Microsoft/Office 365 - also Lenovo laptops?

[WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll]

Until a few years ago, I had a really decent custom-built (Scan) laptop that never let me down at all for years. It ran Windows 7 and had local/onboard Microsoft Office - the sort you pay for as a one-time licence for that single computer.

Since its time finally came (sob), I've been provided with laptops from my (very small) work that, although relatively new, just keep crashing and letting me down. They freeze a lot, develop random glitches and Excel/Word go very laggy and do odd things before they just crash - often forcing the whole computer into an automatic reboot. Teams also seems to be something of a nightmare and frequently stops working.

I'm guessing it doesn't help that work tend to buy the very basic laptops (£300 or less) with only 4GB of RAM, but I'm wondering if that's the only variable that's causing me so much annoyance.

The laptops come pre-installed with Microsoft 365, which I've never been a fan of. I get that it seems the obvious, cheaper, more flexible, modern choice and ideal for networks, keeping updated, included massive OneDrive storage and the like. If you look on the MS website, they claim to give you the details to compare the two to see which is better for you, but in reality, they basically just tell you (in not so many words) that smart people choose 365 and only foolish luddites stick with Office 2019 (or whichever version).

However, I'm starting to ask if it is all that now. We're in a position where we're going to be getting some new half-decent family laptops of our own sometime soon - and although getting Family 365 looks like a no-brainer cost-wise, I'm really wondering whether it's worth taking the one-off hit and buying Office 2019 individually for each laptop instead. Would that resolve the stability/reliability issues and stop them from crashing all the time?

I realise that MS will almost certainly withdraw the option for a one-off purchase before long and declare O365 as the future and the only sensible solution, but for now, it would at least buy us 5+ years with what we know and have found to work.

Has anybody else had good or bad experiences with MS365 and/or noticed it being worse than the single-PC local software? Does it sound like it might be something else causing it - might it be that MS365 is absolutely fine, as long as you don't get a very low-end laptop in the first place? Is it an inherent problem with Windows 10 and thus not much that can be done about it (assuming that W11 will be more of the same and apps based)?

Also, both of the work laptops have been Lenovo ones. I've never had a Lenovo before and these two have both been useless. Have others found them to be a particularly not-great brand, or again, are they perfect as long as you avoid their bargain-basement ones?!

Any thoughts, experiences and suggestions greatly appreciated, before we invest a reasonable amount of money and then regret something!

There are plenty of free office suites which are open source and allow you to save files as conpatible with Microsoft office, we currently use LibreOffice but have previously used OpenOffice. Google Drive is also good and has a download option for files, but I am not sure if you can save as a .doc for eg.

What would you be using the laptops for? And do they need to be laptops? By their nature, they will become obselete in a few years as the processors etc can't be upgraded easily in a cheaper laptop. That said, my laptop is a HP Pavillion that is now about 3 years old and still works perfectly, it was around £450 at the time.

Have you considered desktop pcs instead of laptops if you have the space? The components can then be upgraded in the future, and you can often get a better desktop for the same price as a laptop. If space is an issue, I would get the best laptops you can afford to future proof them as far as possible. Avoid Chromebooks or similar as they are basically a tablet that saves to the cloud but with a laptop shape.

As an aside, Lenovo desktops tend to have lenovo specific hardware inside though so it can be harder to upgrade those. I don't have much experience of Lenovo laptops, but wpuld expect that the hardware specs are more important than the external brand name.

Thanks very much, DinosaurOfFire - much appreciated.

I have tried free office software before, but it does tend to suffer (through no fault of its own) in not being the 'standard' that everybody has and knows. To be fair, I do actually really like Excel and Word, when they work properly - as they always seemed to before.

I'm a big fan of desktops, and may be getting a basic one as well to use partially as a server, but we all also like being able to sit in our armchairs or on the sofa to use them. We'd use them for a variety of purposes things and not just to get on the web (although that is also one of the things we'd do!). Yes, I've never been tempted by Chromebooks - they seem very limited and under-powered, plus we prefer to avoid Google wherever there's a realistic alternative.

Yes, with Lenovo (as with anything else), I don't care what brand is for branding purposes - only for the quality/reliability that it represents. I didn't know they used their own specific components - we would likely be going down the custom-built route again, so more options initially and for basic upgrades.

I know it's 'the thing' now, but I don't get the fascination with making ALL laptops as thin as possible and thereby limiting the space inside, room for an internal DVD drive and, my biggest annoyance of all, doing away with mechanical keyboards for the (imho) far inferior membrane ones. I fully get that many people want something as thin and light as possible - especially if they move around or travel a lot with it - but I can't believe that nobody else wants the option for a good, big, tough, sturdy laptop that's effectively a compact desktop that you can use actually on your lap at home.

I've got a Lenovo ThinkPad, it is brilliant.

I bought a Lenovo during lockdown (about £300). It’s 8GB. I find it excellent. Most of what I do is coding and writing websites, programming, etc and it’s great