Recommend a decent £400-450 laptop

[Anomnomnomaly]

I've not had a laptop for about 14-15yrs now, my last one was a Pentium 4 that's how long it's been.

 

But I find myself often needing something a little better than my tablet when I'm away from home... From various requirements like watching movies on a decent sized screen, to working on docs/spreadsheets and being able to access diagnostic software for cars as well as being able to upgrade/update the scan tool firmware and d/base.

 

It needs to be fairly powerful, but not gaming powerful... at least not modern games, be nice to throw on a game of Civ 5 every now and again. Decent amount of ram in the 16gb range, good storage with ability to add a second M.2 to expand it.

 

Most of the reviews I see only deal with the higher end and completely ignore the price range I'm looking at... not to mention that reviews in GB pounds are even more scarce and with the way we get screwed on tech prices... if it's $500 then we'll be paying at least £500 maybe more.  Take the recent RX5700 XT prices... the Sapphire Pulse 5700 XT is around $420 but here in the UK it's £440 or more which is closer to $500.

 

To answer a few obvious questions... I won't touch a chrome book, I've no experience with linux nor with macs of any kind in over 20yrs. I don't need a 4k screen, nor HDR and I won't be creating content on it, it doesn't need a mechanical switch keyboard or a touch screen but it does need a decent trackpad or be so good in other areas that I can overlook the trackpad and plug in a mouse of my own. Bluetooth would be a bonus as would a decent webcam with a cover/switch to disable it and the mic... and of course up to date spec wifi and an ethernet port. I don't see the need for thunderbolt/lightning (very, very frightening) ports so a mix of USB 3/C is just fine.

 

Does such a laptop exist in that kind of price range... or at least very, very close to it... At a push I could stretch to £500. But I'd like to have something before the middle of Dec.

[KhakiHat]

What country are you trying to purchase from?

[3 Lions]

I think the best thing for you is to visit PC World one day and try out some of the models on display within your budget. 

Edited November 9, 2019 by LinusTechTipsFanFromDarlo

[2011PCGuy]

I mean, if you need it https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-15-6-gaming-laptop-amd-ryzen-5-8gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1050-256gb-solid-state-drive-shadow-black-chrome-green-paint-finish/6364574.p?skuId=6364574&ref=212&loc=1&ref=212&loc=BM01&gclid=CjwKCAiA5JnuBRA-EiwA-0ggPdtACuDnSCTJAoTzPUZFug6scFKiFpVLi10N9YMAakGyvjEdICx5cxoC_jQQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Anomnomnomaly]

4 hours ago, KhakiHat said:

What country are you trying to purchase from?

The same one I mentioned in my post, as well as mentioning the currency for it in the subject header and the post multiple times. 

[Anomnomnomaly]

4 hours ago, LinusTechTipsFanFromDarlo said:

I think the best thing for you is to visit PC World one day and try out some of the models on display within your budget. 

I find that funny.. because there's no way in hell I'd ever actually buy anything from them ever again... After years of avoiding them... last week I needed a new microwave convection oven to replace my now 11yr old one.

 

I went in a few places, but it's getting hard to find one that I need... most are microwave/grill without the convection oven part... and I need to check dimensions.

 

So I ended up buying a Kenwood one that was on sale £55 off and just £125... I was expecting and prepared to pay up to £200 for a decent one.  Got it home, opened the box and found that it had been dropped hard on one corner. Very little visible damage to the box but the entire oven was twisted, bent out of shape and the door had popped open and would no longer close.

 

Took it back a few days later, expecting to get a replacement... Only to over hear the woman in front me at the returns desk had exactly the same problem with the Samsung microwave convection oven she'd bought a few days earlier too.

 

This was almost 11am on a Sunday, they'd been open less than 1hr.

So I asked for a refund instead and pointed out that perhaps they need to look into how they're getting damaged and why they're being sold when damage has occurred.

 

Lesson learned... never think that perhaps they're better than they used to be... they're not... never shop at a currys/pc world.