Which PC Laptop To Buy ?

Wazmeister

Ok, so I favour, and I'm fully invested in, Apple...

I own a MacBook Pro, 27"iMac, 2 iPads etc etc

But I need a PC laptop for work, as some software is PC based.

It's main use will be Powerpoint, Word, maybe some presentations.

What do you recommend ?

I won't use it that much, and was thinking about £300 but will spend more if required.

Thanks in advance,
Waz

colourofsound

Before you look into buying a Windows machine:

Microsoft 365 for Mac, Office for Mac

Parallels: Mac & Windows Virtualization, Remote Application Server, Mac Management Solutions

If its only Office apps like Word and Powerpoint you need, a Mac will do that fine. Anything else will probably run in Parallels. Food for thought  

Wazmeister

colourofsound said:

Before you look into buying a Windows machine:

Microsoft 365 for Mac, Office for Mac

Parallels: Mac & Windows Virtualization, Remote Application Server, Mac Management Solutions

If its only Office apps like Word and Powerpoint you need, a Mac will do that fine. Anything else will probably run in Parallels. Food for thought  

Thanks mate.

I have 365 already, but some of my H&S training software is Windows only

colourofsound

Parallels is definitely worth a look then if its just for the odd bit of software. 

If you're intent on separate hardware though, there isn't much in the £300 range I could recommend. In comparison to Macs you'll be very disappointed with the build quality and general appearance of a Windows laptop. The HP I have for work is about £900 and honestly its a plastic piece of crap. I hate it.

What you *could* do is get your hands on an Intel Mac and bootcamp it. In fact, I might be putting my 2015 13" MBP up for sale soon; I just need to take it to Apple to unlock the BIOS (long story)

Wazmeister

Bumpo

TheMarlin

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404900845739?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=u06u4gjzqzm&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=3gw4Mp6ER2O&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Wazmeister

TheMarlin said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404900845739?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=u06u4gjzqzm&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=3gw4Mp6ER2O&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Thanks mate

Wazmeister

TheMarlin said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404900845739?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=u06u4gjzqzm&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=3gw4Mp6ER2O&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Why that particular model ?

Fingers657

Jezz you have all those Macs and dont know how to use them ??? Roll eyes 

Wazmeister

Fingers657 said:

Jezz you have all those Macs and dont know how to use them ??? Roll eyes 

It's not the Macs, it's the software which is PC only !! And I don't want to partition my Macs. Simples.

TheMarlin

Wazmeister said:

TheMarlin said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404900845739?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=u06u4gjzqzm&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=3gw4Mp6ER2O&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Why that particular model ?

Decent spec, good screen, light weight, good battery, bulletproof build quality,  graphic processor is good enough for all but the latest games, 
it’s not the best in the world, but good all rounder, and refurb model will be cheap. 

digitalscream

TheMarlin said:

Wazmeister said:

TheMarlin said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404900845739?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=u06u4gjzqzm&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=3gw4Mp6ER2O&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Why that particular model ?

Decent spec, good screen, light weight, good battery, bulletproof build quality,  graphic processor is good enough for all but the latest games, 
it’s not the best in the world, but good all rounder, and refurb model will be cheap. 

And...it's going to last you a whole lot longer than anything that's £300 new. With that budget, anything you buy new is basically e-waste.

With that said, I doubt the Lenovo is going to go for £300.

My dad's just bought a 12th-gen i5 Asus Vivobook from Currys for £440, which is probably about as good as it's going to get - 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD and a decent OLED screen. They're not advertised on the site, so I think individual stores are clearing last-gen stock. Could well be worth popping in to see what deals are available on display models?

digitalscream

Also, moved to Off Topic 'cos this isn't anything to do with studio stuff (also, extra eyeballs).

TheMarlin

digitalscream said:

TheMarlin said:

Wazmeister said:

TheMarlin said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404900845739?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=u06u4gjzqzm&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=3gw4Mp6ER2O&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Why that particular model ?

Decent spec, good screen, light weight, good battery, bulletproof build quality,  graphic processor is good enough for all but the latest games, 
it’s not the best in the world, but good all rounder, and refurb model will be cheap. 

And...it's going to last you a whole lot longer than anything that's £300 new. With that budget, anything you buy new is basically e-waste.

With that said, I doubt the Lenovo is going to go for £300.

My dad's just bought a 12th-gen i5 Asus Vivobook from Currys for £440, which is probably about as good as it's going to get - 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD and a decent OLED screen. They're not advertised on the site, so I think individual stores are clearing last-gen stock. Could well be worth popping in to see what deals are available on display models?

Asus make decent spec machines, but they’re full of bloatware, and not built well.  Speak to any laptop repairer, the brand that comes in for repair most will be an Asus.  The power socket is usually the first thing to break, then cascades from there.  

I bought one for my wife when she started a business. Fab spec, but ran at snails pace, turns out it has great processor, but nastiest hard drive with an incredibly poor read/write speed. 

A new SSD, ram upgrade, and wipe with clean Windows 11instsll, and expected speed returned. 

With regards to the laptop I suggested, I just bought my father one new from eBay, 1TB SSD, 32 GB ram,,i7, nvidrea gforce graphics card, £450. So a refurb unit should come in on budget. 

I like Lenovo. Really well built, sturdy, and extremely reliable. 

Danny1969

The Lenovo Thinkpads are very well built but expensive unless brought used. Some of the cheaper range like the IdeaPad are built a little better than most high street crap, but will still suffer the curse of all modern laptops if not handled correctly. This issue is where the brass threaded inserts pull out the plastic lid mounts or pull out the bottom base plastics. This happens because they try and build a machine to look thin and sleek like a Macbook but don't have the budget to build it out of aluminum. Thin plastic  laptop = shorter brass inserts = less support = failure. A laptop made from alloy doesn't use threaded inserts as the metal can be tapped and threaded directly. 

@TheMarlin ;
Asus use the cheapest nastiest DC sockets and yes, they always break. Normally just as the positive contact pin right angles out the socket. I've changed hundreds over the years and they have never corrected this issue. Even their USB C laptops have issues ... it's almost as if they want the laptop to break. 

JCA2550

Another shout for Lenovo  my last few non-work LTs have been inexpensive reconditioned ones and they work great with various DAWs such as Reaper.

stickyfiddle

I’ve had Thinkads for work for the last 10 years. They’re really very good and if you get a refurb with a warranty they’re not crazy expensive. I wouldn’t buy anything else PC personally. 

Snags

One minor counter to the "Asus are built out of cheese" theme - it very much depends on whether you actually take care of your kit. Assorted friends and relatives who weren't in the budget for Thinkpad-level kit and went Asus (with guidance) are still happily using machines 5-10 years on (across the sample pool) with no problems.

We also used to put Asus tablets/netbooks into one client where they needed touchscreen devices for a portion of their staff, who were almost universally animals when it came to looking after kit, and the failure rate was laudably low.

So it's not a given that the power socket will fail (and over the years I've seen a not insignificant number of power socket/power board failures on Thinkpads too).

All that said, my basic recommendation is always "Thinkpad of some kind" and that's what we put into all our clients unless they're really stubborn/tight.

Wazmeister

TheMarlin said:

Wazmeister said:

TheMarlin said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404900845739?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=u06u4gjzqzm&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=3gw4Mp6ER2O&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Why that particular model ?

Decent spec, good screen, light weight, good battery, bulletproof build quality,  graphic processor is good enough for all but the latest games, 
it’s not the best in the world, but good all rounder, and refurb model will be cheap. 

Mate, thanks for your input, along with everyone

Marlin, Ive gone for that one on eBay