New laptop... help please

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BMG

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morning, it looks like my 4 year old laptop is on its way out. Therefore being utterly useless in this area I need some advice. All I really need it for is photoshop and storing photos (I do have two external flash drives) I can justify around £500-£600. Sadly I don't have anywhere to keep a desktop, hence the laptop. I would most likely buy from John Lewis. Although if anyone can recommend somewhere in Northamptonshire, that would also be a help.

Thanks for the help.
 
Is there anything you specifically want? Such as a full size keyboard, 13", 15" or 17" screen etc...

There are many options within your price bracket but narrowing down your wish-list will help ;)

Personally I've always pointed people toward the Dell Outlet, there's some excellent deals there!
 
15-17" will be fine. But for this I literally just use my laptop for photoshop & organising pictures. I would like it to be relatively quick, but that's just because I get the hump when they're slow. More bother about reliability!!
 
I've had a gander through the John Lewis website, and at your price point I'm struggling.

This Lenovo looks promising, save the the fact it's using a mechanical HDD rather than a much faster SSD. SSD laptops at that price point are ~120GB, which is probably a little on the small side but workable if you are disciplined how you manage your files.
 
Shock, why is whatever budget I set myself I end up sending more? :D. Is going extra & getting a MacBook Air worth it? Or would it be better getting a windows equivalent for £800. Ultimately I just want the thing to work & be easy to use. On a side note, is windows 10 easier to use than 8? I really couldn't get on with it
 
Fair enough. Must remember, functionality over style.
 
You can probably pick up an Inspiron 17 - 5759 from the Dell Outlet section for just under £500..

• Intel[emoji768] Core[emoji769] i5-6200U (3M Cache, up to 2.80 GHz)
• Windows 10 Home (64bit)
• 8 GB DDR3 Memory 1600MHz (2 DIMMs)
• 1 TB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
• 40 WHr, 4-Cell Battery (removable)
• 17.3 inch LED Backlit Anti Glare Display (1920 x 1080)

Hopefully the link works.

http://m.dell.com/h5/m/uk/Secondary...zvZMTkl4CdY112EWWgdrg9pD%2b74ig&puid=5d2874a5
 
This looks like a good deal..

Inspiron 15 - 5568 2-in-1

Processor: Intel[emoji768] Core[emoji769] i5-6200U (3M Cache, up to 2.80 GHz)

Windows 10 Home (64bit)

8 GB (2x4GB) 2133MHz DDR4 Memory Non ECC

256 GB 2.5inch SATA III Solid State Hard Drive

No Optical Device

Software

Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3165 802.11ac, 1x1, 2.4 & 5GHz + Bluetooth 4.0

LCD Back Cover for Touch Screen - EraGray

Primary 3-cell 42W/HR Battery

15.6-inch FHD (1920 x 1080)Truelife LED-Backlit Touch Display with Wide Viewing Angles-IR Camera(IPS)

Internal Qwerty Backlit Keyboard

£438 + VAT

I'd always opt for an SSD, it's night and day in comparison!
 
BMG said:
Shock, why is whatever budget I set myself I end up sending more? :D. Is going extra & getting a MacBook Air worth it? Or would it be better getting a windows equivalent for £800. Ultimately I just want the thing to work & be easy to use. On a side note, is windows 10 easier to use than 8? I really couldn't get on with it
Click to expand...

neil_g said:
Personally I'd not touch an air. Limited connectivity and to be honest low specs.
Click to expand...

A recent Air would be plenty powerful enough for general photo work except that it is crippled by a low resolution screen that I found prohibited photo work as there wasn't enough screen real estate. The screen on my new Macbook is fine though (hiding some panels on LR) as despite being only 12" it is much higher resolution than the Air screen.

So, my advice would be to worry less about the specs (as even low powered laptops are pretty fine for photos nowadays) and worry more about the screen.
 
Evening all, thank you for looking/answering. It seems most of the suggestions point towards dell, I use these at work and haven't had a problem with them. What's the difference between intel and amd graphics card? I seem to remember someone telling me to avoid amd, however most of the dell laptops seem to use them?
 
AMD processors had a tendency to heat up rather quickly but that wasn't to do with their graphics chips. In terms of graphics I believe they are both relatively good now so shouldn't be a concern, unless you are interested in some light gaming?
 
Apologies, I think I meant processors. Told you, this so isn't my area. One of the reasons why I like apple products, I can seem to find my way around them. Windows just baffles me. Sadly I just cannot justify the price tag for their stuff. I the one on its way out is as Samsung however I'm thinking dell might be the way forward. If there are any other suggestions I would be interested to hear them. Thanks again.
 
BMG said:
Evening all, thank you for looking/answering. It seems most of the suggestions point towards dell, I use these at work and haven't had a problem with them. What's the difference between intel and amd graphics card? I seem to remember someone telling me to avoid amd, however most of the dell laptops seem to use them?
Click to expand...


Those debates happen between gamers who are looking to squeeze every last FPS from their GPU, in general usage both are fine.
 
Ah, definitely not me then, I don't get the chance to play games anymore. Ok, getting closer.
 
As a secondary thought, given what you've just said, you could get a second hand 2014 13" Macbook Pro in your budget (probably) and that will last for ages and is still plenty powerful for your needs and has a nice screen.
 
When you say you get on with Apple products are you referring to iPhone/iPad or have you previously used a Mac?
 
Yeah, I phone & I pad. However I am used to using windows laptops. They just don't seem to be as intuative.
 
I'd try and get a look at a laptop if you can. I'm in the same position as you ( budget was £400..since grown to £650...may go up again :eek: ) and I had decided on a laptop which had a good spec albeit with HDD not SSD but the screen was terrible even though the spec of it was good. The colours were wish washy and the blacks terrrible.

The Lenovo linked earlier in the thread actually had a nice screen, as does this one

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/comput...vo-yoga-510-14-2-in-1-black-10146249-pdt.html
 
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