Affordable laptop recommendations: budget £350-£450

[editor]

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'.

I'd give this one a good look. It's fantastic value for £350. There's a thread here about it here.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/asus-transformer-book-t100_Tablet_review

 

[Chz]

Good buy, but not an "Ultrabook". Not even close.

Addendum: It's too slow and too thick to meet Intel's standards (Intel owns the term), but it's a pretty good little convertible laptop anyhow.

 

[Onket]

I'd give this one a good look. It's fantastic value for £350. There's a thread here about it here.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/asus-transformer-book-t100_Tablet_review

Apologies for not knowing much about this kind of technology, but is this a decent replacement for a laptop? or is it more of a mid-stage thingm between a laptop and a tablet.

'We' have already got a tablet, and need to replace the knackered laptop. So this machine will be the thing photos go on, job apps etc get typed on, we will use skype on and music gets streamed from.

Can it do those things? £350 is a good price if so.

 

[Chz]

You might want an external disk for photos and music, because the internal storage is quite limited. Aside from that, it's perfectly capable of that sort of lightweight stuff.

It is primarily designed as a tablet first and laptop second though. You compromise certain things to get small and light. The CPU is slow, though fast enough for the tasks you mention. Ram is 2GB and not upgradeable. Storage is quite limited. 10" keyboards (of any sort, not just the T100's) are not comfortable to use for long sessions. So long as small and light at a price is appealing to you, there's not much that competes with it. If you don't need small and light (or have a bundle to spend), there are better options.

 

[Onket]

Thanks Chz, we don't need small and light.

 

[editor]

Good buy, but not an "Ultrabook". Not even close.

It's close enough for some people to describe it thus and I imagine most punters would be happy enough with its diminutive proportions given the price.

The CPU is easily powerful enough for just about all everyday functions (you can run Photoshop on it) and I'd disagree that it's a tablet first and laptop second. As someone who owns the Android version of this, it's most definitely a laptop first for me and the keyboard is fine for my use (which is a lot, seeing as I'm a writer). And of course you get Office bundled in. It's a remarkable package.

 

[Chz]

My point was that "Ultrabook" is a trademarked term owned by Intel. It does not measure up to the specs. It's too fat and much too slow.

And it would be silly to blow a Creative Suite license on a screen like that, regardless of whether it is or isn't capable of running it. Photoshop costs more than the laptop!

Agreed that the Office bundle makes it an incredible value.

 

[editor]

My point was that "Ultrabook" is a trademarked term owned by Intel. It does not measure up to the specs. It's too fat and much too slow.

And it would be silly to blow a Creative Suite license on a screen like that, regardless of whether it is or isn't capable of running it. Photoshop costs more than the laptop!

Agreed that the Office bundle makes it an incredible value.

I suspect most punters have no idea about the 'ownership' of the ultrabook name and this machine will most likely be considerably lighter and thinner than whatever machine they had before. I've run Photoshop on smaller machines before because sometimes only a small machine is practical.

 

[Chz]

I suspect most punters think "Ultrabook" = Macbook Air. It is around 60% of Ultrabook sales.

 

[Hassan I Sabha]

I'd give this one a good look. It's fantastic value for £350. There's a thread here about it here.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/asus-transformer-book-t100_Tablet_review

It is £329 at Currys online at the moment, I am just worried about the screen size. We have a Dell Netbook at the moment we have had for about 4 years and I was looking for something with a bigger screen. I think I will have to go and see one in the flesh, and take my wife as well to check she can cope with the small screen as she is always moaning about the size of the Netbook screen (as well as the speed).

Interested in any other recommendations that others may have.

 

[editor]

It is £329 at Currys online at the moment, I am just worried about the screen size. We have a Dell Netbook at the moment we have had for about 4 years and I was looking for something with a bigger screen. I think I will have to go and see one in the flesh, and take my wife as well to check she can cope with the small screen as she is always moaning about the size of the Netbook screen (as well as the speed).

Interested in any other recommendations that others may have.

The larger screened Lenovos are always worth a look too.

 

[Onket]

It is £329 at Currys online at the moment, I am just worried about the screen size. We have a Dell Netbook at the moment we have had for about 4 years and I was looking for something with a bigger screen. I think I will have to go and see one in the flesh, and take my wife as well to check she can cope with the small screen as she is always moaning about the size of the Netbook screen (as well as the speed).

Interested in any other recommendations that others may have.

Me too. I think having an actual look may be the only way.

Screens that are too small, and keyboards that are too small, are too small.

 

[gracious]

my brilliant and everso reliable thinkpad r61 is finally giving up after 5 years of heavy, continuous and super reliable use. i am sad, its been just right for my needs (mainly doing statistical modelling, internetting, travelling, working and generally never failing when i needed it). someone here recommended it to me in 2008/2009 ish. can someone tell me what to get now to replace it. i basically want more of the same.....

would be immensely grateful.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

my brilliant and everso reliable thinkpad r61 is finally giving up after 5 years of heavy, continuous and super reliable use. i am sad, its been just right for my needs (mainly doing statistical modelling, internetting, travelling, working and generally never failing when i needed it). someone here recommended it to me in 2008/2009 ish. can someone tell me what to get now to replace it. i basically want more of the same.....

would be immensely grateful.

I picked up a second hand T400 recently on ebay for £150. For a bit more you can get an more up to date model. Obviously second hand, but as you know corporate lenovo's are very very sturdy, something you wont get on a £400 new consumer level machine.

 

[scifisam]

I recently bought this for less than the ultrabook above, which I don't think is a good suggestion for when you actually want a laptop and already have a tablet. It's working fine so far; Windows 8 is going to take a lot of getting used to, but that's inevitable unless you go for Ubuntu or Linux. 8gig ram, pentium quad core, 750gig ram (not huge, but I'll use an external hard drive). Pretty good video, etc. Don't know about the battery life yet, but tbh I'm always going to be next to a plug socket when using it.

 

[Chz]

Jeez, Intel's getting cheeky branding Atoms as Pentiums. How many people would know the dual core is faster than the quad?

 

[scifisam]

Jeez, Intel's getting cheeky branding Atoms as Pentiums. How many people would know the dual core is faster than the quad?

Oh, is that why it's so cheap then? It's still very good spec for the price.

 

[Chz]

It is, but the Atom is an acceptable performance level for a lot of things these days. The gap between supercharged netbook and low end laptop is getting pretty small.

 

[editor]

This looks to be a very interesting machine. Consider me tempted!

Lenovo has announced its business-focussed ThinkPad 10, an attractive and flexible 10-inch tablet running the 64-bit Windows 8.1 operating system.

The tablet comes with a slew of handy accessories, including an optional stylus and two add-on keyboards, both with a trackpad and QWERTY layout.

Based on Intel’s quad-core Atom Z3795 processor, the ThinkPad 10 runs 64-bit versions of Windows 8.1 and Windows 8.1 Pro, so you’ll be able to run full Windows programs like Photoshop and Office.

The machine is equipped with a 10.1-inch IPS display with a native resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels, supporting 10 touch points.

Full pen support comes as an option, courtesy of an active Wacom digitizer, and the 8.95mm thin tablet includes WiFi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth, optional LTE/HSPA+, plus a Micro HDMI port, full-sized USB 2.0 and a microSD card slot for additional storage.

Pricing starts from $599, keyboard is $129.
http://www.wirefresh.com/lenovo-unv...board-accessories-running-64-bit-windows-8-1/

 

[Chz]

I'd wait and see what Microsoft pulls out with the Surface 3 tomorrow. In the past, they felt an Atom wasn't powerful enough for it, but there's a good chance that this time the regular Surface is an Atom-powered device running a full Windows suite (bye-bye WinRT!), with the Pro being some sort of i5 again.

 

[editor]

I'd wait and see what Microsoft pulls out with the Surface 3 tomorrow. In the past, they felt an Atom wasn't powerful enough for it, but there's a good chance that this time the regular Surface is an Atom-powered device running a full Windows suite (bye-bye WinRT!), with the Pro being some sort of i5 again.

I'd be interested in the Surface 3 if it could double up as something approaching a proper laptop-like device, but that current 'folding leg' configuration does not please me.

 

[scifisam]

This looks to be a very interesting machine. Consider me tempted!

Pricing starts from $599, keyboard is $129.
http://www.wirefresh.com/lenovo-unv...board-accessories-running-64-bit-windows-8-1/

Why do you keep recommending this sort of thing in a thread about laptops?

 

[editor]

Why do you keep recommending this sort of thing in a thread about laptops?

Let me see. It runs Windows 8.1 and has a keyboard and has almost all of the same features as a regular laptop. So I'd say it will function perfectly well as a laptop for most users.

 

[scifisam]

Let me see. It runs Windows 8.1 and has a keyboard and has almost all of the same features as a regular laptop. So I'd say it will function perfectly well as a laptop for most users.

It has a tiny keyboard, a tiny memory and its features are not the same as laptops in the same price range. If people want a tablet that can easily connect to a keyboard, that's fine, but they probably won't be looking on a laptop thread.

 

[editor]

It has a tiny keyboard, a tiny memory and its features are not the same as laptops in the same price range. If people want a tablet that can easily connect to a keyboard, that's fine, but they probably won't be looking on a laptop thread.

I'm looking for a laptop in this price range and this machine interest me. It has enough power and features to satisfy the average, non techie user.

 

[scifisam]

I'm looking for a laptop in this price range and this machine interest me. It has enough power and features to satisfy the average, non techie user.

Really? Why wouldn't you just buy an actual laptop that had better specs? You already have a tablet, I think, from previous threads. This seems more like a tablet that happens to click onto a keyboard quite well.

 

[editor]

Really? Why wouldn't you just buy an actual laptop that had better specs? You already have a tablet, I think, from previous threads. This seems more like a tablet that happens to click onto a keyboard quite well.

Amazingly, some people prefer to interact with laptops in different ways and some people - like me - may prefer to have something with a touchscreen and a removable screen and a proper keyboard.

Just because you're not interested, don't assume that others think the same as you.

 

[scifisam]

Amazingly, some people prefer to interact with laptops in different ways and some people - like me - may prefer to have something with a touchscreen and a removable screen and a proper keyboard.

Just because you're not interested, don't assume that others think the same as you.

Weeeell, maybe, but I don't think many people do actually have the same specs as you, sorry, ed. Given that you already have a decent tablet, and I presume a decent desktop, why do you want this hybrid? Genuine question.

 

[editor]

Weeeell, maybe, but I don't think many people do actually have the same specs as you, sorry, ed. Given that you already have a decent tablet, and I presume a decent desktop, why do you want this hybrid? Genuine question.

For various reasons, I want a machine for travelling that has a great battery life, a decent enough keyboard and something that can run Photoshop and other full Windows apps.

 

[Chz]

Scifisam, I think you and I would agree on what an "appropriate" laptop would be. But surely you can see the appeal of something like this? I would never buy it, but I can rattle off a long list of people who would be happy with it.

Personally, I fit into "I have a desktop, and I have a very good phone. I don't actually need anything in-between them because between them they cover everything." But I have a laptop that work gives me and so I find it very interesting to look at this stuff. Plus my wife gets by with cheap-assed phone plus rather nice laptop and I need to look out for her needs.