What do I need to know about buying a laptop on Black Friday?

[AChickenCalledKorma]

We have decided to get DD a laptop for Christmas. It's way over our normal gift budget, but will be worth it for the reduction in arguments over whose turn it is on the family PC.

I'm guessing that this means I really should pay attention to all the Black Friday deals this year. But having scorned Black Friday for the last couple of years I don't know where I should be looking! Anyone willing to help a novice get the best deal??

[iseenodust]

Place marking. I'm thinking compare PC World, Tesco online & Amazon but all advice gratefully received.

[AncoraAmarena]

Oh someone please help, I was about to post the same thread!

I am so clueless but the IT guys at work have given me a list of what I should look for, just need to know where to look and when the bargains will appear...

[AmyAmoeba]

Place marking for advice. In the meantime I've browsed online and selected a number of laptops that I'd be happy with. I've also set up camel camel alerts for Amazon, and after that I think it's just a matter of checking in with other websites regularly.

[mychildrenarebarmy]

What is on the list AncoraAmarena ?

[AncoraAmarena]

For what my 11 year old needs, apparently I should look for minimum of 8gb RAM, minimum of I3 processor but I5 or I7 is better, with 1TB of storage....(to my shame, this is like a foreign language to me!)

I keep sending them links of ones that I think fit the bill. I've been told to wait until the end of the week, so I hope they're available to coach me when I actually buy one!

[Scotlass]

Checking in. I too am on the lookout for a laptop for me and DH. Also am holding off for PS4 for DS but am a black friday virgin so not sure what's the best way to get a good deal. Have taken day off work to accomplish my mission

[onthemetro]

Keep an eye on HotUKDeals, you'll find most deals get posted on there and people always comment to say whether it's a good deal or not

[AChickenCalledKorma]

Lol - it's good to know I'm not the only black friday virgin in town!

Asking around at work, the main advice seemed to be to sign up to lots of annoying emails from Currys, PC World, Amazon etc and keep a close eye on what comes in. Will add HotUKDeals to that list.

[CoshPunt]

Dell have some laptops primed to go on offer on Black Friday. One is an i3 CPU, 1TB hard drive and 8gb RAM - £199.

[Iamblossom]

Should one have office 365?

[AncoraAmarena]

Cosh - wow!

Where will they be available from, the Dell website?

And on Friday you say?

[CoshPunt]

Yes - the Dell website, at midnight on Black Friday apparently!

[BenefitsQuestions]

I'd get onto a Facebook page like Money Saving Mummy and ask them in a PM. They're really helpful when I'm looking for something particular.

[AncoraAmarena]

Thank you Cosh!

[Scotlass]

Will be poised at midnight on Dell site and have written down what I need. Signing up to deal websites now
Thank you

[bingbong02]

How easy is it to order from dell I've had a look at the website but it looks a bit technical to me

Do you think the laptop will be easy to find at midnight?

[HumptyDumptyBumpty]

If you go for an i3, try to get a 7th generation chip, otherwise you really want an i5 (an i7 is likely too powerful really, or expensive! Unless she's a gamer). If you can, get one with slots for more memory (RAM) in case it gets sluggish. Hard drive - you can supplement with external storage, so not a deal breaker. Solid State (SSID) hard drive is better, as faster to boot up.
Core M chips are good too, as no moving parts, so will last longer.

[AncoraAmarena]

Oh Humpty!

Why can't someone just tell me which one to buy and then I'll obediently get it?!

How will we know if it's got a 7th generation chip? Will it say so in the blurb if it's got one? Likewise the slots for more memory, will it say if it has those so if it doesn't, we assume there isn't one?

Thanks for all your help, posters, come on, we can DO this!

[Scotlass]

Humpty I have reread your post 3 times and am still clueless. Copied and pasted the info from cosh and still no further forward. This is going to be interesting.

[giggly]

I'm following as well or rather really trying to follow I can't even find where I've pasted the information from this thread.
Can't wait till my dc navigate me through their new laptop.

[HumptyDumptyBumpty]

Ancora it should say in the blurb. Happy to look at some links and say whether they are good deals!

[Ifailed]

How old is your DD and what will she using it for? I know the terminology can be baffling, but if you compare a laptop to, say, a car, people can provide some pointers to what to look for. e.g.

Little run-around for short trips and few passengers = pretty well any new laptop is good for web browsing, email, word processing etc. Probably an i3 processor. up to £250ish

Family car for longer trips and 4 passengers = more powerful laptop, something used for business, with solid state drive (SSD), 8GB memory, 1 TB drive, fast i5 processor. under £1000.

Super-car for driving on the Autobahn at 200 kmph = High-end 'gamers' laptop, fastest i7 processor, lots of memory, high-end graphics card. lots of ££££.

Please be aware that a lot of retailers now buy in 'old' stuff, especially for sales. By old, I don't mean 2nd hand, I mean stuff made 2/3 years ago that for some reason didn't sell.

[Ifailed]

people might find this useful:
www.pcadvisor.co.uk/test-centre/laptop/best-laptop-19-best-laptops-2016-2017-uk-best-windows-laptops-best-macbooks-3214618/

Probably best viewed by a brower, very busy screen!

[AChickenCalledKorma]

Happily I have a DH who understands ask the techie stuff. But navigating sales is a foreign land to him. Teamwork is clearly the way to go!

[theITgirl]

Please may I add that if anyone in your family goes to school either as a student or even works there. You may be able to get office 365 for free.

Microsoft offer a very cheap licencing agreement to schools. I mean very cheap, so most schools especially secondary sign up. Part of deal is up to 5 copies of office 365 per student or member of staff, for use at home.

So your child could install office on their new laptop, the family PC, mums laptop, etc etc.

They should just have to login to the school email, and the download button should be in the top right hand corner.
Please email the school to check before you spend any money.