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Notebooks Cheap portable notebook for travelling recommendation

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Zero_UK, 13 Jun 2016.

  1. Zero_UK

    Zero_UK What's a Dremel?

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    Hey all,

    Its been awhile since I posted on here... jeesh I can't believe that mechanical keyboard thread is still going. Anyway:

    I'm looking to get a cheap and cheerful notebook which I can take on my travels. I have a PC for games, so this will be for: movies, browsing and viewing documents (although I won't complain if it'll run something like Half-Life).

    This is for travelling so my main concerns are battery life and portability/weight. But other than that:
    Size: between 12" and 15.6" (more bias towards the latter)
    Cost: < £350. Could go over budget if the difference is worth it, but for the little time I'll be using the notebook I'd like to keep costs low.

    __

    Main reason I'm posting is I've seen Chromebooks offering reasonable specs for £200-250, any recommendations from people who've used one before? I know the OS is very basic, but I've read a bit on installing Windows/Linux on a Chromebook - something I'm leaning towards as I think I'd get much better bang for buck (plus I have a spare Windows key).

    Thanks!
     
  2. saspro

    saspro IT monkey

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  3. Highland3r

    Highland3r Minimodder

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    If you can live without (PC) games and manage with google docs then a chromebook would fit the bill I'd say.

    Pretty cheap (even the "better specced" models) and they'll work offline just fine. Movies will play ok (may need to drop them on a USB stick though)

    I've currently got 3 (C720P, Asus C200 and a HP 11) and they're all great for web browsing, reading docs and films. C720 is touch screen which is really a great experience even though chromeOS isn't touch optimised - also one of the few chromebooks which supports user upgrades.
    There are 15" ones available but personally i love the portability of the 11" devices - anything bigger gets a little bulky to carry. Recently went on a work trip and took one, no issues squeezing it into carry-on luggage.


    Battery life is good and they're small & light. Some will support Android apps in a few releases time (there's a list online if you google) so it'd be worth getting one on that list if you can as that'll be a killer feature.

    Having used some of the HP stream style windows laptops (essentially the same spec as a chromebook just with windows) I wouldn't bother.
    They tend to slow down after a little use and generally need "taking care" of not to fill with crud. Never had any issues/slowdown on the chromebooks unless running a load of tabs & content hungry pages.

    Just my 2ps worth.
     
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  4. DragunovHUN

    DragunovHUN Modder

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    On the cheap end there's the Lenovo 100S if you must have the 12" screen, or the Lenovo Miix 300 if you can handle a 10" in exchange for being able to ditch the keyboard. They have pretty much the same hardware, save for 64 gigs storage on the Miix versus 32 on the 100S.
     
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  5. Zero_UK

    Zero_UK What's a Dremel?

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    Cheers for the input guys, repped each of you.
     

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