Which laptop to buy?

[CookiecutterShark]

I currently have a dell laptop which has been great and met our needs well. Dd however has been allowed to play cbeebies games on it and watch netflix and it's looking a bit the worse for wear - screen no longer properly attached and the battery doesn't charge... Anyway MIL said she knew I needed a new laptop for when I go back to work and would like to buy it for me . She's wonderful. I looked on 'Which' and all of the best buys are too expensive and I wandered around PC World (I know, I know...) but ds was grizzling in the pushchair and I just went round in circles, so I wondered if you lot could help out.

I need:

• something costing no more than about £700
  
• good battery life
  
• clear screen
  
• three USB ports
  
• not too small a screen (not a notebook)
  
• preferably not too heavy, but this is less important as it will mainly be used at home
  

I'll use it for:

• MNing (of course!)
  
• other Internet use, though no gaming (and defo no cbeebies!)
  
• storing photos (not music or films)
  
• general work (am a teacher so pretty much just Microsoft Office)
  

Thank you!

[morethanpotatoprints]

I got a lenovo.
Xmas pressie, so don't know how much.
Its really good, once you get the hang of it.
Used in industry. excellent quality.

[NetworkGuy]

I'd really hope that 400-500 would more than cope with your needs.

Someone on a recent thread had identified 3 or 4 laptops with 6 GB RAM and all in the 300-350 pound range, with 500 to 750 GB of storage.

Admittedly they were 15-16" screens from memory, where I'd go for 17" or larger if possible (Medion used to do an 18" screen) and with DD being a potential user, then for home use you might consider adding USB or wireless Keyboard and Mouse () so the laptop can be further back on a table (others have had catastrophes when a dashing child has caused a laptop to fall off the edge, or had drinks spilt in them, but with mouse and keyboard, you can protect the laptop a bit, and a full keyboard may be more suited if you are doing length reports or need a number pad).

() for 20-30 quid in Asda you can get Asda or Logitech wireless bundles

If you want to watch movies, look for one with HDMI output so it can be plugged into a larger TV, perhaps... I've just had a quick look and found is.gd/Medion_480 (479 + 6.99 delivery, inc VAT). Although not as well known, Medion has been around for some 10+ years and is based in Germany, and originally sold via Aldi stores, with English speaking support from Germany. Not sure how they have developed, but worth a look, in my view (and if I had the spare cash, I'd buy that laptop myself!).

By the time you add on MS Office (unless you use the free 'Open Office' or 'Libre Office') you'll have a hole in a higher figure :)

[NetworkGuy]

Oooops.... *> Link