What laptop to buy?

[GC2012]

I am looking for some advice on a laptop, mainly for business use.

I work from home 90% of the time and have an Imac for all my needs however I have just moved in to a new office where I will meet clients from time to time and could do with a cheap laptop to take there to take notes, general browsing and printing so really nothing particularly hard.
Other than that I might use it at home from time to time or when travelling to watch movies etc.

Naturally I was drawn to the macbook air as I prefer the Ios system however I cant justify spending £900+ on something which wont be getting used a lot and when it does its basic computing.
Having had a look around the Chromebooks seem to be a good entry level travel type laptop, any experience with them on here?

Alternatively is there any other recommendations for a budget laptop?

[flareslove]

Hey GC,

I recently went through the same process and was looking for a laptop originally to browse, note taking and as a netflix youtube machine.

In the end I settled on a tablet instead. If you like IOS, why not an Ipad pro with the keyboard attachment?

I went for the Pixel C as I prefer android but so far it's performed perfect for the light computing tasks needed. Much more portable and better value than if I went into ultrabook territory.

Edit: Also, the way I see it, £600-£800 is either mediocre laptop territory but top of the line tablet range.

[sammyl1000]

My daughter has a Chromebook. I think it's great for what she uses it for.. watching tv, YouTube, and drawing, paint etc.

It's worth in my opinion paying a little more for the better quality screens though the cheap ones are not good.

[itsgotournameonit]

Stay clear of HP.Mine failed after 14 months (Little use) and the space bar was a right PITA.I am not considering having it mended and will look for a decent Dell.

[GC2012]

Thanks for the replies.
I did briefly look at the Ipad pro however I dont think the keyboard combo would be great. Sometimes when travelling I will have the laptop sat on my lap and the whole tablet plus keyboard combo might not be ideal for this?

Does anyone have experience with the below Chromebook:
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computi...48244-pdt.html

[wolf]

Stay clear of HP.Mine failed after 14 months (Little use) and the space bar was a right PITA.I am not considering having it mended and will look for a decent Dell.

Mine (HP) didn't last a week!!

In the end got a MacBook Pro which 4 years later is working just fine.

[GC2012]

Stay clear of HP.Mine failed after 14 months (Little use) and the space bar was a right PITA.I am not considering having it mended and will look for a decent Dell.

Hmm thats my only worry, although I wont be using it much I would prefer something which will last.
My Imac is about four years old now, its gets about 8-10 hours use each day. Never had one problem and its still just as fast, by far the best PC I have owned and I have had a few its just the cost which is putting me off, £900+ is quite a chunk for a 'spare' computer.

[seffrican]

A Chromebook is definitely the simplest and most cost effective option for basic use, and the one I'd recommend as well.

However, some cautions that could exclude the Chromebook solution: First, are there any specific pieces of (non-web) software that you need to use? Second, you mention printing. Chromebooks don't have printer drivers, they exclusively use cloud printing. So check that cloud printing will work for (it should, if your printer is relatively recent - by which I mean bought sometime after the start of the decade).

For note taking, Evernote is available as a Chrome app as well as for everything else.

Lastly, if you want to know if a Chromebook is the solution, then all you have to do is ask yourself whether you can get by using only Google Chrome on your existing computer. If yes, then yes

[flareslove]

Thanks for the replies.
I did briefly look at the Ipad pro however I dont think the keyboard combo would be great. Sometimes when travelling I will have the laptop sat on my lap and the whole tablet plus keyboard combo might not be ideal for this?

Does anyone have experience with the below Chromebook:
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computi...48244-pdt.html

It's fine as long as you are OK with the limitations of Chrome OS.

Remember that on Chrome you'll be running non-microsoft versions of Office. You can run into some formatting issues if you're working any kind of complicated files.

Loads of programs don't work on Chrome OS yet, like for example Skype doesn't work unless you're just running IM from the web app.

[snowman]

Chromebooks seem to have lots of limitations without any great reduction in price over a proper laptop of similar performance, tbh.

I bought an Macbook recently after lots of problems with my home desktop, but I can't get on with iOS, so I've replaced the hard disk in my desktop and gone back to Windows.

If you're not exposed to Windows day in, day out (as I am), you might well find that a slightly older Macbook would suit your requirements fine, be good quality and well within budget.

Everytime I do fire up the Mac, it does make me feel good, it's just the UI is unfamiliar and frustrating to someone so used to Windows.

M

[Mr Pointy]

How about a Macbook Air? £260 on SC:

http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...le-MacBook-Air

It might need a new battery though.

[Vanguard]

I run an IT business that sells laptops among other things, I'd look at a Dell Latitude E7480 and just go for i5 8GB 256GB SSD, that's all you need

If your budget doesn't stretch to that look at an E5480 with the same spec.

[lewwyt]

Might be work also looking at a site such as PC Specialist or similar and specing a laptop from scratch? That way you can choose your required components and save some cash in the process

[Mick P]

My wifes MacBook Pro was bought in 2010, gets pounded ever day and id still 100% perfect. It had a new battery last year and that has been the onlt problem with it.

Macs may be pricey but they last a long time and are reliable.

[Zimmer]

I would say as you are happy with your imac, then the obvious way to go is a secondhand MacBook Air. (that's my own setup)
I find Windows 10 to be a vast improvement on it's predecessor and something like a Dell E6440 would be nice, should get a decent second hand one for around the £250 mark.
Can't think of any reason to buy a Chromebook and definitely no reason to ever buy a Hp laptop.

[bonzo697]

I use a Chromebook everyday and have done since they were first launched. They're so much better than any Windows device - no AV scans, no endless updates, reboots, hanging, crashing and they turn on and off instantly.

[johnthemull]

My wifes MacBook Pro was bought in 2010, gets pounded ever day and id still 100% perfect. It had a new battery last year and that has been the onlt problem with it.

Macs may be pricey but they last a long time and are reliable.

My wifes brand new 2017 mac book pro failed after a month and had to have the logic board replaced!

[seffrican]

Can't think of any reason to buy a Chromebook ...

There are a lot of reasons. Your single use case is not the only one.

...and definitely no reason to ever buy a Hp laptop.

Can't fault that, though.

[P ELLIS]

oooo dear i have just bought a cheap hp for doing the fedex stuff off at work in the packing room....this could be fun