Laptop recommendation for my daughter around £400 mark

[Bynot]

So I’m looking for a laptop for my daughter of around the £400 mark in the UK.

 

I’ve been looking at most of the main retailers and struggling to pick one for her as I’d like to be able to have around 4GB of RAM (that can be upgraded to 8GB or even 16GB) and either a smallish boot drive with a 2nd drive for storage.

 

I’ve seen a few with 1TB of storage but I know from past experience that they are going to be slow for normal everyday tasks but good for storage.

 

I’m happy to by a basic model if I can upgrade the ram and faster boot drive but when I look at all the models and then try and search if the ram or drive can be upgraded it’s hard to find to correct information, as I’m also starting to see some with M.2 drives and so on.

 

She will use it mainly for watching Nexflix, YouTube and saved movies of 1080P, some light photo and video editing, office and such and she’s not into gaming.

 

Needs to be 15” screen and above with possibly an Ethernet port and HDMI out as she hooks it up to her TV for video playback and would be nice to have a type C port or with some decent IO.

 

I know I might be asking a lot for that sort of money but like I said I’m happy to buy extra ram and faster storage as it seems to me I can get that cheaper than buying it pre-bundled.

 

Any advice would be great as starting to feel like it’s hit and hope.  

[Streetguru]

1 minute ago, Bynot said:

 

Does it need to do gaming? You should just buy a used machine with at least a 950m or 960m in that case.

[Bynot]

32 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

Does it need to do gaming? You should just buy a used machine with at least a 950m or 960m in that case.

No gaming needed.

 

I don't want to go down the used market as if anything goes wrong with it she will have the option of returning it to a retailer where she will be studying rather than having to send it home where I will need to deal with any problems.

[genexis_x]

Might want to go used/refurb

[Bynot]

5 minutes ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Might want to go used/refurb

I really want a new machine as prefer to have store or manufacturer warranty. I would take a used one if it was me going to be using it but as it's for my daughter really needs to be new.  

[genexis_x]

2 hours ago, Bynot said:

I really want a new machine as prefer to have store or manufacturer warranty

Then you have to make sacrifices like slower i3 CPU, TN panel, short battery life. Is it ok?

[Bynot]

3 hours ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Then you have to make sacrifices like slower i3 CPU, TN panel, short battery life. Is it ok?

Yes those are things that I can sacrifice, the main thing I need is at least the ability to upgrade the ram if it comes with less that 8GB and the hard drive.

[Streetguru]

1 hour ago, Bynot said:

Yes those are things that I can sacrifice, the main thing I need is at least the ability to upgrade the ram if it comes with less that 8GB and the hard drive.

 

5 hours ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Then you have to make sacrifices like slower i3 CPU, TN panel, short battery life. Is it ok?

Well if she ever wants to get into gaming, then I'd grab a Ryzen APU

 

but I don't know if this laptop has dual channel memory. it looks like you can get an R5 2500U or maybe an R5 3500U for that budget.

This one has a 1080p display at least.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lenovo-V330-14ARR-81B1001EUK-Processor-Display/dp/B07KKK4SLQ/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=Ryzen+laptop&qid=1567268185&s=gateway&sr=8-3

[Streetguru]

1 hour ago, Bynot said:

Yes those are things that I can sacrifice, the main thing I need is at least the ability to upgrade the ram if it comes with less that 8GB and the hard drive.

Actually you can get a Matebook D Ryzen 5 laptop for that budget, and that one's like the best Ryzen laptop from all the searching I did on em.

Ebay UK is having a sale on lenovo laptops in any event.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RB-HUAWEI-MateBook-D-14-Ultra-Slim-Full-HD-Ryzen-5-2500U-8GB-RAM-256GB-SSD/264446135546?epid=4025770377&hash=item3d9237ccfa:g:JacAAOSw5L5cpBqf

[Bynot]

1 hour ago, Streetguru said:

 

Well if she ever wants to get into gaming, then I'd grab a Ryzen APU

 

but I don't know if this laptop has dual channel memory. it looks like you can get an R5 2500U or maybe an R5 3500U for that budget.

This one has a 1080p display at least.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lenovo-V330-14ARR-81B1001EUK-Processor-Display/dp/B07KKK4SLQ/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=Ryzen+laptop&qid=1567268185&s=gateway&sr=8-3

 

1 hour ago, Streetguru said:

Actually you can get a Matebook D Ryzen 5 laptop for that budget, and that one's like the best Ryzen laptop from all the searching I did on em.

Ebay UK is having a sale on lenovo laptops in any event.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RB-HUAWEI-MateBook-D-14-Ultra-Slim-Full-HD-Ryzen-5-2500U-8GB-RAM-256GB-SSD/264446135546?epid=4025770377&hash=item3d9237ccfa:g:JacAAOSw5L5cpBqf

They both look good shame they both 14" though I'm think Lenovo is probably a good choice for her.

 

I do appreciate you looking for me all advice helps narrow my search down.

[Streetguru]

5 minutes ago, Bynot said:

 

They both look good shame they both 14" though I'm think Lenovo is probably a good choice for her.

 

I do appreciate you looking for me all advice helps narrow my search down.

The Matebook D is the easy choice between those 2, it has the best build quality and for sure has dual channel RAM to make the PC faster overall. And a 1080p IPS display too.
 

Here's an updated one with the new R5 3500U

 

[Bynot]

Sorry I should of added that she has poor eyesight so anything below a 15" screen will just not work for her.

[Streetguru]

2 minutes ago, Bynot said:

Sorry I should of added that she has poor eyesight so anything below a 15" screen will just not work for her.

There's not a major difference between the 14" or the 15", you only lose like half an inch or like 1CM of usable space on the top/bottom of the display, and you're still likely to use display scaling with either so they're going to physically look the same in the end.

Otherwise just look into used 17" or even 19" laptops, this one's under 300 GBP with a 3rd gen i7, just needs more RAM and maybe an SSD.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lenovo-IdeaPad-320-17IKB-17-3-Laptop-Intel-7th-Gen-i3-2-40Ghz-4GB-RAM-500GB-HDD/283571824426?hash=item420632a72a:g:3M4AAOSw0AldSTcA

[Bynot]

16 hours ago, Streetguru said:

There's not a major difference between the 14" or the 15", you only lose like half an inch or like 1CM of usable space on the top/bottom of the display, and you're still likely to use display scaling with either so they're going to physically look the same in the end.

Technically you are probably right on the screen size difference but for my daughter it's a little different with they way she interacts with the world. I have a 14" notebook that I use for work and she struggles to use it but my wife's 15.6 laptop she get's on great with. A larger screen is going to be a pain for her to carry around at UNI. I know it might seem I am being picky but getting the right one for her is paramount.

 

I think I have found one that will work for her which is the LENOVO IdeaPad 330S at a pretty good price HERE!! it seems that I can upgrade the ram and swap out the optane model for an a fast boot drive and leave the 1TB drive for storage and at £399 I'm happy with the price and extra ram and drive should not be to much more.

 

If there any more suggestion will happy take the advice.

[genexis_x]

19 hours ago, Streetguru said:

There's not a major difference between the 14" or the 15

There is difference for me. It depends on individual

3 hours ago, Bynot said:

 LENOVO IdeaPad 330S

it's a decent choice but there might be other good options

[Jotoco]

4 hours ago, Bynot said:

Technically you are probably right on the screen size difference but for my daughter it's a little different with they way she interacts with the world. I have a 14" notebook that I use for work and she struggles to use it but my wife's 15.6 laptop she get's on great with. A larger screen is going to be a pain for her to carry around at UNI. I know it might seem I am being picky but getting the right one for her is paramount.

 

I think I have found one that will work for her which is the LENOVO IdeaPad 330S at a pretty good price HERE!! it seems that I can upgrade the ram and swap out the optane model for an a fast boot drive and leave the 1TB drive for storage and at £399 I'm happy with the price and extra ram and drive should not be to much more.

 

If there any more suggestion will happy take the advice.

I have a different version of this machine. It is not the best built machine and the display is pretty dim, but it works well.

It has an optane drive so you might hold off the SSD for a bit. 

The 4 gb of ram is soldered, but there should be an empty slot. 

[Bynot]

14 hours ago, Jotoco said:

I have a different version of this machine. It is not the best built machine and the display is pretty dim, but it works well.

It has an optane drive so you might hold off the SSD for a bit. 

The 4 gb of ram is soldered, but there should be an empty slot. 

Thanks I was thinking of swapping out the optane and installing an M.2 drive in there as they are pretty cheap plus I have a stick of 8GB ram here that looks like it will work.

 

I'm still searching for other options, the trouble I am finding more than anything there are so many models released in different regions out there from the same company that it is hard to actually find the right manuals to see if they can actually be upgraded. IE: ram soldered to the board but no other ram slot.

[Jotoco]

On 9/2/2019 at 1:50 AM, Bynot said:

Thanks I was thinking of swapping out the optane and installing an M.2 drive in there as they are pretty cheap plus I have a stick of 8GB ram here that looks like it will work.

 

I'm still searching for other options, the trouble I am finding more than anything there are so many models released in different regions out there from the same company that it is hard to actually find the right manuals to see if they can actually be upgraded. IE: ram soldered to the board but no other ram slot.

It is not the exact same model, but I think it should be the same mother board.

 

I will say one more thing, for color accurate work the screen is very bad, but you won't find anything much better in your price point. 

[Bynot]

So just wanted to update on what I actually got.

 

We went to the store with every intention of buy the Lenovo but when got there they had sold the last one they had in stock but the guy in the shop that actually looked like he knew what his was talking about said they had just had a customer return of a HP Pavilion it was tested and nothing wrong with it but it was on offer as it was a return and they wanted £350 for it but I managed to get it down to £290 and still came with full warranty.

 

It was the HP Pavilion 15-cw0505sa, which has a Ryzen 3 and Vega 6 plus 4GB (Which I have upgraded to 8GB) and a 256GB M.2 SSD.

 

I have to say my daughter is well happy with it and I'm pretty impressed with it for the money.

 

The only issue I have with it that while it supports a 2.5" drive as well the parts are not installed and HP will not sell me the spare parts and they are very pricey on ebay as I can only find them located in US and with postage seems a bit silly. So instead I just got an external drive instead.

 

But overall I am glad that it is over. :)