Looking for new laptop around £500 mark - advice needed please

[SoftKittyWarmKitty]

I'm looking for a new Windows laptop but not really sure what spec or brand is best.

I need it for browsing, emailing, saving photos, updating a blog/website, writing articles using Word, watching the odd video etc. Ideally I'd love a 15.6" screen with full HD and DVD drive but these aren't essential.

Budget around £500 (could go slightly over this but would prefer to pay less if possible).

I've been advised that I need one with an intel i5-7xxx processor (i5-8xxx if poss), 8GB RAM and 256MB SSD drive as a minimum, and the cheapest one I can find at that spec is this one. Any good, do you think? www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/lenovo-v130-core-i5-7200u-4gb-256gb-ssd-dvd-rw-15.6-inch-windows-10-laptop-81hn00fauk/version.asp

Also, please could someone explain what the difference is between an intel i5 processor and an AMD Ryzen 5 processor?

Thank you!

I would always go with an intel processor, every single AMD / Cyrix alternative I have ever used has been less reliable and a disappointment.

Lenovo have some good deals on their website at the moment. A lot of their stuff is very decent. The deals change every day - look out for deals on the 530s...

I would skip the DVD drive - you can always buy an external one for the few times you'll ever use it for about £30

@SoftKittyWarmKitty
What laptop did you go for in the end? This is pretty much exactly what I'm looking for except I'm not bothered about the DVD drive.