My sister has asked me to find her a new laptop after hers overheated and died. I know very little about laptops so would like some help, please. She would be using it for web and email, and also editing photos and home movies - not HD quality. No gaming, and no movie watching as they have a smart tv. She has said she will take price over performance, but only because she doesn't have much spare cash at the moment. A refurb is fine, not so sure about 2nd hand as would like some warranty. Probably looking around the £300-350 mark, possibly pushing to £400. She will likely keep it until it dies so reliability would be a big plus point. I don't know much about the mobile processor market, and nothing about the AMD side of things. What processors would be suitable? Do I need to look for a discrete graphics card, or will the onboard be enough? Win 7 or 8 is fine, and USB 3.0 would be a bonus. 15" screen should be fine. Thanks
http://www.ebuyer.com/409379-samsung-355v5c-laptop-np355v5c-a06uk http://www.ebuyer.com/406981-asus-vivobook-touchscreen-laptop-s200e-ct158h
Try the dell outlet, they have a selection of different grades including scratch and dent (some cosmetic damage normally very faint/not noticeable) or refurb - have some great deals and also come with warranty! Just noticed free shipping too! clicky! I swear by dell! Excellent build quality, great customer service and good reliability! Any example: Link 1 - Inspiron 15R
Low price goes hand in hand with low reliability unfortunately. If you're looking to keep the laptop for longer than what the warranty lasts, you're going to want a business laptop. As always, you need to pay quite a bit more for quality and reliability, but then again it likely pays off to buy a proper laptop and keep it longer instead of replacing a cheaper laptop more often.
Yes quality is king with laptops and nothing beats a think pad. T SERIES. IT is getting harder to see which Lenovos are thinkpad so keep in mind T and X series and thinkpad logo and the trak point must all be present for a real thinkpad. Sent from Bittech Android app
Thank you all. I will talk to my sister and see what she can afford if it might mean not having to replace the laptop again a year down the line. Should I be looking at discrete graphics card if she will b doing occasional video editing, or is the onboard generally ok for this?
For video editting you need CPU power which will cost you money. It will work on any modern cpu but will take hour to compress. This is not done on laptops when it can be avoided. Sent from Bittech Android app
MSHunter - Thanks. It won't be often, and she may be willing to take the time hit on those occasions. But at least I know to go for a better processor over a graphics card.
http://asuslaptop.co.uk/Asus_X55C-SX049H_Laptop/Multimedia+Entertainment/Asus+laptops/d Not the greatest thing ever but £320 and a good brand with free shipping.
