opinions on this laptop

positivenote

Hi all,
im in the market for a new laptop after my old MacBook Pro (had it since 2012) died a few weeks ago. I have decided that they are not work forking out huge money for, so I am working off a budget of approx 500€. I basically need something that is reliable and capable of running office and photoshop and have a screen size of 14 or less. I was hoping for 8GB ram, SSD and hopefully i5 or i7 processor. Im sure whatever I get will be a huge improvement on my previous 5 year old MacBook Pro. I am going into the last few months of my Phd so reliability and performance are really important rather than 'bells and whistles' of graphoics cards etc...
I have come across this on amazon and was wondering if it looks worthy of an investment and if not I am open to recommendations given my criteria...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/HP-EliteBook-Laptop-i7-5600U-3-2GHz/dp/B01HQ11UW2/ref=sr_1_1?m=A7S8W7MEY2FW4&s=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1516149107&sr=1-1&keywords=HP+EliteBook+840+G2+14%22+Laptop+Intel+Core+i7-5600U+8GB+RAM+256GB+SSD
Thanks

buy this instead.

http://www.currys.ie/Product/lenovo-.../346520/401.10
580 euro so similar price after sterling is taken into account.

way better cpu - over 70% faster with current generation 4 core i5 vs that older 2 core i7 (3 years old at this stage)
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-5600U+%40+2.60GHz
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5-8250U+%40+1.60GHz
better screen - full hd 1080p vs crappy 720p. makes a big difference. screen is what you look at all the time.
small size ssd 128gb so prob 90 gb left after windows but use usb hard drive for media like movies etc.
both have 8gb but newer faster ram (ddr4) in the currys one.
pretty much same weight although the elitebook is metal.
shop so returns easier if have issues.

positivenote

glasso wrote: »

buy this instead.

http://www.currys.ie/Product/lenovo-.../346520/401.10
580 euro so similar price after sterling is taken into account

Thanks amillion... link isn’t working though?

Alanstrainor

positivenote wrote: »

Thanks amillion... link isn’t working though?

Works for me. The model is:

LENOVO IdeaPad 320S-14IKB 14" Laptop - Grey

You should be able to find it on the currys site. Looks like a good option tbh. Just don't go expecting Macbook quality.

positivenote

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Works for me. The model is:

LENOVO IdeaPad 320S-14IKB 14" Laptop - Grey

You should be able to find it on the currys site. Looks like a good option tbh. Just don't go expecting Macbook quality.

thanks for the link. I followed it up and it looks like a decent deal alright... should I worry about the lac of an ethernet connection?
thanks

Alanstrainor

positivenote wrote: »

thanks for the link. I followed it up and it looks like a decent deal alright... should I worry about the lac of an ethernet connection?
thanks

Buy a dongle if need be. Laptops have been removing them for years, so it's not surprising to see none here.

eyeball kid

Sorry to hijack another persons thread but I'm in the market for a similar priced laptop.
What's peoples opinions on this one?
http://www.currys.ie/Product/hp-15bs158sa-156-laptop-silver/346511/401.0.10

I know the RAM might be a bit small but it's something I could upgrade to 8GB. Also, it's got the decent processor glasso mentioned and good storage.

Alanstrainor

eyeball kid wrote: »

Sorry to hijack another persons thread but I'm in the market for a similar priced laptop.
What's peoples opinions on this one?
http://www.currys.ie/Product/hp-15bs158sa-156-laptop-silver/346511/401.0.10

I know the RAM might be a bit small but it's something I could upgrade to 8GB. Also, it's got the decent processor glasso mentioned and good storage.

It's a big beast of a thing, you wouldn't want to be carrying it far.

That being said, the processor is great, the screen is 1080p and it should be more than enough for most tasks. As you mention the RAM is lacking, but from a quick google it appears this machine has two DIMM slots, so it should be possible to buy one 4GB DIMM and just pop it in:

http://uk.crucial.com/gbr/en/compatible-upgrade-for/HP---Compaq/hp-15-bs158sa

It seems like a good enough deal for the cash. I do hate offset keyboards/trackpads on laptops, but that's a personal preference ( look at the pictures, the track pad is to the left of centre of the screen due to the inclusion of the number pad).