Solved! Confused by Laptop specs while looking to buy laptops.

Jul 23, 2020
2
0
10
Hi there.

Been hunting for a laptop to replace an HP Pavilion that has lasted me 8 years (I'm hoping to fix it and use it as a backup, but the old girl is definitely ready for pasture), and have been thrown into the incredibly confusing world of Laptop chips and Brand warfare. Is an Intel really better than an AMD? Why is this I5 supposedly better than an I7? Why are there 9 million different AMD5 Ryzen chips?

I found a post on here with a form to ascertain what you're looking for, so I'll show you what I need. I am a UK resident

1. 0-£500s, though I could possibly stretch as high as £650 if I have to.

2. Would prefer a 15-17 inch screen, but could live with a 13-14 inch

3.Don't really care about the resolution

4. Not bothered about touchscreen, and am fine with any weight really

5. Decent battery life would be nice, but not essential.

6. Most powerful games I'm likely to run are Tales of Berseria and maybe Blood Bowl 2, but I don't have to run them on full specs. Not really an online gamer, but do like to play old single player games like Dragon Age Origins.

7. I mainly watch Youtube videos, but will need word processing software, E-mail support and other minor tasks (forums, GIFs, can you tell yet that I don't buy laptops often so I don't know what I need to put down as things I want to do...)

8. A high storage would be nice. 8GBs of RAM is a must. I have been told that an I5 chip is the basic I need, but looking at all the chips, I don't think that means what I thought it means. Would be fine with an AMD chip so long as it doesn't make my life worse than having the I5 chip.

9. No Ebay. Amazon is okay, Argos would be nice, PC world if they ever do anything good (Which they don't)

10. Don't want a refurb really.

11. SSD.

12. HP, Dell or ACER, though if someone tells me another brand is good, I will believe them!

I've been looking at several laptops, but I can't actually tell if they're any good or not.

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/5029976


https://www.argos.co.uk/product/7559523

Help me oh great and powerful forum!

(Seriously, thank you all for your time, and hope you are all doing okay!)
 
Solution
Hi there.

Been hunting for a laptop to replace an HP Pavilion that has lasted me 8 years (I'm hoping to fix it and use it as a backup, but the old girl is definitely ready for pasture), and have been thrown into the incredibly confusing world of Laptop chips and Brand warfare. Is an Intel really better than an AMD? Why is this I5 supposedly better than an I7? Why are there 9 million different AMD5 Ryzen chips?

I found a post on here with a form to ascertain what you're looking for, so I'll show you what I need. I am a UK resident

1. 0-£500s, though I could possibly stretch as high as £650 if I have to.

2. Would prefer a 15-17 inch screen, but could live with a 13-14 inch

3.Don't really care about the resolution

4. Not bothered...

MikeNettleton

Prominent
Sep 19, 2019
18
2
575
Hi there.

Been hunting for a laptop to replace an HP Pavilion that has lasted me 8 years (I'm hoping to fix it and use it as a backup, but the old girl is definitely ready for pasture), and have been thrown into the incredibly confusing world of Laptop chips and Brand warfare. Is an Intel really better than an AMD? Why is this I5 supposedly better than an I7? Why are there 9 million different AMD5 Ryzen chips?

I found a post on here with a form to ascertain what you're looking for, so I'll show you what I need. I am a UK resident

1. 0-£500s, though I could possibly stretch as high as £650 if I have to.

2. Would prefer a 15-17 inch screen, but could live with a 13-14 inch

3.Don't really care about the resolution

4. Not bothered about touchscreen, and am fine with any weight really

5. Decent battery life would be nice, but not essential.

6. Most powerful games I'm likely to run are Tales of Berseria and maybe Blood Bowl 2, but I don't have to run them on full specs. Not really an online gamer, but do like to play old single player games like Dragon Age Origins.

7. I mainly watch Youtube videos, but will need word processing software, E-mail support and other minor tasks (forums, GIFs, can you tell yet that I don't buy laptops often so I don't know what I need to put down as things I want to do...)

8. A high storage would be nice. 8GBs of RAM is a must. I have been told that an I5 chip is the basic I need, but looking at all the chips, I don't think that means what I thought it means. Would be fine with an AMD chip so long as it doesn't make my life worse than having the I5 chip.

9. No Ebay. Amazon is okay, Argos would be nice, PC world if they ever do anything good (Which they don't)

10. Don't want a refurb really.

11. SSD.

12. HP, Dell or ACER, though if someone tells me another brand is good, I will believe them!

I've been looking at several laptops, but I can't actually tell if they're any good or not.

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/5029976


https://www.argos.co.uk/product/7559523

Help me oh great and powerful forum!

(Seriously, thank you all for your time, and hope you are all doing okay!)
OK, so my take on it would be:
Stick to Dell/HP/Lenovo for build quality, reliability and price.
Buy direct, not through PC World/Argos, etc. The latter sell some cheap laptops, but out of date specs, etc.
Spec - Core i5, min 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD.
The AMD desktop processors are good. I would not use them in laptops because of historic overheating problems. For the Intel processors try to go 10th generation
Do go for a FHD screen, inspite of what you've said.
Example @ £489 https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/laptops/inspiron-15-5000/spd/inspiron-15-5593-laptop/cn59310
 
Solution
Jul 23, 2020
2
0
10
Thank you so much! I'm going to be entirely honest- I just bought the one you suggested, as it seemed to fit all my needs.

If you live anywhere near Devon, and once this annoying virus goes away, I owe you a drink!