Reasonable Laptop, £300 to £400 range?.

[ColinJ]

My laptop spends most of its life plugged in to the mains, but I can't find any way to stop it sitting at full charge all day long. The battery saver dialogue box doesn't do anything other than allow you to reduce screen brightness to slow the discharge rate.

It is a Lenovo feature, though other brands may also do something like it...

 

[Time Waster]

My Asus has battery save keeping it at 60% when on power cable. Occasionally it stops working and I get to 100% before I realise. Then I have to turn the feature off and on again to get back to 60% maintenance.

 

[keithmac]

That's a really good idea keeping battery at 60% on AC power, will have to make sure new one has that feature.

 

[delb0y]

I'm interested in a new laptop, too - anyone know any suppliers who can supply one without all the free stuff - like30 days of Norton, and a month of Microsoft 365 and so on? Always annoys me because I can never quite get rid of such things fully. Ideally I'd like a DVD drive built in, too, because I'm old fashioned.

 

[presta]

In order of best to worst Which customer satisfaction scores:
Microsoft
Dell
Samsung
=4 Acer
=4 Asus
Lenovo
HP

In order of best to worst reliability over 6 years:
Microsoft
Acer
=3 Lenovo
=3 HP
=5 Dell
=5 Asus
Samsung

(My laptops are a 15" Samsung NP350 & 13" HP3501)

My current HP compared to the old Samsung:

Pros:
SSD Faster than HDD
HD screen
Quality audio by B&O
Smaller & lighter

Cons (worst first):
Touchpad buttons hidden under the touchpad: difficult to right click without left clicking
Touchpad drag releases instantly, making it impossible to take a second bite when you run out of space
Keyboard visibility poor due to grey legend on silver keys
Internal battery not user replaceable
No numeric keypad
Fewer USB ports
Fan sapping battery
Fan noise an irritating piercing whine
SDHC positioned where it keeps getting ejected accidentally
No DVD
Smaller screen
SSD smaller than HDD

The colour hue is very different between the two, the one that looks worst is whichever one I'm not currently used to.

 

[vickster]

I'm interested in a new laptop, too - anyone know any suppliers who can supply one without all the free stuff - like30 days of Norton, and a month of Microsoft 365 and so on? Always annoys me because I can never quite get rid of such things fully. Ideally I'd like a DVD drive built in, too, because I'm old fashioned.

Call up a company called Mesh and ask them if anything exists (a quick Google says probably not, although apparently MS surface laptops are better than some)
https://www.meshcomputers.com/Default.aspx

 

[si_c]

I'm interested in a new laptop, too - anyone know any suppliers who can supply one without all the free stuff - like30 days of Norton, and a month of Microsoft 365 and so on? Always annoys me because I can never quite get rid of such things fully. Ideally I'd like a DVD drive built in, too, because I'm old fashioned.

The best way to remove all the crap is to simply get a USB pen drive and download the most recent Windows installer from Microsoft, then wipe and reinstall the OS onto your laptop. You can do this on any brand of laptop regardless of what the manufacturer installed - the license for Windows is linked to the hardware of the laptop so you don't even need a license key or anything like that.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Lenovo Ideapad - excellent so far.

SSD is a must these days imo.

W11 running very smoothly and MS cloud storage is a fantastic solution for file back up.

 

[Hornchurch]

Hello all, I'm looking for recommendations for a good reliable Windows laptop £3/400 range.

I've had a few HP's and they've all suffered from touch pad failures so HP is out.

It does have to be Windows as well (unfortunately).

What's a good reliable bet, are Lenovo still a good make?.

I'm interested in a new laptop, too - anyone know any suppliers who can supply one without all the free stuff - like30 days of Norton, and a month of Microsoft 365 and so on? Always annoys me because I can never quite get rid of such things fully. Ideally I'd like a DVD drive built in, too, because I'm old fashioned.

Afraid I'm a bit LATE getting in here, this thread, what with being a "forum newb" - (but not a 'newb' to forums)

I have an EXCELLENT suggestion, assuming you can (still) find one, brand-new, as in "brand-new/old-stock"

It's a superb laptop which fits the o.p's parameters, to a tee - £300 to £400 range & Windows compliant.


It's the outstanding "Fujitsu / Siemens" AH-530 series - both 'that' & it's subsequent derivitives & offspring.

(They're Japanese/German BTW)

Both myself AND my elderly Father use an 'AH-530', on a very daily basis & I'm typing this out on one, now !


"Reliable as F$6% (unprintable !)", they have NEVER once let us down !!!!!!

Quality of 'build/manufacter' is FAR higher than most I've ever seen - Frankly, I wouldn't use anything else !!!!

My Dad's one has been in daily useage since 2012 & altho' that sounds "old", they WERE cutting-edge, back then.

You can get them with either the "i-3" or "i-5" core processor - Mine is still super-fast, or I wouldn't still be using it, otherwise.

Handles everything you can (metaphorically) "throw at it", task-wise & like I say, the build-quality is SUPERB - (2nd to none)


Yes, they DO have an excellent already built-in top-end (for it's class), "D.V.D" player which "burns/rips/records" too.

I use a mouse in conjunction with mine (just my personal preference), but my Dad has been using the touchpad, since 2012

That'll be TEN YEARS USE later this year, ALL with a touchpad, used daily - still going strong, no-issues !


Honestly, I cannot recommend these machines highly enough - They're outstanding - (& no, I don't work for "Fujitsu / Siemens" either !

Yes, I "know" they went out of production - (being 'lesser-known' & outsold by cheaper, crappier makes)

But you still CAN get them, off of E-bay UK (or elsewhere) - You'll just be buying "New / Old-Stock" that remained unsold.


We rate them that much, that we've bought yet another, newer pair, as yet, unopened.

It's an "A.357" which is a later version of the "AH.530" used here - Label says "Country of Origin - Germany"

This (unopened) one has an "i-3" processor, same as I'm using now, with 4Gb storage & was bought, tail-end of 2021

Like I say, you WILL have to fish-about, but, my (strong) advice is - GO FOR A NEW ONE - as in brand-new, unused.

They are still about, albeit, getting much rarer now - But it's worth hunting one down, before they become extinct.

So my recommendation is, "Fujitsu / Siemens" AH.530, or AH.357 - I'll fish-about later, to find any 'new' ones online...


Fujitsu / Seimens 8gb Laptop, Brand New (UK seller)

- BTW , am not affiliated with seller in any way - just came across it, via search.

POST EDIT - Found this one, above - UK seller (warehouse/firm), in Nottinghamshire - It's £459.00 post-free & 8Gb RAM

That's assuming of course that you want 'brand new' - it's worth paying the £60 extra, to avoid being saddled with junk.


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