Question Best laptop for £400?

[ronanwhite2011]

Hi there, I am looking to get a laptop that will be used for essay writing/Netflix an the occasional editing for school work that is under or around the £400 price mark.

Im not the best with all the specs and am just wondering if anyone can give me any suggestions? an SSD would be helpful but not necessary and possible 8gb of ram? video card not needed.

Thanks

Also would prefer a screen with high quality and contrast if at all possible which would be good for watching videos etc..

 

[QwerkyPengwen]

You aren't going to get 8gb of ram for that price.
You will get 4gb of ram and it will be slightly older 2c/4t CPU.

However, there are a plethora of articles that answer this question thoroughly with pros and cons.

As for what is available to you to buy will depend drastically on what country you are in which will determine what products are available and at what price.

 

[ronanwhite2011]

You aren't going to get 8gb of ram for that price.
You will get 4gb of ram and it will be slightly older 2c/4t CPU.

However, there are a plethora of articles that answer this question thoroughly with pros and cons.

As for what is available to you to buy will depend drastically on what country you are in which will determine what products are available and at what price.

Well 4gb is fine and im living within northern Ireland in the UK, I was doing a little more research there and found this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07N441YY6/ref=sspa_dk_detail_7?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B07N441YY6

Is this any good? im not exactly sure what the optane memory is, but ive heard it can like make a HDD perform quicker and nearly to the speed of an SSD? not sure that's just out of my head

 

[QwerkyPengwen]

Optane works as a cache, so initially when loading programs and files that aren't stored in the cache they are loaded from the HDD at HDD speeds.
But when things are loaded from the cache yes, they are loaded at SSD speeds.

And I just noticed that the symbol was for pounds, lol, I thought I saw euro. Derp.

The laptop you linked is decent but might want to shop around.
CPU is going to be very important so as to have a laptop that actually performs smoothly.
And 8gb of ram is also nice to have for that same reason.

For the U.K. here is a decent list.

https://www.techadvisor.co.uk/test-centre/laptop/best-budget-laptop-3214583/?amp

But this is not all that's available, and there can also be deals to be had I refurbished and the used market

 

[Seaweed Monster]

It's a tight budget, but I have pulled out a few possibilities for you to consider:

1. Lenovo V330-14ARR (Link) £396.24
   • AMD Ryzen 5 2500U
   • 8GB DDR4 RAM
   • 256GB SSD storage
   • 14" Full HD Display
   • AMD Vega 8 Graphics
   • WIN10 PRO
   
   A good Ryzen based system that is also used in the Huawei Matebook D and is faster than the i5-7200u according to benchmarks. The Vega 8 graphics will also allow you to achieve some light editing and gaming too. Overall, this will tick all your boxes nicely.
   
   
2. Acer Chromebook R13 CB5-312T (Link) £385.59
   • Mediatek MT8173
   • 4GB RAM
   • 64GB eMMC storage
   • 13.3" Full HD display
   • Google OS (Android)
   
   I know what you may be thinking, "a chromebook?", but seeing as a lot of the requirements you have mentioned can be achieved via web-based applications (Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Outlook via Office.com / Google Docs) and the whole Play Store to your disposal for other apps, it could be worth a consideration.
   
   A 15" version is also available if you feel 13.3 may be a little too small.
   
   
   
3. Lenovo ThinkPad T430 (Refurbished) £345.00
   • Intel Core i5-3210M
   • 16GB DDR3 RAM
   • 240GB SSD storage
   • 14" 720p display
   • WIN10 PRO
   
   Yes, it is refurbished and they do not look visually great, but do offer better value for money. Reading their descriptions, they do come with 1 years warranty.
   
   Here is one more with a better display, but less RAM - 8GB's is still a good amount:
   - Lenovo ThinkPad - 1600x900, 8GB RAM £276.00
   
   But, I would fully understand if you're not comfortable with a refurbished laptop.

Overall, I think the Lenovo V330 is a great shout for a well-rounded package for the price point. However, take a browse.

Hope that helps.