Laptop recommendations please

[Doremisofarsogood]

Hi, DD has asked for a laptop for Christmas but I don't know where to start!! She's in Year 7, enjoys art, music and writing. I get a full Microsoft Package through work so that's covered, she can write stories on Word. I don't want to spend a fortune but equally want to get something decent! I've got a Microsoft Surface Air with a foldout keyboard which she really likes, but it's teeny and I think she'd need something bigger. Where to start?! Any recommendations are very welcome!

Thank you 😊

Need to start with a budget... general advice is go with the best spec you can reasonably afford, although I would compromise a bit on that for a 7 year old...

If they're not playing games, decide on the screen size and aim for an i5 or ryzen 5 and 16Gb of RAM and you'll probably be fine.

There'll be a load of stuff during black friday, but also a lot of stuff that is advertised as a deal, but is actually normal price.

I like hotukdeals as you get some commiunity feedback on each deal - if you look each day for a week or so you'll get a feel for what the good prices and deals are.

Thanks, she's year 7, so 11 years old so something decent. Was wondering about the ones with detachable keyboards, as she's really into art so if she could make it into a tablet for drawing and art, that would be good. Just honestly don't know where to start but I definitely think I need to get one in black Friday sales! Do I need to think about a graphics card? She'll do homework on it too and a few games I expect. Thanks for the tip about HotUKDeals, will have a look 😊

For drawing youd want one with a dedicated digitiser and pen, not just a touch screen.... Few and far between, and more expensive.

You could consider something like an ipad + pencil or galaxy tab amd s-pen, but thats also getting expensive when you add a keyboard case, plus wont have the same range of software (particularly games) as a proper PC

Thank so much! It's an absolute minefield....I'm going to have to dedicate some serious time to researching some options.

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Envy x360, 1 tier below the top tier spectre is on offer on a few places - might find a good deal via blue light card and the hp store.