11-13" Laptop for around £500

[razor767]

My sister is looking for a new laptop, main use is MS Office (Word & PowerPoint). Budget is around £500, buying from UK.

 

• 11-13" Screen Size
• Reasonably thin and light
• SSD preferred

 

So far I have found this, the only thing I'm not sure about is whether or not 4 GB of RAM is enough. 

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated. 

[Zando_]

You definitely want 8GB of RAM. Or make sure it can be upgraded, then buy it and upgrade the RAM. It'll help with multi tasking, like having a few browser tabs and a bunch of documents open.

[Matu20]

1 minute ago, Zando Bob said:

You definitely want 8GB of RAM. Or make sure it can be upgraded, then buy it and upgrade the RAM. It'll help with multi tasking, like having a few browser tabs and a bunch of documents open.

I agree, sisters are usually retarded and don't know how to close shit to improve performance.

[Zando_]

1 minute ago, Matu20 said:

I agree, sisters are usually retarded and don't know how to close shit to improve performance.

Not really. Most of the time they just have no idea where to start, or what on earth RAM and a HDD here to begin with, so they seem dumb. Anyone on here who's insanely good at tech started out an idiot who didn't know what a SATA cable was. Ask, Jayz2cents, Linus, Austin, or any other tech YouTuber and they'll tell you they used to have no idea what they were doing. Try to explain it to her in a simple way. The way I explain it is that RAM is really the computers memory, and it uses that to keep everything open. The HDD is basically a box for your stuff. The CPU is the computers brain, and the GPU is what puts everything on the screen. It's like a translator that turns the ones and zeros from the CPU into what you can see on your screen. Best advice is to blow them up in your head, and then, once you cool down, try and explain it to them simply and politely. My Nana still doesn't get computers, and all her work is done on one. It's hard, but I do my best to be patient with her. Just remember, they probably do things you have no idea about as well. 

[Matu20]

1 minute ago, Zando Bob said:

Not really. Most of the time they just have no idea where to start, or what on earth RAM and a HDD here to begin with, so they seem dumb. Anyone on here who's insanely good at tech started out an idiot who didn't know what a SATA cable was. Ask, Jayz2cents, Linus, Austin, or any other tech YouTuber and they'll tell you they used to have no idea what they were doing. Try to explain it to her in a simple way. The way I explain it is that RAM is really the computers memory, and it uses that to keep everything open. The HDD is basically a box for your stuff. The CPU is the computers brain, and the GPU is what puts everything on the screen. It's like a translator that turns the ones and zeros from the CPU into what you can see on your screen. Best advice is to blow them up in your head, and then, once you cool down, try and explain it to them simply and politely. My Nana still doesn't get computers, and all her work is done on one. It's hard, but I do my best to be patient with her. Just remember, they probably do things you have no idea about as well. 

So you agree, good. But to get back to the point, it's almost impossible to find an ultrabook within that price bracket (whilst having 8gb and SSD).

 

Best I could find were those:

DELL Inspiron 3162

Lenovo ThinkPad E31-70 

[Zando_]

5 minutes ago, Matu20 said:

So you agree, good. But to get back to the point, it's almost impossible to find an ultrabook within that price bracket (whilst having 8gb and SSD).

 

Best I could find were those:

DELL Inspiron 3162

Lenovo ThinkPad E31-70 

I'd look for one around 350-400 pounds, with a decent cpu, then get a cheap SSD and a RAM upgrade.

[Matu20]

Just now, Zando Bob said:

I'd look for one around 350-400 pends, with a decent cpu, then get a cheap SSD and a RAM upgrade.

I don't know your local stores, try searching for those models and let me know about the pricing.

[razor767]

This one is a bit over budget but seems to tick all the boxes:

 

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/dell-inspiron-13-5000-touchscreen-2-in-1-silver-10151886-pdt.html