Affordable laptop recommendations: budget £350-£450

[TremulousTetra]

Reliability. The bloody asus was a lemon literally from week one, when it wouldn't switch on one day, and I had to send it back. Then, a catalogue of minor faults (docking station stopped charging; headphone jack died after about tenth use; a bit just snapped off the three pin plug when I put it down on a tiled floor; bits of the screen beading keep breaking off; one of the interior catches on the docking station just fell off...) I use it every day but I'm not rough and it's never been dropped or wet. It's only left the house twice in just over a year! The last two days it's been fussy about recognising either of my chargers - power supply is a common problem, over on the transformer forums. I bought yet another fucking charger (they're not cheap), because apparently that can do the trick. It didn't. Transformer is now a brick.

Reliability, from my experience you cannot be a Lenovo. Something like the ThinkPad. Thoughts of second-hand?

By the way,
on theLenovo website help forums, somewhere it has a link to little official Lenovo videos that show you how to replace the keyboard, screen, memory, hard drive etc. My daughter pulled one of the keys off her keyboard, managed to get a cheap US Chinese source keyboard for £15. She did to repair herself watching the video.

 

[spanglechick]

Reliability, from my experience you cannot be a Lenovo. Something like the ThinkPad. Thoughts of second-hand?

By the way,
on theLenovo website help forums, somewhere it has a link to little official Lenovo videos that show you how to replace the keyboard, screen, memory, hard drive etc. My daughter pulled one of the keys off her keyboard, managed to get a cheap US Chinese source keyboard for £15. She did to repair herself watching the video.

Needs to be from John Lewis, a) because I have vouchers, and b) because they do a two year warranty and aren't pissy about it, apparently.


So thinking Lenovo s210 touch, but then wondered about the Lenovo G505s, which is reduced by £150, making it £399. Obv, that's not cheap, but is it worth it considering the big reduction?

 

[yield]

The Lenovo G505s is a great laptop for £400.

 

[editor]

The Lenovo G505s is a great laptop for £400.

Yep. Excellent machine, although it's got to be a touchscreen for me these days.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

Reliability, from my experience you cannot be a Lenovo. Something like the ThinkPad. Thoughts of second-hand?

I've had a T400 for a couple of months now and am a total convert. Cost £150 from ebay, almost mint with a six month guarantee.

The CPU is quite old by today's standards, but a fast Core 2 Duo isn't going to bottleneck anything I do. It's got 4gb and a legit version of Windows 7. The keyboard is best I've owned on a laptop and maybe even the best I've used on a portable machine. The 9 cell battery gives me 3+hours of use, which I wasn't expecting on a second hand laptop, but replaced should give 6+

When I've got a few more pennies I'm going to replace the hard drive with a small SSD and the DVD Drive with a larger mechanical hard drive, which is quite hard on lots of laptops, but should give the best of both worlds.

The main downside for some people will be the lack of HDMI, but doesn't bother me as I have a desktop for the TV.

 

[TremulousTetra]

I've had a T400 for a couple of months now and am a total convert. Cost £150 from ebay, almost mint with a six month guarantee.

The CPU is quite old by today's standards, but a fast Core 2 Duo isn't going to bottleneck anything I do. It's got 4gb and a legit version of Windows 7. The keyboard is best I've owned on a laptop and maybe even the best I've used on a portable machine. The 9 cell battery gives me 3+hours of use, which I wasn't expecting on a second hand laptop, but replaced should give 6+

When I've got a few more pennies I'm going to replace the hard drive with a small SSD and the DVD Drive with a larger mechanical hard drive, which is quite hard on lots of laptops, but should give the best of both worlds.

The main downside for some people will be the lack of HDMI, but doesn't bother me as I have a desktop for the TV.

my wife and daughter also have Lenovo 3000 n500, one of which used to be mine, which are both about 6 years old, with HDMI so I can watch the football from http://news-source.tv on my television for about £30 a year :-D


And yes, even though I used speech recognition, I can tell the keyboard is very good.

 

[ShiftyBagLady]

The Lenovo G505s is a great laptop for £400.

I got ShiftyJunior one of these and it's really pretty good. Seems massive to me though.

 

[spanglechick]

I got ShiftyJunior one of these and it's really pretty good. Seems massive to me though.

Yeah, I dunno if I want a full-sized lappy.

 

[ShiftyBagLady]

Yeah, I dunno if I want a full-sized lappy.

It's pretty heavy, I'm not sure I'd want to carry it around all day.
I had a HP Notebook and while it died pretty quickly I didnt find the size of it too bad for basic word processing and surfing.

 

[spanglechick]

It's pretty heavy, I'm not sure I'd want to carry it around all day.
I had a HP Notebook and while it died pretty quickly I didnt find the size of it too bad for basic word processing and surfing.

It's not that I need to carry it with me much, but it's more laying in bed in a range of comfy positions that make it hard to balance a big laptop.

 

[purenarcotic]

So, I bought a new laptop for Kidda but it's a bit rubbish, feels quite clunky and within an hour of being out of the packaging has crashed five times. I want to take it back to the shop and swap it but I'm not really sure what to swap it to. I've had a look online at reviews but there's so many it feels like a minefield, so hoping urban can give some personal recommendations.

The man at PC World said this was an excellent laptop, lying cunt.

It would be used mainly for web browsing, word processing, watching netflix etc. Would like it to be as fast as possible, 15 inch screen and not to crash less than hour after buying.

 

[editor]

It would be used mainly for web browsing, word processing, watching netflix etc. Would like it to be as fast as possible, 15 inch screen and not to crash less than hour after buying.

What was this cataclysmic laptop?

 

[purenarcotic]

What was this cataclysmic laptop?

An Acer v5-552

 

[spanglechick]

I got a lenovo 505s laptop just after xmas. you can pick one up for less than £400 - though the standard price at john lewis etc is around £500.

it has a hybrid hard drive - so a small amount of solid state drive for my most regularly used programmes and then a standard hard drive for documents and files. I LOVE it. I struggled away with a tablet/laptop hybrid for 14 months which was such shit build quality and was alos a lemon from day one. That was an asus (though as with all brands, most people have no problems with them).

Anyway, this is ace. A full size laptop is a bit cumbersome and the battery life doesn't compare to a tablet... but otherwise it feels like travelling first class after a year in economy. (I imagine. I've never travelled first class).

 

[purenarcotic]

KIdda likes the look of the white Sony Vaio Fit 15 E. Seems to get okay reviews but I dunno if the relatively low Ghz would be a problem. She uses my old macbook pro at the moment which has 2.2 or 2.4 GHz with 4GB of RAM (bought August 2008). Would there be a noticeable difference in speed? editor - any thoughts on the Vaio range?

God this is so confusing.

 

[Chz]

It would be faster than the Macbook. Not by a lot, but architectural advances have made up for the clock speed difference and then some.

 

[fenchief]

the first generation ultrabooks are running pretty cheap these days. Great machines that can do anything short of heavy gaming and video editing.

 

[editor]

Anyway, this is ace. A full size laptop is a bit cumbersome and the battery life doesn't compare to a tablet... but otherwise it feels like travelling first class after a year in economy. (I imagine. I've never travelled first class).

I now you had a miserable time with your Asus, but if you're still wanting to use it, a factory reset makes an almighty difference and reinstalling everything doesn't take much time at all.

 

[editor]

KIdda likes the look of the white Sony Vaio Fit 15 E. Seems to get okay reviews but I dunno if the relatively low Ghz would be a problem. She uses my old macbook pro at the moment which has 2.2 or 2.4 GHz with 4GB of RAM (bought August 2008). Would there be a noticeable difference in speed? editor - any thoughts on the Vaio range?

God this is so confusing.

It seems a pretty good offering:

The 15.5in touchscreen means you don’t need to rely solely on the touchpad. Flicking, pinching and swiping through Windows 8 works brilliantly, and the sheer ease of navigation meant we often forgot the touchpad was even there. And, while the wide bezel might not look pretty, it ensures edge-swipes are easy to activate with the flick of a finger.

Image quality is average, though. The 1,366 x 768 panel isn’t particularly bright, reaching a maximum of only 186cd/m2. Colour accuracy isn’t stunning either, but this manages to reproduce a wider range of colours than many budget laptops we've seen, and our test photos weren’t as washed out and pale as a result.

Sony has delivered a solid all-round budget laptop, and the ability to tailor the specification of the VAIO Fit 15E to any budget is welcome. The build quality could be improved, but with good performance, plenty of features and a usable touchscreen for only £549, this laptop is worth considering.

Read more: Sony VAIO Fit 15E review | PC Pro http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/laptops/384214/sony-vaio-fit-15e#ixzz2sLkpDUru

 

[strung out]

I've been helping my sister buy a Chromebook, and she eventually went for the HP 14 version for £249. It arrived today, so I've been having a little play with it, and on first impressions it's absolutely fantastic.

I'm sure she'll find the odd thing it can't do and that she'll have to boot up her old piece of crap for, but as a general internet, social and entertainment laptop, and for light work based things, it's brilliant.

 

[editor]

I've been helping my sister buy a Chromebook, and she eventually went for the HP 14 version for £249. It arrived today, so I've been having a little play with it, and on first impressions it's absolutely fantastic.

I'm sure she'll find the odd thing it can't do and that she'll have to boot up her old piece of crap for, but as a general internet, social and entertainment laptop, and for light work based things, it's brilliant.

I'm half tempted to get a Chromebook for my writing work. I like the idea of something that is cheap, super fast and super simple to operate - and thus give me less reason to get distracted by fiddling about with apps and settings.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

She uses my old macbook pro at the moment which has 2.2 or 2.4 GHz with 4GB of RAM (bought August 2008). Would there be a noticeable difference in speed?

Will that model run the latest version of OSX? If so, it might be worth getting an SSD for it.

Edit - a quick Google seems to suggest it will be fine. Bung a solid state drive in it an it will run a lot faster.

 

[spanglechick]

I now you had a miserable time with your Asus, but if you're still wanting to use it, a factory reset makes an almighty difference and reinstalling everything doesn't take much time at all.

I can't do anything to it. It won't accept a charge so you can't switch it on.

 

[editor]

I can't do anything to it. It won't accept a charge so you can't switch it on.

That is odd. This checklist may help http://www.transformerforums.com/fo...de-so-your-transformer-won-t-charge-boot.html

 

[spanglechick]

That is odd. This checklist may help http://www.transformerforums.com/fo...de-so-your-transformer-won-t-charge-boot.html

I did all of that and was a very regular and avid reader of those forums in the final few months. I did do the full system reboot a couple of times in the last day or so, but I think it was a hardware issue.

 

[editor]

I did all of that and was a very regular and avid reader of those forums in the final few months. I did do the full system reboot a couple of times in the last day or so, but I think it was a hardware issue.

It's under two years old isn't it? Mail it back to Asus!

 

[spanglechick]

It's under two years old isn't it? Mail it back to Asus!

Is their warranty 2 years?

I'm a bit worried that they'll say it was misused - since despite it only having been used in the house, ridiculous amounts of shit (bezel strips, hinge catches) kept breaking off. But at this point i've nothing to lose.

 

[editor]

Is their warranty 2 years?

I'm a bit worried that they'll say it was misused - since despite it only having been used in the house, ridiculous amounts of shit (bezel strips, hinge catches) kept breaking off. But at this point i've nothing to lose.

I'd give it a go, although you should have perhaps got in touch when things started to first go awry.

Two-year guarantee
Wherever you buy goods in the EU, you have two years to request repairs or replacement if they turn out to be faulty or not as advertised. If a product cannot be repaired or replaced within a reasonable time or without inconvenience, you may request a refund or price reduction.

The two-year guarantee period starts as soon as your goods are delivered, and you must inform the seller of the fault within two months of discovering it.

http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/shopping/shopping-abroad/guarantees/index_en.htm

 

[Chz]

The trick with that is if your vendor is being a shit about it, you have to prove that the fault existed at the time of purchase. The EU guarantee doesn't cover anything that happens after that. I had a long bitchfest at Lenovo about this. They did give in in the end, for what it's worth.

 

[Hassan I Sabha]

Is it possible to get an ultrabook for under £500 at all. I have had some PPI money back so looking for a nice laptop, but a nice light laptop to keep my wife happy as she does not want a 'big heavy laptop'.