Laptops

[cruiser2]

I am thinking of buying a laptop.
Anybody got one and which would you recommend?
I only want it for emails, web browsing, photo and video editing.
Will not be playing games on it. Am thinking a 14 inch screen will be big enough as I will be taking it on holiday.
Should I buy a new one or get a good refurbished one. There are several local shops which sell them.

[Workingman]

Cruiser, when it comes to manufacturers all the known ones are much of a muchness - Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Toshiba and so on - it comes down to personal choice.

It is a little different with the hardware spec, but being practical is a good guide. For what you describe you do not need multi-tens of GB RAM, high-end multi-core CPU, Spot-on perfect graphics and a 3TB HDD. However, you will need USB ports and probably an Ethernet and HDMI one as well. Wi-Fi will most likely be standard. Do you want/need a CD/DVD drive?

E-mails, browsing, word processing and tarting up a few photos and videos can all be done on mid-range machines. I do all of those on an Acer with 8GB RAM, 750GB HDD Intel i5 with 17" screen. I also watch DVDs and live Freeview TV without any problems.

The spec I just gave is more than enough with a 13-15" screen, but stay away from Celeron processors or anything below AMD A6. Set out your stall of what you need, then set a rough budget and go searching. For piece of mind I would go new rather than refurbished.

[Suff]

Hi Cruiser,

The problem I see here is the video editing. As an owner of two AMD systems, one fusion and one desktop, I can say without a shadow of a doubt, don't touch AMD laptops if you want to do anything other than surf the web.

In your place I would go for a corei5. The i3 systems (Mrs S has my old one), simply doesn't have the grunt to do what you want in a reasonable time and you are only going to pay about £100 more for the i5 in the long run.

Looking at your options, I'd say that this Lenovo system fits pretty much everything you want. The 128gb SSD is a touch small for any kind of heavy use, but should be fine for travelling and ad lesser use. It will be very quick too, SSD to HDD is incomparable.

I did look at some of the others but one thing this machine has is dedicated Radeon graphics. Radeon graphics are much faster for video editing than Nvidia as they are more general purpose. The rest of the machines on offer seem to be pretty much onboard graphics on the cpu and whilst it's OK on the i5, it's nothing to write home about.

The Lenovo yoga's get a good write up usually but checking is always wise.

[cruiser2]

Suff & WM,
Just to let you know I have taken the plunge and got a laptop. It is Dell
It is from a local computer shop. Refurbished and upgraded with a new battery.
It will be worth keeping for a couple of years at least and I can take it back locally if anything goes wrong.
Looked at new ones but most of them are 15 inch. This is only 13 inch and will be easier to take on holiday.
Have got to set it up wirelesly so I can use it downstairs.

[Suff]

Hi Cruiser,

Well it's whatever works really. You might have found that smaller bezel 14" new laptops actually have the same or even smaller footprint than an older 13" dell though. Worth looking at in a few years.

You can always upgrade the HDD to a SSD for around £60 if you find the HDD too slow.

I hope it works for you.

[cruiser2]

Suff & WM,
So far I find it is just what I want. Will definitly keep it a couple of years. By then there will be more improvements and I will get a more modern one.
Thanks for your advice

[Suff]

Perfect Cruiser,

That's all you ever need. I never advise my father on what I would buy and I never even try to advise Mrs S except where what she wants simply won't do what she needs.

Enjoy. I hope it meets all your needs.

[Workingman]

As Suff says, and just to add, if any of you find a decent computer store, stick with them as you would a plumber, garage or decorator - they need you as much as you need them.