Laptop recommendations

[Murray]

i had a dell 15r se for a number of years but it's finally given up on life and I've had enough of buying replacement parts

What is a good general laptop? For home use and editing the odd video, photoshop etc

I'd like, if possible

• 15 inch screen with nice quality
• Probably a Central mousepad with comfortbale click buttons (why are most laptops pads over to the left? Is this comfortable)
• Easy access to swap out hard drive
• The ability to edit and produce videos without it feeling like hard work and taking forever to produce
• Windows not Mac.
• Under preferred but around £800 max

I looked at dell 15 7000 but apparently the screen is wanting and the keyboard size is small

Maybe I need to go into a pc world or something just to look at them in person, shopping online is hard

 

[DomainAngel]

Ever since Steve posted about scan.co.uk a few years back ive used them.

This one is a bargain at the moment and although not super slim the resale values are great shuld you ever sell it and will do your editing like a dream, plus you can get 2 years 0% free from paypal.

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/156...128gb-m2-sata-ssdplus1tb-hdd-4gb-gtx-1050-usb

4th msi and never once had a problem.

I would maybe spend just a touch more and get one with minimum 1060 graphics card so you can use for VR or if reselling it will make a difference.

Free video software available too i think.

 

[DomainAngel]

If you don't need that extra oomph this one from pc world/currys £699 https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/compu...1050-gaming-laptop-1-tb-hdd-10179513-pdt.html

4.2% cashback from quidco

 

[Murray]

This one is a bargain at the moment and although not super slim the resale values are great shuld you ever sell it and will do your editing like a dream, plus you can get 2 years 0% free from paypal.

Thanks for the recommendation

it doesn't have left/right click buttons? How does that feel? I'm a bit adverse to change

 

[DomainAngel]

Ah the ones I have now do but when I had this layout it was the same, you just use the bottom to click left or right or double tap etc its like a firm pad that floats towards the bottom so you can click. never had any problems hold left with thumb while moving with fingers,

I don't think laptops ever get it right, should have touch points on left or right or even the sides as the wacom touches have, I tend to use a mouse anyway as its so much quicker.

 

[timter51]

Has your Dell experience put you off? Every single time I'm in for a new laptop, I always end up back at the Dell outlet for a scratch n dent. Just can't beat it for value. I'd say I had one bad laptop from them in the Windows 8 era, but my last two have been fantastic.

 

[Admin]

I have a growing brand loyalty to HP. Take a look at the Hp Envy line for that price range. Get SSD for fast boot up. What about a convertible, use as a tablet when the mood takes or tent mode, how about a backlit keyboard too... always a coupon code for HP too...

https://store.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/...sel=NTB&p=c-hp-envy-x360-convertible-notebook

 

[Adam H]

I have a growing brand loyalty to HP. Take a look at the Hp Envy line for that price range. Get SSD for fast boot up. What about a convertible, use as a tablet when the mood takes or tent mode, how about a backlit keyboard too... always a coupon code for HP too...

https://store.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/...sel=NTB&p=c-hp-envy-x360-convertible-notebook

Same, all of my machines/devices in my office at the moment are now loyal to HP, I brought a HP Omen laptop a few years back (Which i think i spoke to Admin about before getting it ) and another last year, the Oman's had graphic and RAM power than the business machines didnt at the time. HP have been a worthy replacement to my much loved Sony Vaio's that I had over the years.

I'd go as far to say that the recent HP's and Sony are the only two brands which has stood up to the punishment i put them through, everything else has had to been replaced after 6 months.

That said, I've never tried Scan or any other build your own brand. But have tried pretty much every other big brand that is in the typical stores like Curries.

I'd say to get a decent machine that won't scream at you when processing videos, it's worth spending more than £800 though.

 

[Admin]

i think i recommended to you the hp envy machine im using. Thinking of buying new machines for me and her even though its perfect still. Looking at probook and elitebook because i'm always hdmi connected to a screen and only the business machines now have hdmi ports and i dont want to start dongling.

 

[Adam H]

i think i recommended to you the hp envy machine im using. Thinking of buying new machines for me and her even though its perfect still. Looking at probook and elitebook because i'm always hdmi connected to a screen and only the business machines now have hdmi ports and i dont want to start dongling.

Yeah thats right, I left it to late and the envy went end of line and I couldnt get it other than PCworlds version which was lesser spec, weird retailers have the same model and different spec depending on retailer requirements.

So had to get the Omen instead to get a decent spec machine. didnt like the gaming type look of the new ones though, mine is black but looks professional still, the latest Omens look like something Alianware would make.

 

[Murray]

Thanks for the replies, I will take a look at hp

I would reply to comments individually and show some appreciation for suggestions but I'm using a mini iPad and it does my nut in type on

 

[Murray]

I got a dell inspiron 15 7000 - 7560 version

First impression is I don't love it

The edges of the palm rest aren't exactly sharp but they also aren't very rounded, trying to type atm in a tshirt resting my arms on the edges is fairly uncomfortable

The screen colour quality is pretty dull

The keyboard is quite different and will take some adjusting

The touchpad feels quite difficult to be accurate with over shorts distances, maybe that's a problem with settings, trying to photoshop using it as is would be a bit of a nightmare

I can't use my SSD with windows 7 on atm because finding the right drivers for windows 7 seems fairly difficult

Pluses: it's light (but I don't move around or take a laptop anywhere anyway)

It's fairly silent fan wise but I haven't tried using it for anything particularly taxing

Maybe I will get use to this laptop but I wont be surprised if I start looking to swap it out sooner than later