

[parkgirl]

It’s for things like my cv - never seem to get the editing right on an iPad. I don’t seem to have the same control over navigating job applications etc on the tablet.

[parkgirl]

Also the cost of Microsoft office and anti virus protection was quoted as £70 and curry set up was £50. So that makes the money on the laptop down to £380.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by parkgirl

Also the cost of Microsoft office and anti virus protection was quoted as £70 and curry set up was £50. So that makes the money on the laptop down to £380.

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Well that is a bit better then. Unless you have complicated home network or something, I wouldn’t have thought set up would be necessary. Switch on and follow prompts.

[Leggibone]

No need to pay for antivirus, avast and AVG home versions are free and good!
Office it’s self can be bought a lot cheaper on its own, but I usually get by with google docs, anything I need office for I email to work though (and sort it at lunch time)