I know this one gets asked over and over again, but anyway here I go with another one.

Can you please recommend me a laptop, its for my wife, it will be used for:
- surfing
- pic storage
- photoshopping
- general usage

I saw this one..

http://www.johnlewis.com/231740082/Product.aspx?source=46387

..and although I have never heard of them, they seem to be the 2nd largest PC company in the world and John Lewis do offer a 2 year warranty - so seems a good deal.

or this one..

http://www.johnlewis.com/231740089/Product.aspx

What do people think?

Thanks, as always, y'all

PS. she doesn't want a tablet or IPad

Lenovo are the guys that bought out IBM's laptop division.

My preference would be for the Tosh, but that's purely from past experience - IBM/Lenovo put some keys in places I don't like! - rather than inspecting the specification. In fact, this work laptop is a Lenovo...

Personally, I've bought Acer for the last half-dozen. No issues in software (but then, I don't use windows) and the only problem in hardware has been occasional overheat shutdowns - the fans (as on any laptop) can get full of fluff and upset the cooling.

To be honest, there's nothing out there that can't handle the requirements you list.

All the laptops in the huge corporation I work for are Lenovo. I've had two and they've both been solid performers and very stable so I'd go for the Lenovo. You're not pushing the limits of usage so either that you've listed will suffice.

If you continue to look, avoid any with a celeron processor.

Jim, make sure the processor is at least an Intel i3. Lenovos are what we use at work, and i have used IBM thinkpas in th past and they are pretty robust.

Also for photoshopping the 14" display may be a little too small.

I thought that about the screen John, so wondered if this might be a better bet..

http://www.johnlewis.com/231740098/Product.aspx#BVRRWidgetID

17.6" screen

The other thing I noticed was the Lenovo has no CD where as the Toshiba does, I think I like the one above..

Decision made - maybe - unless anyone disagrees

But do I wait until the Christmas sale starts as well... hhmmmm

I hope you can roll back W8 for W7...

This is a very nice machine - my laptop has a screen this size and it is great for watching movies, iPlayer etc. Laptop it isn't though as you would need a very big lap and not terribly portable. Finding a bag for mine was a real challenge.......

Just a thought, but if you are also in the market for a new phone contract then companies like car phone warehouse give laptops away as part of some of their packages.

Stay away from HP the hardware is shocking

...and by association also Compaq. We've got two Asus laptops in the family bought because they were good value and my ancient 2003 Toshiba is still going strong. I'm not keen on the chicklet keyboards but they're hard to avoid and the non-chiclet ones (eg: older Toshiba, but that one above is OK) can look dreadful. For me the 16"screen is the best size, had a 17.6" before and you need a huge bag to carry it in as mentioned above. That Tosh above seems a bit pricey for a basic Pentium, I would aldo recommend Intel i3 or i5 and avoid AMD and nVidia graphics at all costs due to bad past experience.

Not to mention their customer service.

My daughter's Acer (bought from Saveonlaptops - hopeless customer service) failed with a very very common fault. Acer's UK agents were pretty crap but I did finally persuade them that it was an inherent fault and they did fix it.

Toshiba are fantastic. Customer service faultless.

I'd recommend a MacBook Air but it doesn't have much built-in storage and a small screen but it's a joy to use. Not for your application.

Thanks all - we don't have any phones up for renewal, but good call Shifty

I think it will be the Toshiba one, just going to hold on closer to Christmas just to check no shops kick in with early sales

p.s. - watch out for post no.2 on this subject

If you can wait until Boxing Day Currys PC world do their sale then, and they will have a few models with decent mark downs. Might be worth a look?

No Sales! It's Black Friday today the biggest sale day on the planet. Get yourself onto Amazon - Walmart -Newegg - Best Buy and loads of others for Bargains by the thousand.

Black friday! Looks more like the Next sale when they bring the cheap old stock that they never normally sell!

I'll stay with John Lewis I.e. A free 2 year warranty, peace of mind and someone you can see as oppose to a faceless website to save £20 - call me old fashioned!

We use HP Elite books, they aren't the lightest but like the levono but they are rock solid with a good reliability record.

Elite Book 2570p

We've started buying these too for people that are client facing:

Series 9c


My advice on whatever you buy is:

1. Don't buy cheap
2. Get a good long warranty

Hope that helps

Just to add,

On the optical drive (CD / DVD) these days they arent really used, you can if need be though for about £20 buy an slim line USB version and leave it in the laptop back.

You're old fashioned!

..and rather than pay out for the full Photoshop package, I'm sure MrsJim could get by with the just a scale tool.

Jim's been using that excuse succesfully for many years.

Has a moderator really changed the titles of my posts

You might want to pick up on the "y'alls" I always leave in my posts too, not sure thats the Queens english, Oxford approved either!

What was it originally?

....for da missus.

Thank God it was changed, I'd never have understood what he was talking about.

IMHO dey shouldnt of dun dat

John Lewis - I agree entirely JimO, thats exactly the advice I have been giving my customers for the past 5 or 6 years when it comes to buying Laptops.


It's certainly not all old stock and if something is old Stock it certainly doesn't mean it's obsolete. I still use a 12 year IBM which does everything my wife's 3 year Laptop does.
Just like all our old Coupe's are way better than many new cars.

I've had my own PC Hardwareshop for 12 years and I've been building and repairing PC's for 18 years.
Over the years Toshiba and Lenovo(IBM) were by far the most robust, reliable and best supported
Laptops we came across.

The worst big name was HP. I produced countless reports for customers HP laptops that had failed within 2 years.

Regardless of any 1 Year warranty provided by the Manufacturer - If a Laptop fails within 2 years then it is not fit for purpose and you can take/send it back to place of purchase, and ask for a replacement or a partial refund. Hence why John Lewis give 2 years Warranty as Standard.

Jim,

If you haven't already got yourself one look here

http://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/Inven...;l=en&s=dfh
sort by LOW-HIGH and then 2nd one down should do you, albeit i would stick some more memory in myself once you got it

Kingpleb!!!