Help me buy a laptop
August 27, 2015 7:41 AM Subscribe
So I, or rather the good lady, need a new laptop.
I'm tech and computer savvy but out of touch with the constant flow of improvements so not sure what I should be looking for. Snowflakes inside.
OK, so I'm ideally looking for some ideas for specific laptop models, available in the UK, but also general information on what I should be looking for should help.
Wants/Requirements:
It won't be used for heavy gaming so integrated graphics should be fine.
It should ideally be at least somewhat future proof or likely to last a while without needing an upgrade/replacement though.
MS Office is a must (I've tried the various OpenOffice variants and Google Docs, but they ain't gonna cut it). So it should either have it included as an option, or I'll have to revise the budget down by the price of buying Office retail.
With those requirements, I'm thinking less than 8gb RAM seems silly for a new machine we want to have some life. Does that sound about right?
Processor, I'm in the dark with all the different options available now. Last time I was buying processors you just picked the Pentium with the highest number. Does the processor even matter that much any more in a rig which won't be doing heavy graphics duty?
HD space, my instinct is to have as much as possible, but then she doesn't game and won't be downloading films so I'm really not that sure. Anything less than 256gb seems like madness to me though, despite what some of the new ultraportables seem to be trying to persuade me.
Nothing giant and clunky and in the "desktop replacement" range, size wise.
Price, under £900 would be great. Less would be amazing but there's flexibility upwards too if we have to.
I suspect that she might get the best use out of one of those fancy new hybrids which fold back to turn into tablets, because most of her usage will be casual web browsing, emailing and media consumption, with occasional forays into things which will require a keyboard.
To be honest the Surface Pro 3 looks about perfect, but to get a model with a hard drive which looks reasonably sized, plus the type cover, plus Office, pushes the price up over the £1200 mark, which is way over the top.
So any suggestions? Any help gladly received.
OK, so I'm ideally looking for some ideas for specific laptop models, available in the UK, but also general information on what I should be looking for should help.
Wants/Requirements:
It won't be used for heavy gaming so integrated graphics should be fine.
It should ideally be at least somewhat future proof or likely to last a while without needing an upgrade/replacement though.
MS Office is a must (I've tried the various OpenOffice variants and Google Docs, but they ain't gonna cut it). So it should either have it included as an option, or I'll have to revise the budget down by the price of buying Office retail.
With those requirements, I'm thinking less than 8gb RAM seems silly for a new machine we want to have some life. Does that sound about right?
Processor, I'm in the dark with all the different options available now. Last time I was buying processors you just picked the Pentium with the highest number. Does the processor even matter that much any more in a rig which won't be doing heavy graphics duty?
HD space, my instinct is to have as much as possible, but then she doesn't game and won't be downloading films so I'm really not that sure. Anything less than 256gb seems like madness to me though, despite what some of the new ultraportables seem to be trying to persuade me.
Nothing giant and clunky and in the "desktop replacement" range, size wise.
Price, under £900 would be great. Less would be amazing but there's flexibility upwards too if we have to.
I suspect that she might get the best use out of one of those fancy new hybrids which fold back to turn into tablets, because most of her usage will be casual web browsing, emailing and media consumption, with occasional forays into things which will require a keyboard.
To be honest the Surface Pro 3 looks about perfect, but to get a model with a hard drive which looks reasonably sized, plus the type cover, plus Office, pushes the price up over the £1200 mark, which is way over the top.
So any suggestions? Any help gladly received.
Response by poster: Ah, I should have said, Windows only please, she's not going to be bothered to make the switch to Mac. (Yes, in theory, boot camp, but probably not).
Also I'm extremely dubious of oiifce 365s actual compatibility with MS Office. She'll need it for work where she will be using high complexity spreadsheets, PowerPoint and Word Docs where its imperative that the formatting isn't changed at all. Is it really that compatible?
posted by Dext at 7:54 AM on August 27, 2015
Also I'm extremely dubious of oiifce 365s actual compatibility with MS Office. She'll need it for work where she will be using high complexity spreadsheets, PowerPoint and Word Docs where its imperative that the formatting isn't changed at all. Is it really that compatible?
posted by Dext at 7:54 AM on August 27, 2015
If a Surface is under consideration, I'd strongly recommend going to a shop and trying one out. They can be great, but they do involve a few compromises. The pen functions surprisingly well as a mouse replacement (if you're not gaming), and so solves a lot of the fat-finger problems tablet UIs are crippled by.
The 3 generation ones are one sale right now (in NA at least) so this is as good a time to time to buy one as any. Have you tried looking through the MS store?
I would not consider any other tablet+external keyboard combo as a decent replacement for a real laptop. They're worth considering on their own terms, primarily as consumption devices, but tablet UIs are not a good alternative for a desktop one.
posted by bonehead at 8:17 AM on August 27, 2015
The 3 generation ones are one sale right now (in NA at least) so this is as good a time to time to buy one as any. Have you tried looking through the MS store?
I would not consider any other tablet+external keyboard combo as a decent replacement for a real laptop. They're worth considering on their own terms, primarily as consumption devices, but tablet UIs are not a good alternative for a desktop one.
posted by bonehead at 8:17 AM on August 27, 2015
Office 365 is the subscription licensing for full MS Office. There is no difference.
Just to make sure other's aren't confused. There is no need to run virtualization software on a Mac to run MS Office. MS Office is available as a native OSX product and the files are 100% the same. There are some small differences in the UI but no changes in the functionality.
posted by Mac-Expert at 8:24 AM on August 27, 2015
Just to make sure other's aren't confused. There is no need to run virtualization software on a Mac to run MS Office. MS Office is available as a native OSX product and the files are 100% the same. There are some small differences in the UI but no changes in the functionality.
posted by Mac-Expert at 8:24 AM on August 27, 2015
Best answer: Look for an i5 level processor or equivalent, it's the right level of good performance/price. Get an SSD, the single best performance detail, the most economic approach is to swap in one yourself, really just needs a small screwdriver and an external drive attachment for the initial data copy. I've had good luck with T level thinkpads used. There are good deals on Asus new or refurb if you look around and watch for sales.
posted by sammyo at 9:32 AM on August 27, 2015
posted by sammyo at 9:32 AM on August 27, 2015
I'm a fan of the acer aspire s7 series, which is basically a clone of the macbook air for windows. It's light, reasonably powerful, and has a long battery life. I think 4 gigs of ram is more than enough for basic usage, but 8 would definitely be future proof. Definitely get something with an SSD, it makes computers feel much better, booting faster and starting programs faster.
Altogether, lots of great laptops in the windows realm, just make sure it has the specs and form factor you want.
posted by mosschief at 9:34 AM on August 27, 2015
Altogether, lots of great laptops in the windows realm, just make sure it has the specs and form factor you want.
posted by mosschief at 9:34 AM on August 27, 2015
Lenovo Carbon X1
Rock solid build, sleek, reliable, in your price range, 8gb ram, it has everything you need.
I have had 7-8 Thinkpads in the past 10-15 years for work, for a Windows laptop they are pretty hard to beat.
posted by Cosine at 9:36 AM on August 27, 2015
Rock solid build, sleek, reliable, in your price range, 8gb ram, it has everything you need.
I have had 7-8 Thinkpads in the past 10-15 years for work, for a Windows laptop they are pretty hard to beat.
posted by Cosine at 9:36 AM on August 27, 2015
Best answer: £900 will actually get you a _lot_ of Windows PC at this point.
(And I would also rep for Macs, but if she has specifically ruled them out, why bother?)
I'd say 8GB is a reasonable minimum for RAM - you could get away with 4 - the MacBook Air I am writing on right now has 4 - but why bother? It's a relatively small expense and gives you some more futureproofing.
On storage - the thing about this is that anything less than 256GB is near certain to be SSD rather than HDD, which has performance and power benefits. You can get 256GB SSDs, of course, but those models tend to be premium - as you saw with the Surface Pro 3. The assumption these days is that most people are going to be doing most of their storage - mail, movies etc - in the cloud, either directly, like Gmail, or indirectly, like by using Netflix rather than storing movies on an HDD. Keep in mind also that most of these models will have a microSD card slot that you can use a de facto second drive - you can get a 128GB MicroSD card for 128GB.
Clearly from your description you would prefer a hybrid of some sort, and therefore a touchscreen.
So... with all that in mind, I think two options stick out.
The Asus Transformer T300 Chi (12.5" screen) uses the Asus detachable keyboard model, rather than flipping over - you just pull the screen right off the keyboard when you aren't using it. The 8GB, 128GB model is 799 at Currys at the moment, but with a 10% instant rebate - so, £720, which gives you headroom for a copy of Office and a MicroSD card...
I tried one of these out and largely liked it, although the keyboard was a little small for my huge hands. Also, the screen part is relatively heavy, because it contains all the functional parts, and the system for charging the battery in the keyboard from the screen is a little clunky, but you can keep it charged with a regular MicroUSB, which helps. Also, it doesn't charge with USB-C, which is a bit silly but such is life. That's an Intel Core M processor - would not be great for gaming, but should be fine for general productivity/media consumption.
That's more towards being a tablet with a well-thought out keyboard addition. The other option that jumps out at me is much more of an orthodox laptop that happens to offer tablet elements, which is the Lenovo Yoga range. These offer things like mechanical hard drives (well, strictly speaking hybrid drives), and have a more laptoppy keyboard (chiclet keys, but more satisfying travel and return), but will fold around. The Yoga Pro 3 is nice, but a little out of your price range, but the regular Yoga 3 has a broadwell-U processor (go for i5), 512GB drive, 8GB RAM and a 14" screen for about £699. Even the Yoga 2, which has a smaller screen and a Haswell processor, might not be a bad option, although is a little less future-proof. I was very tempted by one, and also the ThinkPad Yoga, although the new version of that is awkwardly specced for you - the i5/8GB version also has discrete graphics, which you don't need.
posted by running order squabble fest at 9:46 AM on August 27, 2015
(And I would also rep for Macs, but if she has specifically ruled them out, why bother?)
I'd say 8GB is a reasonable minimum for RAM - you could get away with 4 - the MacBook Air I am writing on right now has 4 - but why bother? It's a relatively small expense and gives you some more futureproofing.
On storage - the thing about this is that anything less than 256GB is near certain to be SSD rather than HDD, which has performance and power benefits. You can get 256GB SSDs, of course, but those models tend to be premium - as you saw with the Surface Pro 3. The assumption these days is that most people are going to be doing most of their storage - mail, movies etc - in the cloud, either directly, like Gmail, or indirectly, like by using Netflix rather than storing movies on an HDD. Keep in mind also that most of these models will have a microSD card slot that you can use a de facto second drive - you can get a 128GB MicroSD card for 128GB.
Clearly from your description you would prefer a hybrid of some sort, and therefore a touchscreen.
So... with all that in mind, I think two options stick out.
The Asus Transformer T300 Chi (12.5" screen) uses the Asus detachable keyboard model, rather than flipping over - you just pull the screen right off the keyboard when you aren't using it. The 8GB, 128GB model is 799 at Currys at the moment, but with a 10% instant rebate - so, £720, which gives you headroom for a copy of Office and a MicroSD card...
I tried one of these out and largely liked it, although the keyboard was a little small for my huge hands. Also, the screen part is relatively heavy, because it contains all the functional parts, and the system for charging the battery in the keyboard from the screen is a little clunky, but you can keep it charged with a regular MicroUSB, which helps. Also, it doesn't charge with USB-C, which is a bit silly but such is life. That's an Intel Core M processor - would not be great for gaming, but should be fine for general productivity/media consumption.
That's more towards being a tablet with a well-thought out keyboard addition. The other option that jumps out at me is much more of an orthodox laptop that happens to offer tablet elements, which is the Lenovo Yoga range. These offer things like mechanical hard drives (well, strictly speaking hybrid drives), and have a more laptoppy keyboard (chiclet keys, but more satisfying travel and return), but will fold around. The Yoga Pro 3 is nice, but a little out of your price range, but the regular Yoga 3 has a broadwell-U processor (go for i5), 512GB drive, 8GB RAM and a 14" screen for about £699. Even the Yoga 2, which has a smaller screen and a Haswell processor, might not be a bad option, although is a little less future-proof. I was very tempted by one, and also the ThinkPad Yoga, although the new version of that is awkwardly specced for you - the i5/8GB version also has discrete graphics, which you don't need.
posted by running order squabble fest at 9:46 AM on August 27, 2015
Jesus it's hard to not want a Mac here.
In terms of future-proofing, get something with an SSD (solid state drive.) I would go for the suggested Lenovo if I had the dosh.
posted by DarlingBri at 9:58 AM on August 27, 2015
In terms of future-proofing, get something with an SSD (solid state drive.) I would go for the suggested Lenovo if I had the dosh.
posted by DarlingBri at 9:58 AM on August 27, 2015
(The X1 Carbon doesn't convert to a tablet format, but is otherwise a lovely machine.)
Also, slight brainfart: I meant to say, above:
Also, slight brainfart: I meant to say, above:
Keep in mind also that most of these models will have a microSD card slot that you can use a de facto second drive - you can get a 128GB MicroSD card for about £50.posted by running order squabble fest at 10:12 AM on August 27, 2015
Just on the harddrive: Anything less than 256G is usually SSD. SSDs are faster and more reliable. This is particularly noticeable for startup wait time. The laptops with spinning disks require that you shut down the laptop and wait until the disk is definitely stopped, before packing it up, or you risk damaging your harddrive. The SSDs can be moved even when they're in use, since they have no moving parts, and so are likely to last much longer if you actually move the laptop around.
posted by ethidda at 10:32 AM on August 27, 2015
posted by ethidda at 10:32 AM on August 27, 2015
Best answer: I don't have a specific laptop recommendation. There are just too many models and reviews to sort through to give you anything up to date. I agree with folks above that almost anything you buy is going to be good at your price range.
To answer your questions though, look for these features:
* The CPU almost doesn't matter anymore. Almost anything you buy is going to run what you need just fine, especially at the price you're talking about. Core i5 is safe, but Core i3 would be fine too.
* 8GB of RAM is more than enough. 4GB is actually plenty for what you're doing. But buy 8GB.
* Get a touch screen.
* Get Windows 10. There's no reason to monkey around with Windows 8.
* Get an SSD, even if it means buying less storage. This is the single best thing you can do to speed up your laptop.
You might look at the HP Spectre x360. The Wirecutter has some other recommendations.
There's absolutely no reason to buy a Mac, given your requirements. The difference between the two is largely personal preference, and your preference is Windows, which is fine.
posted by cnc at 11:34 AM on August 27, 2015
To answer your questions though, look for these features:
* The CPU almost doesn't matter anymore. Almost anything you buy is going to run what you need just fine, especially at the price you're talking about. Core i5 is safe, but Core i3 would be fine too.
* 8GB of RAM is more than enough. 4GB is actually plenty for what you're doing. But buy 8GB.
* Get a touch screen.
* Get Windows 10. There's no reason to monkey around with Windows 8.
* Get an SSD, even if it means buying less storage. This is the single best thing you can do to speed up your laptop.
You might look at the HP Spectre x360. The Wirecutter has some other recommendations.
There's absolutely no reason to buy a Mac, given your requirements. The difference between the two is largely personal preference, and your preference is Windows, which is fine.
posted by cnc at 11:34 AM on August 27, 2015
This earlier thread got us to decide on a Dell XPS 13 for my wife, and I liked it so much I got a refurbished one for myself. Hers was $1100US, mine was $900+.
Apparently, it's the closest PC equivalent to the Air. It weighs 2.6 pounds, and we got ours with SSDs, 8GB of RAM, and it comes with an i5, which is a pretty fast processor.
There are two-in-one touchscreen versions, but they cost a little more.
I think our hard drives are 128GB, which is definitely on the small side, but we were going for economy. 256 GB SSDs are available, and I think will come in under your price threshold.
You definitely should get SSD - once I installed one in my desktop, there was no going back.
Graphics are fine. I've been multi-tasking with Photoshop while Chrome devours resources in the background, and using some graphics-intensive WebGL sites in-between, and everything's been smooth so far.
No idea if they're available where you are, though.
posted by univac at 12:21 PM on August 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
Apparently, it's the closest PC equivalent to the Air. It weighs 2.6 pounds, and we got ours with SSDs, 8GB of RAM, and it comes with an i5, which is a pretty fast processor.
There are two-in-one touchscreen versions, but they cost a little more.
I think our hard drives are 128GB, which is definitely on the small side, but we were going for economy. 256 GB SSDs are available, and I think will come in under your price threshold.
You definitely should get SSD - once I installed one in my desktop, there was no going back.
Graphics are fine. I've been multi-tasking with Photoshop while Chrome devours resources in the background, and using some graphics-intensive WebGL sites in-between, and everything's been smooth so far.
No idea if they're available where you are, though.
posted by univac at 12:21 PM on August 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
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Apple Macbook 12" (might be out of your budget)
Apple Macbook Air 13"
posted by Mac-Expert at 7:47 AM on August 27, 2015