Affordable laptop £300 or less for Digital Marketing Student??

[nicoleodunze18]

Affordable laptop £300 or less for Digital Marketing Student??

I really need a laptop within the price range of £200- £300. I'll mainly be using the laptop for the basic browsing/Microsoft office as well as Photoshop and Adobe creative cloud when completing coursework. Any ideas??

 

[GreyCatz]

Take a look at this £300 Gemini found on saveonlaptops:
https://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/NC14V1006-Gemini-NC14-Ultra-Slim-Laptop_2297717.html

The brand is a bit of 'dark horse' in the laptop range, but the specs are pretty decent. The CPU and IGP should meet your requirements without too much trouble, but don't tax it any further than PhotoShop.

This £300 version is maxed-out with a 256GB SSD fitted into the dedicated storage slot in addition to the on-board 32GB eMMC drive that houses the OS. This is a rare sight in a segment that is typically limited to 128GBs of storage. 4GBs of RAM isn't too impressive, but 6 or 8GBs will send you past the £300 mark. Basic browsing and productivity should be no problem - just don't open too many applications at the same time.

More importantly, this Gemini is the only laptop I could find in this price range that offers an IPS panel, and that's going to make it much more pleasant to use for a student.

Best of luck,
GreyCatz.

 

[nicoleodunze18]

Take a look at this £300 Gemini found on saveonlaptops:
https://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/NC14V1006-Gemini-NC14-Ultra-Slim-Laptop_2297717.html

The brand is a bit of 'dark horse' in the laptop range, but the specs are pretty decent. The CPU and IGP should meet your requirements without too much trouble, but don't tax it any further than PhotoShop.

This £300 version is maxed-out with a 256GB SSD fitted into the dedicated storage slot in addition to the on-board 32GB eMMC drive that houses the OS. This is a rare sight in a segment that is typically limited to 128GBs of storage. 4GBs of RAM isn't too impressive, but 6 or 8GBs will send you past the £300 mark. Basic browsing and productivity should be no problem - just don't open too many applications at the same time.

More importantly, this Gemini is the only laptop I could find in this price range that offers an IPS panel, and that's going to make it much more pleasant to use for a student.

Best of luck,
GreyCatz.

Thanks,

After some searching on eBay, I managed to find an already used Macbook Pro 13” - Core I5 4GB RAM 128GB SSD
for £250. Would this be good for photoshop and Adobe creative suite?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/292433023869?ul_noapp=true

Or should I go for a HP 15.6" Laptop

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/263463835502?_trksid=p2047675.m570.l6006&_trkparms=gh1g%3DI263463835502.N43.S2.R4.TR4&autorefresh=true

Bare in mind, I've never really used an Apple Mac before

 

[GreyCatz]

Well, the MacBook is gone (last listing was £275) and the HP is £350. But if you can find an extra £50 the HP is definitely worth getting. The specs are well above what you need so this machine should see you through the next 2 - 3 years without problems.

Cheers,
GreyCatz.

 

[nicoleodunze18]

Yeah, I made a counter offer for £250 and was accepted. However after seeing the scratches and cracks, I have withdrawn.

I'm still having a look before I make a final and £350 slightly above budget.

What do you think of this one?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-Laptop-15-bs162sa-15-6-Intel-Core-i5-4Gb-1Tb-Win-10-Home-74254/372207846044?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

Well, the MacBook is gone (last listing was £275) and the HP is £350. But if you can find an extra £50 the HP is definitely worth getting. The specs are well above what you need so this machine should see you through the next 2 - 3 years without problems.

Cheers,
GreyCatz.

 

[GreyCatz]

Apart from the modest RAM capacity this HP model is basically designed for your life-style. You get the latest Intel CPU and decent storage, even if it's a mechanical HDD. I would still recommend an IPS panel, but they tend to add at least £100 to the price. It's only 2.1 kg, and the HDMI port is a very useful feature.

This is an online auction, of course, but even if you end up paying £300, it's still going to be a bargain. New models sell for £400 (and that's down from £600).

I stopped by Cashbrokers' web site and they seem a legit business. Trustpilot UK have no reviews on Cashbrokers, but they probably use eBay exclusively for online trading. Their eBay account has very good ratings and only 2 negative feedback comments over the past 12 months, one concerning a missing cable and the other about photos not being entirely representative.

Cheers,
GreyCatz.

 

[nicoleodunze18]

Thanks so much for your help so far. I'll definetly keep an eye out on that one and will keep bidding.

Also came across this: https://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-15-BS043NA-i5-7200-8GB-RAM-1TB-HDD-/273049267707.

So with a 4G ram and i5, would Photoshop and creative suite make the laptop slow?

Apart from the modest RAM capacity this HP model is basically designed for your life-style. You get the latest Intel CPU and decent storage, even if it's a mechanical HDD. I would still recommend an IPS panel, but they tend to add at least £100 to the price. It's only 2.1 kg, and the HDMI port is a very useful feature.

This is an online auction, of course, but even if you end up paying £300, it's still going to be a bargain. New models sell for £400 (and that's down from £600).

I stopped by Cashbrokers' web site and they seem a legit business. Trustpilot UK have no reviews on Cashbrokers, but they probably use eBay exclusively for online trading. Their eBay account has very good ratings and only 2 negative feedback comments over the past 12 months, one concerning a missing cable and the other about photos not being entirely representative.

Cheers,
GreyCatz.

 

[GreyCatz]

4GBs of RAM will be enough to run PhotoShop, but it will limit multi-tasking. When surfing, you'll slow down the laptop when you switch between 6 - 8 open browser tabs, especially in Chrome. Microsoft Edge actually uses less RAM than Chrome and Firefox, but it's still a 'work in progress'. If you use one major application at a time, e.g. PhotoShop, you'll be alright. But you'll have to shut it down if you need to run Microsoft Word.

About your most recent eBay find: With 8GBs of RAM, this HP seems to solve all your issues, but this is also an online auction. Even if the final price stays under £300, I have to say I'm a bit wary of this particular seller. This eBay account has 6 feedback comments as a seller, one of which is negative - very negative: Apparently, this seller sold a counterfeit bag, and my reaction is either the seller knows the item was fake (which makes the seller a fraud), or the seller didn't know (which makes the seller a clueless amateur). Either way, I would advise against buying from this seller.

Cheers,
GreyCatz.

 

[nicoleodunze18]

Thank you so much for your help!

Will keep an eye on the previous one and fingers cross, I'll win the bid!

[strike][/strike]

4GBs of RAM will be enough to run PhotoShop, but it will limit multi-tasking. When surfing, you'll slow down the laptop when you switch between 6 - 8 open browser tabs, especially in Chrome. Microsoft Edge actually uses less RAM than Chrome and Firefox, but it's still a 'work in progress'. If you use one major application at a time, e.g. PhotoShop, you'll be alright. But you'll have to shut it down if you need to run Microsoft Word.

About your most recent eBay find: With 8GBs of RAM, this HP seems to solve all your issues, but this is also an online auction. Even if the final price stays under £300, I have to say I'm a bit wary of this particular seller. This eBay account has 6 feedback comments as a seller, one of which is negative - very negative: Apparently, this seller sold a counterfeit bag, and my reaction is either the seller knows the item was fake (which makes the seller a fraud), or the seller didn't know (which makes the seller a clueless amateur). Either way, I would advise against buying from this seller.

Cheers,
GreyCatz.