Basic laptop recommendations?

[watercooled]

I'm not too up-to-date with what laptop brands are safe in each price range etc, so I wonder if anyone knows where I should start looking for a fairly basic laptop for a relative? It will probably only be used for things like web browsing/office stuff as an upgrade for an Atom netbook which is starting to really struggle, not to mention it's still stuck on Windows XP and the battery has started to play up (always says 0% capacity despite working fairly normally).

I've been looking at systems like this http://www.ebuyer.com/724984-hp-250-...op-n1a92ea-abu which spec-wise should do the job fine I think. Even one of the eMMC storage cloudbook-type systems would probably be OK but a 'proper' laptop will likely last longer I'm thinking.

Thanks!

[DDY]

If the budget can be stretched to £350-£450, I would recommend a Dell Latitude from the Dell business Outlet, I can't suggest any particular model or item because it's always changing by the minute, but you can score some really nice machines for the money if you keep an eye out. For example, I just found this;

Scratch and Dent 
Latitude 3570
•Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-6200U (3M Cache, up to 2.80 GHz)
•Windows® 8.1 Pro
•8 GB DDR3 1600MHz Memory (1x8GB)
•1 TB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
•No Optical Device
•Intel HD Graphics
•NVIDIA GeForce GT920M 2B GDDR3
•Windows® 8.1 Pro (64Bit) English
•Dell Wireless 1802 Dual Band 802.11 2x2 AGN, 2.4GHz/5Ghz + Bluetooth 4.1
•No WWAN Card Included
•90W 3-Pin AC Adapter
•LCD Back Cover Non-Touch  with Camera and Microphone
•Primary 6-cell 66W/HR Battery
•15.6 Inch FHD (1920x1080) Non-Touch Anti-Glare LCD
•Internal English Keyboard

For £420 inc vat.

Although not listed in the spec, the thing that sells it for me is the included 3-year warranty. Although my Dell Latitudes have generally been reliable, I've used the warranty service a number of times and I only have good things to say.

[Flibb]

This popped up on hotukdeals, i5 + ssd

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/hp-2...t-shop-2447667

[OffWaveSurfer]

The HP Stream series are safe enough and cheap enough if you're still looking.

[watercooled]

I was hoping to get a big core CPU this time rather than have it run out of steam after a couple of years like the last Atom CPU.

[pp05]

I'm not too up-to-date with what laptop brands are safe in each price range etc, so I wonder if anyone knows where I should start looking for a fairly basic laptop for a relative? It will probably only be used for things like web browsing/office stuff as an upgrade for an Atom netbook which is starting to really struggle, not to mention it's still stuck on Windows XP and the battery has started to play up (always says 0% capacity despite working fairly normally).

I've been looking at systems like this http://www.ebuyer.com/724984-hp-250-...op-n1a92ea-abu which spec-wise should do the job fine I think. Even one of the eMMC storage cloudbook-type systems would probably be OK but a 'proper' laptop will likely last longer I'm thinking.

Thanks!

There is nothing wrong with Atom if all they are doing is general day-to-day pc stuff. Because this allows you to have portability and better battery life. I noticed in Curry's Surface 3 was going for about 340. Yesterday's netbooks have been replaced by 2-in-1's which varying specs.

For zero technical support - consider a Chromebook 13.3". As long as they comfortable to use Office online. You can usually pick up good condition off Gumtree for about 100 squid and they will last. I've had mine which has Celeron for about 4 years now.

[scaryjim]

I was hoping to get a big core CPU this time rather than have it run out of steam after a couple of years like the last Atom CPU.

I take it the last Atom CPU was pre-Bay Trail, though? Bay Trail was a big jump for Atom, and any Bay Trail or later Atom laptop should be more than adequate for years to come for the kind of workload you're looking at.

Here's a few options I'd look at on ebuyer:

Cherry Trail Atom/11.6"/2GB RAM/32GB flash storage, £180 - http://www.ebuyer.com/729357-asus-e2...200ha-fd0004ts
Ivy Bridge Celeron/11.6" Touchscreen/4GB RAM/500GB HDD, £200 - http://www.ebuyer.com/729020-zoostor...ptop-7270-9013
AMD A6 quad core/15.6"/4GB RAM/500GB HDD, £220 - http://www.ebuyer.com/725713-hp-255-...op-n0z75ea-abu

EDIT: Just spotted this refurb bargain on ebuyer - if I didn't already have both a laptop and a 2-in-1 I'd be very tempted by one of these:

http://www.ebuyer.com/745589-refurbi...3vl9xp1-refurb

Refurb Dell Latitude e6220 for only £229. It's a 12.5" Sandy Bridge i5 laptop, 4GB RAM, 160GB hard drive (and it will be a HDD not an SSD); I had one for work a few years ago and they are BEAUTIFUL machines to use; well built, lightweight and portable. It's a glorious piece of kit at that price - way better quality than anything else you'll find. Buy one

[watercooled]

Yeah it's a Bonnell Atom. I'm aware Silvermont is far better but still, for a moderate difference in price you can get a big core processor which should perform well with increasing software bloat for a bit longer. Even Silverthorne was 'fast enough' on release, but needless to say increasing software bloat soon put a stop to that. I'm hopeful Windows 10's update model will improve things a bit as they seem to be essentially starting fresh on the system files for each big update rather than just constantly incrementing everything and allowing the size to balloon - even Windows 7 takes an age to search for updates these days compared to how it used to perform, and its install size post-update has grown massively too.

I'd actually considered a Chromebook but I can just foresee the day where they want to use some Windows application so it's probably safer to stick with a Windows system.

[pp05]

Yeah it's a Bonnell Atom. I'm aware Silvermont is far better but still, for a moderate difference in price you can get a big core processor which should perform well with increasing software bloat for a bit longer. Even Silverthorne was 'fast enough' on release, but needless to say increasing software bloat soon put a stop to that. I'm hopeful Windows 10's update model will improve things a bit as they seem to be essentially starting fresh on the system files for each big update rather than just constantly incrementing everything and allowing the size to balloon - even Windows 7 takes an age to search for updates these days compared to how it used to perform, and its install size post-update has grown massively too.

I'd actually considered a Chromebook but I can just foresee the day where they want to use some Windows application so it's probably safer to stick with a Windows system.

That is the only downside of Chrome OS. They can still login into their windows machine from Chromebook minus the bloat. It's just a case of nailing down how they intend to use it. If it's 90% internet and a bit of office then it still workable.

Surface / hybrid are quite tempting price points at the moment.