How to make the right choice when you:
Don’t want to spend more than you have to.
Want the laptop to last.
Don’t want to be waiting for everything to open all the time.
Don’t want to be fooled just because you, ‘only need something for browsing the internet and the odd spreadsheet or email’.
A decent, value for money, laptop is the goal. You don’t want to spend more than you have to, and you don’t want to be buying another laptop in five minutes because this one was so slow you couldn’t bear it any longer.
Also, you don’t think you need to spend much as all you do is some web browsing and use the normal office programs. So, what should you look out for?
The Answer is…
Ideally, a new laptop should have:
RAM of 16GB (8GB will do for now but won't last so long)
A modern, Intel core i5 processor (a safe bet)
Not less than 256GB SSD storage (you might need more, if you are graphics heavy user)
The biggest screen you can live with and not less than “Full HD” or 1920x1080
15.6” is likely the sweet spot.
A Windows 11 Pro operating system
Help me!
If you are unsure and would like to speak to someone, we’d love to help. Either send an enquiry to enquiries@riverfordconsultants.co.uk or call us on 01892 886 995 and we’ll see what we can do to answer your questions.
The Considerations
Firstly, why not a PC?
Well, you’ll buy a laptop if you need to carry it about, otherwise a PC is better value. With a PC, once you have purchased the best screen you can afford and a keyboard you are comfortable with, you only need to replace the ‘box’. This means you don’t need to buy a screen, a keyboard every time – like you do with a laptop. A PC is almost always bigger than a laptop and so doesn’t need components which work at really low heat and power – like you need with a laptop. The price goes down and the speed goes up. That makes a PC much better value.
Why not buy the £1.99 laptop I found on a great deal?
There is a world of reasons and all of them technical but, the end result will be:
- A machine that is horribly slow, almost from day-one
- You will want to buy another one within a year
How can I tell what to buy?
There are some easy things to look out for.
RAM: this is simple. It will just tell you how much there is.
CPU: This is the ‘Processor’. It is the hardest bit to get right but you can work it out. The key here is how old it is, and that might need you to look in the Technical Specifications bit of the description. It should be an Intel “Core i5” processor and either the current or previous generation.
Generation? Look here ark.intel.com You can see on the processor list, there is the Intel Core Processors page. This lists all the generations. For example, as of writing, the current generation is 13th. This means that the processor name starts with a 13, for example i5-1334U
SSD: The storage matters. On really cheap machines, you can still buy old Hard Disk Drive technology (HDD). The HDD is vastly slower than the modern Solid State Drive technology. The HDD is very like an old vinyl record, with a spinning disk to store the information and a needle to read and write it from the disk. The SSD is a microchip.
Windows 11: Why not Windows 10? Well, Windows 10 expires in 2025. That means it becomes a safety concern. If you have purchased a reasonable laptop which can definitely be upgraded, then it isn’t the end of the world. However, it would be better all round just to start with the current version, Windows 11.
Windows Pro: Why not a Home version? It is cheaper after all. Well, if you are running a business, the Pro version is simply better. You can encrypt a ‘Pro’ machine, you can add them to a business network and often they carry less ‘junk’ programs. You can also set them up without needing to add in a domestic Microsoft account.
Why not an older Laptop?
Technology changes quickly. Buying an older machine will just mean it doesn’t last you so long before you are thinking how slow it is and wondering when you can afford the next upgrade. A much older machine is unlikely to be capable of upgrading to Windows 11 in 2025.
Price vs. Value
What is it you value about something? [We said this about purchasing a PC, and it's also true for a laptop - so we are just going to repeat it here.]
With a new laptop it’s likely to be the speed, possibly the security and definitely its ability to ‘just get the job done’. No one sits down to work at a slow machine and values the laptop for the £70 saved when buying it.
Finding a bargain is purchasing the right machine at a good price. A bargain is not ‘finding a cheaper machine’, because that normally loses any value you were hoping for.
The price of the wrong machine:
Support Costs: The slow machines see the cost of IT support go up dramatically. What might take 5 minutes to fix on a quick machine will take 25 minutes on a slow one. That cost comes from both the IT support and from employee downtime. Only one or two support calls will cost you the difference between the cheap machine and the right machine.
Employee Time: A slow machine will have no trouble losing someone a few minutes a day. For someone on just £18k, that is around £133 of time lost each year!
Replacement Cost: The cost of replacing a machine is not normally limited to the purchase price of the new hardware. There is the cost of setting it up, both in IT support terms and in time for the user. The less often you need to do this, the better.
Help me!
If you are still unsure and would like to speak to someone, we’d love to help. Either send an enquiry to enquiries@riverfordconsultants.co.uk or call us on 01892 886 995 and we’ll see what we can do to answer your questions.
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