Advice on a new laptop

[carom]

Coming back to family history after a 5 year break. My old laptop bit the dust, so looking for a replacement. My tree is all on rootsmagic which I will update. Other than genealogy it will only be used for email and browsing. I am hoping to keep the budget as low as possible, maybe £450?
I've looked online but so much seems to be set up for gamers, so I'd be grateful for any tips on what to look for.
Thanks

[nanny jan]

I recently bought a new laptop and, because I am often looking at old handwritten records, I went for a 17" screen.....makes it a bit easier for my eyes.

[Gadget]

A few people I know recommend the HP pavillion 15

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/laptops-portable-pcs/laptops-and-netbooks/hp-pavilion-15-1320215/review

[[Ray]]

Hi (again)

Lots around £250-399
Using NannyJan's idea, why not go for something smaller/cheaper + (say) a 23/24inch monitor (£125).

I did "similar" (for same reason), it is so much easier to view.
[ You can let family use that too, I keep my "flash" one to myself  ]

You didn't say what your target budget is.
If you don't need a CD/DVD then don't buy one.


Ray

[bluesofa]

It can be good to try in a store before you buy.
 
There's a trade-off between laptop screen size and weight/portability and battery life. If you don't need any portability a desktop and monitor should be cheaper. As others have suggested an external monitor is an option.

A higher screen resolution looks less grainy, and allows you to fit more text on the screen, but at a smaller size.  What works for one person, doesn't for another.

A back-lit keyboard is handy, but perhaps a luxury. Do check the layout of the keys surrounding the edge of the keyboard, are they where you would expect them to be? Does the keyboard bend in the middle as you type?

Harder to check is performance. I would think for your purposes all recent laptops have sufficient CPU and RAM. You could consider investing in a solid state hard drive for a quicker start up. The trade-off is they tend to be smaller - 128 Gb is fine for the operating system and programs, but you will have to consider how much room your other files will take up (images, music, videos).

Glossy screens are vibrant, but more reflective in natural light.  Touch screens are great to use (so I have been told), but as well as glossier screens, tend to have worse battery life.

I assume all laptops have reasonable wireless. I use a Bluetooth mouse.  A few USB 3.0 ports are always handy. Need to connect to a TV/monitor, headphones, a SD Card reader or a built-in camera?

[jim1]

If it's going to remain in the same location have you considered an all-in-one.

[carom]

Thanks very much for all the comments. I do want a laptop as I like to spread my notes out on the dining table.
Will certainly look for a big screen, didn't know about keyboard feel and layout. Hope to go and have a look later this week.

[McGroger]

Carom, I’d strongly recommend restricting your shortlist to laptops with Solid State Drives. Yes, they’re more expensive - you’ll get about half the storage for the same money.

Apart from that, all the advantages favour SSDs. There are many. For me, the standouts are:

Speed. Not only on start-up. My old hard drive used to take a couple of minutes to save and back-up my family tree database. The new SSD takes a few seconds.

Reliability. To me by far the most important. SSDs have no moving parts so are ideal for the rough and tumble laptops suffer. (I have had more than one hard drive crash.)

This review gives a detailed comparison:
http://au.pcmag.com/storage-devices-reviews/8831/feature/ssd-vs-hdd-whats-the-difference

Hope this helps and happy hunting!

Cheers,
Peter.

[Mike Morrell (NL)]

Hi Carom,

There are good budget laptops which will be fine for general use (internet/e-mail/genealogy) for years to come. There are also some 'low-end' laptops that might slow down when you've used them for a year or two. It wasn't my intention to write such a long reply when I started this but I hope it gives you an idea what to look for. At the bottom, there a a couple of links to 'best budget laptops' with my selections from these.

Rather than trying to choose between everything on the market, I suggest you pick 2 price ranges (400-500, 500-600 pounds) and a few well known brands (Asus, Acer, HP). Lenovo (a Chinese brand) tends to be slightly cheaper than the others. There are a couple of websites where you can click on price ranges and preferences/options to get an idea of what you can get for your money. One of these (as an example) is http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/windows-laptops/laptops/laptops/703_7006_70006_xx_ba00010671-bv00308565/xx-criteria.html.

Just ignore all the nerdy options and just select options like what you want the laptop for, screen size, etc. The main (meaningful) options are described below. You don't have to type these in but they explain the main differences between the laptops and prices you get to see.

The basics (specs that often affect the price)

• Processor: 'Intel i3' (or equivalent) is the 'slowest' and many budget laptops have it; for internet/e-mail it should be fine as long as you don't have too many programs or browser tabs/windows loaded at the same time, at least for a few years. 'Intel i5' (or equivalent) is a step up to the 'mid-range general purpose processor'. If your budget stretches, it's worth considering. Perhaps you don't need it now but as websites become more and more complicated (with pop-up video's,ads, etc) a bit of extra processing power now might extend the useful life of the laptop.
• working memory: a laptop needs working memory to do anything! 4GB is the smallest memory available these days and many budget laptops have 4GB. A step up to 8GB (mid-range) may make it more 'future-proof'. If you buy a 4GB laptop you may well be able to upgrade it to 8GB or more at a later date. It's worth asking. Adding more memory later can often speed up your laptop.
• screen size/resolution: For general use at home, I suggest 15" screens (of which there are plenty in the budget price range) or 17" screens (of which there are far fewer in the budget price range). The higher the screen resolution, the easier it is to read. Video's/Photos look better too. I suggest you look for laptops with a screen resolution of 1600 x 900 (High Def+) or even better, 1920 x 1080 (Full High Def)
• disk storage: usually not a problem, since it's cheap. Look for at least 500GB.

'Nice to haves' that may increase the price unless they're standard rather than options

• 2nd (data) disk drive: some Laptops (Acer, HP) have 2 separate drives (one for Windows/programs/'frequently used user data' and a 'data drive' for any other files/documents you want to store separately. The more stuff you put on the 2nd drive the faster the 'Windows/programs drive' will be.
  
• 'Solid State Drive (SSD) for programs (instead of a mechanical disk): Windows and other programs load much faster on a SSD drive (less than 10 seconds). A 64GB SSD is small given that Windows 10 uses 40GB of it. So if you want SSD, look for a 128GB (or 256GB) option
• already mentioned: 17" screen and/or 1920X1080 Full High Def resolution
• An IPS (instead of TN) screen. Screens with 'IPS technology' are often easier to see and have less colour fading when the screen is tilted at an angle. More laptops have IPS screens as standard these days. TN screens are OK too but if you have the choice, IPS screens are probably better

.

This info probably makes the choice more complicated rather than simplifying it! But since most purchases are comprises, it's worth weighing up what's more and less important to you when deciding how to spend your budget. It's also worth seeing what the difference is between laptops in the 400-500 price range and those in the 500-600 price range. Some of the best deals in the lower range offer features (processor, memory, SSD, screens) more common in the higher range.

Below are 3 links to 'best budget laptops' in 2017:
https://www.lifewire.com/best-laptops-under-500-4043278
- Asus F556UA-AB32
- Acer Aspire E 15 E5-575G-57D4
http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/laptops/laptop-deals-cheap-laptops-1296090
- HP 255 G5/HP 250 G5
- Acer Aspire (Argos) - red (!) but specs/price look good
https://www.pcworld.com/article/3097473/computers/best-budget-laptops-we-rate-the-best-selling-portables-on-amazon-and-best-buy.html
- Acer Aspire E 15 (Amazon nr. 1)

The Acer Aspire range is highly rated. I have a 17" and I'm happy with it.