New laptop opinion

[Biggles50]

Look at reviews by all means.

Please do so with a sceptical mind as what you see in a retail outlet may bear little resemblance to the model you read about despite it bearing the same model reference.

[Gadget]

That's why I directed the OP to Which and some of the more reputable, unbiased computer magazines, Biggles.

 

[Calverley Lad]

I take it the OP likes to play memory invasive games?
Disregarding the make, the I7 processor would handle anything thrown at it.
Depending on supplier, the laptop would be costing @£700 which I would say is a bit going overboard on spec.
A machine fitted with an I5 processor would be more than adequate with 16mb of memory.
Suggest having a play with an actual machine to see that the machine suits them before a puchase from an online supplier.
 Brian

[Biggles50]

I take it the OP likes to play memory invasive games?
Disregarding the make, the I7 processor would handle anything thrown at it.
Depending on supplier, the laptop would be costing @£700 which I would say is a bit going overboard on spec.
A machine fitted with an I5 processor would be more than adequate with 16mb of memory.
Suggest having a play with an actual machine to see that the machine suits them before a puchase from an online supplier.
 Brian

I looked at a Windows laptop for my needs and it topped out at nearly £2000.

Alternately the cheapest laptop at Scan Computers is only £149 and will do all the browsing and word processing one is likely to need.

An i5 with 16Gb but only a 512Gb drive is £600.

I certainly would not buy any computer product from a certain retail park store.

As it is my MacBook does all I need which is photo, video editing and music production but at £1800 it may be out of the Op’s budget but a MacBook Air starts at £1150 and would be my suggestion.

[PrawnCocktail]

I'm using a Dell Inspiron 15 on Windows 10, it's my third Dell. Always found them good.

Costs around £500 for a basic model, but I usually add the on-site warrenty, and have always found their tech support very good.

[Calverley Lad]

With Windows 10 coming to end of life, unless the machine is capable of running Windows 11 quite a number of coming to the end.
[11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-1135G7 @ 2.40GHz   2.42 GHz -16.0 GB (15.8 GB usable)]
Spec for my current Acer which cost me £600 6months ago, good enough for myself.
Whilst my wife's Acer I7 I bought at a £200 discount from the same online supplier.
So it pays to shop around for whatever equipment is decided as a final purchase.
 Brian

[dobfarm]

My old slow  (batteries need renewing every couple of years anyway and contribute to slowing down the laptop I was told)  Lenovo laptop has been reconditioned, which included a new hard drive, few chips, new battery and included windows 11 being installed for £150 also my 10 year old all in one desk top Lenovo reconditioned again new hard drive, chips and windows 11 for £200 - both computers  are fast now.

[frostyknight]

Hi, thank you all for your replies and info. It's much appreciated. It's given me something to think about, and places to look for reviews.

In reply to Biggles, my max budget is c. €900. I want the laptop to have a decent amount of memory for photos, documents, online meetings, some games, a university course and of course, family history & software. It needs to be much faster than the current one, I've often turned the air blue while trying to do something on this one 

[Biggles50]

A Windows Laptop will slow down as it gets clogged up with files and software. 

My £3000 Windows 11 PC is specialist for Video and Photo Editing and is more than fast enough to run the most resource hungry software there is namely Microsoft’s own Flight Simulator 2020.

Yet my MacBook air boots way faster, edits Photos with ease and runs Roots Magic and Family Tree Maker with ease.

A starter MacBook Air should be within budget.

An Asus ZenBook or VivoBook will also give you what you want

As will a Dell or Lenovo.

Its just that whatever you choose a Windows device needs careful management to maintain its speed whereas a Mac simply just works.

Even my Wife’s 12 year old iMac is still blusteringly fast.

Good luck making your choice