Laptop for "normal" use (no gaming)

[Pacdude]

Hi everyone

I am looking for a laptop that is not too expensive but still is good enough to perform normal tasks without problems.
By "normal" tasks I mean: using word, excel, doing video calls on skype/zoom, watching something on Netflix... all this without losing speed or quality of the experience. So, no gaming involved here.
Max budget: £350 (I am based in UK)
Requrements:

• OS: Windows
• Good Battery Life
• Good trackpad
• must have one or two USB ports
• Nothing excessive in terms of performance, but good and fast enough to be used for years (considering the tasks listed above).

I was thinking something along these lines:

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/compu...tium-gold-128-gb-ssd-silver-10230426-pdt.html

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Computer-Laptop15-6-Notebook-Windows-Keyboard/dp/B08R8VLBJ8/

But perhaps you have some better recommendations? I just want to be sure I am buying something that will be useful for quite a few years (so perhaps compatibility with Windows 11? As I don't think right now would be a good time to jump on that train).
On the other end, I don't want to buy something that looks good on paper, but then you realise the trackpad is useless, or the monitor is not bright enough, etc... so your opinions are very much welcome!

Any question please let me know.

Thanks!

 

[Lutfij]

The lowest I could recommend for a laptop as far as processor and ram specs are concerned, is to go with an i3 or an i5, then pair with 8GB's of ram. Lastly, you should be looking at a laptop that has at least 128GB~256GB SSD and a secondary storage drive(HDD) so you can store your work on said secondary drive. As far as the laptops above are concerned, they will show their age in a year or so time which is when you'll be contemplating your purchase decisions.

As for Windows 11, might want to let at least a year roll over and see if the OS is worth your time. I adopted the OS very late - after almost all critical bugs were ironed out.

 

[Pacdude]

Thanks Lutfij for the reply. So, if you think the options I listed above are not optimal, can I ask you for a specific recommendation, please?

 

[TommyTwoTone66]

What you consider as "Normal" use still needs a fairly powerful CPU. Netflix in particular uses a lot of resources for its decompression so you need to be looking at at least an i5, and at least 8GB RAM.
The laptops you linked are nowhere near powerful enough for Netflix or even just normal web browsing. They use ultra-low-power, budget CPUs that only barely run Windows.

For this money you will need to be looking at refurb or overstock clearances, and you would be looking at an older (2016-2018) model laptop. Nothing whatsoever wrong with that, but just to let you know.
The only brands you should consider when looking at a refurb are Dell, Lenovo and HP. This is because large companies buy these laptops in bulk and the refurbished ones you see will have been looked after properly, and probably will not have ever been used.

Sadly, if you want a laptop that can run Windows 11, then you will need to spend more than £350. That is just a fact of life.

Amazon has a great selection of corporate refurb laptops with the specs you want. N.B. Amazon uses the word "Renewed" instead of refurbished for some reason:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Windows-Dell-Latitude-E5470-i5-6300U/dp/B08NW4PYGH - £300
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lenovo-ThinkPad-T450s-Ultrabook-Professional/dp/B0868S67F2/ - £340
https://www.amazon.co.uk/HP-EliteBook-820-G2-Laptop/dp/B08QG159M2 - £420

Be careful when browsing though as I see a whole lot of 3000 and 4000 series i5 laptops on there for the same price. Really 5000 series is the lowest you should go for and ideally 6000 series or better.

 

[1991ATServerTower]

What you consider as "Normal" use still needs a fairly powerful CPU. Netflix in particular uses a lot of resources for its decompression so you need to be looking at at least an i5, and at least 8GB RAM.

No, you don't.

The laptops you linked are nowhere near powerful enough for Netflix or even just normal web browsing. They use ultra-low-power, budget CPUs that only barely run Windows.

That is hyperbole.

Here in the real world the Netflix and Disney+ apps from the Microsoft store run perfectly fine on my Lenovo 100e Gen1 laptop running Window 10 Pro. It is a cheap model that was designed for the educational market. Its specs are,

CPU: Intel Celeron N3450 (4 Atom family cores)
RAM: 4GB DDR4 2133MHz RAM
Storage: 120GB EMMC

The Pentium Silver CPU in one of those laptops Pacdude suggested is basically a higher clocked version of the Celeron N3450, but with double the L2 cache and other improvements that make it even better than the already "good enough".

Any of the 4 core, 4 thread Celeron and Pentium N series based laptops will be completely fine for every day computing tasks. The 2 Core 2 thread ones and the AMD A-Series ones on the other hand are not.

The really important thing to keep in mind with cheap laptops is that they almost always have terrible screen quality. 1366x768 resolution is too small for many websites that have been redisgned for 1920x1080 (1080p) or "4k" screens, such as this one! Virtually all the TN screens are the crap dim ones, like in this Lenovo 100e. Do yourself a favor and only buy a laptop with an IPS or VA screen at 1080 resolution.

Also, EMMC storage is the bottom of the barrel for solid state storage, but after a year and half of experience with this laptop, I can say without a doubt that it's faster than a hard drive and totally fine for every day use. Win10 boots in 10 seconds or so and almost instantly from sleep mode. "Good enough!", especially for the $260 I paid for the computer!

Ps. 64GB is not enough storage space for a Windows machine, even if you never install any large software packages, and especially if you want to store any of your digital media. 120GB is great, but shoot for 512GB if you plan of keeping a lot of pictures or videos on hand.

340 GBP is about 600 CAD and for that price here in Canada we can definitely find a basic laptop with a 1080p IPS screen and a decent CPU. All of these CPUs will be fine

Celeron/Pentium, 4 cores, 4 threads
i3, 2 cores, 4 threads
i5, 2 cores 4 threads
Athlon 3020e, 2 cores, 4 threads
Ryzen3, 2 cores, 4 threads
Ryzen5, 4 or 6 cores, 8 or 12 threads

Avoid any AMD A-Series CPUs, as they are old as dirt and dreadfully slow, and any 2C/2T CPU, as they just aren't worth your money and they will choke unless you "debloat" Windows and stay on top of closing background tasks (which probably means nothing to you, so get something with 4 threads or more so you never have to!).

 

[TommyTwoTone66]

No, you don't.


That is hyperbole.

Here in the real world the Netflix and Disney+ apps from the Microsoft store run perfectly fine on my Lenovo 100e Gen1 laptop running Window 10 Pro. It is a cheap model that was designed for the educational market. Its specs are,

CPU: Intel Celeron N3450 (4 Atom family cores)
RAM: 4GB DDR4 2133MHz RAM
Storage: 120GB EMMC

The Pentium Silver CPU in one of those laptops Pacdude suggested is basically a higher clocked version of the Celeron N3450, but with double the L2 cache and other improvements that make it even better than the already "good enough".

Any of the 4 core, 4 thread Celeron and Pentium N series based laptops will be completely fine for every day computing tasks. The 2 Core 2 thread ones and the AMD A-Series ones on the other hand are not.

The really important thing to keep in mind with cheap laptops is that they almost always have terrible screen quality. 1366x768 resolution is too small for many websites that have been redisgned for 1920x1080 (1080p) or "4k" screens, such as this one! Virtually all the TN screens are the crap dim ones, like in this Lenovo 100e. Do yourself a favor and only buy a laptop with an IPS or VA screen at 1080 resolution.

Also, EMMC storage is the bottom of the barrel for solid state storage, but after a year and half of experience with this laptop, I can say without a doubt that it's faster than a hard drive and totally fine for every day use. Win10 boots in 10 seconds or so and almost instantly from sleep mode. "Good enough!", especially for the $260 I paid for the computer!

Ps. 64GB is not enough storage space for a Windows machine, even if you never install any large software packages, and especially if you want to store any of your digital media. 120GB is great, but shoot for 512GB if you plan of keeping a lot of pictures or videos on hand.

340 GBP is about 600 CAD and for that price here in Canada we can definitely find a basic laptop with a 1080p IPS screen and a decent CPU. All of these CPUs will be fine

Celeron/Pentium, 4 cores, 4 threads
i3, 2 cores, 4 threads
i5, 2 cores 4 threads
Athlon 3020e, 2 cores, 4 threads
Ryzen3, 2 cores, 4 threads
Ryzen5, 4 or 6 cores, 8 or 12 threads

Avoid any AMD A-Series CPUs, as they are old as dirt and dreadfully slow, and any 2C/2T CPU, as they just aren't worth your money and they will choke unless you "debloat" Windows and stay on top of closing background tasks (which probably means nothing to you, so get something with 4 threads or more so you never have to!).

a lot of words to try and justify a laptop pentium CPU in 2021.

no. Just no. The absolute minimum for someone who knows their way around a computer enough to find themselves posting to Toms hardware is an i3. And the price difference between an i3 and an i5 is negligible, so get the i5.

you will HATE the performance from an atom, celeron, pentium or any of the budget laptop chips. Everyone does.