What laptop should I get?

[slinger]

The "Overclockers" forum is mostly aimed at gamers, and their prices are usually extortionate too.

[Lindsayt]

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 effect where some (well meaning) people buy a laptop for themselves and then think they're qualified to advise others?

[slinger]

Have a look at the Lenovo site. https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/d/build-your-own/

You can pick out your "basic" model, and add or subtract bits as you want. The ThinkPad E16 Gen 1 at £1,036.99 would be a VERY good starting point for you as you've got a £2K budget.

The processor is a 13th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-1355U, and the base model starts off with 24 GB DDR4, upgradable to 40 GB DDR4-3200MHz for a whole £30.00 if you want an insane machine. Included hard drive is a 1 TB SSD. The display is 16" WUXGA (1920 x 1200), IPS, Anti-Glare, Non-Touch, 45%NTSC, 300 nits, 60Hz powered by a NVIDIA® GeForce® MX550 2GB GDDR6.
There's an onboard 1080P FHD RGB/IR Hybrid Camera with a Microphone, You can add a fingerprint reader for a tenner (I would). It's aluminium, not plastic, and it's black. Add a Backlit, Black with Number Pad - English (UK) for another tenner (again, I'd pay the extra for a backlit keyboard), and it comes with Intel® Wi-Fi 6 AX201 2x2 AX & Bluetooth® 5.1 or above already onboard. There's also a "carry case" option for yet another ten quid.

Oh, and it comes with Windows 11 Pro 64 too.

I've not specced any software, either Micro$oft or whatever their choice of Security software is. I always think that's a personal preference sort of thing. Even carry case, and with the ridiculous 40 GB of DDR4 memory, my total would be £1,130.00.

My addons would be as follows:

Operating System Language
Windows 11 Pro 64 English
+£0.00

Total Memory
40 GB DDR4-3200MHz (8 GB Soldered + 32 GB SODIMM)
+£30.00

Fingerprint Reader
Fingerprint Reader
+£10.00

Keyboard
Backlit, Black with Number Pad - English (UK)
+£10.00

Carry Case
Lenovo 15.6" Laptop Casual Toploader, Polyester, Black
+£10.00

Obviously, if that's too overpowered (is there such a thing?) for you you can always drop down the range, but with your budget, and the fact that you already know the brand, that's the one I'd go for. It'll far exceed your spec, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. You may wish to do more with it at a later stage, and I always advocate "future-proofing" anything I buy if at all possible.

N.B. It's only a suggestion. Don't buy it and then slaughter me if you don't like it.

[Lindsayt]

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

[Geoff.R.G]

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

My answer has to be “I haven’t a clue”. The best experience I had with a Windows computer was a Dell but that had a corporate build copy of Windows 7 Pro. I know Windows has improved massively since then (2016) so many of the things that were removed from that OS to make the computer stable have been fixed. I had an IBM thinkpad that was reasonably good (Windows XP I think) if the Lenovo version is as good you’ll be fine with one of those. However, as you might have gathered, the operating system and how you customise it can make a difference.

I have an Acer Windows tablet running Windows 10 which has been reliable and stable but I have removed most of the Acer applications. Knowing what can safely be removed or deactivated is a problem. The tablet has only 128GB of storage so removing what I don’t want matters. All I would add is, if the budget allows, buy new.

[Lindsayt]

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...

[slinger]

For me, it's a choice between the top two and I'll still stick with the Lenovo.

[TheMarlin]

Always Lenovo.

[Geoff.R.G]

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 don’t like Windows and avoid it as much as possible but 10 at least reopens some of the programs I was running before a software upgrade. Earlier versions just shut everything down.

I note the new laptops on your list but I know nothing about any of them. Hence my previous post. If forced to choose one it would be the Lenovo but I’d rather have a MacBook, which I know you don’t want.

[Lindsayt]

I think there's something to commend every laptop on the list. Making this the opposite of a Hobson's choice - as laptops go.

For example, the cheapest laptop on the list, the Dell 5591, has the option of fitting a 92 whr battery (for £45 if it doesn't have one already). This gives it a reassuring 10 to 16 hours battery life for word processing.
BTW the CAA says that you're not allowed to take a laptop onto a plane with a battery rated at more than 100 whr's.

There's a lot of 15" laptops on this list for a reason.
There's a healthcare service provider that issued all their nurses, mainly district nurses, with 12.5" laptops. This was ideal for them as they'd make several visits per day and also have to carry other equipment. As well as few of them being built like rugby prop forwards.
All of the staff in the finance department had 15.6" laptops. The laptops would spend all day in the office on a desk. And then they'd be taken down in the lift to the carpark and then from the boot of their car to their home. They appreciated the larger screen size for their spreadsheet work.