Cheap windows laptops

m_c

Any suggestions for cheap(ish) windows laptops?

Looking around, there seems to be a multitude of Asus/Acer sub £300. Anything particular to avoid, or any specific recommendations?

It's for my Niece, who has just announced she'd like a laptop for her Christmas, so it's fallen to me to find something suitable. Usage will be mostly random web browsing, video streaming, with the odd bit college work possibly thrown in. Certainly nothing too strenuous processing wise.

Myranda

At that budget most will do what she's going to b free using it for.

Find something that's as nice looking/feeling as possible in that price bracket (go to Tesco or PC World to look at them) then give us the model numbers and specs and we can say if there are any red flags

stimpsonslostson

At the VERY cheap end of the market, ive' been using a linx 1010 for work- I exclusively use office365 online, so never use the harddrive. It works fine & is small! 
Best bit is that you can take the keyboard off & use it as a tablet. 

ronnyb

I have had an Asus x555l for the past 3 1/2 years and its been fine. Think it was about £300.

Phil_aka_Pip

laptops are crap

windows is crap

laptop running windows is crap squared

chrispy108

I see Phil is as helpful as ever.

I'm interested in this too, need to buy the missus a machine sometime. I reckon I'll just wander PC World and buy the thing with the best combination of keyboard/trackpad/screen/squeeze test.
Processor/RAM are less important to me at that level than how the thing feels.

m_c

I'm still trying to find out exactly why she wants a laptop, as I suspect something like a chromecast, and possibly a keyboard to go with her Samsung tablet might be a better option.

@stimpsonslostson the Linx1010 tablets are brilliant for the money. I've got one I use at events, and I can't fault it, but you can't buy them new anymore. You can only currently get a 12 " version.

Myranda

One caveat to my previous post: one way manufacturers often save on cheap laptops is the battery - sometimes negating the point of being a laptop... Always look at battery life as an important spec... Super long battery life is usually the purview of expensive laptops, but 4-5 hours at that price shouldn't be impossible

Dave_Vader

These look too good to be true, but have been recommended on some tech blog I saw a few weeks ago.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-Latitude-E7240-Ultrabook-i5-4200U-4GB-128GB-SSD-Touchscreen-Laptop/232902237137?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&var=532442149813&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

Certainly worth a punt at that price though.

John_P

Dave_Vader said:

These look too good to be true, but have been recommended on some tech blog I saw a few weeks ago.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-Latitude-E7240-Ultrabook-i5-4200U-4GB-128GB-SSD-Touchscreen-Laptop/232902237137?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&var=532442149813&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

Certainly worth a punt at that price though.

That looks great.   Very tempted to order one to replace my mother’s aging laptop instead of going to pc world. 

Bidley

I bought one of these for my Mrs a month ago.

HP EliteBook 840 G1 14-inch... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0713SMWBW?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

It's shockingly good for the money. Amazon have a look of good refurb deals. Ten times better than a brave new one at that price.