Suggestions for new laptop £250-£350

[lemonstar]

I've lost touch with Lenovo and laptops in general over the past 2-3 years - is the Lenovo brand still worth anything in a marketplace stacked with so many makes and models?

I wondered if anyone here who has recently looked at the market and bought a laptop could perhaps point me to some makes, models and places to buy in the UK - I've bough half a dozen Thinkpads - all via ebay and had very few issues - they were what I expected and have all had a lot of use.

I saw this model on ebuyer:-
http://www.ebuyer.com/700291-lenovo-ess ... 80ew00hsuk

i3 is fine although i5 would be nice but it's not really essential given the relatively modest needs of the end user I am trying to help out.
In reality he won't need the DVD burner or webcam - he is a retired guy who makes his way in life expecting nothing helping people with disputes (benefits, health, housing, other complaints etc) and other social problems - he is a really good guy - people just reward him in kind for his efforts and he scrapes by.

He only needs MS-Word (so ideally a machine with an office bundle would be interesting - he wasn't interested in a 365 deal) and email - he doesn't have a digital camera so there are no photos music or videos on his machine when I go to sort out whatever problems he has - usually al very simple - anyway - his total HD requirement is currently 2G! His current machine uses Windows 7 and, as always, he's not keen to move on to another OS - it was hard enough getting him off XP). Obviously it's hard to buy machines without DVD drives and huge HD's so a 500G drive is more than adequate. Due to his relatively poor eyesight he does want as big a screen as possible - his current 15.6" is the minimum he wants - I suggested a mini system with a separate larger screen but I couldn't talk him into it as he wants to be able to clear the table where he works and put the laptop/machine away. I bought his last/current machine - it was about £100 - a T61 a few years ago - it was fine until he spilled cola into it - I tried cleaning the keyboard but it has still never worked reliably and I've spent enough time on it now.

I see some 17" models from HP around but are there any models/makers to be avoided atm?

Any thoughts?


regards
Neil

[hhhd1]

Lenovo 'Essential' line of laptops are usually the cheapest possible that you can buy from them, in some cases they have crappy wireless cards and screens ..etc, I suggest reading reviews about the specific model on different sites like customer reviews on amazon/newegg, and google it to find if anyone having any specific problem with it.

If there isn't any known issues with that model, then go for it, lenovo consumer laptops are ok.

[RealBlackStuff]

Lenovo G700 series have a 17.3" screen.
here's a G700: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lenovo-G700-I ... 1630530207
AFAIK they have W8 but W7 can be installed as well.
Just a suggestion.

[Puppy]

Acer is currently better option than Lenovo given the price tag and big 17" display size. Acer overall quality has improved, especially in low-end models.

[brchan]

I would avoid consumer laptops, like the one you posted. Too unreliable and poor quality most of the time. If all he does is do office and check email, a cheap T60 or T61 will easily fit the bill and will run windows 7 happily (3GB ram is fine, but 4 would be great). Instead of fixing the T61, you could consider getting a T60 15" 4:3 model with XGA display. At this screen size and resolution, text should be quite easy to read and enough for Word or email. The ratio and increased height also makes the laptop more ergonomic since you don't have to tilt your head down as much. Not to mention that you will get one of the best typing experiences and no nvidia issues with T61 models.

[pianowizard]

is the Lenovo brand still worth anything in a marketplace stacked with so many makes and models?...are there any models/makers to be avoided atm?

If your price range of £250-£350 is for brand-new laptops, then brand, make and even model hardly matter because these ultra cheap laptops are 100% made *and* designed by ODMs (original design manufacturers) like Compal, Quanta and Wistron. Lenovo, HP and others merely put their badges on these machines. Most higher-priced laptops are still made by ODMs, although Lenovo, HP etc. do contribute to the design process.

Due to the user's poor vision, and considering that Windows 7 doesn't scale well, you should get him a laptop with a low pixel density. IMO, the best would be 15.4" 1280x800 and 17.0" 1440x900. Both have pixel densities just under 100 DPI, and are slightly taller than 15.6" and 17.3" screens which are 16:9 instead of 16:10. The downside is that you would have to buy used.

If you want Windows 7, and a Core i processor, HP's EliteBook 8740w has configurations with 17.0" 1440x900, and so does Dell's Precision M6500. Both are well within your budget.

[Hans Gruber]

I think a T520 is probably the most logical solution.

[RealBlackStuff]

If it doesn't have to be a new machine, a basic Frankenpad would be a great solution!
15" 4:3 T60 chassis with a 14.1" 4:3 T61 motherboard with Intel graphics.
OR: find a European 15" R61/R61i in 4:3 format in the UK or on the continent.
With Middleton BIOS it can run SATA II speeds, run W7 with up to 8GB RAM on a cheap 40-100GB HD or SSD.
Add a reasonable T8100/T8300/T9300 CPU.
Best of all: put a new 15" screen in there with either standard XGA (1024x768) or at the most SXGA+ (1400x1050).
No off-putting widescreen, will be great for old(er) eyes.
Those machines should run for at least another 5 years or so.
Cost? Anywhere from ~$200-350 (~£130-230)

A lot of Lenovo W7 64-bit recovery CDs include the basic M$ Office (Word and Excel only).

[Khipata]

350 pounds will be roughly 536 US dollars...
For that price I would suggest top of the line T500 or T510-520. I personally have FHD T500 and nothing is better in this price range, never looked back. Get the cheap T500 with ATI card and soup it up with better CPU, 8 Gigs of RAM, SSD and FHD screen. All this will cost you less than 350 pounds and you will still have some money left for decent dock and mouse if you desire those

And forget about B50, it is a cheap piece of crap, do not get it for this poor guy, show some mercy!

[brchan]

Since the machine will only be used for word and email, even a t43 could do that. Additionally, a low DPI screen is wanted. There is little reason to spend 500+ on such a machine, when a t60 15" or similar would fit the bill at a much lower price.

[pianowizard]

A lot of Lenovo W7 64-bit recovery CDs include the basic M$ Office (Word and Excel only).

Alternatively, install 32-bit Windows 7, then download and install Microsoft Office Starter for free. This freeware supports only 32-bit Windows, and includes both Word and Excel. It's free because the bottom right corner displays advertisements. I used it for half a year and it did everything I needed it to.

Since the machine will only be used for word and email, even a t43 could do that.

Web-based email sites are painfully slow on Pentium M machines. For an older user who may not be very computer-literate, he might freak out if he clicks on something and then nothing happens for more than several seconds. T61 is the slowest I would go, to ensure a reasonable email experience.

[lemonstar]

Thanks everyone for all your replies - gives me somewhere to start thinking from - I'll happily buy from ebay - I just have to read through as much of the feedback as possible and check the specs carefully - only 1 machine off ebay was disappointing but for 1 cosmetic reason - the keyboard was full of toast crumbs and bright red hair - none of that was evident on the pics.

Never having had or worked on a 17" laptop and having thought about the comments it seems that the size isn't really the issue - it's the the aspect ratio with a taller (relatively) screen. Maybe I'll look for a T520 or another T61 - his existing machine is a T61 working at 1400x1050 - it didn't look as good when set to 1280 x 1024 - the machine does overheat and shutdown when watching youtube or TED Talks in HD - so what's an alternative to the T61 that has less of this problem (I read it is a well known problem)?

Thanks - this remains a helpful forum.

[Hans Gruber]

I would suggest either a T61 15.4" a T500 which is 15.4" 16:10 aspect ratio as well or a T510 16 X 9 ratio or T520. With a SSD and 4gb-8gb of ram. You would be hard pressed to find a difference in performance for web browsing or using word or excel.

[GACrabill]

Alternatively, install 32-bit Windows 7, then download and install Microsoft Office Starter for free. This freeware supports only 32-bit Windows, and includes both Word and Excel. It's free because the bottom right corner displays advertisements. I used it for half a year and it did everything I needed it to.

In my experience, the free Microsoft Office 2010 Starter Edition is a 32-bit application which runs fine on either a 32-bit Win7 or a 64-bit Win7/8.

[pianowizard]

In my experience, the free Microsoft Office 2010 Starter Edition is a 32-bit application which runs fine on either a 32-bit Win7 or a 64-bit Win7/8.

I once tried to install Office Starter within 64-bit Windows and it wouldn't even let me.

[lemonstar]

I bought a T520 for someone else and decided to buy one for myself as there were a few going at a reasonable price. One thing that is annoying is one of the changes they made to the keyboard layout compared to the T61 - the T520 Insert key has been shifted left (it was above the Del key on the T61) and the Del key has grown in height to occupy the space the Ins key used to occupy. Whenever I go to Ctrl-Ins I am hitting the Ctrl-Del... but I like the light in the CapsLk key to indicate that caps lock is on.




I bought an external Bluetooth speaker because the volume isn't that great but I'm stuck figuring out how to pair it - the speaker works fine with all my android devices - anyway that's in another thread.