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Scale Model Shop

New laptop recommendations please

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AlanG

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We are looking into getting a new laptop because this one is steam driven and even Noah on his Arc wouldn't use it.

We don't have many requirements but it must be able to run Windows 10 easily, a decent size screen for vidoes and be able to run most programs easily too. I'm not interested in gaming performance as we have an X-Box for that...... well my sons do. Our limit is about £300 max. Future proofing is essential as we can only splash out once.

Any computer wizards out there that know about these type of things that could recommend one for us?
 
Al,
I'm looking for a new one as well so it will be interesting to see the recommendations.
 
I was going to say, “a refurbished MacBook from a couple of years ago”, but then noticed your budget kind of rules that out, I think. Future-proofing, though, is very good with them — my mother still uses my almost eleven-year-old one, for example. (Not with Windows 10, though; not sure how well it would run with that, but a MacBook will be supported by new versions of macOS much longer than Windows laptops will run smoothly with new versions of Windows.)
 
Hi Alan, I'm in the market for a new laptop too. Many manufacturers allow you to 'build' your own online so you can select what you want and don't want. Having done a few to see what they're worth, it might be an easier option on the wallet.
 
Thread owner
Cheers guys. Really need to update this heap of <insert expletive>. I know my budget is very small but there must be something out there that we could get.
 
Well, you don't seem to be getting much advice Alan, other than Jakko's suggestion of a Macbook, which personally I'd avoid like the plague! Laptops Direct have some refurbished laptops (www.laptopsdirect.co.uk) but it's been a few years since I've known someone deal with them.
A few questions for you though: what do you want to use it for; how much local storage do you want (as opposed to storing stuff on the web; what spec is the one you have now; has your current laptop always been slow, or has it got slower over time? I have a 5-year old Acer laptop, which seemed incredibly slow, until I updated Windows 10 and the drivers, and now it works fine.

Pete
 
Thread owner
Hiya Pete

I mainly want the laptop for surfing the net, running a website, bit of accountancy (i want to start a business). I like playing football manager so that is about it for gaming. SWMBO does OU courses on it too.

I know having as much RAM as possible is a good thing so obviously that is one thing i would like. Also i like YT a lot so a big screen is a 'would like' item but it's not a deal breaker.

Here is a screenshot of the laptop specs.

2019-07-26.png
 
Alan, I would have said most laptops are suitable to your needs. Windows 10, is meant to be the last version of windows, and they will just keep releasing 6 monthly updates, in March & September, for it.

I'd have a look at : https://www.techradar.com/uk/news/cheap-laptop-deals-sales-2019#section-200-300-laptops

This is where i looked for my new laptop, and its is a good starting point for what is out there and if its good or not, looking at the specs you have posted all the 200- 300 are the same or similar specs to what you have, however there is one with 8gb of RAM for roughly £320.
 
Alan, that doesn't look a bad spec. I don't think you'll get one much better for £300. A bit more RAM might speed things up but more than 8GB will make little difference. How big is the hard drive? Changing to an SSD makes a big difference to start-up times.
Do you have Windows 10 disc, or did it come pre-installed? Do you have Windows Update Manager installed? Have you defragged the hard drive? It can be worthwhile clearing cookies too.
Pete
 
Thread owner
Have taken AVG off the laptop and reinstated Windows Defender and that seems to have helped it speed up a little. Still have a few other programs to remove. Defrags and cookie removal is always done.
 
https://www.google.com/chromebook/

Chromebooks are laptops made to Google specifications by other manufacturers, like ASUS, Lenovo, Acer, and others. They all run Chrome OS, not Windows, and the idea is that you use them mainly while connected to the Internet, rather than offline. They tend to have relatively little internal storage because the idea is that your data sits in “the cloud” so you can access it not just from the Chromebook but also from your Android phone or tablet (assuming you have one, of course).
 
Thread owner
Ah ok. Well i use the laptop quite a bit 'offline' so i'm not sure they'd be useful for us.
 
How do you work out 4X the processing power Gary? Doesn't look a bad laptop though, but the reviews are mixed. Seems a bit low on both RAM and storage to me, but at least it has an SSD.

Pete
 
Thanks. Not disagreeing, just wondering.
Gary MacKenzie said:
120GB ssd will run anything he needs, can run windows and office on a 64GB drive
Click to expand...
Can you really? The problem though is storage for photos etc. My desktop has a 480GB SSD, but it's nearly full, in spite of me using a 3TB hard drive for bulk storage. I should really have a look at what's on there and clean it up.
Pete
 
I have slow internet at home ( 2mb down , 1/2 mb up ) , but , if you have decent broadband/fibre i would be tempted to store as much online as possible. ( $7 per TB per month roughly )
You are right though if someone needs a lot of storage they need an external drive , BUT , i dont like filling ssd's with data that will only be looked at eratically.
I am lucky , i have a microserver that stores all my data , 4TB Primary raid1 ( 2 x 4TB drives ) storage , mirrored to a 6TB raid1 ( 2 x 3TB drives ) storage.
I would need to lose 3 drives out of the 4 before i couldnt rebuild all the data again , at that point all i could do is cry.
 
Thread owner
Gary i defo have a slow internet. Joys of living in the middle of nowhere in Morayshire where fibre is only if you live near to a 'big town'.
 
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