Buying a Laptop: The current Generation

JimmyCorkhill

Hi, looking for advice on a laptop for personal use. Went into Harvey Norman yesterday and lots of options but haven't a clue what exactly to look for or which laptop is better value or whether there is another shop or online option I would be better off buying from.

Budget €500 - €550 - but would stretch to €600.

Looking for a 14 inch screen (use a similar size for work laptop), nothing bigger (definitely not a 15.6 inch which I currently have on an old laptop)

Will be for personal use - internet browsing, MS Office for the likes of excel mainly as like to do a bit of data analysis. In the future I might use the laptop with a sort of automated bot for some gambling purposes & I think the bot requires a Windows OS

Streaming movies etc. Storing photos

Taking away on holidays etc.

Something that in 4 years time will still be quick and not have slown down so much that I don't even want to turn it on.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Nowso

thrres 10% off this version of a 13th gen ideapad slim bringing it under 600 the 1tb version is 60 more and there an oled version around 8 . but that looks decent value for a 13th gen portable laptop

there are some amd versions aswell if your prefer them

https://www.lenovo.com/ie/en/configurator/cto/index.html?bundleId=82XDCTO1WWIE1

JimmyCorkhill

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120674969#Comment_120674969

Hi,

Many thanks for your reply, it is much appreciated.

A couple of questions if you don't mind?

1) For just under €600, is that spec going to be better than anything I can for a similar budget in Harvey Norman or say Laptops Direct?

2) You mentioned there are some AMD versions as well if I prefer them. I don't really know whether one is better than the other, so I have no real opinion. But in the spec you pulled together if you think it is sold with Intel then that is fine with me.

3) On the Windows 11 Home 64 OS, I presume that is a once off cost and I won't need to pay an annual subsciption fee or wil I?

4) For the Wireless option - is there any noticeable difference between the two options? The option that was NOT selected mentions Wi-Fi 6E.

Thanks again

Nowso

you wont get anything near that Price harvey Norman etc no

amd are different processors to intel ,

yes one off windows cost

on this link i changed to wifi 6e and the 100w charger . if its not they are likely better options with the white backlight - ther 2 k screen is another 8o but fhd is fine and it has 16gb of ddr5 which is good n fast

https://www.lenovo.com/ie/en/configurator/cto/index.html?bundleId=82XDCTO1WWIE1

JimmyCorkhill

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120675356#Comment_120675356

Thanks again, on that link it seems to b showing me the original wifi selection and also not showing the 100w charger, did it maybe not update?

Ty

Nowso

in the last post i posted igf==f not just change the options yourself to the ones i mentioned

SergioPan

14 inch will be better 100+ Your budget: not big money, but best laptop for Your tasks:

MSI Summit E14 EVO A12M-046UK @amazon.co.uk

PS: 15,6/16 no problem for your money, but 13,3/14 more expensive because this pay for compactness

Rock Paper Scissors

Hi Guys,

I am looking for recommendations for a new laptop for work.

The only requirments I have is a 15" inch screen and at least 1TB of storage and that its quite snappy

It wont be used for anything such as video editing, graphic design etc.

Just standard office work such as emails, browsing etc

Budget is €1000 max

Nowso

one option is a ideapad slim . you can get most of the add ons you need and and be under the price

https://www.lenovo.com/ie/en/configurator/cto/index.html?bundleId=82XFCTO1WWIE1

Rock Paper Scissors

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120709341#Comment_120709341

Thanks for the link mate, are they good machines?

Nowso

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120710079#Comment_120710079

Lenovo makes good quality machines, the slim versions of any are normally cut down a bit

it all depends what people like aswell

SergioPan

Hi! Look ASUS Vivobook Pro OLED M3401QA

817€ Amazon.co.uk

SergioPan

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-Vivobook-OLED-M3401QA-Inch/dp/B09GKM2K2F/ref%3Dmp_s_a_1_1?crid=3154BI9HPM0ZX&keywords=ASUS+Vivobook+Pro+OLED+M3401QA&qid=1687771908&sprefix=asus+vivobook+pro+oled+m3401qa+%2Caps%2C72&sr=8-1

ASUS Vivobook Pro OLED M3401QA 14 Inch 2.8K 16:10 Laptop (AMD Ryzen 9-5900HX, 16 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD, Backlit Keyboard, Windows 11), Queit Black

Nowso

not bad there are more oled laptops coming out this year

henke

Hi,

Any recommendations for a laptop for some office work and some coding? Thinking €800 or so as well but would stretch to €1000 if the extra was worth it. Presume there is better value to be had online than the local Currys. Out of the last two suggestions not sure which is better or how the AMD vs Intel i5 differ in performance. Coding would mostly be Java and running and IDE maybe embedded server.

Much thanks.

Nowso

online is cheaper yes . you can do a cpu benchmark and compare different ones as there are various differences , amd tend to be lighter on the battery .

you can get all the suggestions but people have there ideas on screen size - memory and ram

lenovo have a sale finishing tonight so might be worth having a look

henke

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120801485#Comment_120801485

Thanks. Would you think the Lenovo linked above is a good fit for my use case. Screen size is not massively important but the 16 would probably give that extra bit of real estate.

I presume any modern laptop will connect fine to a Dock via usb c for monitor and peripheral use.

Nowso

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120801593#Comment_120801593

you would need to check the usb formats as on some laptops you will get older slower spec on usb a and c on them

henke

I am wondering is any of these machines better value:

https://www.lenovo.com/ie/en/p/laptops/ideapad/ideapad-500-series/ideapad-pro-5i-gen-8-%2814-inch-intel%29/83al0011uk

This is 13th Gen i7? Seems usually cheap or I'm missing something.

https://www.lenovo.com/ie/en/p/laptops/ideapad/ideapad-500-series/ideapad-pro-5i-gen-8-%2814-inch-intel%29/83al0023uk

This is a few hundred more expensive than the Slim version linked earlier but maybe anu benefit isn't worth the extra overhead. I assume build quality and weight are the main differences there.

I have worked on ThinkPad machines for years and they are solid. Seem more expensive than IdeaPad. Again I assume it's build quality is higher in that series.

Nowso

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120802614#Comment_120802614

the i5 has an nvidia rtx 3050 in it the i7 hasnt a gpu , that will change the price

henke

Ok thanks for the feedback. Don't know if I am that all the wiser if these are value for money or is the slim one linked earlier better. I will have a think and try to research more.

banie01

My Lenovo ideapad gaming 3 has given up the ghost. It's hanging on boot, failing to complete post 3 out of 4 times and even when it does boot to windows? It quickly freezes up and reboots.

Tried System recovery and it powercycles and fails to complete recovery.

Tried to reinstall from USB and same issue, it starts powercycling and doesn't complete any stage of reset or reinstallation.

So, it's time to buy a replacement. I'm obviously a little averse to Lenovo given recent experience😉

So what's out there that combines a GPU and decent performance for gaming(happy at 1080p) with medium. Budget is in and around 800 with student discount available to me.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Nowso

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121114851#Comment_121114851

i had an issue where windows wouldnt update or restore in the house . i sent it to a repair turns out i might have removed registery files using ccleaner registery cleaner

what gen was your ideapad / cpu

if you need the laptop for college yes get a laptop , if you can work it with a pc . build yourself or a prebuild you will get better value that way

around what budget ?

CoBo55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121114851#Comment_121114851

Is there a updated bios available? I had very similar problems with a Lenovo, I downloaded the latest bios using another computer onto a usb key flashed the new bios over and it was perfect. Can you enter the bios?

banie01

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121115137#Comment_121115137

The college use and semi-decent graphics and portability are a need. Going with a basic laptop and Tower is on the face of it a good option. But, it's not a goer in my situation as portability is a must. Budget is around the €800 mark

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121116679#Comment_121116679

I can enter the BIOS and alter amend settings there, it's on latest version of bios. The laptop is now booting approx 1 out of 5 times. Tried to launch system restore, via winRE(f11) it got as far as selecting a restore point then crashed.

Tried uninstalling latest windows updates via WinRE, no change.

Tried to start via Safemode, booted to home screen and then crashed.

Tried to reinstall windows via USB, selected region, then crashed.

Every single instance where I've managed to get it to boot to home screen, it locks up and crashes with 2/3 minutes.

The BSOD's I've managed to capture are all hypervisor and nt kernel and power issue.

Now all that said, the laptop was performing brilliantly up to the moment this all kicked off, and now I can't play IL2 in VR? I've never wanted to play it more 🤣

I have a lot of salvageable parts in the borked unit, nvme ssd and SATA SSD, as well as additional ram, screen and WiFi modules.

The problem now is? The only thing I can find that offers similar bang for buck is another Lenovo 🤨 an rtx 4050 and I have a stick of Ram from the dead laptop and other bits to add.

https://amzn.eu/d/5xYloAC

fandozzle

Looking for a decent spec and value for my son starting college.

Any thoughts on this much appreciated:

https://www.laptopsdirect.ie/acer-extensa-15-amd-ryzen-5-16gb-ram-512gb-ssd-15.6-inch-windows-11-laptop-nx.eh3ek.009/version.asp

CoBo55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121130148#Comment_121130148

It looks ok I've had a few Acer's over the years and never had any bother with them. Is there anything available on the back from the future site? The last laptop I bought for children heading for college I got from them and it's still flying it. It's still on educational duties my daughter is doing an online based course with it now.

Fine Cheers

My 3rd level student son has been using a borrowed ThinkPad 13" screen (not sure about spec) and now needs to buy his own.

Given he's happy with the screen size, what are people's thoughts on this:

https://www.lenovo.com/ie/en/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadx/x13-g2/20wks1fd01

Budget circa €500 but happy to go a bit over if worth it - was this really priced previously at almost €1400 ??

Nowso

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121156815#Comment_121156815

looks a good deal . maybe he would prefer a 14/15 ?

Bandito909

That looks pretty decent for the price. I'm in the same boat.

Anything else to consider within that budget?

Thanks