My wife's been made redundant and needs a new basic but reliable laptop. Any advice?

john9876

My wife does admin/PA work and has just been made redundant.

She needs a new laptop for updating her CV, searching for jobs online and probably doing interviews via Zoom/Skype etc.

I don't think it needs to be hugely powerful or have a very high spec so probably looking to spend 300-400 (ish) ... is that realistic?

I'm not sure whether she needs microsoft office or whether she can just use one of the free alternatives? I have it on my work laptop so she can borrow that occasionally.

Any thoughts/suggestions greatly appreciated.

I'd buy second hand or refurbished from Adverts, with ms office installed. I can recommend a good seller who offers a guarantee, if you'd like. (Not me, someone i've bought from and would buy from again).

Sheep Shagger

Sounds like a chrome book, would work, Asus or the like with Windows 10...€250 to €300 at Argos.

Had one for a year for similar use and connecting to work network, no issues at all.

Homelander

Normally 300-400 is plenty for a solid 14" slim laptop with decent CPU, Full HD screen and an SSD that's ideal for casual use, but so much stuff is out of stock everywhere at the moment.

There are still plenty left in stock, but they tend to be the really low-powered models that just aren't very good for anything at all.

Of what's in stock, something like this is pretty good - powerful for casual use, decent laptop, decent screen.

There are cheaper options like this but obviously less powerful, though will still get through the basics OK.

Things you absolutely want to avoid are screens that are not Full HD, less than 4GB Ram, less than 64GB hard drive (ideally, 128GB, but 64GB will do for casual use if you want to keep budget low).

Again, not as many options at the moment as there normally would be as so much stuff is out of stock.

run_Forrest_run

Deleted User wrote: »

I'd buy second hand or refurbished from Adverts, with ms office installed. I can recommend a good seller who offers a guarantee, if you'd like. (Not me, someone i've bought from and would buy from again).

+1
For the money mentioned I think your best bet is spending it on a good quality refurbished laptop. Google it for refurbished laptops, there are a few companies doing it, Back from the Future is one but they tend to be on the expensive side with high spec Lenonvo Thinkpads etc.

Man with broke phone

Can I just ask out of interest, and Im sorry if this offends.


Your wife works as a PA and admin but seems to know very little about computers. She has been working at it long enough to get redundancy.

ultrawoman

+1 for a basic Chromebook. I have one for working remotely on work network, doing Zoom calls, writing up documents etc. Cost about 300 but you could get one for less. No complaints after 6 months -- great purchase.

run_Forrest_run

Man with broke phone wrote: »

Can I just ask out of interest, and Im sorry if this offends.


Your wife works as a PA and admin but seems to know very little about computers. She has been working at it long enough to get redundancy.

why would a PA/ amin be expected to know a lot about computers? I'm sure they know how to use various software packages related to their job but regarding the spec of a machine needed to run such software I wouldn't necessarily expect everyone to know this stuff.

That's like saying someone who flies a lot would be expected to know how a jet engine works.