Looking At A New Laptop

[lankeela]

I want something lightweight, around 13/14" and must have a good battery life. I don't do anything technical with them, mostly facebook, emails and occasional zoom meetings and typing up dog show schedules. I want to spend in the region of £300 so what would anyone recommend - if I go to PC World or somewhere like that would they advise me or just try to sell me anything. I would also need them to transfer all the stuff on my current laptop. Would I be better going to a smaller computer shop?

I would add that telling me how many gigawatsits it has will go right over my head!

[Maydup]

The best thing is to save all your folders in the cloud, that way you can access them from any device including your phone to a certain extent. If your laptop conks out you will not lose anything if the stuff is saved in the cloud.

I use Microsoft One Drive for cloud and have a Dell Inspiron 13 inch. Love it.

I bought it new from John Lewis but in the lockdown so it had to be delivered and I had to set it up myself. It wasn’t to bad but you might be better off at a small supplier as they will help you find your emails and create you some short cuts.

[robsmom]

We bought a new laptop the other week. We bought a MacBook Air approximately 13" We went direct to the Apple shop inBirmingham They transferred all the information from
the old computer to the new one. It was expensive, however, the service we got was exemplary. If you have an old Apple laptop ,depending on the age you can get money back.
Good luck in your search.

[JimF]

Look no further than here:
https://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/c/404/Laptops-Netbooks/

[barry1010]

Nothing wrong with going to PC World and having a good look at what's available. I've had good service from them in the past.

At least you will get to pick them up, test the keyboard and see the screen quality. If you see one you like check the price online and see if you can get it cheaper elsewhere.

Your needs are modest and you don't need an expensive laptop so stick to your guns. Just make sure the hard drive is big enough, at least 256GB, preferably more, and the battery life is decent if that is important to you.

Think about buying refurbished, Buenchico recommends an eBay seller.

[Blubster]

Have you considered a Chromebook or similar? Just the thing for general browsing and suchlike. There's no software built in as such, as everything is cloud based.

https://www.currys.co.uk/computing/laptops/laptops/chromebooks

[barry1010]

Chromebooks are great for people who know exactly what they are buying and understand the limitations. They are next to useless if you have to use them where this is no internet connection and many people are just not happy storing their files and photos on someone else's hard drive, as it were.

This from PC World is a decent machine, reduced from £379
https://www.currys.co.uk/products/acer-aspire-3-a31422-14-laptop-amd-ryzen-3-128-gb-ssd-silver-10226985.html It has enough RAM to cope with Windows updates.

[barry1010]

PC World will transfer your stuff to the new laptop, you will need to check their charges

[lankeela]

Thanks all, will look at the Acer Aspire. Can't remember the last time I put a CD in so that won't bother me and I've never used the numbers on the right hand side. Couldn't tell you what sort of Windows I've got now so that won't make any difference.

[barry1010]

I agree with Maydup re One Drive. As well as making it very easy to access your files from any device it is, of course, an automatic back up, very simple to use.

[barry1010]

That Acer I linked to, 8GB RAM, 256 SSD, is £350 at Argos

[Atheist]

Cloud means that all your files are stored in vast energy consuming sheds in USA and god knows where else, and thus are available for inspection by whatever bunch want to know all about you. It's OK if your favourite politicos are in power, but don't forget that the top spots are coveted by the greediest and most ruthless individuals. Do you want Musk etc having all your info and using it to get even richer and more powerful? I'm sure others here will be able to reassure you.

[Gromit]

The M1 MacBook Air. Blisteringly fast, future proofed.

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/apple-macbook-air-13.3-2020-m1-256-gb-ssd-space-grey-10216298.html

[barry1010]

Not within the £300 budget though, Gromit, and far exceeds Lankeela's needs. You don't need a Ferrari to drive a mile to Asda once a week

[Maydup]

I can’t see anyone getting richer or more powerful from my few photos or Lankeela’s dog show schedules being stored in the cloud…..

[Gromit]

A new iPad

https://www.apple.com/uk/ipad-10.2/

[Blubster]

@Athiest

All my files uploaded to the `Cloud` are encrypted and thus inaccessible to all and sundry. Microsoft's `One Drive` has a personal vault that files can be stored in (admittedly low in capacity).

[Gromit]

Most cloud storage is end to end encrypted so cannot be intercepted and read by anyone.

[Atheist]

Blubster and Gromit; I don't have any trust in the people who do this stuff. They do it to make money and not to protect people's privacy. Hitler, Trump, Musk, et al are not public servants, they are wannabe rulers.

[Atheist]

Anyway, we're only talking about choosing a new laptop. I just thought I'd mention something.

[Gromit]

Storage of digital stuff is a service, and one they hope you will pay a little bit of money for. I pay 79p a month for iCloud storage. I don’t think they will attained world domination with that.