New Laptop needed. HELP!

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

I'm hoping all you good folk on here can give me some guidance and general advice. I bought my existing laptop to replace the first one I ever had which was a basic Toshiba running Vista. I've had the present one for years, it's an HP, 15 inch screen with Intel core i5 2TB hard drive storage and a pretty wimpy Ram 8mb I think? but might be less. Runs Windows 10. I've learned most of the small amount of stuff I know from using it and I'm happy with it. It works fast enough and I've not even used 1TB of the storage yet, Unfortunately the screen has an intermittent problem now which is, so far, rectified by very firmly pressing against the bottom right hand corner of the screen for a few seconds until it clears - loose connection somewhere I suspect. So been looking at a new one.

As I mentioned above I think 1TB of storage will be enough and the nice man in John Lewis suggested 16mb ram? He was keen to see me with a Lenovo. I think it was this one: https://www.johnlewis.com/lenovo-id...am-1tb-ssd-14-inch-wuxga-luna-grey/p114381927 What do you think. I'll not be using it for anything demanding, just emails, browsing the web, watching films, storing images and a small amount of music. and, of course chatting to you lovely people on the forum! Any opinions? Or maybe someone would like to suggest something else I should consider?

 

[Idleness]

All our kit is Lenovo or it's derivatives.
Laptop, 2 x Tablets and 2 Moto G phones.
Price and spec have always been right and it just works.
Admittedly the laptop is a bit old now but doesn't get used much, runs my Cad program and I still have another year of Win10 support

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

All our kit is Lenovo or it's derivatives.
Laptop, 2 x Tablets and 2 Moto G phones.
Price and spec have always been right and it just works.
Admittedly the laptop is a bit old now but doesn't get used much, runs my Cad program and I still have another year of Win10 support

Yes, although I don't know much about computers in general, Lenovo is one of the names I associate with quality. I'm attracted by the "special" price too.

I thought all support for win10 was now ended?

 

[Idleness]

I thought all support for win10 was now ended?

If you have Microsoft Basic which I use for cloud storage there was the opportunity to get another free year of support.
There are a lot of legacy business systems still in use who will be paying for support so Microsoft support is still active, in some cases for XP
What happens next October is anyone's guess.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

If you have Microsoft Basic which I use for cloud storage there was the opportunity to get another free year of support.
There are a lot of legacy business systems still in use who will be paying for support so Microsoft support is still active, in some cases for XP
What happens next October is anyone's guess.

Thanks, i didn't know that. If the screen on mine didn't have problems I might have explored that. However i think I'll just cut my losses and go with a new machine and Win 11 - although I've come across a number of criticisms of win11, but there was a lot about Win10 when it was new too.

The problem I have is I just don't know what I'm really looking at when it comes to the mechanics of it all ie. Intel vs AMD. and others and what level of chip i5/i7/rysen/etc/etc and how much working memory 8/16/32GB etc. basically I just know nowt!

 

[Idleness]

I would just go with whatever Win 11 spec dictates.
Admittedly we have gone fully over to Android on the tablets and phones the only thing I use Windows for is cad.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

I would just go with whatever Win 11 spec dictates.
Admittedly we have gone fully over to Android on the tablets and phones the only thing I use Windows for is cad.

Thanks for your advice, much appreciated. Most of the family is into Apple but I started out with Windows stuff and have never made the switch, mostly because a lot of the stuff which interests me, like laptop based scanners etc, need windows to run - Apple is so damned expensive too! Now, with my first proper mobile phone - a google pixel 8 - I'm having to get to grips with Android too.

 

[Idleness]

One other thought.
I use my laptop with an external keyboard, mouse and cheap HDMI 24" screen with an adapter for the laptop, all bought second hand, could doing this solve the problem for way less money.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

One other thought.
I use my laptop with an external keyboard, mouse and cheap HDMI 24" screen with an adapter for the laptop, all bought second hand, could doing this solve the problem for way less money.

Interesting solution and I can see how that would work. However I use mine, some of the time, for in car diagnostics with the device on my knees plugged into the OBD port. One reason why the slightly smaller 14 screen on the one I mentioned above quite appeals. In fact it's screen surround is also slimmer than my existing HP so the whole package is a much neater solution. I also like to sit with it on my lap when my better half is watching stuff like Eastenders so I can watch SF films/videos, stuff about cars, etc, etc, until she's finished and I can watch something more interesting. I've got it on my lap with me sitting on the sofa as I'm doing this.

However, with the screen being the only real problem with the old one and at least 1TB of hard disc unused, it occurs to me that I can probably use it as backup and general storage - although I don't know how to link the two laptops together. I also bought a WD my world NAS which I use for storage and backing up important stuff, but, I'm often frustrated when the laptop does a big restart as it seems to sometimes change the way I can access the NAS. I'm often left, in my ignorance, stumbling around in the dark until I find a slightly different way to access the NAS. I probably should seek out someone running a course for "old duffers" like me who never had any computer training. There's probably a lot of general health cleanups I should be doing and also security stuff, although I do run an anti virus.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Most of my family now have HP. 360 touch screens are great, cost is ok and aftersales and extended warranty good value and with excellent collect and returm service. I have had to use it and it was very good. Phone back uphelp is very good too.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Most of my family now have HP. 360 touch screens are great, cost is ok and aftersales and extended warranty good value and with excellent collect and returm service. I have had to use it and it was very good. Phone back uphelp is very good too.

Thanks. My present HP has been pretty good all things considered. However I turned the touch facility off because I don't want any false touches when doing irreversible stuff on VCDS especially.

I've become so used to using the touchpad although now I have the phone I'm getting better at the touch "thing".

I was initially put off HP because a friend had a lot of problems with one. However mine has proved to be reliable and good value for money, so I'd have another if it proves to be a good choice re spec and features.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Thanks. My present HP has been pretty good all things considered. However I turned the touch facility off because I don't want any false touches when doing irreversible stuff on VCDS especially.

I've become so used to using the touchpad although now I have the phone I'm getting better at the touch "thing".

I was initially put off HP because a friend had a lot of problems with one. However mine has proved to be reliable and good value for money, so I'd have another if it proves to be a good choice re spec and features.

Look at hp dot komm they often run some amazing offers. Im hoping to get a like for like replacement.. Mine is i5 processor its mostly much quicker to reat than me. New SSD hard drives arebigger now so again im hoping a little bigger than myhalf gig. Thats been sufficient for 7 years or so. My best advice is do not over think it. The choice is just stupid and a decent model form a main stream maker will do. Set a price target after a reconoiter and then compare processor age, available RAM and ROM and just do it. Trying to do more will just fry your brain. In my viewit just not worth it. Check reviews and google problems with before committing. I have a slim line 14" screen. Its lighterby far than 15" ones just needs bigger glasses occasionally. Buy b4you get suicidal from brain stress!!! lol

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Buy b4you get suicidal from brain stress!!! lol

I think that's the best advice anyone has given me so far. I'm realizing there's not going to be just one suitable machine but a whole bunch which fall within the remit. Thanks for opening my eyes to that. How would I compare processor age? ie how do I discover the age of it?

 

[PuntoHowTo]

I would say the laptop you posted will do everything you want, but it is (to me) expensive.

I suspect it might be the level of the AMD processor pushing the price up as it’s an AI processor which means part of the processor is specifically dedicated to performing AI tasks, which on the face of it you don’t use.

My suggestion would be something like this

https://www.johnlewis.com/asus-vivobook-16-laptop-amd-ryzen-7-processor-16gb-ram-1tb-ssd-16-wuxga-silver/p113888112?tmad=c&tmcampid=7&s_share=jlappios_Y29tLmFwcGxlLlVJS2l0LmFjdGl2aXR5Lk1lc3NhZ2U=

Slightly bigger screen slimmer screen surround. Quite a bit cheaper but includes the storage and ram you need isn’t bloated out with ai stuff you won’t need or use but will still last you a long while with a decent spec processor. If you specifically want Lenovo I am happy to see what I can find that would meet your needs but be cheaper.

JL is a good brand to buy from good warranty good after care and the staff are often pretty good. Plus if it goes completely pear shaped there is a physical shop to go back to and no concerns about things going missing in the post or opening up your newly delivered laptop to find it’s been swapped out with a phone book or house brick.

My local (Norwich) John Lewis, and next closest (Cambridge both have a large number of returned products with big discounts they can be very good value and still have all the same warranty as new items (I think at least a year)

I bought my “big” laptop from John Lewis this way, a 17” Lenovo some years ago now but still would do everything you need, yet is getting on in years now.
I also have a “small”. 14 inch Lenovo what I would say is Lenovo run a two tier system, they are what is left of IBM’s consumer division when IBM stopped making there own machines they sold everything to a Chinese company which became Lenovo the business machines still retain the look of an IBM very well built strong and take a lot of abuse. The consumer models (like the one above, and like the ones I have) tend to be a lot cheaper, plasticky and can be prone to bits breaking they don’t put up with a lot of abuse but then again if you look after stuff, it shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

Reliability wise… well all these laptops are made from bought in components and all those components are made to the same standards largely but a small pool of very big companies so all you are really choosing is who’s plastic case the components get wrapped in

 

[PuntoHowTo]

. How would I compare processor age? ie how do I discover the age of it?

Both intel and AMD have historic information on all their processors.

Intel list every processor they have ever made and the specifications including the year it was released.

If you Google the full processor code
“Intel i7 7700k” Google will direct you to the intel website with all the information including that that processor was launched in quarter 1 of 2017

AMD have a similar website not as easy to navigate but again run the full processor code AMD RYZEN7 AI 350 that will take you to the AMD website which will tell you that the processor was released 18/02/2025. What that doesn’t tell you is how one processor Intel v AMD will perform but there is almost always a website or a YouTube video which will show you a comparison

These days I tend to stick with Intel I5 or I7 and later than 10th generation for your needs so the code will begin 10XXX

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

I would say the laptop you posted will do everything you want, but it is (to me) expensive.

I suspect it might be the level of the AMD processor pushing the price up as it’s an AI processor which means part of the processor is specifically dedicated to performing AI tasks, which on the face of it you don’t use.

My suggestion would be something like this

https://www.johnlewis.com/asus-vivobook-16-laptop-amd-ryzen-7-processor-16gb-ram-1tb-ssd-16-wuxga-silver/p113888112?tmad=c&tmcampid=7&s_share=jlappios_Y29tLmFwcGxlLlVJS2l0LmFjdGl2aXR5Lk1lc3NhZ2U=

Slightly bigger screen slimmer screen surround. Quite a bit cheaper but includes the storage and ram you need isn’t bloated out with ai stuff you won’t need or use but will still last you a long while with a decent spec processor. If you specifically want Lenovo I am happy to see what I can find that would meet your needs but be cheaper.

JL is a good brand to buy from good warranty good after care and the staff are often pretty good. Plus if it goes completely pear shaped there is a physical shop to go back to and no concerns about things going missing in the post or opening up your newly delivered laptop to find it’s been swapped out with a phone book or house brick.

My local (Norwich) John Lewis, and next closest (Cambridge both have a large number of returned products with big discounts they can be very good value and still have all the same warranty as new items (I think at least a year)

I bought my “big” laptop from John Lewis this way, a 17” Lenovo some years ago now but still would do everything you need, yet is getting on in years now.
I also have a “small”. 14 inch Lenovo what I would say is Lenovo run a two tier system, they are what is left of IBM’s consumer division when IBM stopped making there own machines they sold everything to a Chinese company which became Lenovo the business machines still retain the look of an IBM very well built strong and take a lot of abuse. The consumer models (like the one above, and like the ones I have) tend to be a lot cheaper, plasticky and can be prone to bits breaking they don’t put up with a lot of abuse but then again if you look after stuff, it shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

Reliability wise… well all these laptops are made from bought in components and all those components are made to the same standards largely but a small pool of very big companies so all you are really choosing is who’s plastic case the components get wrapped in

Thank you so very much. Yes, the AI "thing". I agree with you it'll be superfluous to my needs and no, it doesn't have to be a Lenovo, it's just a "name" which lives in the "trusted quality" storage area in my brain but with no real reason for it to be there! I remember reading something a few weeks ago about it being better to buy an HP, Lenovo, Dell rather than an Asus, Acer, (there were others but I forget them) because they are more guaranteed to work with most programs than the ones they were advising against. I got very confused by it and couldn't even swear it wasn't a load of rubbish - Are there any makes you'd tend to avoid? By the way, I do like buying this sort of thing from a physical shop and John Lewis is likely to be the one I'll go with. Both the laptops I've owned have had intel processors and been very good. I know nothing about this and wonder if I need to be wary of AMD - which seems to be the other I often see offered. I also see the occasional reference to something completely different like snapdragon etc. Am I best to stay with Intel and AMD - if AMD are good. Sorry to sound like such an amateur, but that's what I am, an ignorant amateur!

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Both intel and AMD have historic information on all their processors.

Intel list every processor they have ever made and the specifications including the year it was released.

If you Google the full processor code
“Intel i7 7700k” Google will direct you to the intel website with all the information including that that processor was launched in quarter 1 of 2017

AMD have a similar website not as easy to navigate but again run the full processor code AMD RYZEN7 AI 350 that will take you to the AMD website which will tell you that the processor was released 18/02/2025. What that doesn’t tell you is how one processor Intel v AMD will perform but there is almost always a website or a YouTube video which will show you a comparison

These days I tend to stick with Intel I5 or I7 and later than 10th generation for your needs so the code will begin 10XXX

Thank you, that's very useful.

 

[The Panda Nut]

I think the age is pretty clear certainly on the HP site. New processors are more expensive.... I think buying the newer generation is liekly to make the machine have a longer supported life for spares. This may matter if it needs any parts down the line when the older models will have fewer available bits (as Im finding) Im looking at a replacement for my i5 HP.

My dilemma is now about AI machines. I need to find out what this is about. (Just read Punto How 2 so I dont think I want this) I dont want AI anything really but it might be a good idea. My son swears it has many uses.

Incidentally HP (probably amongst others) is doing Black Friday sale now so the i5x360 with touchscreen is £479. The three year backup warranty another £68. Im thinking this looks good. The lap tops without the touchscreen and 360 facility are quite a bit cheaper. Just dont spend ages looking through specs though. Half of it is double dutch and half nonsense. Once Im happy im not buying something on the run out, or being ripped off, Im going to do it and spend the time on working out how to get the thing working instead. Thats bad enough.

As far as I can tell there are more than 7 of us in the family using HP and the common thread is they are all OK and any problems have been quickly and easily sorted.

I have an HP printer and use their Instant Ink product. I pay a few pounds a month and they keep me supplied with Ink. Fees charged vary according to pages wanted. I think I pay for 50 pages a month, and we have accumualted enough pages to do anything we want. I feel its decent value as ink cartidges are now expensive and they just send them out as and when needed without my needing to do anything except pay each month and we used to spend more on ink than they charge for the service. The printer has blue tooth so also works with my phone which is also quite useful occasionally.

My 7 years old i5 does everything I have ever asked, it moves quick enough I never have to wait for it. My 500GB storage has got full of photos, but if I deleted junk and dulplicates even that would do. I think 1TB would be better. I have a fairly new SSD stand alone backup drive that plugs into a USB C port needs no power supply and has enough storage to back up 3 lap tops and space to spare that was about £50 I think a year back. I refuse to pay for internet storage as far as I am concerned you may as well make all your stuff public. I will not pay rental for microsoft office 365 and have a late release of it which was just a few pounds it still reads and write anything I ever need to.

My antivirus just threw in a VPN which allows me now to browse the internet and not have the perpetual follow up on everything Iever looked at as they cannot tell where I am to bombard me. It so far seems useful and doesnt cost any extra. You basically click on the icon and select where you wish to be seen to be operating from. Several anonymous UK locations with silly names, and lots of other countries to use as well. I need ot check if I can get easy access to foreign markets via this method, like eBay.It for fiat bits. Lol

 

[PuntoHowTo]

what I can say about the lenovo's I have owned is they are cheap, reliable, plasticky and not brilliantly made but they haven't let me down and they get used to this day.
Dell again likely operates in a similar way, you get the business laptops (like the one I have for work) which is built like a tank and could probably take a direct hit from a 500lb bomb versus the ones a consumer would buy in currys which is probably made of blue tack and safety pins.

but the actual bit that matters the components inside are generally all the same. Same processors from intel. Same memory and storage drives from micron.
The display pannels are all made by a small hand full of companies. Sharp, Samsung, Sony etc... the only real difference from one laptop to another is the case they put it in.

In years gone by companies got a bad reputation because of what is dubbed the "capacitor plague" where for a period of years capacitors made cheaply in china did not last and would leave products from all manner of companies fit for the scrap heap. But these days even the smallest components, resistors, capacitors etc are made by a small number of very large companies to a very high level which in consumer electronics at least will never cause you an issue.

My dilemma is now about AI machines. I need to find out what this is about. (Just read Punto How 2 so I dont think I want this) I dont want AI anything really but it might be a good idea. My son swears it has many uses.

if all you are doing is browsing the internet, maybe you write the odd letter once in blue moon, you probably don't need it.

If you do a lot of creative stuff then it does have a lot of uses, stream lining work flow etc, I have just spent the last 8 months seeing/trying to find ways I can incorporate its use into health care. This is going to be a big part of health care in the future.

Just dont spend ages looking through specs though. Half of it is double dutch and half nonsense.

in most instances if you pick something that is in the middle of the range for whatever that range is at the time, then you won't go to far wrong.

Never buy cheap because the cheapest will become obsolete the quickest, they often use older generations of processor for example, or the most basic stripped down version of the current/newest technology.

Historically someone like intel would make a die of semicondutors to use in processors. They also have some variability in quality due to the complexity of their manufacture, and so the worst ones of the batch get used in the cheapest processors and the best get used in the top end model. Its likely a lot more complex these days with all the multi core, processors with so many of one type of core and so many of another, but the basic principle likely still exists to some degree. If it works just not very well, ship it out as the "low spec" version.

Rarely does anyone need the top end model, so the middle of the range is usually the best place to aim for.

I refuse to pay for internet storage as far as I am concerned you may as well make all your stuff public. I will not pay rental for microsoft office 365 and have a late release of it which was just a few pounds it still reads and write anything I ever need to.

You would probably keel over if you saw the number of hard drives and terabytes of information i have just in the computer I am writing this on I have 6 hard drives of which 3 are full or very near too it.
then on top of that I have microsoft 365 which gives me 1TB of storages which to be fair is very useful as if I am working on something on my desktop I can get up, walk into the bedroom or down to the living room, pick up my laptop and carry on working exactly where I was as all those files get shared across all my devices.

I also have an iPhone with about 12million photos so I pay for storage online with that as well, this means if I ever lose my phone at least I can enter my apple ID in any new phone and my old phone and all my information settings etc is there and ready to go (after 6 weeks of downloading it all from the cloud)

With printers I have always hated how they try to lock you into using "their" ink. Its a bit like the dealer and having to have your car serviced at the dealer. There is no real reason you have to use "their" ink its just they make it as difficult as possible for you to use anything else. The subscription methods is just the latest version of that. If that works for you then that's fine but I am tempted by some of the newer printers which just allow you to top them up with liquid ink from a bottle.

I am sure I read some time back that the amount of ink in a cartridge is really only a few ml and the cartridges on some are as much as £50 making printer ink as much as £10,000 a litre for some printers/cartridge combos.


Anyway, back to the topic @Pugglt Auld Jock happy to give any guidance I can on anything that takes your fancy.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

what I can say about the lenovo's I have owned is they are cheap, reliable, plasticky and not brilliantly made but they haven't let me down and they get used to this day.
Dell again likely operates in a similar way, you get the business laptops (like the one I have for work) which is built like a tank and could probably take a direct hit from a 500lb bomb versus the ones a consumer would buy in currys which is probably made of blue tack and safety pins.

but the actual bit that matters the components inside are generally all the same. Same processors from intel. Same memory and storage drives from micron.
The display pannels are all made by a small hand full of companies. Sharp, Samsung, Sony etc... the only real difference from one laptop to another is the case they put it in.

In years gone by companies got a bad reputation because of what is dubbed the "capacitor plague" where for a period of years capacitors made cheaply in china did not last and would leave products from all manner of companies fit for the scrap heap. But these days even the smallest components, resistors, capacitors etc are made by a small number of very large companies to a very high level which in consumer electronics at least will never cause you an issue.


if all you are doing is browsing the internet, maybe you write the odd letter once in blue moon, you probably don't need it.

If you do a lot of creative stuff then it does have a lot of uses, stream lining work flow etc, I have just spent the last 8 months seeing/trying to find ways I can incorporate its use into health care. This is going to be a big part of health care in the future.



in most instances if you pick something that is in the middle of the range for whatever that range is at the time, then you won't go to far wrong.

Never buy cheap because the cheapest will become obsolete the quickest, they often use older generations of processor for example, or the most basic stripped down version of the current/newest technology.

Historically someone like intel would make a die of semicondutors to use in processors. They also have some variability in quality due to the complexity of their manufacture, and so the worst ones of the batch get used in the cheapest processors and the best get used in the top end model. Its likely a lot more complex these days with all the multi core, processors with so many of one type of core and so many of another, but the basic principle likely still exists to some degree. If it works just not very well, ship it out as the "low spec" version.

Rarely does anyone need the top end model, so the middle of the range is usually the best place to aim for.


You would probably keel over if you saw the number of hard drives and terabytes of information i have just in the computer I am writing this on I have 6 hard drives of which 3 are full or very near too it.
then on top of that I have microsoft 365 which gives me 1TB of storages which to be fair is very useful as if I am working on something on my desktop I can get up, walk into the bedroom or down to the living room, pick up my laptop and carry on working exactly where I was as all those files get shared across all my devices.

I also have an iPhone with about 12million photos so I pay for storage online with that as well, this means if I ever lose my phone at least I can enter my apple ID in any new phone and my old phone and all my information settings etc is there and ready to go (after 6 weeks of downloading it all from the cloud)

With printers I have always hated how they try to lock you into using "their" ink. Its a bit like the dealer and having to have your car serviced at the dealer. There is no real reason you have to use "their" ink its just they make it as difficult as possible for you to use anything else. The subscription methods is just the latest version of that. If that works for you then that's fine but I am tempted by some of the newer printers which just allow you to top them up with liquid ink from a bottle.

I am sure I read some time back that the amount of ink in a cartridge is really only a few ml and the cartridges on some are as much as £50 making printer ink as much as £10,000 a litre for some printers/cartridge combos.


Anyway, back to the topic @Pugglt Auld Jock happy to give any guidance I can on anything that takes your fancy.

That's great, I'll take you up on the offer when I spot one I fancy. Thanks for all this info I'll reread and digest over the next few days.