Christmas laptop for Father-in-law

[Jake_UK]

Hi all,

The father-in-law's laptop is a few years old now and has started to get funny issues with the screen so we've decided to get him a new one for Christmas.

Doing some looking around online for what you get for around £400 has turned up a couple of interesting-looking Acers (only £10 between them). The machine will spend most/all of it's time at home so portability (size, weight, battery life) is not important and it'll only be doing the standard office, browsing, iPlayer, photo cropping kind of work so nothing taxing. Given basically any new machine can handle that just fine I think it comes down to speed/responsiveness in those tasks (how quick to boot, how quick to launch browser or other app).

My thoughts are that the SSD cache and USB3 on the i3 will make it a better 'experience' than the i5 (and it gives the option of Win7 or Win8). What does the Hexus hivemind think?

Option A: i3 with 20GB SDD (cache I assume)
Acer Aspire Timeline Ultrabook M3-581T NX.RY8EK.010
Core i3 (2377M) 1.5GHz (Intel HD 3000 Graphics)
4GB DDR3
320GB HDD +20GB SSD
Win7 Home Premium 64-bit (w/free upgrade to Win8 if so inclined)
2in1 card reader
1 x USB3, 2 x USB2

Option B: i5
Acer Aspire E1 NX.M09EK.002 (15.6")
Intel Core i5 (3210M) 2.5Ghz (Intel GMA HD)
4GB DDR3
500GB HDD
Win8 64-bit
5in1 Card Reader
3 x USB2

Option C: ?????

[Samwood]

Based on the usage stated (i.e. office, browsing, iPlayer, photo cropping etc) I'd choose option A. The SSD will make it feel very quick & snappy. And the additional processing power in option B wont really be required for the suggested usage.

Plus Ultrabooks tend to have better firmware, to give v.quick boot & shutdown times and a more responsive feel in general use.

[Jake_UK]

Thanks Sam - confirms my thoughts! Option A is bought!

[Aidoc]

Good idea going with Option A, I would of also recommended it. Enjoy the new laptop.