How cheap is too cheap for a Windows 10 laptop?

Cromulent · 2 Mar 2021 at 11:49

I need a new laptop as I want to do some Microsoft exams and it requires a computer running Windows 10. My main computer runs Linux and I really can't switch back to Windows 10 on it so I'm looking for a cheap but still good Windows 10 laptop for the exams.

Apart from the exams, it'll just be used for Microsoft Office work and web browsing.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Haze · 2 Mar 2021 at 11:52

Buy what ever is in your budget, won't need anything expensive, for what you want

Psycho Sonny · 2 Mar 2021 at 12:50

Buy anything with at least 6 or 8 threads second hand

Randomface74 · 2 Mar 2021 at 12:54

anything less than 8gb ram and an ssd and proper windows is too cheap.
seem to start around 500 quid.

inogen · 2 Mar 2021 at 13:11

My main laptop is an old Lenovo X1. It's 3rd gen, so about 6 years old. it's an i7 with 8GB RAM and an M2 SSD. It's absolutely fine. I bought it within warranty (so less than 2 years old, 4 years or so ago) for about £350. It was barely used. I've bought others (including upgrades) for friends for about 200 quid and they've been happy.

There are loads of cheap ex-lease laptops on ebay. Literally 100s. Just get a Dell or a Lenovo. As business machines they're fine.

ExoMale · 3 Mar 2021 at 16:58

any laptop with 8gb ram and an ssd. or any Celeron based laptop for under £300.

MrFunex · 5 Mar 2021 at 15:17

Could you use a virtual machine?

Cromulent · 5 Mar 2021 at 19:18

MrFunex said:
Could you use a virtual machine?

No. The exam software doesn't run in a virtual machine.

Finners · 5 Mar 2021 at 20:02

Buy a second HDD/SSD and dual boot on the PC seems like the easiest option.

If your fixed on a laptop then one of the newer quad core ryzen laptops for 400ish seems like the best you are going to get in the current climate

Akagi · 5 Mar 2021 at 20:06

Second hand works well. I got my 13" Acer fourth gen i3 laptop for £20 with no RAM or drive, spent £15 on 8GB of RAM, £10 on a little second hand SSD.

Second hand is the way if you want to save money.

thenewoc · 5 Mar 2021 at 23:17

A Ryzen 5 with 32 GB of ram and any nvme. Swap out the nvme for a 1TB model if cheaper to upgrade it yourself.

W10 Pro if possible and run Linux in hyper-v or put docker desktop on it if you need to fire up a Linux server or database etc in a way that you can just scrub those when no longer needed without needing to install loads of stuff in the host Windows OS.

That way you have a proper laptop with Windows on that is decent enough to also run Linux virtualized. Best of both worlds.

d_brennen · 5 Mar 2021 at 23:21

Cromulent said:
No. The exam software doesn't run in a virtual machine.

Interesting, does it do some sort of hardware validation? Seems a trivial thing to bypass if you have the means

Cromulent · 6 Mar 2021 at 08:54

d_brennen said:
Interesting, does it do some sort of hardware validation? Seems a trivial thing to bypass if you have the means

I assume it checks the BIOS / UEFI or hardware drivers. Even if I could get around it I'd be wary in-case I get found out and accused of cheating as each exam costs about £200.