Laptop recommendations

[lurchermummy]

Hi can anyone recommend me a decent laptop for mostly working at home, not gaming, some video conferencing, etc. Good solid all rounder. Budget up to about £500

I could (probably should) ask some more questions about your requirements but I'll keep it simple to start with...
You can go and look here and cuddle about with the detailed specifications but I guess you might not know that much about what matters to you or in terms of impact on cost or battery life...
https://www.productchart.co.uk/laptops/

Take this suggestion as a starting point - I could have picked half a dozen different machines that differ from each other in some small and not so small ways.
ASUS Vivobook 15 X515EA 15.6 Full HD Laptop (Intel i5-1135G7, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Windows 11) https://amzn.eu/d/0lV9o9G

Currently £469.99 from Amazon.

Personally, I would so go into Dixons and have a chat with someone there - I bought an £1850 laptop there at a better price than I could get it from Amazon.

Do you really need a laptop if you are not actually moving around between different locations? You pay a lot more for the compactness and portability (at the expense of the specification) than you might need to if you don't actually need to take the laptop to different locations. You might even want to look at an All-in-one desktop if you wanted a bigger screen. Does it have to be a Windows machine? You can pick up some very nice used 24" iMacs for under £500. What software do you know you need? You can download and use Libre Office - a completely free suite of software that will open and save Office files.

I got a used Lenovo T450s from Morgan Computer for £246.94 including VAT and delivery. Has a good (big) battery, 14.1" screen and does everything I want.

@PrincessPalatine I've bought about 6 refurbished Lenovo laptops and a couple of iPads through them.. never had a problem: well worth a look.

@larkstar thanks so much, I don't have a dedicated office or even desk at home and sometimes travel so do need portability. I do need MS Office, we already have a family license.

@larkstar do you think I need windows 11 home or pro?

@lurchermummy oh and I meant Curry's not Dixon's - not even sure they still exist! You can at least try the keyboards and check the number and type of USB sockets, fingerprint reader (if you want/need one). I'm not a fan of trackpads - I still prefer to use a wireless logitech marble mouse. I think screen size matters - you can find what look like great specifications for a good price and then realise that it's only a 13" screen - I've had 17" laptops but frankly 15.6" is about the sweet spot for me. I also have a Mac Mini M1 and a high quality 27" screen that cost more than the Mac Mini M1 - I still prefer my 15.6" laptop most of the time.

I've had pro versions when I was writing software (I'm not anymore) - I've not switched to 11 yet as I have some recording studio software that isn't tested on 11 yet. I'd settle for Win10 Home but check to se that the laptop is able to be upgraded to 11. You may have no specific need to stay will 11. I don't think the Pro version is a deal breaker.

Should say "...to stay with 10"

@larkstar thank you SO much for your help

My HP Pavilion that I bought just before lockdown still works perfectly.

Sorry, wrong thread.

OP, I have just gone through his exercise with a friend (M75) whose Samsung tablet finally died on him. I got him the laptop proposed by @larkstar after a bit of research. This was a week ago and his budget was £400 and AO.com had it on offer at £389. It's now back to £479 I think. Anyway, apart from him trying to touch the screen rather than use the touchpad, it's a great machine. ASUS are a decent brand, the i5 processor is perfectly capable of doing what you need (and it's not an Intel Celeron which is always a bonus), and the screen size will be fine for video conferencing and most other tasks. I would personally go for 11 Pro but that's because I don't like some of the restrictions imposed by the home edition. Having said that, for most people - especially those who may not have grown up with having total freedom to be able to access all sorts of commands and sometimes make a complete cock up - the home edition will be fine.