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petridish

petridish

petridish

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24 Jan 2012
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1,036
Hello OCUKers!

Looking for a bit of advice from those more knowledgeable than me. I'm in the market for a new laptop and don't really know where to start. Desktops I'm ok with but laptops are out of my comfort zone.

I'm after something that my wife and I can use as a general work horse and that'll last us a good number of years. Mostly just the usual browsing/word processing/mail etc but with some light photo, drawing and design work. If it needs a dedicated GPU for that stuff then I'll no doubt do some light gaming as well, but that's an after thought. I'd say lightweight, portable and lasting build quality would definitely be a priority over the gaming aspect.

Budget £600 ish (happy to go up or down maybe 50% if it turns out the intended usage needs more/less). Also have access to various student portals so if there's a bargain to be had then even better.

Having had a quick browse of HUKD I spotted a good student price on a Lenovo ideapad gaming 3 gen 6 with a Ryzen 5 5600H and RTX 3060 more or less on budget (sorry for vagueness, hopefully this fits within competitor rules). Anything else comparable that I need to look into? Thanks in advance.
 
If you are going to consider gaming laptops, then Overclockers sells them, and here's their cheapest.

MSI KATANA GF63 NVIDIA RTX 3050, 8GB, 15.6" FHD 144HZ, INTEL I5-11400H GAMING LAPTOP
£699.95
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-...-intel-i5-11400h-gaming-laptop-lt-2ep-ms.html

I'm not a gamer so don't use gaming laptops, but this seems pretty good value. It will do what you need, but if you aren't a gamer you don't need the high screen refresh rate. I'm just not sure whether it would have unnecessary fan noise.

Re laptop spec, an i5 will do you, don't skimp on memory, so 8GB+. Also, check it has all the ports you need.
 
petridish said:
Hello OCUKers!

Looking for a bit of advice from those more knowledgeable than me. I'm in the market for a new laptop and don't really know where to start. Desktops I'm ok with but laptops are out of my comfort zone.

I'm after something that my wife and I can use as a general work horse and that'll last us a good number of years. Mostly just the usual browsing/word processing/mail etc but with some light photo, drawing and design work. If it needs a dedicated GPU for that stuff then I'll no doubt do some light gaming as well, but that's an after thought. I'd say lightweight, portable and lasting build quality would definitely be a priority over the gaming aspect.

Budget £600 ish (happy to go up or down maybe 50% if it turns out the intended usage needs more/less). Also have access to various student portals so if there's a bargain to be had then even better.

Having had a quick browse of HUKD I spotted a good student price on a Lenovo ideapad gaming 3 gen 6 with a Ryzen 5 5600H and RTX 3060 more or less on budget (sorry for vagueness, hopefully this fits within competitor rules). Anything else comparable that I need to look into? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

With the design uses I dont think you would go far wrong with a macbook Air at around 889 its increase in budget but seriously powerful. Mac hardware also lasts for ages, my 2013 macbook pro is still going strong and I am condifent I will get a decade out of it before upgrading out of boredom rather than necessity
 
sHo0sH said:
With the design uses I dont think you would go far wrong with a macbook Air...
Click to expand...

Interesting, it had crossed my mind to look at Apple but neither of us have anything in the ecosystem to know how we'd get on with it. I'd also assumed there'd be a heavy markup for similar specs. Is the Air limited to get it as light and thin as possible or still fully equipped? Perhaps worth a trip to the nearest Apple store this weekend as much as I hate them.
 
petridish said:
Interesting, it had crossed my mind to look at Apple but neither of us have anything in the ecosystem to know how we'd get on with it. I'd also assumed there'd be a heavy markup for similar specs. Is the Air limited to get it as light and thin as possible or still fully equipped? Perhaps worth a trip to the nearest Apple store this weekend as much as I hate them.
Click to expand...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XpK9fM_HDM
Jump on youtube there is a WEALTH of reviews on there. Power of the M1 chip is formidable and battery life is amazing. They are also completely silent as they don't have a fan.
 
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I would agree the Apple line-up is worth looking at, as the M1 chips have had excellent reviews. Build quality is also good, and there's the convenience of the stores too.
 
The Dell range would also be worth a look in terms of value. I normally buy Dell and the latest one I've bought is nice.

If you want really lightweight then the LG Gram range is interesting but might be over budget.
 
Some interesting options thanks both. Been drawn to Lenovo for the student discount options but their website is terrible to navigate and compare on mobile. Need to try and find the ideapad pro on my desktop later.

Last laptop I bought was a Dell back in 2009/10 maybe? It was ok but very much an entry level one so never really amazed me. I'm sure the higher spec machines are nicer to use though so I'll take a look. Any particular models worth considering?

LG gram looks very nice. Think I need to evaluate all my priorities and decide what's most important, weight and form factor or performance
 
@petridish Yeah, I think the full price is 999 officially, other online stores may be discounting it. They used to give 3 years apple care for £50 / free via the education store as well. I haven't bought one in years though so not sure what the latest situation is with that.

Do you have members market access? Someone is selling the Macbook Pro with the M1 chip for £850 at the moment which is a £1299 machine with minimal use
 
Ok talked it over with the wife and changed thoughts a little. Requirements now are:

- Good for the digital art stuff. This is probably going to be the main performance requirement and also means a good screen is a must. I've no idea how demanding these kind of programs are but assume the more RAM the better.

- I'll drop any requirements for gaming for me. I think I'll look at the Steam Deck once that's released as it's more likely to cover my kind of gaming and means this laptop can be a bit lighter.

- That also means slightly lower budget, around £600 as the top end ideally to leave me with some legroom for the Steam Deck down the line.

- All round build quality and user experience. Metal build would be preferred. Light, thin and quiet all pluses but don't need them over good internals. Just generally something nice to use on the sofa as well as at a desk.

- We've decided to stay away from Apple. I think the drop in budget takes that out of consideration anyway.

So with that in mind are there any good options to look into? Sorry to start over again but I think we've got a better understand of what we need it for now.
 
-kaan- said:
I think current budget point of view, you don't have many options. I can recommend this one with £699 price tag https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-...-intel-i5-11400h-gaming-laptop-lt-2ep-ms.html
But I think you should go for £799 and buy the one with i7 CPU it has also Ti GPU
Click to expand...
Those have terrible panels which would be absolute junk for any form of design work.

Maybe something like an OLED Vivobook is what i'd look at but will be a tiny bit over your budget depending on what processor you look at, the i5 version is about £649 in places currently on sale.
 
@petridish - what is more important for the design work, the accuracy of the colours or the speed of which the program will run? I would think about this before buying and priorise either a colour accurate screen or a faster machine - you wont get both for the money.
 
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