Laptop Recommendations

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Pandarye

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My trusty old Acer laptop seems to have finally called it quits after about 12 years and I will need a replacement. It was running Windows 10 on a dual core processor I had cannibalised from another machine, an SSD with a secondary HDD in the DVD bay for extra storage and it had the ram maxed out at 4GB.

My main use cases are word processing, email, internet browsing, and attending online meetings/lectures. I don't intend to use it for any gaming or particularly resource intensive tasks so I don't need anything too powerful, but I do require:

1. Something that will potentially last as long as my old machine. So preferably newer hardware that is Windows 11 compatible.

2. Decent battery life

3. Low cost

In order to keep costs down I would be willing to go with a second hand or refurb machine. Even something without a drive at all or with an HDD since I can swap my old SSD in.

What specific laptops or brands would you recommend that fit these requirements?
 
What is the current budget you have for a laptop? Will be easier that way to help you.
 
The Dell Latitude series fits points 1 and 2.

However, by low cost, are you looking for something less than R5k? What's your budget?
 
There is a helluva deal on HP 255 G8 with 8Gb ram 256gb sdd at the moment. But the others are right budget is just as critical as your specs/use case.

On a low budget, you will have to spend between R6999 and R12999
 
Polymathic said:
Out of curiosity how much did you pay for the previous laptop?
Click to expand...
If it is many years ago R5k could have bought you a nice 3.2 dual core with 2gb ram and 500gb HDD at the time that was more than enough.
 
Soulware Technology said:
There is a helluva deal on HP 255 G8 with 8Gb ram 256gb sdd at the moment. But the others are right budget is just as critical as your specs/use case.

On a low budget, you will have to spend between R6999 and R12999
Click to expand...
Yeah, I was looking at the HP 250 G8 on Evetech for R4999. Any thoughts on that specific machine?
 
Pandarye said:
Yeah, I was looking at the HP 250 G8 on Evetech for R4999. Any thoughts on that specific machine?
Click to expand...
There are various spec'd models but you need to look for SKU: 2V0W2ES-256

HP 255 G8, 3020E,8GB,256 SSD,WIN10 HOME - 2V0W2ES-256

CPU Type: AMD Athlon 3020e

Memory: 8GB

Display: 15.6

Internal Storage: 256 SSD

Operating System: Windows 10Home
 
Soulware Technology said:
There are various spec'd models but you need to look for SKU: 2V0W2ES-256

HP 255 G8, 3020E,8GB,256 SSD,WIN10 HOME - 2V0W2ES-256

CPU Type: AMD Athlon 3020e

Memory: 8GB

Display: 15.6

Internal Storage: 256 SSD

Operating System: Windows 10Home
Click to expand...
Ah I see. The one I was looking at is different. Running an intel celeron.

My budget may be a bit flexible so maybe a better question would be: what minimum specs should I consider insofar as CPU and RAM for my use case?
 
Pandarye said:
Ah I see. The one I was looking at is different. Running an intel celeron.

My budget may be a bit flexible so maybe a better question would be: what minimum specs should I consider insofar as CPU and RAM for my use case?
Click to expand...
In a perfect world, you will need to look minimum for i5, 8Gb Ram and 512gb SDD but that's R10k+

If you mostly do office work and internet browsing and media you will need to look for something with not less than 8GB ram. I would say ram would be the main factor. Try and stay away from Celeron, rather check for non-celeron intel cpus.

Also, a dedicated gfx would be great but again not viable in the budget unless maybe second-hand.
 
Other brands and models in that price range.
Lenovo Idea Pad 3
Acer Extenza Range EX215
 
Soulware Technology said:
In a perfect world, you will need to look minimum for i5, 8Gb Ram and 512gb SDD but that's R10k+

If you mostly do office work and internet browsing and media you will need to look for something with not less than 8GB ram. I would say ram would be the main factor. Try and stay away from Celeron, rather check for non-celeron intel cpus.

Also, a dedicated gfx would be great but again not viable in the budget unless maybe second-hand.
Click to expand...
Thank you. That helps narrow down my search quite a bit.

I see a few low cost machines running AMD Athlon chips, I assume these aren't ideal but still preferable to Celeron?
 
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