Please, help me find an upgradeable laptop.

[EnergyEclipse]

Hello!

 

I am looking for a NEW laptop that I can upgrade easily, so that I can add my own SATA SSD or throw in RAM and be able to replace the battery. I do not mind about its size or display as it will mostly be connected to an external display, and as long as it is under £450 then it would be more than excellent.

 

USB 3.0 would be awesome as well. 

 

Thank you very much in advance

EnergyEclipse

[aisle9]

If you're into used stuff, the Dell Latitude E6420/6430 and ThinkPad T420/T430 lines are incredibly upgradeable and dirty-ho cheap if you grab a refurb off of eBay. Even the CPU can be swapped out on those.

[EnergyEclipse]

3 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

If you're into used stuff, the Dell Latitude E6420/6430 and ThinkPad T420/T430 lines are incredibly upgradeable and dirty-ho cheap if you grab a refurb off of eBay. Even the CPU can be swapped out on those.

I have quite the few older used laptops, and I agree with you they are really good choices as I've seen them on eBay & amazon a lot. But I'd really like something new just purely for peace of mind since it will be my main machien and warranty options, but thank you for your help  

[Streetguru]

16 minutes ago, EnergyEclipse said:

 

What do you need the laptop for? 450 GBP isn't going to get you much in a new laptop.

[EnergyEclipse]

9 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

What do you need the laptop for? 450 GBP isn't going to get you much in a new laptop.

I just want something that I can make into my media system for when its at home, and then be able to take it about with me for school or work. I want it to be upgradeable so that I can add in an SSD, replace the battery down the line and so forth, I don't need super specifications just ones capable of 4K video watching and light gaming.  

 

You can get amazing systems now for under £500, capable of playing Tomb Raider 2012 and so much more. But the thing being that they're so often locked down. If the battery gets worse, you can't replace it. If the drive inside becomes to small, you can't change them out. And if you want more performance in the future with some RAM or a wireless card well you probably can't since they're soldered to the boards D:

[Streetguru]

3 minutes ago, EnergyEclipse said:

 

I don't think any new system around or under 500 comes with a decent GPU, maybe an MX150, but then you might not know if it's the real MX150, or the new cut down version.

As for the rest it's very unlikely you're going to get all of that in a laptop, not sure about the 4k video either.  Think that just needs kaby lake or newer though.

[aisle9]

1 hour ago, EnergyEclipse said:

I just want something that I can make into my media system for when its at home, and then be able to take it about with me for school or work. I want it to be upgradeable so that I can add in an SSD, replace the battery down the line and so forth, I don't need super specifications just ones capable of 4K video watching and light gaming.  

 

You can get amazing systems now for under £500, capable of playing Tomb Raider 2012 and so much more. But the thing being that they're so often locked down. If the battery gets worse, you can't replace it. If the drive inside becomes to small, you can't change them out. And if you want more performance in the future with some RAM or a wireless card well you probably can't since they're soldered to the boards D:

You really want a business class laptop. You're going to have a hard time finding a consumer-grade laptop at your price point that's easily upgradeable. A good, solid refurb T450 or T460 would suit your needs, and the T450 for sure would be within your budget. Consumer-grade laptops in the sub-$500 USD range are basically intended by OEMs to be obsolete or broken within 2 years. Meanwhile, I'm still using my ThinkPad X61 with 4GB of RAM and an SSD.