New laptop needed

Augme

Hi all, just your run of the mill "I need a new laptop" thread.

Currently have a Dell inspiron with Intel Core i3 2.1ghx with 4GBRam with Windows 7. Probably about 7-8 years old at this stage but it has been a beast. Still runs quite well but is slowing down.

Looking for an upgrade. I mainly use it for photoshop, streaming sport and a bit of gaming - Civ 5, Rome Total War, early Calls of Duty. I'm not looking for anything extra really. I don't want a laptop that can play the latest games, trying to avoid going that rabbit hole! Very tempted to go back to Dell given my previous good record with them but also wondering if the laptop market is different now. I assume there's been a fairly signifcant increase in brands and built quality in the last 8 years.

Any advice/tips would be great. i.e. What are the brands to avoid? What's the minimum I need to spend for decent quality or the minimum processor and ram etc. Any links to any recommendations would be even better. Doesn't necessarily have to be a blackfriday deal.

My son has a Asus ROG gaming laptop intel i7 with 16 gb of ram that he's asked me to sell for him as he's gone to collage and doesn't have any time for it.ive put it up on done deal but very surprised I've not had one offer as it very clean and fast .also have the reciept for it.shame as it's in the box sitting at the end of my bed.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058220073/new-laptop-needed

all you really need is an 11th (current) gen i5 as the XE integrated graphics that came in on that generation will run those older games fine and is a big step up from the integrated graphics of old

for photoshop you should be looking at a screen that has at least a 99% sRGB colour-reproduction range

you just missed out on the matebook d 15 with the 11th gen intel cpu which was going for £500 and has excellent build quality (fully metal case, good keyboard and trackpad), portable

it has just gone "currently unavailable" on amazon uk.

was £750 before sale

you should define a max budget instead of saying "what's the min I should spend"

https://www.amazon.co.uk/HUAWEI-MateBook-2021-Intel-Laptop/dp/B0953YT2F2/ref%3Dsr_1_3?keywords=matebook+d15&qid=1638031816&sr=8-3

otherwise the lenovo (formerly ibm) ideapad 5 pro is amazing value at the deal price (says only a few left on stock)

it's very well reviewed as a laptop

bit heavier at 1.9kg but not too bad - still portable really

very powerful cpu, nvidia gpu card that will allow higher fps on gaming

great quality screen (bright and great colour accuracy)

metal build

at under €800 new it's a bargain at the temporary black friday deal price offered (says low stock)

https://www.lenovo.com/ie/en/laptops/ideapad/500-series/IdeaPad-5-Pro-16ACH6/p/88IPS501619

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118232419#Comment_118232419

it can be difficult to sell gaming laptops second-hand

technology moves on and you always get more powerful for less as time moves on

new features come in on more recent pieces of tech in the laptop that buyers may want (especially on graphics cards)

often sellers get emotionally attached to the price that they may have originally paid whereas it would be commonly only be worth less than half that value a year or 18 months later (or even less tbh)

it's a rapidly depreciating item, more so than normal non-gaming laptops even

Augme

I don't have a a strict budget but I don't want to pay for things I don't need. I assume higher performance = more money.

I was looking at the latest Apple and Surface pro and the reviews are all excellent etc but they both seem extremely unnecessary given what I'm looking for.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118233254#Comment_118233254

it's all about the best value for whatever the use case is really.

matebook d 15 not going to come back into stock before the deal is over I would say

ideapad 5 pro is great value for what it offers and gives you a bit more leeway for more recent games