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On 08/02/18 09:18, Pentiddy wrote: > Looking to upgrade my laptop, and have a budget of around Â500. I'm very > confused about which processor to go for. > Would like something with a 14" screen or larger. I currently have an > acer aspire E5-411 with 4GB Ram, which works fine but is a little > sluggish at times. > I am probably likely to go for a second-hand machine so I don't pay for > Windows...(at least not directly!) > Thanks Yeah, just check the previous thread I guess... you're a clear case for a second hand refurbed business class laptop (which is lucky for you, because largely speaking consumer orientated laptops, even the expensive ones, are trash). The only normal reason for stepping outside of that class is because you might understandably want a beautiful QHD or 4k screen but you're not going to swing that for Â500, so forget it. More good news: the bad old days of looking for things that are "Linux compatible" are effectively over - Linux supports the vast majority of hardware far better out of the box than Windows does now thanks to lazy/greedy companies sunsetting support early, half-arsing drivers and generally not giving a crap about their customers. Seriously, most modern consumer Windows laptops are awful in every way including ease of use, driver support (god help you if you want to upgrade to a new version of Windows for example) and just about everything else for that matter. Wiping the Microsoft and OEM bloatware by sticking in any random Linux boot USB actually causes *less* headaches on laptops these days. A dishonourable mention does have to go to switchable graphics though, be very wary of those - they suck no matter what operating system you use. Start with Lenovo and Dell and generally avoid HP at all costs, even the business class ones. You can buy decent HP Elitebooks if you really try but Lenovo and Dell will be much nicer to live with. Remember that HP despise all their customers before being tempted to buy anything they make :| Saying all that honestly don't get too caught up in the endless spec wars either - anything multicore and pretty modern with 8Gb+ RAM, a SSD and a nice comfy keyboard will probably keep you very pleased with your purchase. I know way too many people who obsess over every last drop of potential performance (me, for example) or who spend waaaaaay too much to get features that won't ever justify the money. Unlike a workhorse desktop PC your laptop probably won't spend much of it's time maxed out at 100% with screaming fans anyway. Acceptable performance for it's daily internet surfing, quiet and cool to spare your ears and your actual lap, nice battery life to avoid being tethered to the wall and a decent bright screen with a crisp clear picture should make you happier than a top spec i7 dawdling unused all day. I've got a client's crappy Toshiba Satellite C850 at the moment for attention and that's realistically a sub Â250 laptop. The screen isn't even a full 1080 HD and I did replace the horrid old disk with a SSD but you know what? It's actually pretty alarmingly good. I could work away happily on it all day if I'm honest with myself and this is despite the fact if I looked at it's specs on paper I would have undoubtedly called it a worthless piece of trash. On that note make sure that your current E5-411 lives on somehow, I bet that actually it would be perfectly good for someone to use. Happy shopping! Cheers -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG https://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq