What laptop should I buy?

[peanutbutterandbanana]

I know nothing about what specifications I should be looking at, but I would like to buy a new laptop as I am fed up with my clunky lenova with crap battery life. I would like something small (but not too small) and slim that has good storage and memory and a decent battery life. Budget is around £500-£800 and it's PC not apple that I want. Any recommendations? Thank you!

I just bought this....my budget was a bit less than yours but it was the best could get for my max £550 budget in a brand I was happy with.

www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-pavilion-15-cw0509sa-15-6-amd-ryzen-5-laptop-256-gb-ssd-silver-10181896-pdt.html

I think you want at least an Intel i5 or amd equivalent processor. For your budget you’d find some even better i7 ones.

At least 8gb ram memory.

Solid state drives (ssd) are the future and faster than old style hard drives (hdd). Ssd don’t have as much storage and the idea is you use cloud storage or an external hard drive instead.

Or best of both worlds get a computer with a small ssd for a bit of speed and a hdd for some storage.

Hi Nico, Thank you that is soooo helpful! The Currys/PC World website is down for a bit of maintenance just now so I'll have a gander later. Are you happy with your purchase?

No point in getting an i7 unless you are really demanding gamer or doing graphics or video editting. Plus, high specs might reduce your battery life.

OP when you say small but not too small, I am guessing 10" would constitute too small, but 13" might be good?
Also, what do you want to use it for? Do you have any weight restrictions? Does the screen need to be touch screen (with or without stylus)?

Are you going to be using the laptop actually on your lap or will you put it on a table? Does the keyboard need to be detachable or able to flip it over? Does the laptop need to be able to able to stay open by itself or would you prefer a stand?

I am happy with it, only had it 4 days though! It's a 15" screen so maybe a bit big for you.

I specifically wanted HP because every organisation I've previously worked for has HP and the IT depts seem happy with them.

HP certainly do smaller ones. I'm just using mine for word processing and web browsing so maybe could have got something even cheaper but ime processors slow down over time.

My ten year old laptop is an i5 and has pretty much ground to a halt in speed but I've had a good run with it.

CaptSkippy I want to be able to carry a laptop around with me, anything is going to be lighter and less bulky than my current lenovo.

My current screen is 12" across and 7" high, so I'm thinking 13" might be the maximum I need.

I will use it both on a desk and on my lap (so I can work from anywhere). I only really use internet (a lot), word, excel etc, I don't do gaming.

Don't want a detactable keyboard particularly, but if it can flip over, so that watching movies might be easier, then that would be great, but not a must-have.

I do want it to last a good few years though.

Do you have any advice?

What about a laptop with a touch screen? or do you prefer a mouse/touchpad?

Off the top of my head I'd say have a look at the Asus Vivobook Flip 12".
I have an Asus 2-in-1 myself (although not a Vivobook) and I am quite happy with it.

Hi, back from work...

I don't really want a touch screen - I'm too old! I'll have a look at the Asus.

Nico - I like the look of that HP as well, am going to see if they have a smaller screen as it little bit too big. But I like the thin-ness of it.

Lots of surfing this evening .....

Thank yoU!

Then I suggest skipping the ones where the screen flips over, because they all have touch screens.

You could still go with a regular Asus Vivobook (not Flip) or try an HP Stream, ProBook or EliteBook (that last one is on the pricier side)

Forget to mention: I can definitely recommend getting something with Windows 10 installed as an update is no longer free.

Thank you! Good advice. I might wait for Black Friday, or whatever it is called - end of November - to see if there are any good offers. I'm checking out all of those laptops this evening. Many thanks for your advice :)