Looking for a decent budget laptop

[AndrewB121]

Hi, I'm looking for a budget laptop for uni in September. I already have a good PC so the laptop is only for notes and internet etc. Have a budget of £400-£500 (£550 MAX).

My requirements are thin/lightweight, good battery life, a FHD screen and not shit specs (i3/i5/r5, 8gb ram, 128-512gb SSD).

Currently the best option I can find is the Lenovo Ideapad 330s. Alternate would be a used Macbook Air.

Is the Ideapad 330s any good, and are there better options available that I've overlooked? I know £500 isn't much for a good laptop but I would like to get the best thing possible for the price.

[aisle9]

Should be able to get a used T460S for that price. Worth every penny.

[AndrewB121]

4 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

Should be able to get a used T460S for that price. Worth every penny.

Best ones I can find on ebay have an i7-6600U, which is significantly worse than the i5-8250U in the 330s. Granted it's cheaper, but not sure if it would be worth it.

[aisle9]

1 minute ago, AndrewB121 said:

Best ones I can find on ebay have an i7-6600U, which is significantly worse than the i5-8250U in the 330s. Granted it's cheaper, but not sure if it would be worth it.

Yeah, there were no true quad-cores in the T-S platform until the -80 series, and even a used T480 or T480S is going to cost more than your budget. The IdeaPad line isn't great by any means. The build quality is garbage, but Lenovo's warranty service is solid if you need it. Acer makes decent laptops in that price range, and honestly Lenovo and Acer are the only two mainstream laptop manufacturers I would buy from right now.

[AndrewB121]

1 minute ago, aisle9 said:

Yeah, there were no true quad-cores in the T-S platform until the -80 series, and even a used T480 or T480S is going to cost more than your budget. The IdeaPad line isn't great by any means. The build quality is garbage, but Lenovo's warranty service is solid if you need it. Acer makes decent laptops in that price range, and honestly Lenovo and Acer are the only two mainstream laptop manufacturers I would buy from right now.

Yeah I had a look at Acer but they had nothing that could match the 330s at the same price point.

[manikyath]

Just now, AndrewB121 said:

Yeah I had a look at Acer but they had nothing that could match the 330s at the same price point.

have a look at what HP has to offer, they just released a bottom-of-the-barrel series with AMD's new ryzen 3rd gen processors, and they're absolute rocketships for the pricepoint.

build quality isnt "wow", but they get the job done quite well.

[AndrewB121]

2 minutes ago, manikyath said:

have a look at what HP has to offer, they just released a bottom-of-the-barrel series with AMD's new ryzen 3rd gen processors, and they're absolute rocketships for the pricepoint.

build quality isnt "wow", but they get the job done quite well.

Hmm I had a look at HP but couldn't find anything good, definitly didn't see anything with Ryzen 3000. Do you remember the model, defo want to look into it.

[manikyath]

Just now, AndrewB121 said:

Hmm I had a look at HP but couldn't find anything good, definitly didn't see anything with Ryzen 3000. Do you remember the model, defo want to look into it.

well.. there's the issue.. they're just "HP 17-***" and "HP 15-***"

 

and they're quite literally fresh off the press, so they could as well not be available for your region yet.

[AndrewB121]

Just now, manikyath said:

well.. there's the issue.. they're just "HP 17-***" and "HP 15-***"

 

and they're quite literally fresh off the press, so they could as well not be available for your region yet.

Ahh ok. Hopefully they release soonish then. I'll look into it thanks.