Is the laptop worth buying?

HappyHippyDad · Jul 9, 2023

This is kind of electrical, so I hope it's ok in this section. Apologies @westward10 if not, I'm sure it will be moved very quickly

My laptop has had it's day. There is such a huge range of laptops out there that I am getting overloaded. Also, I don't understand half of the spec. AMD athlov vs ryzen 7 ??!! Intel i3??!! No idea which is better or what it really means.

basically, I want a laptop that can handle web browsing and writing up certificates on a pdf, that's it. Is this reasonably priced laptop worth buying... https://www.argos.co.uk/product/3110973?istCompanyId=a74d8886-5df9-4baa-b776-166b3bf9111c&istFeedId=30f62ea9-9626-4cac-97c8-9ff3921f8558&istItemId=rrmatraqw&istBid=t&&cmpid=GS001&_$ja=tsid:59157|acid:804-627-9544|cid:20264799336|agid:|tid:|crid:|nw:x|rnd:7182686531165566896|dvc:c|adp:|mt:|loc:9045578&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=20264799336&utm_term=3110973&utm_content=shopping&utm_custom1=&utm_custom2=804-627-9544&GPDP=true&gclid=Cj0KCQjwtamlBhD3ARIsAARoaExC4aiXOoZ8bgZUUybTpf7DNMZOS_DaXRiSWabRqGsoNRbA9fB9moAaAs26EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Thanks all.

Jim_e_Jib · Jul 15, 2023

kropaske said:
You may have been looking at wrong Box reviews:

www.box.co.uk is rated "Great" with 4.2 / 5 on Trustpilot

Do you agree with www.box.co.uk's TrustScore? Voice your opinion today and hear what 10,627 customers have already said.

uk.trustpilot.com

I'd agree - Box is a reputable retailer - I've bought things from them before, and wouldn't hesitate to again. Go for it @HappyHippyDad

DefyG · Jul 15, 2023

HappyHippyDad said:
https://www.argos.co.uk/product/3088782

Is it robust enough for use on site? But Lenovo are Good enough for NASA!

[ElectriciansForums.net] Is the laptop worth buying?

pc1966 · Jul 16, 2023

HappyHippyDad said:
Everyone needs 3 laptops... It's the norm. ;-)

Er, would that be:

home
work
speciality videos

pc1966 · Jul 16, 2023

Sadly the out of the box Windows experience gets worse all of the time, and the 'S' version was a horrible joke.

We were given a couple of laptops by a guy who kind of works with us and they have been "upgraded" to windows 11 and it sucked even more, so they were wiped, one was installed with w10 and then locked so no sneaky version "upgrades", then had Linux put on dual-boot so we can use w10 for any specific software that needs it, and have the less donkey-tasting experience when we don't need that.

In the past I would suggest PC Decrapifier but it seems to have been discontinued. Another option for those with patience is to get a copy of the windows installer from Microsoft (making sure it really is from them) and then installing from that so you get less of the irksome "free trial" of various scammy products. Sadly you now get the adverts and scammy trials directly from MS

But if you use the Rufus boot USB creator tool it has options where you can install Windows without needing to create a MS account (i.e. as your old style local user). It also allows you to disable some telemetry from the very start, etc.

We did not want the s-show of having to create MS account, give them a phone number, and all of the crap so we used that for our case, but for other folks who want to make use of the cloud storage / backup and similar that MS offer you the trade-off is probably the other way.

kropaske · Jul 16, 2023

pc1966 said:
Sadly the out of the box Windows experience gets worse all of the time, and the 'S' version was a horrible joke.

The clue is in the letter S - - - > "Sh..t"

pc1966 said:
But if you use the Rufus boot USB creator tool it has options where you can install Windows without needing to create a MS account (i.e. as your old style local user). It also allows you to disable some telemetry from the very start, etc.

You can bypass account creation with genuine windows boot usb. It's just couple of commands during install.

pc1966 · Jul 16, 2023

kropaske said:
The clue is in the letter S - - - > "Sh..t"

Indeed!

kropaske said:
You can bypass account creation with genuine windows boot usb. It's just couple of commands during install.

Probably, its just MS don't seem to make it easy for various reasons. The Rufus tool probably just puts those commands in to the install execution environment but it has a couple of simple tick-boxes for you to make it really easy.

I avoids Windows as far as I can these days, though I have programmed for it in the past (along with DOS, VMS, Solaris & Linux for my sins). For the last 10 or so years I have rarely needed it at home or work, and have VMs with Windows (w2k, XP, 7) that serve for most occasions where I do need it.

HappyHippyDad · Jul 16, 2023

Many thanks to all who replied.

I have now bought a laptop and am very happy with it, straight from the word go.

You all gave lots of information and I used a mixture of it to end up with the Asus vivo book 16GB ryzen 7 £599 from john lewis. I'm sure I could have found it cheaper from another site, but I like the fact I can pop in to the store if need be.

I booted up both the new lap top and the old. I then clicked on chrome on both at the same time. My old HP took 13 seconds to load up my home page. The ASus took <1second!!! Very happy.

I realise I wont utilise anywhere near its full capability but it's making me smile looking at the spec rundown on the system... 16GB RAM, Ryzen 7, 8 cores etc etc...

HappyHippyDad · Jul 16, 2023

kropaske said:
The clue is in the letter S - - - > "Sh..t"

You can bypass account creation with genuine windows boot usb. It's just couple of commands during install.

This asus didn't come in S mode, so no faffing around needed luckily.

nicebutdim · Jul 16, 2023

This thread might have concluded much sooner if you'd started by asking for help in finding a decent laptop under £600

pc1966 · Jul 16, 2023

HappyHippyDad said:
£599 from john lewis. I'm sure I could have found it cheaper from another site, but I like the fact I can pop in to the store if need be.

I have also bought stuff from John Lewis as either I was in the store, or I wanted to buy from somewhere that actually provides service if there is an issue.

Glad it has worked out well