Black Week Laptop Deals

cherryghost

For some 'deals', there's really no 'deals' to be had as some laptops have been on sale for a while beforehand, but there are genuine laptop deals to be found. Just going to post some I've found:

Entry Level (browsing/streaming) 250-350 eur:
Laptops strictly for web browsing, online streaming and some light office work.
Under 15 inch:

Over 15 inch:
Currys has a decent entry machine Lenovo at 280
For 330 euro, you get an entry level better in all departments.
Hard to get better deals than the 2 above to be honest, the Argos one is a belter for the specs. There's online deals a bit cheaper but also requires PM/Parcel Wizard etc, and in the end you're saving about a tenner against the Argos model.

Light, thin and sleek recommendations:


Mid Level (entry level gaming/light photo editing) 350-500 eur:
Entry level gaming such as Fortnite/Minecraft/Roblox, and light photo editing (ie not raw editing)
Under 15 inch:
Less for gaming and more for productivity, the Acer Spin 3 at 370 pounds looks good for the price with touch adjustable screen.
Over 15 inch:
Never thought I'd be recommending something from Argos, but 430 euro from a B&M store is excellent value.



Light, thin and sleek recommendations:


Mid-High level (good gaming perf/photo editing/video editing) 500-900 eur:
Good level quality and performance for modern games, heavy photo editing, light video editing, also good for VMs etc.
Under 15 inch:

Over 15 inch:
Just under 600 pound for a GTX 1650 laptop is decent enough. 120hz effectively useless modern games for a 1650 though.
500 pound on Currys UK ebay site or their own site for a laptop with RX 560. Its slower than 1650 but for 500 pound its good value. Delivery via PM/Parcelwizard. If interested keep an eye on this, eBay UK normally have a 10% off everything during Black week, so you could pick it up for 450 pound.
Acer AMD laptop for 470 after coupon applied. Not as sleek as the above AMD laptop but still does the job.
Littlewoods of all places has a well specc'd Lenovo laptop with a top GPU for 1000 euro. Cheaper than the Lenovo website itself after discount!
Light, thin and sleek recommendations:
The Asus Zenbook has a slick finish, weighs just over 1kg at a decent 660 euro, would work nice as a productivity machine on the go

High Level (top gaming perf/photo ed/video ed + more)1000 eur+:
No expenses spared. Fly through any tasks seamlessly.
Under 15 inch:

Over 15 inch:

Light, thin and sleek recommendations:


Netbooks:


Will post more as I find them but many of the sites price reductions are barely worthy of a 'sale' tag.

good spots on the budget gaming laptops and the Lenovo one in Littlewoods which must be the best gaming laptop deal in Ireland for a more mid-range graphics card.

cherryghost

Cheers. I added that Zenbook laptop. Seems great value for top tier chassis

wanderer 22

Thanks for that OP. I'm very tempted by the Zenbook, how upgradeable would that be?

colm18

colm18 wrote: »

Thanks for that OP. I'm very tempted by the Zenbook, how upgradeable would that be?

ram is most likely soldered but ssd up-gradable.

8gb fine unless you are a heavy video editor really.

the pretty slim and v light laptops just have soldered ram these days for the most part - fact of life.

wanderer 22

excellent, think I'll go for it...just that tiny 'what if it's discounted more on Friday?' voice in the back of my head :-P

colm18

colm18 wrote: »

excellent, think I'll go for it...just that tiny 'what if it's discounted more on Friday?' voice in the back of my head :-P

won't be going down any more I would be very confident on that.

more likely to go out of stock tbh imo, as happens with popular items in pcworld.

if on the 1% chance it goes further, you could go back to them and complain.

big_show

Thanks for the recommendations Cherry Ghost!

pavb2

Hi all I was looking for two laptops for small business general use would the Ideapad i5 8gb ram 256 ssd be a good deal at £399.00 in Currys

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/lenovo-ideapad-s145-15iwl-15-6-intel-core-i5-laptop-256-gb-ssd-grey-10197873-pdt.html I'm over in UK and can pay sterling.

Its 609 euro in Argos

https://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/1343474/Trail/searchtext%3ELENOVO+S145.htm#tab3.

Would also look to buy Microsoft Office to include Outlook.

But are there any better/cheaper options out there

pavb2

pavb2 wrote: »

Hi all I was looking for two laptops for small business general use would the Ideapad i5 8gb ram 256 ssd be a good deal at £399.00 in Currys

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/lenovo-ideapad-s145-15iwl-15-6-intel-core-i5-laptop-256-gb-ssd-grey-10197873-pdt.html I'm over in UK and can pay sterling.

Its 609 euro in Argos

https://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/1343474/Trail/searchtext%3ELENOVO+S145.htm#tab3.

Would also look to buy Microsoft Office to include Outlook.

But are there any better/cheaper options out there

poor battery life though and the screen is not supposed to be great.

this for the same price has a better screen and battery life in the same size.

ryzen 5 compares well to the i5. both 4-core cpus but the ryzen has better graphics capabilities.

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/acer-aspire-5-a515-43-15-6-amd-ryzen-5-laptop-256-gb-ssd-silver-10198290-pdt.html

for microsoft office it could be cheaper to buy it outright (try ebay for a licence key, you just download the software from ms website and use key) than to pay the office 365 subscriptions.

pavb2

glasso wrote: »

poor battery life though and the screen is not supposed to be great.

this for the same price has a better screen and battery life in the same size.

ryzen 5 compares well to the i5. both 4-core cpus but the ryzen has better graphics capabilities.

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/acer-aspire-5-a515-43-15-6-amd-ryzen-5-laptop-256-gb-ssd-silver-10198290-pdt.html

for microsoft office it could be cheaper to buy it outright (try ebay for a licence key, you just download the software from ms website and use key) than to pay the office 365 subscriptions.

If I had to reduce the budget to say £300 st what would be the next best option, I would consider reducing screen size for cost or is it not worth paying any less?

very little decent at the £299 price point tbh

you'd be sacrificing on ram, cpu power, ssd size and screen quality -> everything.

false economy really.

pavb2

Big thank you to Glasso for being so patient, taking the time and sharing your knowledge so freely, invaluable for those of us who are technically challenged like myself.

mightybashful

pavb2 wrote: »

Big thank you to Glasso for being so patient, taking the time and sharing your knowledge so freely, invaluable for those of us who are technically challenged like myself.

Glasso is right though tbf

pavb2

pavb2 wrote: »

Big thank you to Glasso for being so patient, taking the time and sharing your knowledge so freely, invaluable for those of us who are technically challenged like myself.

no problem. If there was a good option for your at £300 I would put it up but I don't see one.

this is not bad at all but you'd need to buy 4gb extra ram. screen probably not as nice as the acer though and the ssd is small. the i3 chip is also lower but will probably meet your needs

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-15s-fq1514sa-15-6-laptop-intel-core-i3-128-gb-ssd-silver-10198294-pdt.html

btw as I said you can get Ms Office for very cheap on ebay

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1311.R2.TR2.TRC0.A0.H0.Xmicro.TRS0&_nkw=micrsoft+office+2016&_sacat=0

they even seem to have lifetime office 365 options there.

could be safer just to get the office 2016 standalone version though.

pavb2

Thanks Glasso I'll probably go with the Acer and look at the options for MS Office

Straignt

Any opinions on this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RF1XD36/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

Comes to €315 including customs, shipping etc. with amazon global...

Would the Ryzen 3 and 4GB of ram be enough for Microsoft Office and web browsing with multiple tabs? and would it be fairly future proof?

Currently on the hunt for a laptop with a budget of €400

Straignt

Straignt wrote: »

Any opinions on this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RF1XD36/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

Comes to €315 including customs, shipping etc. with amazon global...

Would the Ryzen 3 and 4GB of ram be enough for Microsoft Office and web browsing with multiple tabs? and would it be fairly future proof?

Currently on the hunt for a laptop with a budget of €400

currys have offers where you can get 10% extra off with code 10BF1DDIE (enter code at payment time at checkout on marked qualifying items)

so you can match that deal from the US

https://www.currys.ie/ieen/search-keywords/xx_xx_30328_xx_xx/-black_tag_ie-/xx-criteria.html

if something has only 4gb it's a cheap upgrade down the line and simple to do.

this one with 10% off is a good deal

https://www.currys.ie/ieen/computing/laptops/laptops/lenovo-ideapad-s340-14-amd-ryzen-5-laptop-256-gb-ssd-grey-10193270-pdt.html

gaffmaster

Thanks everyone for some great tips in this and some other threads.

Would I be right in saying these two laptops are very similar, and the extra cost gets you a metallic shell and a little less overall weight? Is there anything else to consider:

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/asus-zenbook-14-um431da-14-amd-ryzen-5-laptop-256-gb-ssd-blue-10194537-pdt.html

and

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/lenovo-ideapad-s340-14-amd-ryzen-5-laptop-256-gb-ssd-grey-10193270-pdt.html

Thanks!

DelBoy Trotter

I bought the Zenbook, have only used it for 2-3 hours so far (and that includes the time taken to install all the Windows updates) and I'm delighted with it

pavb2

I was away for the week and missed out on the Acer, 8gb ram, 256 gb SSD, Ryzen 5 I thought it might be on special offer for a bit longer. The more I looked now its gone the better the deal seemed to be.

Anyhow unless anyone has any other suggestions I might wait and see if it comes back on offer over the Christmas period.

Safehands

glasso wrote: »

ram is most likely soldered but ssd up-gradable.

You mention ssd upgradable.
I went to one of the larger stores to buy a new laptop on black Friday. When I told the very nice sales guy that I had a 2013 Macbook Pro, he told me I should upgrade it by putting an 500gb ssd into it. Gave me a price of around €300, to include transferring my data. I gave them my Macbook and two days later they had it done. It was very fast but none of my Microsoft programmes had transferred. They told me that I would need to buy a new Microsoft package, which I agreed to do, but then they told me that my 2013 system would not take the new MS package, so they tried to upgrade my operating system, but that wouldn't work either. Something to do with that model of Macbook. I told them to put the old hard drive back in, but that had completely crashed and was useless. A total disaster. Dunno if everything they told me was true, but be careful if you decide to upgrade to an ssd.

Safehands

Safehands wrote: »

You mention ssd upgradable.
I went to one of the larger stores to buy a new laptop on black Friday. When I told the very nice sales guy that I had a 2013 Macbook Pro, he told me I should upgrade it by putting an 500gb ssd into it. Gave me a price of around €300, to include transferring my data. I gave them my Macbook and two days later they had it done. It was very fast but none of my Microsoft programmes had transferred. They told me that I would need to buy a new Microsoft package, which I agreed to do, but then they told me that my 2013 system would not take the new MS package, so they tried to upgrade my operating system, but that wouldn't work either. Something to do with that model of Macbook. I told them to put the old hard drive back in, but that had completely crashed and was useless. A total disaster. Dunno if everything they told me was true, but be careful if you decide to upgrade to an ssd.

you can upgrade an ssd on a windows machine to 500gb for about 40€

apple stuff is more expensive and you were most likely also charged a hefty margin on the labour cost.

the cleanest way is to copy off files and install windows on the new ssd from a usb stick and reinstall your programs.

pavb2

I was hoping the Acer Ryzen 5, 8gb RAM, 225 ssd came back on sale for £400 Sterling but it doesn’t look like it so can anyone advise what the next best deal is ? I don’t mind if screen is smaller.

ratracer

pavb2 wrote: »

I was hoping the Acer Ryzen 5, 8gb RAM, 225 ssd came back on sale for £400 Sterling but it doesn’t look like it so can anyone advise what the next best deal is ?

I reserved this one in Argos today:

http://www.argos.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10152&catalogId=15051&langId=111&productId=1600666

Still the same price as it was on Black Friday, €429, picking it up later on.

Pixied

ratracer wrote: »

I reserved this one in Argos today:

http://www.argos.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10152&catalogId=15051&langId=111&productId=1600666

Still the same price as it was on Black Friday, €429, picking it up later on.

Can that be used for gaming? My 10 year old is saving up for one for his birthday.

oceanman

its gas to think these laptops that cost hundreds to buy actually roll off the assembly line costing pennies to make.

ratracer

Pixied wrote: »

Can that be used for gaming? My 10 year old is saving up for one for his birthday.

I don’t honestly know. I’m only going to beusing it for general everyday use and wouldn’t know a huge amount about gaming. Hopefully some of the very knowledgable folk around here will be able to advise you better.

ratracer

oceanman wrote: »

its gas to think these laptops that cost hundreds to buy actually roll off the assembly line costing pennies to make.

In fairness, the same can be said about anything really!

Pixied

Pixied wrote: »

Can that be used for gaming? My 10 year old is saving up for one for his birthday.

it's a ryzen 5 cpu. the integrated vega 8 graphics that come with the cpu are better than intel's integrated graphics but it's not a gaming machine.

it will run stuff like fortnite but not the high-end demanding titles. if you are only talking about lighter stuff like fortnite and rocket league etc then yes it will do.

to run the demanding titles you'd have to get a gaming laptop that will have a dedicated graphics card for that.

but then you are looking at 800 euro +

oceanman

ratracer wrote: »

In fairness, the same can be said about anything really!

well that's true I guess.