I need to get a new laptop for my upcoming job. I doesn't need massive storage as most things are cloud based, I want something robust and fast. Any recommendations? I've never had to buy a laptop myself so am completely lost. Any brands to avoid?

 

Budget would be around £600, but if I can get something up to the job for less than that would be great.

 

Cheers

 

Mike  

Processing power isn't really much of an issue these days other than Celeron chips most processors can handle everything that gets thrown at them now.

 

Also remember that although you might not need much storage because "everything is in the cloud", you need internet access to get to "the cloud". No access = no data.

also in terms of work cloud based storage may not be permissible in terms of Data Protection or even just basic security but that would depend on the sorts of information you are handling and it's value.

 

£600 is plenty to get a good portable.

 

What's the rest of your criteria?

 

Screen size?

Portability?

Battery life?

Access WIFI/WWAN (4G)?

 

We have a load of Dell Venue 11s at work. They're windows tablets but they normally get used with the optional battery keyboard. They have around 10hr battery life and are pretty sturdy.

MCS sell them cheap from their outlet. you can get a basic one For about £150 + another £100 for the keyboard (new).

 

If you want a full sized laptop you can get something half decent for about £400.

 

Maybe something like an Asus Transformer would suit.

 

Hard to tell without knowing the rest of your needs.

What work will you be doing with it?

As the above 2 gents have sent - a little info on what you need it for please.

 

What kind of workload?

Any particular colour you want?

thanks guys, I'm going into recruitment so pretty basic stuff. My new boss has a surface pro but I'm not that keen on it. I want an actual laptop you can put on your lap lol. Battery life only needs to be a couple of hours really in case there are no sockets available at meetings. Screen size would be around 14". WIFI should be enough, I doubt I will be working anywhere where wifi isn't available, worst case I can hook it up to my phone.

 

I was looking at Dells last night, apparently they are very solid??

 

Cheers

 

Mike

I'll first ask... shouldn't work be providing you with a laptop if one is required?

 

Dell are good machines. Pretty robust.

 

We use Lenovo these days at my work and they're also good.

 

You can't really go wrong these days to be honest.

 

If you're not needing any mega specs for gaming or fancy ultra thin ultrabook then I wouldn't bother spending loads on one.

 

As above all modern processors now can handle general office work and HD video playback with ease and the only reason you would choose a more powerful processor is if you needed it for video or photo editing.

 

You can probably get a laptop that meets/exceeds your requirements for around half your £600 budget but you then start paying more if you want a smaller/lighter/prettier one!

I'd reccomend anything with HP on it. All of our laptops, desktops and servers are HP products. Reliability and aftercare service is top notch IMO.

TH problem with Dell is they tend to use slightly non-standard parts and their own drivers which can be a right pain in the backside (especially if your IT dept don't set them up properly and then insist on locking them down...   no touchpad drivers for instance, or the wrong installation...)

TH problem with Dell is they tend to use slightly non-standard parts and their own drivers which can be a right pain in the backside (especially if your IT dept don't set them up properly and then insist on locking them down...   no touchpad drivers for instance, or the wrong installation...)

 

Yeah you're not wrong there.

 

My other half started a new job a few months back and got a Dell laptop (really nice little slim model with SSD and core i5 actually) but they hadn't installed the graphics drivers! The display looked awful and stutter. We tried for ages to get the right drivers installed as the one's from the intel site didn't work and had to get the older version from Dell so they've obviously tinkered with something.

 

Also had the same with a colleagues wifi on their Dell. It would only work with the Dell driver even though it is supposedly a generic Intel chip.

I can also vouch for that, I work in IT infrastructure and I avoid Dell machines for that reason... it's not always the IT departments fault. Dell drivers can be a nightmare sometimes, and they insist on having thier own software attached to them too. (Crappy WiFi assistant software etc)

Pay a bit moe and get the new MacBook.

Our company have a mix of Dell and Lenovo laptops; based on 2 companies having merged in the past year.

 

The Dell items have been ok; but not outstanding.. i would say;

but the first Lenovo i got after the Dell died.... i was impressed - so i love the Lenovo!

Isn't always a simple as 'Just get a new MacBook'

 

Will said Mac be compaitable with any in house applications at the new role?

 

Will it talk to their network shares correctly?

 

Printers?

 

Granted, there things can be resolved, but Macs are still not 100% compatible in Windows networks.

We have Lenovo laptops at work and tbh I find it a pretty awful machine to use. It's a basic one although has an i5, so it's an overpowered processor in a crap chassis.

 

If you're doing recruitment that will definitely contain personal information and potentially sensitive personal information. I would be VERY wary of your work requiring you to hold that on a personal machine unless you are very sure you are covered by them in the event of a loss of the laptop.

 

If it's a cloud based system bought and managed by the office you should be mostly ok but I would make sure whatever you buy is capable of full disk encryption. that probably mean getting the 'pro' version of Windows 10 and making sure you have BitLocker enabled with a strong password. If they are requiring you to sign up to personal services like Dropbox for your work I would be taking some legal advice. To make sure you're not going to be liable.

 

Back on topic you'll be fine with anything with an Intel i3 or higher. You'll probably want a 15" screen since most laptops now have widescreens which are crap for document work so the bigger the better as long as you can handle the weight.

 

I'd go into PC world or something and play on the stuff they have. Try typing stuff etc and give the screen a wee flex. You'll be using the laptop in anger and a lot of laptop keyboards are rubbish. Also a lot of the shiny pretty laptops are made from fragile brittle plastics. The business class stuff tends to be less pretty but more robust.

I would definitely recommend getting one with a SSD (Solid State Drive) if at all possible - the performance of these is way better than normal disks and can one of the biggest factors affecting the speed of the machine in day to day use. They are a bit more expensive and won't be as big (in terms of GB) as a normal drive, but for me the performance gains make it worthwhile.

I like the HP Pavilion 15 range - I've been a a laptop repair engineer working on all different brands. They are very nicely put together and are made from a slightly rubbery and very forgiving plastic that holds up to a lot. They are fairly modest in the performance stakes but offer more than enough for the vast majority of users. Price circa £400

Hp chrome book, use mine in work and at home and love it

My family buy laptops based on what colour they like at the time. Purple was popular at one time, now it's white.

thanks guys, I'm joining the in laws recruitment business, it's very small but the plan is to expand it over the next few years, I'm going to source the laptop and they are going to buy it.Thanks for the tips on Dell, I have a HP at work now which has been pretty good so I will look at their range in PCworld and get one online.

 

The business pays for IT support to they will look after it should it break etc.

Work has just bought some HP Spectre x360s and they look very nice. Bit pricey though.(we used to have Dells but had no end of issues with them) -

 

As stated in this thread the Hard disk in laptops seem to be the thing that makes them slower than they should be (as well as thermal throttling when they slow down when they are getting to hot!) so try to get one with an SSD.

http://store.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Product.aspx?id=P5P37EA&opt=ABU&sel=NTB

Is this any good?

SSDs can also make a decent improvement in the battery life.

SSDs can also make a decent improvement in the battery life.

Sorry but I have no idea what you just wrote hahaha. Do you think that would be a good laptop to go for?

Thanks

Mike

SSD is  different sort of hard drive. No moving parts just chips.

 

Less space but much faster. Usually an option on laptops or only available on high end ones despite the prices being pretty low.