Laptop advice please

NickTB

NickTB

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Nick
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Hello all.
Mrs NickTB is working from home for the foreseeable future and has been using my Mac. She’s today been given a budget of £500 to buy a laptop.
Specs are:
As large a screen as possible (she normally works with 4 screens and has been using my 27” screen)
And as fast and non laggy as possible
Budget can be extended by £200 MAX as that part will be self funded.
I have no idea about windows machines anymore so any advice would be welcomed.
Thanks,
Nick
 
Its a small budget, and you want to go quality rather than going for fancy features. A quality screen is a must.
Personally I'd go for a quality screen over size. I use a 30" screen in the office, but when out in the field I edit on a 13.5" Wacom tablet computer. That quality of screen coupled with the full Wacom pen capabilities overrides the screen size.

And now if you want they make a 16" inch model and you can upgrade even the 24" and 32" cintiqs to be a full computer as well. Unfortuantly you'd need to find more budget though. The average cheap laptop screen is terrible. I mean really terrible for photography work.
 
riddell said:
Its a small budget, and you want to go quality rather than going for fancy features. A quality screen is a must.
Personally I'd go for a quality screen over size. I use a 30" screen in the office, but when out in the field I edit on a 13.5" Wacom tablet computer. That quality of screen coupled with the full Wacom pen capabilities overrides the screen size.

And now if you want they make a 16" inch model and you can upgrade even the 24" and 32" cintiqs to be a full computer as well. Unfortuantly you'd need to find more budget though. The average cheap laptop screen is terrible. I mean really terrible for photography work.
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Thanks for the detailed reply. Her use is solely office based so logging on, and Microsoft suite of applications. But ideally we get the best bang for our buck
 
I’d look at a Lenovo X1, which can be had second hand for your £500 budget, they are cracking machines.

IMHO no laptop is worth compromising for a larger screen (that typically won’t have the extra resolution you need anyway), so get a separate screen and dual screen.
 
Nawty said:
I’d look at a Lenovo X1, which can be had second hand for your £500 budget, they are cracking machines.

IMHO no laptop is worth compromising for a larger screen (that typically won’t have the extra resolution you need anyway), so get a separate screen and dual screen.
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Not sure what her companies policy is on used. But I'll take a look at the machine now
 
NickTB said:
Not sure what her companies policy is on used. But I'll take a look at the machine now
Click to expand...

You could probably buy one from an online reseller, with warranty etc - a bit more formal than “2nd hand”. Call it refurbished...
 
Not sure how Dell Outlet relate to the other link above but they do have stock.
My last two desktops and three laptops have come from there and have been indistinguishable from new.
If you pay attention, refresh often and work fast then there are bargains to be had.
They aren't especially quick to deliver though - last one took a couple of weeks and came from Ireland.

dell.co.uk/outlet
 
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I needed something similar for my wife a few months back, ended up with an HP
This appears to be the current option from them at a similar spec / budget

https://store.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Product.aspx?id=8UD82EA&opt=ABU&sel=NTB

Win 10, Full HD IPS screen, i5 processor, 8GB memory, 512 GB SSD (most at this price are just 256 GB)

They do seem to change models quite frequently, so worth googling to see if there is a specific model that works better for you
 
Thanks for all the replies. Her firm have now decided to buy her a desktop!
 
NickTB said:
Hello all.
Mrs NickTB is working from home for the foreseeable future and has been using my Mac. She’s today been given a budget of £500 to buy a laptop.
Specs are:
As large a screen as possible (she normally works with 4 screens and has been using my 27” screen)
And as fast and non laggy as possible
Budget can be extended by £200 MAX as that part will be self funded.
I have no idea about windows machines anymore so any advice would be welcomed.
Thanks,
Nick
Click to expand...

Check your television, if it is a LCD kind of television, check the back for ports, see what ports is available and check your television's manual.

Because in most cases, it is possible to connect the laptop to the large television screen, and it is possible if you get the settings on the laptop set up correctly, you can use the small screen on the laptop and the large screen on the television to display differently, so you'll end up with two screens.
 
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