Decided to use the Christmas bonus to get a new laptop in the sales, and quite like the idea of a laptop/tablet pc (hybrid I guess you'd call them) rather than a straight laptop considering they all have win 8 which seems cumbersome with a mouse.

Does anyone have any recommendations? Spec wise they seem to have smaller screens and lower spec than a touchscreen laptop? They also seem to be more money.

Ideally max budget of £500.

Within £500 your pretty much stuck with Windows RT devices not Windows 8 devices if your set on a convertable. RT is not the same as 8, just looks it. Theres maybe 1 or 2 low end windows 8 convertibles but some of them might not include the keyboard at that price.

I don't want rt. I want a full flavour laptop PC not what folk now call a tablet pc.

Get an i5 from the Dell outlet. you should be able to get a well specced one for that budget quite possibly with money to spare.

Keep on eye on Quido for Dell doing 24hr offers on free delivery and cashback. Can be over 10% sometimes which can make the main store cheaper than the outlet.

If that's not for you then look for a laptop with Intel on the i3 or i5 processors. Both are good value for money. Avoid Celerons.

Get as much memory as you can. If it's 4Gb or less make sure it on a single SIMM so it's easier to add to later.

SSD is probably out at that budget unless you can live with a small one

I've found HP, Lenovo, Acer and Toshiba to be reliable. Sony less so even thought they cost more.

Whatever you get you'll be stuck with Win8 but if you search the web there are some straightforward ways to get around the Metro interface.

Well its just you mentioned hybrids, so I simply pointed out that the hybrid devices tend to be RT.

500 will probably net you a touch screen outfitted laptop anyway