Laptops

[Hollyleaf988]

As a few people may know, I've been having lots of laptop issues lately (several issues with various drivers, 3 out of the 4 USB ports stopped working about a year ago, it has a slightly dodgy keyboard and mousepad and, most recently, the battery has started causing problems too). Seeing as it is around 4 years old and has already had to be repaired several times, I figured I would start to look at replacing it now, before it packs up completely.

I would primarily want to use the laptop for university work, but ideally would find one with the capacity to play games too. What sort of things should I be looking for or does anyone have any recommendations?

Preferably on a student budget although I do have some money saved up from working all summer and, if necessary, my student loan comes through soon.

I'm completely useless with technology, so any help and advice would be much appreciated!

[sulky_uk]

if you want to do uni work and maybe play cs:go and minecraft, etc that you cant go far wrong with this

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/156-msi-gp62-6qf(leopard-pro)-1087-26ghz-i7-6700hq-8gb-ddr4-128gb-m2-ssdplus1tb-hdd-2gb-gtx-960m-dvd?utm_source=google+shopping&utm_medium=cpc&gclid=Cj0KEQjwgJq-BRCFqcLW8_DU9agBEiQAz8Koh48jrbE-YpHqzLp5xQajPn6G2hNerPTIV9m8U8Uey_EaApYT8P8HAQ

Although i would recommend a separate keyboard and mouse as well, just for ease of use, maybe a max £30 keyboard and £40 mouse

[Hollyleaf988]

That looks really nice but is perhaps a tad expensive :/ seeing as I probably won't be able to afford a gaming laptop right now, what sort of stuff should I look for in an ordinary laptop spec wise?

[sulky_uk]

What's your budget

Sent from my LG-H850 using Tapatalk

[Hollyleaf988]

Ideally 500, maybe 600?

[BrotherTobious]

PC Specalist is pretty good few people here use them and I have purchased one from them.

[TeaLeaf]

I think if you wanted to push the price down too much more then you're looking at considering internal graphics within the Intel CPU.

What about something like this?

i5
8GB
1TB
No discrete gfx, relies on i5's internal

£429 less £200 discount for the trade in of your old laptop = £229 net.

It's not the world's fastest, but it should be ok for most things at moderate gfx settings whilst still delivering semi-decent battery life and uni performance.


The i7 version is available elsewhere (no trade in unfortunately) and works out at about £500 from here.

Tbh, if I were buying a laptop for uni use I would avoid gaming laptops altogether as their battery life sucks and they are almost guaranteed to cook themselves to failure/death within 12-24 months.  I'd personally aim for a decent uni laptop with the capability to run moderate settings with most games at 1080p, ie a home/business multimedia laptop like the ones above.

[Tutonic]

Tbh, if I were buying a laptop for uni use I would avoid gaming laptops altogether as their battery life sucks and they are almost guaranteed to cook themselves to failure/death within 12-24 months.  I'd personally aim for a decent uni laptop with the capability to run moderate settings with most games at 1080p, ie a home/business multimedia laptop like the ones above.

This is the best advice you'll get, I have nothing further to add

[Hollyleaf988]

I like the look of that laptop, thanks very much for all your advice!