The time has come to retire my old Dell Inspiron 17" 5567 Laptop.
I actually purchased this as a used machine from a forum member around 7/8 years ago and it's performed faultlessly since day one.
Sadly it's starting to develop and bit of screen shudder on start-up, is getting a bit temperamental during start-up and shut down and is generally showing it's age.
Can't tell you to much about the hardware it runs other than it's an old type HHD drive, 6GB Ram, integrated graphic
card, and run Win10, if it helps anyone it tells me it not capable of running Win11 lol.
The biggest limiting criteria here will be my budget, at a push £550/650 max.
Given my ever increasing age and being use to the 17" screen I don't really want to drop below a 16" screen, but would consider a 15" if it meant a better spec machine.
I don't game, mostly browse, forum hop, do the usual online banking & shopping type stuff, not really into using Apps as such, not bothered about Office, I also store a few photo's onboard but the majority are store on iCloud.
I quite like the Dell range especially as the old-un has been very good, but tbh I find all the jargon a bit mind blowing.
One thing I have learnt in the past is most budget machines come with preloaded advertising, which drove me nuts, my old Dell has never suffered with this, and of course I realise my limited budget puts me firmly in the budget price range part of the market.
I don't want a touch screen or 2 into 1 machine.
A couple of things I would prefer would be a black finish and a backlit keyboard
So if anyone would be kind enough to offer a few suggestions it would be greatly appreciated.
Sorry for the waffle.
Thanks for reading,
Brian - aka.... BRGRSP.
I'd recommend you go shopping for a refurbished laptop (still 1 years Dell guarantee) on the Dell Outlet website. There's no 17" models currently within your budget and just one 16" model - keep checking back though as the stock changes very frequently.
https://www.dell.com/en-uk/dfh/shop/...shed/cp/outlet
If you have any students in your close family, get them to get you another 12% off!
I'd say the biggest noticeable difference in performance for your use scenarios will be a SSD instead of an HD drive, so make sure you get the former.
Have a look at this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-FX506H...dp/B09QFRKTRZ/
It's an older generation gaming machine with aggressive looks but the solid specs should warrant long-term use without a need of replacement.
Here's an Amazon filter for _new_ 15-17" laptops with SSD: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?i=compute...e_browse-bin_4
If a 17" display is your priority, you might want to have a look at this ideapad at half your budget: https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/laptops...moID=LEN506671
However, no backlit keyboard there, and I'm not sure about the display quality (250 nits and 1600x900 resolution... my 15" laptop's resolution is 1920x1080).
Again, for the non-demanding uses that you listed, the processor type shouldn't matter that much and you shouldn't need more than 8GB of RAM.
Can't help with Dell, haven't checked on them for years.
Does anyone use a inspiron 5000 (5415) ? Any thoughts ?
I've just bought a Lenovo for £299
https://www.currys.co.uk/products/le...-10229262.html
It needs 8Gb RAM, which will put me back another £35 and I'll fit it myself.
The AMD Ryzen 3 5300U Processor is only 10 months old and it is very fast for non gaming.
I never never never spend more than £450 on a laptop. For non gaming you don't have to.
The other thing to say, is that you could keep your existing machine and install Linux Mint on it.
It will run faster than it has ever run ever before, and the whole caboodle is free.
I have 2 "old" laptops running Mint, and neither looks like dying soon, it's only the batteries that give up the ghost, so they stay plugged in.
One of them is 13 yrs old and fires up from OFF in 4 seconds!
A very valid ethos………Originally Posted by The Doc
I considered same, and renew every 2yrs, against spending way more on a 7yr business laptop. But, the keyboard quality (for a touch-typist), battery quality/life and screen resolution steered me towards a top of the range Lenovo again.
But- when work/productivity/revenue earning finishes- your method makes far more sense.
You'll get a decent new Dell again for that money. i5 core etc
Sent from my M2101K7BNY using Tapatalk
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AMD Ryzen 7 5700U Processor
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php...+5700U&id=4156
Chip is fast for the money, and AMD gets you bit more bang for your buck than Intel.
8gb ram and 512 SSD hard drive also good.
But do you need to spend £700+.......
:) :) :)
For me, a central touchpad is a must have. Offset touchpads are a literal pain in the wrist.
I've had a few Dells (both business and personal), and haven't been disappointed by any of them. I have a really old Thinkpad, and that's still the best built laptop I've had, though some odd key placements make it an aquired taste. Be aware that not all of the Lenovo xxxxxpads are battleship grade.
M1 MacBook Air I think is pretty much impossible to beat for most people. Will last a long time too, especially for your usage. Build quality very good, excellent trackpad and keyboard. Just get the base spec, try to figure out a way to get a student discount. Done.
Ah sorry, missed the budget part...
I'd still recommend the M1 MacBook Air though! it'll be faster for longer and be more enjoyable to use.
Bought both my sons an Air in 2014. Both still going strong and one gets used every day. Only had one repair and that’s when he broken the screen by dropping something on it! Still outside OPs budget though.
Excellent advice and thoroughly adequate for the use case that the OP describes.
You also missed the screen size part...
Have you considered an iPad?
Many MacBook Air’s or iPads with 16-17” screens?
I think a laptop is a case where you got to give the budget a V sign and just go for the most reliable and secure. I have gone from windows to Apple over the last few years and Apple wins hands down.
Many thanks for all the input folks, lots of food for thought and some very interesting suggestions.
For those who asked, yes I do have an iPad and to those who have mentioned the A word, I would love one, but they are well outside my price range sadly.
Very much appreciated chaps.
Brian.
So I've been looking again and can get this for £390. Anybody have any thoughts? Or is there better for less/the same?
https://www.currys.co.uk/products/de...E&gclsrc=aw.ds
With that use case in mind you might want to try a chromebook - cheaper, better battery life and more portable than the equivalent windows machine.
Something like this
https://www.johnlewis.com/acer-chromebook-317-laptop-intel-pentium-silver-processor-4gb-ram-128gb-emmc-17-3-inch-full-hd-silver/p6172739?sku=240979047&s_ppc=2dx92700070746681733& tmad=c&tmcampid=2&gclid=CjwKCAjwjZmTBhB4EiwAynRmD3 2vUj_92jPNxE_ZyHvy8oY--InUuPjxNjHQdx4UveH_jOqHsr_mLRoCcGwQAvD_BwE&gclsrc= aw.ds
Review here
https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/...-whole-family/
We now have 3 in the house (aging one for son's homework, pixelbook go as my daily driver and lenovo duet as my tablet) and the only flaw I've found so far is that NowTV won't run on them as Sky are dicks and have locked everything down too much.
EDIT : twats the original link was out of stock
Last edited by Lazydonkey; 25th April 2022 at 11:39.
RAM
- 8 GB DDR4 (3200 MHz) - 32 GB maximum installable RAM
Processor
- AMD Ryzen 5 5500U Processor - Hexa-core - 2.1 GHz / 4.0 GHz - 8 MB cache
Storage
256 GB SSD
Looks excellent. It will really fly along.
One thing to note, the SPECS say just one USB hole, a type C. But the pictures show a type Cx1 and x2 type A.
I think you'll struggle with just one USB, but I can't belive it doesn't have any type As. I think it's a typo on the crud Currys page.
Id buy it for £390
(and I'd immediately revert it back to Windows 10 !! )
All you need then is Office 2019 for £25 from these guys, a one off purchase, none of this Office 365 subscription silliness.
https://theunitysoft.com/product/mic...nal-plus-2019/
The Unitysoft
14"?
Yes, sorry I hijacked this post 🤣 the original guy wanted a big screen
Ah, OK, thought you were the OP, indeed.
Morgan computers have a 17" machine with sdd around your budget https://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/pr...-Professional/
I've had two machines from Morgan in the past and have been very happy.
Another vote for the Chromebook suggestion - for your intended use, they are ideal. I didn't realise they come in 17 inch but there are a few. At a penny short of £350, this one is well under budget and in stock. It's silver rather than black and I'm not sure whether the keyboard is backlit (but my Asus Chromebook's keyboard is backlit):
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09K4GRJ...s_uk_3-21&th=1
Chromebooks are inexpensive because they rely on the cloud for most storage and some of the computing power but the plus side is security is taken care of automatically and battery life is excellent. A bit more info if you think it might meet your needs https://www.techradar.com/uk/news/sh...t-a-chromebook
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