A firend of mine is in the market for a new laptop and i'm in need of a second opinion [or even a first opinion]. Budget - moderately felixible £650 Requirements - decent keyboard, not totally hopless graphics [capable of low-end gaming] Preferably enough battery to last a train ride from Inverness to Exeter. Your thoughts?
With that budget, you'll struggle to get something game capable and have good battery life. Take a look at MCS or maybe the Dell outlet - some of the newer Dell 2-in-1 models have Vega processor graphics (roughly equiv to 1050Ti MaxQ) and decent battery life, but I believe the 2-in-1s also charge via USB-C so you could carry a beefy battery bank and charge on the go. Not sure if all of them do, so research thoroughly. [edit] even the Outlet refurbs are well outside your budget, but Dell have been doing weekly deals on cherry-picked models - I got a Dell "Certified Refurb" XPS 15 9570 on such a deal just last week £450 cheaper than the new price for the same spec. [2nd edit] Sometimes the voucher codes don't show up until you hit "go to checkout", so it's worth throwing something in there and testing the water.
Even looking at refurbs it remains difficult: Refurb with a 1050 and only a 128GB SSD, yet still £39 above budget (and frankly not worth it since the price difference to something new and better is pretty small).
So realistically he's look at £750+ and having to make a compromise either on battery life, gaming grunt [not that he was expecting to play far cry 5 or anything on it] or both
Unfortunately yes. Unless... not sure how old your friend is, but if he is young enough he might have some students among his friends, could be worth it to try getting sneaky access to student discounts.
