laptop for travelling

rhc2s4lj5p0xu9 · 12-03-2021 11:47pm #1

What would be a good laptop for using when travelling for word processing and reports using the OpenOffice suite. I now its light use any one should do but suggestions appreciated

Can you use a laptop on a powerbank or would it be best to have spare battery and charge it from the powerbank. They can't be powered from a car battery can they?

13-03-2021 12:21am

you'd need a laptop with usb-c charging and a power bank with PD (power delivery) capability to charge that way.

some laptops can have long battery life these days - especially the new m1 macbooks but they are pricey.

how many hours do you need?

also a fair few laptops have fast charging from mains so you could charge 60 to 80 % in an hour.

what is your max budget

you can get cigarette charger adaptors for some laptops

rhc2s4lj5p0xu9 · 13-03-2021 10:34pm

glasso wrote: »

you'd need a laptop with usb-c charging and a power bank with PD (power delivery) capability to charge that way.

some laptops can have long battery life these days - especially the new m1 macbooks but they are pricey.

how many hours do you need?

also a fair few laptops have fast charging from mains so you could charge 60 to 80 % in an hour.

what is your max budget

you can get cigarette charger adaptors for some laptops

I was hoping to keep the cost as low as possible. Would it better to buy a spare laptop battery than have cigarette charger adaptors or laptop with usb-c charging? Don't need a macbook for word processing

Deseras · 13-03-2021 10:39pm

A lot of new light laptopes last 10= hours on charge

14-03-2021 1:41am

Irene Sweet Steamroller wrote: »

I was hoping to keep the cost as low as possible. Would it better to buy a spare laptop battery than have cigarette charger adaptors or laptop with usb-c charging? Don't need a macbook for word processing

laptops don't have clip-out / in batteries anymore so that's a no-go

budget laptops usually are not the most battery efficient and don't have usb-c charging capabilities (so can't use power bank)

rhc2s4lj5p0xu9 · 14-03-2021 7:59pm

Ok I didn't know re the battery not being clip on thanks. What kind of battery has a modern laptop got?

14-03-2021 8:42pm

Irene Sweet Steamroller wrote: »

Ok I didn't know re the battery not being clip on thanks. What kind of battery has a modern laptop got?

the battery on laptops these days are attached inside the case

they can be changed but it's not something you would do to swap in a charged battery.

if you want something light for travelling you could look at a second hand 1st gen surface go if you can work off a smaller screen

decent battery life and charges over usb-c

e.g.

https://www.adverts.ie/tablet/microsoft-surface-go-10inch-tablet-8gb-128gb-ssd-win-10-laptop/23139347

buy the keyboard for another 50 or 60

8gb version preferable

mightybashful · 15-03-2021 1:02am

glasso wrote: »

the battery on laptops these days are attached inside the case

they can be changed but it's not something you would do to swap in a charged battery.

if you want something light for travelling you could look at a second hand 1st gen surface go if you can work off a smaller screen

decent battery life and charges over usb-c

e.g.

https://www.adverts.ie/tablet/microsoft-surface-go-10inch-tablet-8gb-128gb-ssd-win-10-laptop/23139347

buy the keyboard for another 50 or 60

8gb version preferable

See that example there, how long would you get from an ex display?

opus · 15-03-2021 11:52am

Depends if they set it to kiosk mode or not assuming it was always plugged in. I had a Surface Pro from work 'til last last which was always plugged in sitting on a desk but kiosk mode limited the battery charge to 50% as letting a battery sit charging at 100% all the time isn't great for it.

15-03-2021 2:17pm

mightybashful wrote: »

See that example there, how long would you get from an ex display?

impossible to know

ask them

buy new if worried about that

battery management systems switch off charging when at max charge

lithium ion batteries degrade over the years regardless of use also

rhc2s4lj5p0xu9 · 26-03-2021 3:46pm

would this be ok https://www.harveynorman.ie/computing/laptops/acer-aspire-3-15.6-amd-ryzen-3-8gb-256gb-charcoal-black.html

Has a long battery life

Also is it possible to get a new laptop with no OS and install win 7. I don't like 10 and it will not be on the internet.

26-03-2021 4:49pm

not really normally possible to buy laptops without OS

sign up by email to lenovo.ie to get 10% off code sent to you (bottom left of screen)

then with 10% off these are lighter and better than the option you have above

1st one flex has best battery life

https://www.lenovo.com/ie/en/laptops/ideapad/ideapad-flex-series/IdeaPad-Flex-5-14ARE-05/p/88IPF501453

https://www.lenovo.com/ie/en/laptops/ideapad/s-series/IdeaPad-3i-14ITL5/p/88IPS301420#tab-customize

https://www.lenovo.com/ie/en/laptops/ideapad/s-series/IdeaPad-3-14ARE05/p/88IPS301431

tbh win 10 is far superior to win 7 these days and most things can be turned off /customised to make it look very similar to 7

26-03-2021 5:14pm

although the base model flex only comes with non-upgradable 4gb ram so would go for a different option to the base option or one of the ideapads that have a free ram slot for a cheap upgrade (10 mins with a screwdriver)

if you're travelling a smaller size 14 laptop and lighter weight are more ideal

rhc2s4lj5p0xu9 · 26-03-2021 5:55pm

glasso wrote: »

although the base model flex only comes with non-upgradable 4gb ram so would go for a different option to the base option or one of the ideapads that have a free ram slot for a cheap upgrade (10 mins with a screwdriver)

if you're travelling a smaller size 14 laptop and lighter weight are more ideal

can you disable the s mode in widows 10.I will want the openoffice word processor https://www.openoffice.org/

Thanks for your help:)

26-03-2021 6:02pm

Irene Sweet Steamroller wrote: »

can you disable the s mode in widows 10.I will want the openoffice word processor https://www.openoffice.org/

Thanks for your help:)

10s is just a setting - takes less than a minute to turn it off to have normal win 10 home

https://www.hellotech.com/blog/what-is-windows-10-s-mode-and-how-to-turn-it-off#:~:text=To%20turn%20off%20Windows%2010%20S%20Mode%2C%20click%20the%20Start,out%20of%20S%20Mode%20panel.

rhc2s4lj5p0xu9 · 26-03-2021 8:06pm

glasso wrote: »

although the base model flex only comes with non-upgradable 4gb ram so would go for a different option to the base option or one of the ideapads that have a free ram slot for a cheap upgrade (10 mins with a screwdriver)

if you're travelling a smaller size 14 laptop and lighter weight are more ideal

8GB RAM here

https://www.lenovo.com/ie/en/laptops/ideapad/s-series/IdeaPad-5-14ARE05/p/88IPS501392

26-03-2021 9:53pm

Irene Sweet Steamroller wrote: »

8GB RAM here

https://www.lenovo.com/ie/en/laptops/ideapad/s-series/IdeaPad-5-14ARE05/p/88IPS501392

not in stock though

some of their items have been out of stock for yonks.

laptop for travelling

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