What laptop for under £400

Discussion in 'Tech Talk' started by NOBBLY BOBBLY, Nov 10, 2017.

  1. NOBBLY BOBBLY

    NOBBLY BOBBLY Member

    I'm looking to spend under £400 on a laptop from argos for my 10 year old daughter but there's so many to choose from so could someone tell me what seems like a good deal as I just don't have a clue. I'm thinking of one with a 14" or 15.6" screen so she can watch youtube and play kids games but can also handle tasks for her school work.
     
  2. KIAB

    KIAB Super Member

    Wait until Black Friday 24th November & Cyber Monday 27th november, will find some great bargain.
     
  3. candoabitofmoststuff

    candoabitofmoststuff Screwfix Select

    For a 10 year old I'd be concerned about how much care is taken of it... so I'd be thinking even lower budget.
    She's not going to be doing anything too demanding on the processor like CAD or video editing... I presume!

    Does it HAVE to be ARGOS?

    If not, eBuyer, (note, I'm not saying eBay), have a good reputation for customer service, so you might consider this...
    https://www.ebuyer.com/808486-lenovo-v110-laptop-80td000kuk

    Or CCL computers, who also have good customer service;
    https://www.cclonline.com/product/2...-64-bit-Integrated-HD-Graphics-520-/NOT03606/


    Good luck,

    Regards
    Cando
     
  4. Dr Bodgit

    Dr Bodgit Super Member

    Does it need to be a laptop, would a chromebook suffice?
     
    snappyfish likes this.
  5. NOBBLY BOBBLY

    NOBBLY BOBBLY Member

    The laptop will be kept on a table in the living room so it won't get dropped.

    No I wouldn't rule out buying online. I choose argos as it's local and I could use my argos card.

    I don't know what the difference is between a chromebook and laptop.
     
  6. fostyrob

    fostyrob Screwfix Select

  7. Dr Bodgit

    Dr Bodgit Super Member

    laptop typically as a full operating system (windows) installed so you can run normal applications. A chromebook is stripped down, its has an OS on it but no hard drive in the normal sense, so you can't install Microsoft apps for example. Its great for browsing, and can use google apps.
     
  8. Broon

    Broon Active Member

    There are also notebooks which are just laptops with less memory and storage and the main difference is they don't have a disk drive which in todays age are less important. are useually cheaper as well in terms of brands I've found both ACER and HP to be great. I agree with KIAB tho best to give it till black Friday.
     
  9. candoabitofmoststuff

    candoabitofmoststuff Screwfix Select

    A chromebook doesn't have "Windows" installed... it operates using Google's "Chrome" system.
    If any of the games you are thinking of running are made for "Windows" you'd better stick with that.
    Regards,
    Cando
     
  10. Mr Rusty

    Mr Rusty Screwfix Select

    I use a chromebook all the time, as does my OH. They work with the Chrome browser and operating system and Google Apps and most of the latest ones will also install Android apps as well. Think of it in some ways like a big phone with a keyboard - you can access anything that is web based, do email, watch video, iPlayer etc, you can also open Microsoft Office docs, PDFs etc. However, not so good for creating documents in Microsoft formats, so could be limited if you need to create e.g. word docs with pictures for school (although you can create the same in googledocs). However, some schools use google docs and chromebooks anyway, so worth checking.

    Also, if you want to print you need a web-enabled printer - Chromebooks cannot install printer drivers. All the mainstream printer manufactuerers support google print, but it can be a slight faff to set up.

    Good thing with chromebooks - they are cheap, they start instantly (like a phone) they don't get viruses, if you have decent broadband you just store everything in the cloud (because they don't have so much memory - typically 16-32Gb (like a phone) ), but that's still plenty of pictures!

    Of course, they work in the "google" environment, so if you want to work with Onedrive (Microsoft) or Apple, it's not so good.

    Bottom line - unless you definitely need to create heavily formatted documents in Microsoft formats, then a chromebook will most likely do everything you need. If mine broke, I would instantly replace it with another. My recommendation - Acer - we have 4 in the family and they are excellent.

    For a 10 year old? - perfect! no updates, no settings, no hassle, - go try one out in Tescos or wherever!
     
    btiw2 likes this.
  11. metrokitchens

    metrokitchens Screwfix Select

    iPad? Should easily do all you mention and no tech support hassle.
     
  12. snappyfish

    snappyfish Active Member

    If you decide to go laptop, Might you be tempted to £449.99?

    Base Specs
    i5-7200U
    8GB RAM
    256GB SSD
    Full HD Display

    Even waiting for Black Friday might not see you a better deal, chance you might have to take.

    Decent I5 7th generation processor, plenty or RAM, SSD for speedy bootup times and open applications fast, full HD display.

    Code HP250 gives £50 off current priceCode HP250 gives £50 off current price

    [​IMG]
     
  13. btiw2

    btiw2 Screwfix Select

    Beg an old laptop from someone and stick a lightweight Linux distro or a Chromium-like os (eg cloudready) on it. It’ll do for web browsing, word processing and stuff like that. A lightweight OS can make an old laptop feel quite snappy again, and everyone knows someone with an old laptop they weren’t using (don’t they?).

    The only downside is old laptops tend to have rubbish battery life so it may need to be plugged in.
     
  14. btiw2

    btiw2 Screwfix Select

    That’s a lotta laptop for the price.
     
    snappyfish likes this.
  15. NOBBLY BOBBLY

    NOBBLY BOBBLY Member

    My daughter said they use dell laptops and ipads in school but I'm waiting for the school secretary to get back to me to see if they use chromebooks. The one thing she needs is to be able to connect a printer. I would also prefer if it had a disk drive just in case she wanted to take the laptop up stairs to watch a dvd but I guess I could buy an external disk drive or buy a cheap dvd player. I'm not sure what to do at the moment but I'm thinking I'm better off buying her a laptop and getting my other daughter a chromebook instead of a tablet.
     
  16. fostyrob

    fostyrob Screwfix Select

    if you want to just go for something cheap and cheerful to browse and do a bit of schoolwork how about this:
    http://www.cheaplaptopcompany.co.uk...hed-Dell-Laptops/refurbished-dell-e6230-win10

    Older processor but should be fine for what you need it for. Upgrade to 8gb ram for an extra £45. £230 all in.
    It should do a good few years and is significantly under your budget.

    If you want to go more future proof that laptop snappyfish suggested looks good for the price.
     
    snappyfish likes this.
  17. snappyfish

    snappyfish Active Member

    Dr Bodgit likes this.
  18. candoabitofmoststuff

    candoabitofmoststuff Screwfix Select

    Dr Bodgit likes this.
  19. snappyfish

    snappyfish Active Member

    Lots of deals at the moments.

    Asus VivoBook 15.6" Laptop - 5th Gen i3 processor, 1TB storage - £299 @ ao.com

    • Up to 9 hours battery life
    • Ultra-lightweight and super-portable at 1.4kg
    • i3 processor - better for working & watching movies
    • 4GB RAM - for basic tasks like web browsing
    • 1TB storage - holds over 310,000 hi-res photos
    http://bit.ly/2A1O0bR


    [​IMG]
     
  20. Kacerty

    Kacerty New Member

    All the Suggestions above are good, like the Hp and Asus, i am using lenovo , but i don't thinsk it is very nice since this computer has been used by others for one year, I bought it for a quarter of the price ,but the repairs in the back cost me a lot of money and energy, because It's easy to break down and I didn't buy the invoices and the password disks,
     

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