Laptops.

[Nigel H-J]

Within the next month or so I will be back on the internet as now in receipt of State Pension and things are beginning to look up for us.

My wife is presently learning French even though we are coming out of the EU and also have no wish to visit Paris or even France for that matter, she has an active mind and likes to keep occupied.

We are presently looking towards around Christmas to buy a laptop to help her with on-line tuitions but needs to have enough power for playing videos etc and video linking (Skype). I know nothing about laptops in general and would like to know whether to have with Pentium based laptops or AMD, the amount of RAM required for smooth video play and what type of graphic drivers do they have?

Obviously it will be Windows 10 but which one Windows 10 Home or Windows 10 Pro? and what is the difference between the two.

Next Question is where is the best place to purchase for value for money? Babs has looked at Argos, Sainsbury, Tesco etc. or would Dell or even PC Specialists be the best route? We are looking at £350 - £450 max so hopefully you guys might be able to suggest something that fits her requirements and although we will probably wait until the Xmas Sales we just need to know what to look for and if there are any pitfalls with some manufacturers.

Will be back on Wednesday.

Many thanks in advance

Regards
Nigel.

[DaveG]

TBH Nigel, just about any current generation lap laptop should be able to do what you require, it's not going to stress the system much. Personally I'd go for an Intel CPU, Win10 pro, 8 gig of ram and a decent sized hard drive or SSD.

[DaveB]

Hi Nige

SWMBO has an Asus X555L which uses an Intel i3 CPU, 1TB sata drive and came with 4gb ram and Win8.1 64bit installed. I let it 'burn in' with Win8.1 for a week then updated it to Win10. I don't run any games on it though the guv plays various card games and keeps in touch with the outside world with ease. She missed the last episode of some programme or other a while back so I bought an HDMI cable and streamed it from the laptop to the TV so she could watch it on the 'BIG SCREEN'. It played flawlessly.. so much so even I was impressed
At the time, Sainsbury's were selling the same laptop for well over £200 (close to £250 if I remember correctly) but she got it when she worked at Asda for considerably less.. around £150!! It's not cutting edge by any stretch of the imagination but it does all she wants it to do with ease. I reckon FSX would kill it but FSX can do that with the most monster desktop!! An Intel i5 based rig would have been more to my liking but for what the i3 rig is used for.. it is more than adequate

ATB
DaveB

[Vancouver]

A UK friend of mine bought from UK Overclockers

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/laptops- ... ng-laptops

and is very satisfied with the product and after service.
I would have reservations about buying a PC from a Grocery store, What level of after sales support & knowledge are they likely to offer? Sheesh! I worry about groceries from a grocery store. Farmers markets are the way to go there. But maybe that is just me.

[DaveB]

Well.. you still have a 12months guarantee which is all you'd get from a manufacturer anyway. The beauty of buying something like this from somewhere like Asda is if it stops working or something goes wrong within the 12months.. you simply take it back and either get your money back or get a replacement. Their customer services don't haggle. As it was.. SWMBO called me from work giving details of the laptop and the price. I'm an Asus fan.. the spec was ok for what it was required to do and the price made it a no-brainer. Feel free to spend £600 on a higher spec laptop from a 'specialist' if you so wish

ATB
DaveB

[DaveG]

Those laptops from OC are very nice, but complete overkill for the task really.

[Nigel H-J]

Hi Chaps and very many thanks for your input,

The beauty of buying something like this from somewhere like Asda is if it stops working or something goes wrong within the 12months.. you simply take it back and either get your money back or get a replacement. Their customer services don't haggle.

Totally agree with your comments Dave, even if we bought from Dell (which I now don't think we will do) should anything go wrong then unless you spend extra to have it repaired on site then you are faced with having to arrange to return it to the manufacturer which is time consuming and also with some on-line retailers, you may have to pay to RTB even during the warranty period.

No, I think now we will stick to either Argos Sainsbury etc. and buy local, after the one year warranty I will have any repairs done locally.

Once again, many thanks.

Regards
Nigel.

[DaveB]

Hi Nige

My aunt bought a Dell laptop (from Asda) some 3 years ago.. their first 'toe dip' into the online experience. To be brutally honest.. they're both rubbish 'Silver Surfers' but this aside.. the laptop is still going strong. I can't remember the spec or model number but it's never been particularly fast. This is not to say that Dell make slow laptops, just that this particular model wasn't up to much. Dell fill their rigs with layer upon layer of Dell software.. much of which few will ever use and this does much to eat up valuable resources. I've uninstalled as much as I dare in an attempt to speed it up but I think the major bottle-neck is it's Celeron CPU. They had no idea what they were buying which didn't help My aunt is actually more adept with an Asus 7" tablet they bought not long after buying the Dell. She IS 80 BTW I fear she'll have to return to the laptop before long due to failing eyesight

Good luck
ATB
DaveB

[Nigel H-J]

Hi Dave,

I used to have Dell Computers but then it turned into something else after loads of upgrades so when it finally died it was no longer a Dell but a sortment of computer parts.

Equally, my present one used to be a (wait for it) HP but now has more of a ASUS flavour about it and is no longer an HP!!

Can honestly say that it will most likely be an ASUS laptop but depends on what Babs wants, if
she sees a colour she likes>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Pleased to hear that your Auntie is still going strong at 80 and wish her many more years of Silver Surfing.

Regards
Nigel.

[Dev One]

I've been quite happy with my ACER ES1-512 that I bought in Jan 2014 from Amazon. Came with W 8.1, but now upgraded to W10. I have FS9 & FSX SP2, but very basic scenery. Screen resolution 1366 x 768. Using my Arrow Active I get about 16 fps in FSX & about 40 ish if set to unlimited in FS9, normally set for 32 though. FS9 scenery & Wx set to low, aircraft to high, but FSX scenery, aircraft & Wx set to high. Looking at Amazon today the equivalent would be the ACER ES1-531 at £ 269. Obviously you can get better performance from a higher spec CPU, & if its going to be your only computer then thats the way to go. My main computer is a lot better spec so I'm not reliant on the laptop. I believe FS9 needs a good Graphics card, whereas FSX is more CPU dependant.
Hope this info of assistance from a bottom of the range device.
Keith
edit:
Reading back your requirements in post#1, I use both computers for videos & Skype & find no difference in quality, providing one has of course a good internet speed.
I use VLC media player a freeware software for video CD's. Make sure your new device has a CD player though, they seem to be losing them reading some comments about loading FSX problems!