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Affordable laptop recommendations: budget £350-£450

Red Cat said:
So, it seems that 16gb of ram means a big jump in price, a lot of the affordable ones are sold out on various sites I've looked at, or else there's a compromise elsewhere. Is 8gb enough? Is it easy to add more in any laptop or just some?

I've used a chromebook for years, so I don't know.
Click to expand...
8 is enough for most things, so I'd recommend doing some research into whether the RAM is upgradeable on the model you're looking at. Then you can always put it up to 16 if it's proving insufficient. When the stuff is on sale (keep an eye on HUKD) it's only about £30 for 16GB of laptop memory. And that assumes you have to replace the single slot - some lucky laptops have two slots and you can just buy another 8.
 
Chz said:
8 is enough for most things, so I'd recommend doing some research into whether the RAM is upgradeable on the model you're looking at. Then you can always put it up to 16 if it's proving insufficient. When the stuff is on sale (keep an eye on HUKD) it's only about £30 for 16GB of laptop memory. And that assumes you have to replace the single slot - some lucky laptops have two slots and you can just buy another 8.
Click to expand...
I thought they always filled the slots so you would need to replace 2 x 4gb with 2 x 8gb?
 
Not always, I've had a few with a free slot in the past. But then most laptops only have the one slot these days anyhow. Two seems a bit more common on the Ryzen systems and near extinct on Intel. And I lied - it's up to about £35 for 16GB now.
 
S-mode is a mode, not a version of Windows. You can convert it to Windows Home at any time, free of charge.

Switching out of S mode in Windows - Microsoft Support

Learn how to switch out of S mode to install apps from outside of the Microsoft Store or to upgrade to Windows 11.
support.microsoft.com support.microsoft.com

I have an HP laptop and hate it. You are getting more CPU for the price increase, but IMO it's not needed. Ryzen 5 is quite powerful compared to laptops of only a few years ago. You might think it's worth the £40 for the larger hard disk though.
 
Chz said:
S-mode is a mode, not a version of Windows. You can convert it to Windows Home at any time, free of charge.

Switching out of S mode in Windows - Microsoft Support

Learn how to switch out of S mode to install apps from outside of the Microsoft Store or to upgrade to Windows 11.
support.microsoft.com support.microsoft.com

I have an HP laptop and hate it. You are getting more CPU for the price increase, but IMO it's not needed. Ryzen 5 is quite powerful compared to laptops of only a few years ago. You might think it's worth the £40 for the larger hard disk though.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I didn't read much, I got the impression it was both a mode and a version but I was getting to the point of eyes glazing over.

I've gone for the more expensive HP. The girls are used to HP and my youngest especially really struggles with change, so familiar is good.
 
Chz said:
S-mode is a mode, not a version of Windows. You can convert it to Windows Home at any time, free of charge.

Switching out of S mode in Windows - Microsoft Support

Learn how to switch out of S mode to install apps from outside of the Microsoft Store or to upgrade to Windows 11.
support.microsoft.com support.microsoft.com

I have an HP laptop and hate it. You are getting more CPU for the price increase, but IMO it's not needed. Ryzen 5 is quite powerful compared to laptops of only a few years ago. You might think it's worth the £40 for the larger hard disk though.
Click to expand...
It’s the first time I’ve heard of it. Good to know then that it can be converted if desired.
 
My poor old PC had a funny 20 minutes this morning, so I think I ought to order one of those laptops...
I probably need a USB-C dock too - but HP ones are bloody expensive...
I currently have two 23 inch monitors.
I suppose I could make do with a USB-C to HDMI convertor ...

:hmm:

Belkin ?

 
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Windows S computers are often very good deals and it is a piece of piss to convert as long as you do it first time you use it.
 
Bought it - eeek !
Hopefully it will work better than my 11 year old 1st gen I3.
I hate replacing something that actually works, but I may even save some electricity in the process...
 
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MBV said:
My desktop is also a first gen i3. Seems to be soldering on somehow!
Click to expand...

I shiver at the thought of the money I wasted on the two previous PCs - I am absolutely not a power user.
I'm not a fan of laptops, but this will be fine with external keyboard, mouse and monitors - and a nice clean boot drive to fill up.
I ended up with 12GB RAM in my desktop, but I don't think I've ever needed 8..

And hopefully in the near future it will be handy for breakfast in the garden...

We used exclusively HP at work and it was always solid as a rock.
 
gentlegreen said:
My poor old PC had a funny 20 minutes this morning, so I think I ought to order one of those laptops...
I probably need a USB-C dock too - but HP ones are bloody expensive...
I currently have two 23 inch monitors.
I suppose I could make do with a USB-C to HDMI convertor ...

:hmm:

Belkin ?

Click to expand...

I just use a hdmi to usb c cable on my work laptop.

Of course you need to check it's Thunderbolt as not all USB C does video.
 
gentlegreen said:
We used exclusively HP at work and it was always solid as a rock.
Click to expand...
I think you'd need to have switched for a comparison.
At work, and there are a lot of academics about so they'll whine at anything, we had Dells for several years and people whinged about them. Not non-stop, but enough.
Fine. We switched to HPs. Christ, you would not believe the number of people who wanted their Latitudes back. For an added bonus we moved from a separate USB-C hub with Dell to one integrated in the screen from HP, and those have had a tremendous failure rate.
I don't hate my HP, despite what I said. But I would prefer to get my Dell back, even though it's slower. I unfortunately fried the motherboard in a "don't buy off-brand USB-C chargers" incident. How in the hell they make an all-metal frame that feels like it's plastic is beyond me.
 
MBV said:
Which one did you get?
Click to expand...
The one with the bigger boot drive.
I should be ok with 8gb ram.

Sounds like I will need to take care with my choice of USB mm hub - but I would guess Belkin would be OK ?
I will miss having both of my big screens and if I could have 3, all the better.
 
Damn.
I can't cancel - I'm going to have to arrange it to be collected.

DAMN.

I guess the work laptops were fancier...

1 USB Type-C® 5Gbps signaling rate - apparently that won't handle video...
 
I think I may need this one instead -

HP Pavilion 15-eg2014na Laptop, Intel Core i5 Processor, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 15.6" Full HD, Silver

Buy HP Pavilion 15-eg2014na Laptop, Intel Core i5 Processor, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 15.6" Full HD, Silver from our View All Laptops & MacBooks range at John Lewis & Partners. Free Delivery on orders over £50.
www.johnlewis.com www.johnlewis.com

available ports
1 USB Type-C® 10Gbps signaling rate (USB Power Delivery, DisplayPort™ 1.4, HP Sleep and Charge)
2 USB Type-A 5Gbps signaling rate
1 AC smart pin
1 HDMI 2.1

Or this one.

Annoyingly both of these only have 256GB boot drives

HP Pavilion 15 15-eh2000na Laptop, AMD Ryzen 5 Processor, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 15.6" Full HD, Silver

Buy HP Pavilion 15 15-eh2000na Laptop, AMD Ryzen 5 Processor, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 15.6" Full HD, Silver from our View All Laptops & MacBooks range at John Lewis & Partners. Free Delivery on orders over £50.
www.johnlewis.com www.johnlewis.com
 
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gentlegreen said:
Damn.
I can't cancel - I'm going to have to arrange it to be collected.

DAMN.

I guess the work laptops were fancier...

1 USB Type-C® 5Gbps signaling rate - apparently that won't handle video...
Click to expand...
Who told you that? It wouldn't do 4k, but it can do 1080 Full HD just fine.
 
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