Laptop advice.

[Adam4868]

It's for my partner as she has to give her work laptop back Wants to buy a laptop for herself and we're both pretty clueless on tech stuff.Was looking at the laptop below,its 399 from Currys, any good ? Or is there better for the money.Dont really want to spend a lot more.Any advice would be appreciated
ACER Aspire 3 15.6" Laptop - AMD Ryzen 5, 256 GB SSD, Silver

 

[fossyant]

The AMD Ryzens are really good - TBH most laptops do the job. 256 GB is small, but if you aren't storing photos or movies on it, it's perfect.

ACER are good. Await Black Friday deals....

 

[Ian H]

I've just bought an HP pc from these people - https://www.techbuyer.com/uk/
Good service, computer works. Can't say more than that.

 

[Adam4868]

The AMD Ryzens are really good - TBH most laptops do the job. 256 GB is small, but if you aren't storing photos or movies on it, it's perfect.

ACER are good. Await Black Friday deals....

Just for work stuff....documents and some storage of artwork.So is 256gb really small ?
Won't be watching movies or gaming.

 

[Dag Hammar]

One year ago I jumped ship and bought a Chromebook. I love it, for what little I do on a laptop it is perfect.
I love the fact that as soon as I open the lid it is up and running within a few seconds, none of this waiting about malarkey and the battery life is brilliant.
Chromebooks are not for everyone, depends on your requirements.
The one that I bought, direct / on-line from the HP website is the 14a-na0005na.
If you are interested and tempted to buy DO NOT pay £348.98. The price varies and it has been a lot cheaper than that price and it may drop for Black Friday.

 

[Adam4868]

I've just bought an HP pc from these people - https://www.techbuyer.com/uk/
Good service, computer works. Can't say more than that.

Looks good but I'm really clueless what to look for.

 

[Dadam]

Just for work stuff....documents and some storage of artwork.So is 256gb really small ?
Won't be watching movies or gaming.

For light home use it will be perfect but if you were storing large files such as raw photographs or movie files (e.g. video editing) you'd want more storage . That said you can always plug in external storage. I'd prefer 16Gb RAM these days but again, if you're not doing heavy multitasking use (e.g dozens of browser tabs open plus loads of docs, huge spreadsheets) it will be ok.

Screen wise personally I'd prefer an IPS panel (or even OLED) rather than the TN panel supplied, but you won't get the latter at that price point. IPS has better colour reproduction and just looks nicer IMHO. As it's in Curry's you can have a look in the flesh and see if you like it.
FHD resolution 1920x1080 at that 15.6" size would be fine for normal use. Photo work or large spreadsheets/docs you might prefer higher, but it does the job.

 

[Regular.Cyclist]

It is just me that is sitting scratching my head wondering why the OP’s wife has to hand back a work’s laptop then buy one to do work?

If buying a laptop then make sure the storage media is replaceable (some are soldered in these days) then you will have the option to increase capacity if needed in the future.I have recently upgraded my own laptop to 1Tb and took the previous storage and placed it in a caddy to use as additional, external, storage.

 

[Adam4868]

It is just me that is sitting scratching my head wondering why the OP’s wife has to hand back a work’s laptop then buy one to do work?

She's left that post...but still has to work.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Looking at storage space seems fine - and enough for a day or two is needed

But remember that anything stored on the computer is vulnerable

You should really be looking to use a secure network storage system for anything you want to keep

e.g. OneDrive or Google Drive

It also depends what you mean by Art Work - just storing and looking at them or doing things with them?
If you are photo editing then I would go for something with more memory - and if you are serious about it then more power as well

Personally - for just normal Office type stuff and storing photos (etc) then pretty much any recent laptop will work just fine - just couple it with Google Drive or similar

 

[Cycleops]

As others have said depends what you want to do. Unless it's for intensive video editing you might find a Chromebook would be fine for her. It doesn't need to be powerful to run Chrome's OS so requirements are less than a windows or MacBook, therefore specs are lower so cheaper, but you must have a WiFi connection for it to work. Many are convertible and have a touch screen so can be used as a tablet by folding the keyboard over.
Google have just introduced Chromebook Plus to give a minimum level of performance. More here:

https://www.google.com/intl/en_uk/chromebook/

 

[Jameshow]

I have a Lenovo 320s and have abused it on numerous occasions doing home visits etc.

It's been great tbh, solid machines not the fastest I reckon but good build quality.

Don't think it's still available but other Lenovo are....

 

[Cycleops]

Agree with @Jameshow Lenovo are a good budget make. We've got s Chromebook and a tablet in our tech Family both are very good for the money.

 

[Grant Fondo]

It's for my partner as she has to give her work laptop back Wants to buy a laptop for herself and we're both pretty clueless on tech stuff.Was looking at the laptop below,its 399 from Currys, any good ? Or is there better for the money.Dont really want to spend a lot more.Any advice would be appreciated
ACER Aspire 3 15.6" Laptop - AMD Ryzen 5, 256 GB SSD, Silver

looks good and 100 quid more at Argos.
you can go really cheap like this one at £139

View: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lenovo-IdeaPad-Full-HD-Microsoft-Personal/dp/B0C4V89WL1/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3SEQYE5S10SXS&keywords=Lenovo%2BIdeaPad%2B1%2BLaptop&qid=1699903938&s=computers&sprefix=lenovo%2Bideapad%2B1%2Blaptop%2Ccomputers%2C93&sr=1-3&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.16386313-b7bf-4b29-bfa1-0d3d5f3a0dd5&th=1

not quite sure how they do this, a windows 11 licence is £120 and MS 365 £60 for a year, all included.

 

[Grant Fondo]

Agree with @Jameshow Lenovo are a good budget make. We've got s Chromebook and a tablet in our tech Family both are very good for the money.

agree bought the wife a Lenovo and its been great.