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Affordable laptop recommendations: budget £350-£450

Small, light, cheap. Not very powerful, to be fair, but it isn't an Atom or ARM or AMD low-power processor so it can handle most tasks decently. Probably as powerful as you're going to get in an 11.6" form factor without dropping a small fortune. I'd say the one major drawback of this and all Lenovos is a crummy touchpad, but the screen is touch so who cares?
Lenovo IdeaPad S210
 
My mum took a vacuum cleaner to her old laptop yesterday. She broke the keyboard and it's a rubbish laptop so I'm getting a new one for her. I'm seeing her this weekend and I hope to bring it with me. Budget is around £350.

This Sony Vaio 15.5" is on sale at my local PC World for £350 - does anyone know if it's any good? http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/lapto...521a1ew-cek-15-laptop-white-21350484-pdt.html

Any recommendations also greatly appreciated. It will have to come from a store (Argos, PC World) so I can get it in time.

The laptop just needs to work well and be responsive. No need for a big drive or graphic capabilities. She's getting old so perhaps a slightly larger one may suit, but without being very heavy is good.

I think the Sony fits the bill but if anyone has any other recommendations which will help my mum out I'd be grateful.

Ta.

Edited to add that I'm a bit concerned that Windows 8 will be a problem for her but I think she'll be able to work it out.
 
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Chz said:
Small, light, cheap. Not very powerful, to be fair, but it isn't an Atom or ARM or AMD low-power processor so it can handle most tasks decently. Probably as powerful as you're going to get in an 11.6" form factor without dropping a small fortune. I'd say the one major drawback of this and all Lenovos is a crummy touchpad, but the screen is touch so who cares?
Lenovo IdeaPad S210
Click to expand...
Right. I have some John Lewis vouchers and that makes it a straight choice between this and the asus editor recommended. I'm going for the Lenovo. Just can't bring myself to take on another asus machine.

Now, am I going to have to buy ms office separately? (Again, OpenOffice etc are no good for my formatting-heavy purposes). How much will I likely pay? Am I right in thinking there's a cheaper "education / student" version.
 
FWIW the big company I used to work for issued Lenovos to their staff - they're pretty sturdy workhorses. You'll probably get a trial copy of Office free with it. It's £110 for a one computer home/student installation
 
trashpony said:
FWIW the big company I used to work for issued Lenovos to their staff - they're pretty sturdy workhorses. You'll probably get a trial copy of Office free with it. It's £110 for a one computer home/student installation
Click to expand...
Blimey, really? Shit. Suppose that'll have to wait a couple of paydays.

Edit - thx, btw
 
Chz said:
Small, light, cheap. Not very powerful, to be fair, but it isn't an Atom or ARM or AMD low-power processor so it can handle most tasks decently. Probably as powerful as you're going to get in an 11.6" form factor without dropping a small fortune. I'd say the one major drawback of this and all Lenovos is a crummy touchpad, but the screen is touch so who cares?
Lenovo IdeaPad S210
Click to expand...

that's a bargain!
 
This would be my first choice. It's an absolute bargain for £350. Comes with Office installed too.

t100-promo.jpg


The Asus Transformer Book T100 is a tablet that leaves out frilly features in order to bring the Transformer form to Windows with zero impact on cost. And what has resulted is a bit of a hit. If a tablet-laptop Windows hybrid is what you’re after, you can’t do any better at the price.
Click to expand...

http://www.trustedreviews.com/asus-transformer-book-t100_Tablet_review
 
In this particular case, the fact that it comes with Office Home (a £95 value) makes it appealing.

If it weren't for that, it only has the form factor going for it. If you want a tablet, it's great - best value for money out there. If you could care less, it's weak sauce compared to the others. Less CPU, less RAM, not especially smaller/lighter in laptop form. You could argue it has an SSD instead of magnetic disk, but 64GB gets real small, real fast. I think it's a brilliant second device.
 
Chz said:
In this particular case, the fact that it comes with Office Home (a £95 value) makes it appealing.

If it weren't for that, it only has the form factor going for it. If you want a tablet, it's great - best value for money out there. If you could care less, it's weak sauce compared to the others. Less CPU, less RAM, not especially smaller/lighter in laptop form. You could argue it has an SSD instead of magnetic disk, but 64GB gets real small, real fast. I think it's a brilliant second device.
Click to expand...
It'll be fine for just about all everyday duties, and I'd argue that the versatility - and its extremely cheap price - make it a very good buy for a laptop. It's got a superb battery life (9+ hours) and the addition of Office makes it even more of a bargain. It's just made the PC Pro 'A' list too.
As for the Transformer Book T100 itself, it’s everything you could ask from a compact, go-anywhere hybrid, and it’s ludicrously affordable. Snap one up while you can – we predict these will sell out fast.
Click to expand...
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/laptops/385585/asus-transformer-book-t100
 
I don't contest that it's a great convertible. But if you only need a laptop, especially as your only device, it lags behind others considerably. 2GB of RAM and 30GB of free storage does not make for a comfortable device when it's all you've got. There are phones better than that.
 
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editor said:
Good luck typing on a phone.
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I doubt it's much harder on a Note 3 than it is on this in tablet mode. And if you're not using it as a tablet (which is my point here, if you're following along), it's severely lacking. It's a nifty piece of tech, it's just most certainly not for everyone.

I agree with you on the real work thing. An Asus Eee can be used for real work. You might prefer to use something else given a choice, though. I actually wouldn't normally even recommend the 11.6" laptop to someone looking for an Office device, except that small was specifically requested. Keyboards under 13" get nasty.
 
Chz said:
I doubt it's much harder on a Note 3 than it is on this in tablet mode. And if you're not using it as a tablet (which is my point here, if you're following along), it's severely lacking.
Click to expand...
This thread is asking for cheap laptop recommendations, and I'd put the Transformer right up there with one of the best laptops available for the price. The fact that it doubles up as a tablet is a bonus. What is supposedly "severely lacking" for a £350 laptop?

Have you ever actually used one, by the way?
 
I've used its predecessor yes. Lovely tool.

I already pointed out what's severely lacking, but I'll be generous:

As a laptop, for £350, you can get double the RAM, 8x the storage and roughly 50% more CPU power in a package that's roughly the same size and weight.

There is no such thing as a convertible without trade-offs. Can't be done, not even the Yoga is all things to all people and it costs 4x as much.

I have no problem with the device. I think it's nifty. I do question blind devotion though, and you're always blathering on about the Transformer series.
 
Chz said:
I've used its predecessor yes.
Click to expand...
What predecessor? This is the first Asus Transformer Windows 8 machine. And - to repeat myself for the last time - it will happily fulfill most users everyday needs at this price point.

My £800 Lenovo ThinkPad has barely been touched since I bought the Android Transformer, so I'm definitely equipped to comment on how useful and productive these things can be.
 
I mean the Android one. And I'm using that as a base point for them being nice. If I hadn't actually used one of those, the construction would've put me off; but I use that as a source for Asus being able to make something solid, even if it does look cheap. I'm not using it as a performance reference, because it can't be used as one.

it will happily fulfill most users everyday needs at this price point.
Click to expand...
I've had better machines literally thrown back at me in disgust.

Though those people were twats, so it's hard to use that as a valid reference. :) You're looking at a configuration that was bottom of the heap 2 years ago and I think you just have to accept that while it's suitable for some things, it just won't be for others. I've got Excel spreadsheets that would make that thing start swapping to disk after the first three operations. I really think Asus could've at least splurged and give us 4GB of memory.
 
Well, I'm done. I'll just finish by saying that an awful lot of reviewers share my opinion that the Asus is an excellent machine that represents fantastic value, and it's capable of performing all the tasks the average user may need it for. I'd certainly consider it if I was on that kind of budget.

The Transformer Book T100 is really the Wintel camp’s answer to the Chromebook onslaught. Compared to the traditional entry-level PCs out there, the T100 really is a breath of fresh air. You get an IPS panel, great battery life and modern WiFi all in a package that can work as both a notebook and a tablet.

The system is responsive and predictable in its performance thanks to the use of solid state storage. While there isn’t a full blown SSD inside, the eMMC solution is clearly better for light consumer workloads than a mechanical disk. Solid performance from the rear facing speakers and excellent portability round out the T100’s package.

If I had to compare it to what you’d normally expect to get from a $349/$399 Windows PC, I’d say the Transformer Book T100 is a clear winner.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7428/asus-transformer-book-t100-review/6
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And I could quote the equal amount of space given to its downsides from the exact same review if I felt like being a pedant, Ed. Particularly how it's not great as a laptop and can only handle a light load. The review you're quoting actually says exactly the point I'm pushing - that if you want a tablet that can double as a laptop in a pinch, it's fairly unbeatable. If your workload is demanding a traditional laptop then you may want to shop around.

I'd consider it too, but I don't do anything other than fart about on a personal laptop. If they handed those out at work, there'd be mutiny.
 
Chz said:
I'd consider it too, but I don't do anything other than fart about on a personal laptop. If they handed those out at work, there'd be mutiny.
Click to expand...
What happens at your weirdly mutinous workplace really is totally irrelevant here, you know.
 
Chz said:
Oddly enough, no-one likes typing all day long on a 10" keyboard.
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How many average users in the market for a cheap laptop are going to spend 'all day long' typing, do you think?

If the thread request was, "what's the best laptop for writing on all day long," I certainly wouldn't be recommending the Asus. But it wasn't, so my recommendation stays.
 
Asus can be had for £299 at John Lewis. With £25 appstore card.

Been looking for a tablet/laptop for the mrs so I think that's my Xmas shopping finished. (albeit she'll have to wait until Friday for it:oops:).
 
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