Recommend a laptop for €400

NIMAN

Looking to buy a laptop and 400 is the budget.

It won't get heavy use, being mainly used in a school by a teacher.

Don't need a massive HDD, would prefer a processor that makes it run smoothly over storage space. Could probably live with a Celeron although would prefer a faster processor if money allowed. I guess the more RAM the better too.

Also, hate Win8, so it must be Win10/upgradeable to W10 for free.

15.6 screen preferred and must have a DVD drive, at least 1 x USB3 port. HDMI out would be nice too.

Any recommendations?

Curb Your Enthusiasm

HP Pavilion 15 in Curry's for €489 if you can stretch your budget. i3 5th gen, 8gb RAM, 1TB HDD, HDMI, disc drive, plenty of USB ports.

NIMAN

Thanks for that, trying to keep to 400 if at all possible, as its being bought by the school.

I'll bear it in mind though.

Junglewoman

NIMAN wrote: »

Thanks for that, trying to keep to 400 if at all possible, as its being bought by the school.

I'll bear it in mind though.

School can claim the VAT back so factor that in.

NIMAN

Forgot about that!
Whats the VAT rate on laptops?

Another question, whats the Celeron N2840 processor like?
I seen a decent looking Lenovo G50 but all seem to have the Celeron.

NIMAN

Junglewoman wrote: »

School can claim the VAT back so factor that in.

Do I need to inform the store when purchasing the laptop?
Do they give you any form to fill in, or just give receipt to school?

bajer101

Any machine with Windows 7 or 8 will be entitled to the free Windows 10 upgrade. If you don't mind a refurbished model, you will easily find a decent one for less than €400. Still to the A1 grade of refurbished and you will be grand. Avoid the Celeron, go for an i3.

http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/st/core-i3-laptops?&isort=price

NIMAN

I notice some Win8.1 laptops on the likes of Argos mention free upgrade to Win10, and others don't.

Can every single Win8.0 or 8.1 get a free upgrade?

bajer101

Yes. All Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 machines are entitled to the free upgrade. It will notify you automatically. I've done quite a few now and it's a great upgrade. Microsoft seem to have got it right with this one. The only issue I had was with one machine that had the Cisco VPN client installed. Other than that, it was seamless and quick.

NIMAN

actually just downloading it now on my own laptop, really hope Win10 is better than 8, never got used to it at all.

bajer101

Win 8 was horrible. 8.1 was a bit better, but both really needed a start button replacement like Classic Shell. With Classic Shell installed, 8.1 was ok. I still install Classic Shell on Win 10 machines as I just like the Win 7 type start button and access - but 10 is perfectly usable without it.

Keplar240B

Will the shops upgrade all there stock laptops to win 10 at this point ?

Junglewoman

It is 23%. Check with the school to confirm they can claim it. You should be able to look at models up to about €492

NIMAN

Techmaster wrote: »

HP Pavilion 15 in Curry's for €489 if you can stretch your budget. i3 5th gen, 8gb RAM, 1TB HDD, HDMI, disc drive, plenty of USB ports.

Seen that one in my local currys today, nice machine but none left in stock, only the display one available. They wouldn't knock any money off, instead offered money off an extended warranty! Chancers