The budget does allow to buy new. There's 3 new laptops in my shortlist.

As a user experience I think Windows has gone downhill since 7. Especially bearing in mind that the competition in Linux has moved on nicely over the last 10 years...

I've added a poll and edited the first post - for my list of leading contenders

It's not just the Overclockers forum. It's every other place my clicking has landed me on. Makes me wonder if maybe the people that know how to get the best laptop deals for any particular set of circumstances keep quiet about it, to avoid over-fishing of the pond? And if there's a Dunning-Kruger ef...

A Google of "laptop buying forum" leads me to sites like this:

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/commu ... ptops.111/

Which appear to give no useful information whatsoever when it comes to buying a laptop for someone with similar needs to myself.

Chromebook link is broken

Any specific Chromebook deals that you'd see as being a particularly good fit for my needs? I've stopped buying hi-fi. Apart from replacing stuff that goes BER (Beyond Economical Replacement). Such as my AV receiver earlier this year (looking forward to watching Better Call Saul Season 3, blu-ray Di...

Are there any specific Lenovo deals that you think would be pretty close to optimum for me?

Are there any bits of info that I've left out that would help determine what exactly I should get?

Created a parallel thread on another forum. https://www.avforums.com/threads/what-replacement-laptop-should-i-get.2493332/ I'm not holding my breath that I'll get useful suggestions from over there. But you never know. Someone might even come up with the correct answer as to what sized laptop I shou...

I wish you hadn't started this thread. This evening I've started getting those awful Sonos adverts on Youtube. :roll: I suppose I can console myself that they're wasting their advertising budget on me. :grin: Or so I think. Must resist this main-stream washing through my brain... :obscene-tolietclaw:

That Melco webpage is annoying. It doesn't state what Cat cable it is. I'd find it difficult to believe that even the swankiest Cat 5e or Cat 6 cable is better for data transfer than a Farnell's sourced Cat 8 cable (at a fraction of the price). And what sort of NIC's (Network Interface Cards) to Mel...