Laptop recommendations / specs

[g4ry13]

I currently have a Samsung Series 7 laptop which I bought almost a decade ago for around £800 and was a pretty decent machine at the time. It has a 15.6 inch screen, 12GB RAM (I upgraded it). An SSD (I upgraded to this), i5 Gen 3 processor and running windows 10.

Generally the computer suits most of my needs, although I have noticed since upgrading from Windows 7 to 10 the fans often spool up like crazy. The computer case has certainly seen better days due to weakness around the screen hinges resulting in the motherboard flexing / bending. I have lived with the issues though. The main recent issue is I have invested in a 4K monitor to hook up to my laptop. Unfortunately my laptop is very limited in the resolutions it can display and i'm unable to benefit from the new shiny screen.

My usage: I mainly use my computer for internet browsing, media consumption (YouTube, Twitch, maybe Netflix), maybe a little MS Word / Excel, some coding and that's really it. I don't use my computer for gaming and by no means require a super high spec. A good display with some decent speakers are two important factors.

Specs

Screen size - Currently have 15.6 inch screen and this seems right. I wouldn't want to go any smaller. The display must be of good quality.
Keyboard layout - A number pad is essential (rather than row of numbers along the top)
Weight - Current computer clocks in around 2.5kg and feels pretty heavy. I don't need a super slim laptop but would like to try go lighter for when I travel.
Build quality - good build quality is pretty important. My current laptop has a case which is cracking and the screen opening / closing puts stress on the case and motherboard. It's certainly a design flaw and would like to try avoid these silly design issues in future.
Hard drive - I don't need much storage - 256GB to 500GB should be more than enough. An SSD is essential although suspect pretty standard these days.
OS - Prefer Windows 10. I don't like what i've seen of Windows 11 and would put off upgrading as long as possible. Don't want Apple and a Chromebook is insufficient for my applications.
RAM - This would be a case of either 8GB or 16GB I assume. I would rather get something which will future proof me as I don't want to buy new tech again in a few years time.
Processor - Same situation as RAM that it should be able to last the next 5 years at least. I think an i5 is lowest I should go. Probably an intel although AMD are probably just as good these days.
GPU - Not a gamer so don't need the latest Nvidia GPU. I do have a 4K screen and need the computer to be capable of displaying 3840 x 2160 on it.
Optical drives - Always thought this was essential but seems the world has moved on and not necessary to have a DVD drive these days.

Budget: Would like to stay under £1000. Is this realistic? Honestly shocked to see Dell XPS is close to £3k!

I would appreciate any advice about specs to look for and whether i'm on the right track. Also any recommendations for specific laptops. Or brands which produce a quality product.

[PositronicRay]

I recently picked up one of these for £499.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Galaxy-Windows-St...


Very good too, screen is excellent.

[g4ry13]

PositronicRay said:

I recently picked up one of these for £499.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Galaxy-Windows-St...


Very good too, screen is excellent.

Most of my recent computers have been Samsung. Aside from the build quality being a bit questionable they make a decent product.

Is an i3 perhaps considered a little 'weedy' these days?

[g4ry13]

Is 8GB enough RAM these days for a future-proof laptop? I was considering going for 16GB but some of those options take me into the gaming laptop territory.

I have a 15% discount on Acer which helps a little. The Acer Aspire 5 looked a possibility but i'm not keen on the fingerprint scanner on the trackpad or the exhaust vent below the screen.

Dell Latitude could fit the bill, except it's kind of pricey. Not sure if the spec is especially great and it's definitely rather plasticky.

Lenovo is another brand i'm considering although also on the expensive side.

[grumbledoak]

You don't seem to have demanding requirements - a fairly low spec laptop would do what you want. Then you say you want quality and future proof, both of which are going to bump your price.

Buying new I would consider starting spec as an i5 / 16GB / 500GB NVMe and see what that costs you.

Beyond that you will have to choose your priorities -
- 15 inch screen and lightweight are an either/or decision really
- business class laptops are higher quality, but you also pay for that and get corporate stuff you don't care about.


All the big 4 - Dell, Lenovo, HP, and Asus all sell working laptops at every budget. I think they all have Outlets where you can save some money. Google says -
Dell : https://www.dell.com/en-uk/dfh/shop/dell-refurbish...
HP : https://www.hp.com/gb-en/shop/offer.aspx?p=c-hp-ou...
Lenovo : https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/gboutlet/d/deals-and-...
Maybe not Asus

[Luke.]

Hi Gary, if you can up the budget a little, I'd be all over a Surface Laptop 5. We've got five Surfaces in the house and can't fault them. Brilliant build quality and great 16:10 touchscreens. Bought another just yesterday.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-Surface-Laptop-...

[xeny]

g4ry13 said:

Is an i3 perhaps considered a little 'weedy' these days?

I'd argue almost the other way round. A current generation mobile i3, a 1315u has 2 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores. A 3rd gen mobile i5 and some mobile i7s of that generation had 2 cores. The efficiency cores in the modern CPU are significantly faster than the ones in the 3rd gen i7.

However, getting good speakers in a laptop is tricky - that is likely to leave you looking at premium models, which may not be offered with a lowly i3 CPU.

[lufbramatt]

Worth going to somewhere like John Lewis and asking if they have any ex demo or customer return laptops kicking around. Recently got an immaculate Asus (not sure it had been taken out of the box, still had all the protective film on) for about £300 under list and it more than meets the specs you mention and well under your budget (Nvidia gpu, 16gb, terabyte ssd etc).

[Digger]

lufbramatt said:

Worth going to somewhere like John Lewis and asking if they have any ex demo or customer return laptops kicking around. Recently got an immaculate Asus (not sure it had been taken out of the box, still had all the protective film on) for about £300 under list and it more than meets the specs you mention and well under your budget (Nvidia gpu, 16gb, terabyte ssd etc).

Actually good call as OP is in London & currently John Lewis on Oxford Street has a reasonable selection of returned/clearance laptops . . .

[OldGermanHeaps]

How much do you care about screen quality? I got a 4k oled 15.6 hp envy in 2019 and the image quality still pisses all over a lot of brand new 15.6 laptops i see today. Well worth viewing in person when you can.

[g4ry13]

Luke. said:

Hi Gary, if you can up the budget a little, I'd be all over a Surface Laptop 5. We've got five Surfaces in the house and can't fault them. Brilliant build quality and great 16:10 touchscreens. Bought another just yesterday.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-Surface-Laptop-...

Thanks for the recommendation.

I did look at the Surface although I would quite like a number pad on the keyboard which rules out quite a few potential options.

[Luke.]

g4ry13 said:

Thanks for the recommendation.

I did look at the Surface although I would quite like a number pad on the keyboard which rules out quite a few potential options.

Would something like this work for you?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/cimetech-Bluetooth-Wirele...

[g4ry13]

xeny said:

g4ry13 said:

Is an i3 perhaps considered a little 'weedy' these days?

I'd argue almost the other way round. A current generation mobile i3, a 1315u has 2 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores. A 3rd gen mobile i5 and some mobile i7s of that generation had 2 cores. The efficiency cores in the modern CPU are significantly faster than the ones in the 3rd gen i7.

However, getting good speakers in a laptop is tricky - that is likely to leave you looking at premium models, which may not be offered with a lowly i3 CPU.

I was looking at some of the laptops with deca-core processors. Last time I looked at computers quad-core was the big thing so i'm guessing these are a significant improvement!

I don't need studio quality speakers on the laptop, just something which doesn't sound tinny and rubbish when watching something on YouTube.

OldGermanHeaps said:

How much do you care about screen quality? I got a 4k oled 15.6 hp envy in 2019 and the image quality still pisses all over a lot of brand new 15.6 laptops i see today. Well worth viewing in person when you can.

My eyes probably can't tell the subtle nuances between a good screen and an amazing screen. I just had a nightmare buying a large monitor reading up about colour gamuts, NITS, refresh rates etc - it can get rather overwhelming!

The current laptop is a 15.6'' HD+ 1600 x 900 pixels screen. It looks good to my eyes and most of the newer laptops seem to have a higher resolution now.

[g4ry13]

Luke. said:

g4ry13 said:

Thanks for the recommendation.

I did look at the Surface although I would quite like a number pad on the keyboard which rules out quite a few potential options.

Would something like this work for you?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/cimetech-Bluetooth-Wirele...

It's certainly an option.

I don't do a lot of number pad work and it's one of those things which would be 'nice' to have. Buying a separate like your link could open up a few options.

[g4ry13]

grumbledoak said:

You don't seem to have demanding requirements - a fairly low spec laptop would do what you want. Then you say you want quality and future proof, both of which are going to bump your price.

Buying new I would consider starting spec as an i5 / 16GB / 500GB NVMe and see what that costs you.

Beyond that you will have to choose your priorities -
- 15 inch screen and lightweight are an either/or decision really
- business class laptops are higher quality, but you also pay for that and get corporate stuff you don't care about.


All the big 4 - Dell, Lenovo, HP, and Asus all sell working laptops at every budget. I think they all have Outlets where you can save some money. Google says -
Dell : https://www.dell.com/en-uk/dfh/shop/dell-refurbish...
HP : https://www.hp.com/gb-en/shop/offer.aspx?p=c-hp-ou...
Lenovo : https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/gboutlet/d/deals-and-...
Maybe not Asus

Yes, my general requirements are not demanding and in honesty a Chromebook does the job for general browsing / YouTube etc. It's just running some applications which means I need to look at using a different OS.

What's the verdict on AMD? Stick with intel processors?

The screen size is something I wouldn't compromise on. A bigger screen does unfortunately come with a trade-off on weight and battery life. The gaming laptops can clock in at over 3kg and have poor battery life. I'd like to try keep it under 2.5kg but don't need something ultra-thin.

I'll keep hunting around and check out some of the outlet places. I'm a little flexible on the number pad layout which may present a few options.

Does the following Dell spec sound good for £1k or a bit overpriced?

Processor: 12th Gen i5-1245u 10 cores up to 4.40ghz
RAM: 2 x 8GB DDR4, 3200 MT/s
Hard Drive: 256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD (512GB is an extra £150)
LCD: 15.6'' FHD 1920x1080 250 Nits

[grumbledoak]

g4ry13 said:

Yes, my general requirements are not demanding and in honesty a Chromebook does the job for general browsing / YouTube etc. It's just running some applications which means I need to look at using a different OS.

What's the verdict on AMD? Stick with intel processors?

The screen size is something I wouldn't compromise on. A bigger screen does unfortunately come with a trade-off on weight and battery life. The gaming laptops can clock in at over 3kg and have poor battery life. I'd like to try keep it under 2.5kg but don't need something ultra-thin.

I'll keep hunting around and check out some of the outlet places. I'm a little flexible on the number pad layout which may present a few options.

Does the following Dell spec sound good for £1k or a bit overpriced?

Processor: 12th Gen i5-1245u 10 cores up to 4.40ghz
RAM: 2 x 8GB DDR4, 3200 MT/s
Hard Drive: 256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD (512GB is an extra £150)
LCD: 15.6'' FHD 1920x1080 250 Nits

AMD is fine. Cheaper CPUs and motherboards. Can save you some money to spend elsewhere

When looking at screen resolution remember this is a 15" laptop screen. Resolution to brag about will hurt the battery life, and everything will want to be tiny so Windows will want to display at 150% and then not every app will work right, especially if you plug in monitors...

Yours sounds toppy.

i7-12th Gen / 16GB / 500GB and 15.6 @ 1920x1080 Dell Inspiron 3520 for £666 here - https://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/SecondaryInven...

Higher specs are available in the gaming laptops, of XPS if you want to man maths it.

[xeny]

g4ry13 said:

I was looking at some of the laptops with deca-core processors. Last time I looked at computers quad-core was the big thing so i'm guessing these are a significant improvement! .

In marketing possibly. You write code - how often does it use more than say four processing threads?

It's amusing sometimes to look how often my current quad core processor is maxed out. It really isn't often.

Edited by xeny on Monday 3rd April 07:53

[Captain_Morgan]

xeny said:

g4ry13 said:

I was looking at some of the laptops with deca-core processors. Last time I looked at computers quad-core was the big thing so i'm guessing these are a significant improvement! .

In marketing possibly. You write code - how often does it use more than say four processing threads?

It's amusing sometimes to look how often my current quad core processor is maxed out. It really isn't often.

Edited by xeny on Monday 3rd April 07:53

Was going to ask the same, perhaps lower core count higher clock speed would be better for many of us.

[sgrimshaw]

Luke. said:

Hi Gary, if you can up the budget a little, I'd be all over a Surface Laptop 5. We've got five Surfaces in the house and can't fault them. Brilliant build quality and great 16:10 touchscreens. Bought another just yesterday.

MS do make some nice laptops BUT their batteries are crap, and when they go .. which they will .. they are non-replaceable for a user.

Had to scrap a Surface Pro 4 and have a Surface Book which you can't undock as the battery in the "tablet" is dead.

Got a Samsung Tab Pro S bought secondhand around the same time as the SP4 was bought new and it's battery is still going strong.

[xeny]

Captain_Morgan said:

Was going to ask the same, perhaps lower core count higher clock speed would be better for many of us.

That's pretty much the logic behind turbo boost - run a few cores at a higher clock speed.

CPU performance is power/cooling limited, and power goes up faster than clock speed^2 , so for the rare piece of code that splits well across lots of cores they are great, but unfortunately that is vanishingly little day to day desktop software unless you are into computational modelling, 3D rendering or video editing.