Laptops

I would recommend Lenovo for build quality. Going by what you want to use it for, maybe you don’t need a full bloated operating system like Windows. A Chromebook might suit you. They don’t just come in tablet form, you can get a Chromebook laptop.

Such as this Chromebook from Lenovo https://www.lenovo.com/ie/en/l…8IPFC51448 with its 13 inch screen.

If you want the more traditional Windows laptop but still looking for slim portability then you have the 14 inch machine from Lenovo.
https://www.lenovo.com/ie/en/l…8YGS701396

Well you’re right about the Chromebook being very on-line dependent and tied in to Google’s ecosystem. Back to Flipperdipper’s question though. He is looking for new hardware. I would still recommend a 14inch Lenovo. Good quality build, slim and portable. And he can always decide what he wants to run on it, Windows, Linux etc.

There's two definitive factors to narrow down your search:

1) Screen size: In laptops this determines pretty much the rest of the machine, for what you mention there, you'd probably want something between14" and 15'6", which are pretty much the standard sizes... if you go either smaller or bigger than that the prices go up quiet quickly as smaller ones are more complicated to make and usually go for super light materials and bigger ones are aimed to gamers and thus more powerful and more expensive... this is a general rule, surely there are exceptions.

2) Budget: Like anything else... what's non-expensive for you? If you go super cheap, you'll end up with the lower end processors and you'll notice very quickly that it'll be so slow that it'll put you off from ever using the device. Try to go with something mid range.

You can go pretty cheap going with Amazon/eBay, but the likes of Currys(PC World) would proably have some pretty decent options but you have the piece of mind of warranty/exchange if there's any issues.

This would be my recommendation for something that will last you a good 5 years, probably not as "inexpensive" as you were hoping but trust me... if you go sub 400, it'll go in the bin 12 months later unless you're a very patience man.

https://www.currys.ie/ieen/com…7-pdt.html

Without going too technical, look out for at least 8GB of Memory (RAM), browsers now these days will chew up 4GB. Processor, try for at least an Intel Core I3.

Hope this helps

Rami

Thanks for the replies folks. I was hoping to get something less than €400 with 14" - 15" screen, at the moment I'm using a four year old ASUS that cost over €500 and it's on it's last legs. I'm seriously thinking about going for Linux, fed up with windows and problems. Do any of ye know anything about buying the kits / pieces and building the laptop yourself ? I don't want a Chromebook or Cloudbook. Hopefully there'll be something good on the sales in D.I.D. or P.C.World.

What do you mean by on it's last legs? Following on from bounders post, an SSD and a new battery would probably see the old laptop good as new. There's a lot of cheap crap out there at the low end of the market, you might not end up with anything better than what you have.

Edit: What is the spec or model number on your current machine and maybe we could suggest some upgrades?

Probably a stupid question, but how did you install Linux when you had no operating system, is there a CD or something

Never a stupid question and all that Rambler said. I downloaded the ISO linux file using another desktop machine I have, created a bootable 4GB USB drive and installed it to the USB drive. Then attached my new SSD drive to the laptop, plugged in the 4 GB USB, booted up and installed to the new SSD from there. There is plenty of help online how to do this I found....

A 4 year old laptop should not be causing you problems. I built my second desktop around an ASUS motherboard because everything could be upgraded as the need arose and money was available. It’s amazing the difference more RAM can make (and it’s easy), SDD even more so. It’s unlikely that the CPU needs upgrading after 4 years. Give us the spec.

It sounds to me like Flipperdipper needs a new laptop.

Intermittent faults are a pain in the hole.

When he updated Windows, did he wipe everything and reimage or did he just update it because its not the same thing?

Definitely worth trying some flavour of Linux on a bootable usb, if you see the same issues, it's hardware related but if it runs well on Linux, an SSD and a fresh install of Windows might see you good.