New Laptop advice

[Robster59]

Not for me, but for my son. He is working from home and his company has given him an allowance of £530 (max) for a new laptop.
He works for a financial management company so it needs to be a good solid working Windows machine, ideally with good security or a good security offer included. He will probably want to play some games on it but nothing major I believe.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

[Pathetic Shark]

I have just been doing some research myself for Junior Shark and the Acer Aspire 3 fits all those categories well. Argos have them in-stock but Curry's are showing none. Looked at one yesterday in -store and seemed decent enough with good reviews.

 

[BiMGuy]

Boring answer. But I'd get a Dell inspiration if it was for work.

 

[Robster59]

Another question. When looking at this what is important to look at in terms of

• Processor - make and model
• Memory
• SSD/Hard Drive size
• RAM

Thanks again

 

[fundy]

Another question. When looking at this what is important to look at in terms of

• Processor - make and model
• Memory
• SSD/Hard Drive size
• RAM

Thanks again

Definitely want a SSD for speed, if you need lots of storage then a second hard drive is advisable
Then for me its trying to get a decent balance between screen (size and quality), processor and memory (bear in mind you can often upgrade the memory if needed)

Im a bit out of date with regards processors but have always tried to get the latest iteration of an Intel i3 or i5, others better qualified on this though

 

[GreiginFife]

At £530 he isn't going to get 'solid' and 'gaming capable'.

If he uses Excel a lot then get whatever machine has the most RAM.
Core i3 minimum, Inam a huge fan of the new AMD Ryzen 4000 series APUs.

 

[PhilTheFragger]

You must get a SSD hard drive, with at least 256 Gb of storage, 4 Gb RAM minimum, cpu needs to be either Intel I3 or I5 10th generation. Or an AMD Ryzen 4000 or 7000 if you can get one

15.6 inch is standard, much smaller and prices go up

 

[Robster59]

At £530 he isn't going to get 'solid' and 'gaming capable'.

If he uses Excel a lot then get whatever machine has the most RAM.
Core i3 minimum, Inam a huge fan of the new AMD Ryzen 4000 series APUs.

Thanks, he won't be using it for serious gamiing. The company are paying for it so it has to be a business machine first. He may play some games but nothing heavy.

You must get a SSD hard drive, with at least 256 Gb of storage, 4 Gb RAM minimum, cpu needs to be either Intel I3 or I5 10th generation. Or an AMD Ryzen 4000 or 7000 if you can get one

15.6 inch is standard, much smaller and prices go up

Thanks. That's pretty much what I've told him as I scanned through previous advice on here

 

[GreiginFife]

You must get a SSD hard drive, with at least 256 Gb of storage, 4 Gb RAM minimum, cpu needs to be either Intel I3 or I5 10th generation. Or an AMD Ryzen 4000 or 7000 if you can get one

15.6 inch is standard, much smaller and prices go up

I'd say 8GB RAM minimum for business use, 4GB is probably just passable for basic personal use these days.

Thanks, he won't be using it for serious gamiing. The company are paying for it so it has to be a business machine first. He may play some games but nothing heavy.

He won't get gaming of any note out of a £500 laptop. For security I would highly recommend Total AV as his software.

 

[Robster59]

This is the one he's now looking at
ACER Aspire 5 A515-44

 

[brendy]

Will the laptop be connecting into a domain via vpn etc, might need to have windows 10 pro (home can be upgraded for an extra ton online). That acer isnt a bad home user laptop btw.
To work from home properly, he'll need more than £530, this amount is not enough. A monitor, keyboard and mouse are essential and possibly even a decent chair as sitting at the kitchen table is no fun 8 hours a day.

 

[Pathetic Shark]

15.6 inch is standard, much smaller and prices go up

Size isn't everything …. or so I've been told

 

[Robster59]

Will the laptop be connecting into a domain via vpn etc, might need to have windows 10 pro (home can be upgraded for an extra ton online). That acer isnt a bad home user laptop btw.
To work from home properly, he'll need more than £530, this amount is not enough. A monitor, keyboard and mouse are essential and possibly even a decent chair as sitting at the kitchen table is no fun 8 hours a day.

Thanks. I don't think the company has given him any guidelines at the moment as to minimum spec. I know what you mean about the price. £530 seems a lot but you are definitely looking at the lower end of the specs.

 

[Robster59]

Size isn't everything …. or so I've been told

It's been my mantra all my life!

 

[Mudball]

my 2c... £530 may be tight... Couple of things to get around it.
1) Can he claim any excess off his taxes for next year using the WFH system.
2) Would he need to return the laptop to the office if he decides to leave..

Having WFH-ed since Feb, i can say there is nothing worse than sitting on the sofa and working on your laptop. so think slightly longer and invest in him a home office (which you can claim back)
1) Get a sit/stand desk... Costco does the smallest & cheapest - £300
2) Argos does a good office chair £90
3) Additional screen... £125 each
4) Screen arm... £50
5) Extension board .. £25

now back to the laptop... invest in a decent one. Assume that it will be W10, decent ram.. Given it is office work.. Think Lenovo/IBM/Dell boring ones.
Here is a decent one under your budget>. https://www.costco.co.uk/Computers/...256GB-SSD-156-Inch-Laptop-81YK0050UK/p/334337

IMO, most office will run their own security platforms, so expect them to provide it.

 

[spongebob59]

what office chair is that, HID is after one ?

 

[Robster59]

what office chair is that, HID is after one ?

I'm guessing from the price it's this one
https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8936633

 

[Mudball]

what office chair is that, HID is after one ?

Yup.. the one Robster pointed out.. https://www.argos.co.uk/product/9172362

pretty good for the price.. The only thing it does not seem to do with mine is go up & down.. it has a lever that is supposed to do it, but cant seem to make it. I am assuming it is something to do with how i assembled it. However, at its current height it works fine for me (I am 5' 11). Cant fault it at the price point it is..

Chair comes with 2 yr warrenty - though i dont know if Argos will exist in 2 years

 

[spongebob59]

Cheers