Laptop advice please .

[YorkshireAndrew]

We’re looking to buy a new laptop , any recommendations would be much appreciated . I’ve seen on another thread about desktop ones a company called ItZoo selling fully refurbished ones , presumably these would be an alternative to new .

 

[Ukjay]

I will get the popcorn ready, but it all basically depends on one thing. Your Budget looking to be spent. You then need to decide if you would prefer Windows based or IOs, then it comes down to your requirements.

Maybe provide a bit more information on your preferences, what you are used to and rough budget - then this may help draw more ideas

 

[Eolas Álainn]

How techie do you want to get? More than happy to break down what you need to know

 

[YorkshireAndrew]

The laptop is for our son , I’m not allowed anywhere near a computer , either laptop or desk version so not sure what specifications or makes would best be suitable for him .

 

[Chris F]

An i5 or i7 Thinkpad with SSD would be my choice. I've been trying to pick up another one but the prices went up a lot during COVID.

 

[Blue.]

Don't buy a Toshiba! My newest one is crap,the keyboard has regular bouts of missing letters.

 

[JeepJeep]

Don't buy a Toshiba! My newest one is crap,the keyboard has regular bouts of missing letters.

I've always rated Toshiba's. Last one lasted 9 years or ran like a dream until it fell to bits.
Was never opened once on that time.
And it was hammered working all over out and about.

Got an 18month or so Old HP and it's just been opened for the 20th time under Warranty for various reasons mainly build quality... Got a refurbd Toshiba as back up machine so life can go on work wise.

 

[Blue.]

I've always rated Toshiba's. Last one lasted 9 years or ran like a dream until it fell to bits.
Was never opened once on that time.
And it was hammered working all over out and about.

Got an 18month or so Old HP and it's just been opened for the 20th time under Warranty for various reasons mainly build quality... Got a refurbd Toshiba as back up machine so life can go on work wise.

Bought another Toshiba because my old one was so good,still have old one and need it.

 

[Eolas Álainn]

The laptop is for our son , I’m not allowed anywhere near a computer , either laptop or desk version so not sure what specifications or makes would best be suitable for him .

Laptops are almost as powerful as desktops these days so the fact that they are mobile makes them more attractive to me! I saw i5 and i7s being mentioned above. These are for Windows (which would be my preference anyway, Macs are not as powerful and usually twice as expensive) but the trick to them is that they reuse i3, i5, i7 for their names but to differentiate them they call them by generations, first, second, third etc. I think the latest one is 9th or 10th. I currently have a i5 8th generation HP laptop and it's plenty powerful for what I need.

One other thing to look at is RAM. This is how your machine picks up different programs in its folders. Usually they are 4gb or 8gb. Assuming you're not doing any mad computer programs, 4gb RAM is plenty. You will also need to look at general memory. 200gb is minimal of what you will need. I've fluctuated personally between 350 and 600 and have never had issues with not having enough memory.

Another thing to bear in mind is graphics cards (assuming your son wants to game) this can really drive up the price but generally speaking if you cover the above bases, the graphics card will be decent but you won't be running any high end games without overheating your device.

I'd agree to stay away from Toshiba. I've had Lenovo, Acer and HP and all have served me well with HP probably being the best.

Any other clarifications, let me know!

 

[Pistonbroke]

Local firm got us a refurbished lenovo thinkpad i5 for £120 with 12 month warranty. It's ten times the build quality of my brothers HP

 

[topcat2006]

Budget?

Use?

Expected life?

 

[Ukjay]

The laptop is for our son , I’m not allowed anywhere near a computer , either laptop or desk version so not sure what specifications or makes would best be suitable for him .

Is it for Uni / College?

 

[Ukjay]

An i5 or i7 Thinkpad with SSD would be my choice. I've been trying to pick up another one but the prices went up a lot during COVID.

I like the think pads too, they are quite robust and dependent upon spec, are not overly pricey vs Macbook.
For me though, I just cannot get to grips with windows 10, and as such this is pushing me away from Windows systems against my personal views on Apple..

 

[spark plug]

I just cannot get to grips with windows 10, and as such this is pushing me away from Windows systems against my personal views on Apple..

For this exact reason I recently bought a MacBook and wondered why I didn’t do it years ago.

I didn’t go down this route lightly, I just can’t get on with Windows these days and things only seem to be getting worse.

 

[Storeman]

Laptops are almost as powerful as desktops these days so the fact that they are mobile makes them more attractive to me! I saw i5 and i7s being mentioned above. These are for Windows (which would be my preference anyway, Macs are not as powerful and usually twice as expensive) but the trick to them is that they reuse i3, i5, i7 for their names but to differentiate them they call them by generations, first, second, third etc. I think the latest one is 9th or 10th. I currently have a i5 8th generation HP laptop and it's plenty powerful for what I need.

One other thing to look at is RAM. This is how your machine picks up different programs in its folders. Usually they are 4gb or 8gb. Assuming you're not doing any mad computer programs, 4gb RAM is plenty. You will also need to look at general memory. 200gb is minimal of what you will need. I've fluctuated personally between 350 and 600 and have never had issues with not having enough memory.

Another thing to bear in mind is graphics cards (assuming your son wants to game) this can really drive up the price but generally speaking if you cover the above bases, the graphics card will be decent but you won't be running any high end games without overheating your device.

I'd agree to stay away from Toshiba. I've had Lenovo, Acer and HP and all have served me well with HP probably being the best.

Any other clarifications, let me know!

What on earth are you on about?
RAM is volatile system memory, general rule is the more you have the better.
And 8GB is now the minimum requirement. 4GB is not enough on a modern 64bit system.
No idea what you are on about with 200GB and also mentioning figures of 350GB and 600GB in terms of memory.
My guess is your are confusing RAM and drive storage space. The two are totally different things.

 

[Ukjay]

What on earth are you on about?
RAM is volatile system memory, general rule is the more you have the better.
And 8GB is now the minimum requirement. 4GB is not enough on a modern 64bit system.
No idea what you are on about with 200GB and also mentioning figures of 350GB and 600GB in terms of memory.
My guess is your are confusing RAM and drive storage space. The two are totally different things.

If you actually read his post, there was a full stop then this:

One other thing to look at is RAM. This is how your machine picks up different programs in its folders. Usually they are 4gb or 8gb. Assuming you're not doing any mad computer programs, 4gb RAM is plenty. You will also need to look at general memory. 200gb is minimal of what you will need. I've fluctuated personally between 350 and 600 and have never had issues with not having enough memory.

 

[Storeman]

If you actually read his post, there was a full stop then this:

I did actually read his post.
Hence wondering why he is talking about 100's of GB of memory. Highly unlikely to be using that amount unless you're involved in things like CFD. Especially after claiming 4GB is enough for most use.
As I said, I think he is talking about hard drive space in this case and not 'general memory'.

 

[Ukjay]

I did actually read his post.
Hence wondering why he is talking about 100's of GB of memory. Highly unlikely to be using that amount unless you're involved in things like CFD. Especially after claiming 4GB is enough for most use.
As I said, I think he is talking about hard drive space in this case and not 'general memory'.

Sadly, I fear you didn't, as it clearly states:

You will also need to look at general memory. 200gb is minimal of what you will need. I've fluctuated personally between 350 and 600 and have never had issues with not having enough memory.

Therefore he clearly distinguished the two, Ram and Storage, as I will assume on his post he knows if you take lots of videos and photos, you can easily use high GB of hard drive / SSD data storage space which in some countries, they call this memory, not hard drive / SSD space, as you then use the computers Memory to find said data.

It is not all about how we word things....

 

[Cowabunga]

If you actually read his post, there was a full stop then this:

4GB Random Access Memory just isn't enough. 8GB should be the minimum for any new computer and ideally 16GB. The difference adding another 8GB to my old computer's 4GB for a total of 12GB is absolutely obvious and almost amazing. I recently bought a new computer with 64GB RAM, which is about double what is sensible, but it doesn't add all that much to the price of the machine.
Then there's what is misleadingly called 'general memory' in the post above. This is actually long term storage memory. The 'hard drive'. 200GB is ridiculously low capacity and barely more than will hold the operating system let alone some music and photo files. Fine if you mainly compute in The Cloud, such as with a Chromebook, but otherwise, just no. Get at least 500GB of SSD storage. My new computer has four times that on-board, which is 2Terrabytes and has other drives attached externally for Photos, Backups and general storage for a total of 7TB. Since one of the RAID drives is on its last legs I'm shopping tomorrow for a 4TB drive to replace it, so will have 9TB in all. Your on-board drive should be an SSD in this day and age but it doesn't matter if the extra ones for backups and general storage are slower mechanical drives connected through USB3.1

Not evryone, by any means, needs the spec of machine I've got but when considering any new machine today I suggest starting with a Corei5 or i7 multicore with hyperthreading, 16GB RAM and at least a 400GB SSD drive. It should also have plenty of USB3.1 and a few USB C ports and an SD card reader. No need for an on-board optical disc drive, which is yesterday's technology. You can add one of those externally, connected to a fast USB port for about £15 later on if you really must.
Build on those basics.

Then there's the graphics. Another kettle of fish to think about. Get a good one, whatever that means. I have a mid-range graphics on my new computer, a Radeon Pro 580X with its own dedicated 8GB RAM [over and above the RAM of the main computer]. If a serious gamer then higher end graphics with 16GB RAM may be justified but expect to pay at least £400 extra for one of those.

Microsoft Windows is usually best for gamers. There are 'gaming machines' available but some have rather disappointing specs but lots of coloured lights and fancy coolers. Perhaps more important would be a gaming keyboard and joysticks, but I'm not into that kind of thing. My daughter's partner is though.

 

[Storeman]

Sadly, I fear you didn't, as it clearly states:



Therefore he clearly distinguished the two, Ram and Storage, as I will assume on his post he knows if you take lots of videos and photos, you can easily use high GB of hard drive / SSD data storage space which in some countries, they call this memory, not hard drive / SSD space, as you then use the computers Memory to find said data.

It is not all about how we word things....

Sigh, you're up to your usual tricks again then.
OK, i'm typing this slowly, maybe that will help you comprehend it.
At no point in his post does he distinguish between RAM and storage. He uses the terms memory and general memory. Just to be clear, once again, he doesn't mention storage.
They do not refer to drive storage as memory in some countries, as you incorrectly claim. It is either memory or storage. The only times the terms are used interchangeably are when people who don't know what they are talking about try to give advice. And those who try to make excuses for them.
Of course it's about how we word things, you can't have clear, understandable communication if the wrong words are used.

Countdown to you coming back with more drivel in 3...2...1...