Solved Finding the right laptop

Yes, I too understood that would need supply own cable. But I didn't understand that also meant you needed to supply your own SATA interface. Which was the question. EDIT: so did "no connector" simply mean "no cable"?

iko22 said:

Yes, I too understood that would need supply own cable. But I didn't understand that also meant you needed to supply your own SATA interface. Which was the question. EDIT: so did "no connector" simply mean "no cable"?

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I thought both at first but later saw there is a small connector port, so yes just cable - except it's more of a ribbon.

Hazel123 said:

touchpad is in the middle (which I have a thing about).

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I can put my Logitech G402 Hyperion Fury in the middle (of my side table).

hdmi said:

I can put my Logitech G402 Hyperion Fury in the middle (of my side table).

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No space for a side table here lol. The teenager has a whole desk and that leaves no room for anyone else - other than lap! Although you can get laptop trays with a built in mouse pad. Might be worth thinking about.

So I'm keeping to budget - and inclined to get the core i5 8gb 10th generation Vivobook 14 (about £480) - which only has 250gb. And upgrade the ssd to 1tb. I emailed asus again and asked them if it would invalidate the warranty if I replaced the ssd drive. They replied rather cagily saying - depends which model and if it was done by a technician. So told them the model and said I was an amateur technician who had the tools but were they saying it needed to be a verified technician and a receipt? Reply was - find to do it yourself then but be careful not to damage anything or you'll invalidate the warranty. I guess it could well invalidate the warranty as from watching the teardown video, there is a sticky rubber bit round the edges comes loose when you remove the back (a kind of glued sealer I guess). The only extra cost would be for the sata cable and I'd install my 2.5" 1tb ssd from old laptop.

Anyway am having slight second thoughts because - according to Notebook check it has slight PMA screen flicker. Hmm.

Thinking about the laptop tray with mousepad built in though ..... that would mean I could look at some of the 15" models. Where you get a bit more for the same budget.

With the Logitech G402 a mousepad isn't truly required IME. 15 years ago when I was still completely hooked on online multiplayer gaming on an Intel+Nvidia based desktop PC with an Asus motherboard, Asus vidcard, and Asus PSU (yeah, Asus or go home used to be my motto and it still is in some ways at least ) I was using an MX518 without mousepad... just had to remove the rubber feet and put it on one of those super stable semi-gloss lacquered wood office desk tables (L-shaped with a curb) that had a height-adjustable heavy steel undercarriage and that used to be available at IKEA some 20 years ago. That was the perfect match and was causing all the opponents to short circuit their PC in a big puddle of salty tears. Right now I have a soft-grained texture lacquered steel 1 shelf bedside table because I have back problems so I sit on a mattress in front of a 55 inch TV with my back against the wall and the laptop standing behind the TV. The texture in the lacquer of this table adds just the right amount of grip to the rubber feet of the G402. The wireless illuminated keyboard (K800) is on my lap, I got it soon after Windows 8 came out, and I recently bought an additional K800 as a spare because I can't see myself using a different keyboard. I am allergic to the narrow border frame around those newer keyboards that became the new trend, I need the wrist support of the K800 to hold the keyboard in place while the wider frame of the K800 keeps my duvet from always wanting to type Japanese on it.

So I've decided to hang fire on a new laptop. Mine is still hanging by the hinges but running Windows 10 very well. And I have Windows 11 on my 10" netbook which is running very well. I'm more inclined at the moment to get a used laptop again. I was getting all het up before trying to find one that was 8th gen or later that would run Windows 11 in a few years time. But - I think a good used one on Windows 10 will be fine (devil I know in terms of specs and that will take a 2.5" ssd easily). Especially if it is able to run Windows 11 despite being unsupported! (Although that is an unknown for the future as to whether updates will be available).

I guess I fell for the "need a new laptop" anxiety thing with Windows 11 being launched and thinking I'd have to buy two - one now and one when Windows 10 stops being supported. Weighing up £500 for a good used one versus £500 for a new one. But got my head back on now! And I'm in no rush to upgrade to Windows 11 permanently yet.

I'll update when I've found a good used one for £300!

Hazel123 said:

I guess I fell for the "need a new laptop" anxiety thing with Windows 11 being launched .... Weighing up £500 for a good used one versus £500 for a new one. But got my head back on now! And I'm in no rush to upgrade to Windows 11 permanently yet.

I'll update when I've found a good used one for £300!

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I could let you see my CashConverters shortlist if you like, there are currently 17 on it below that price mark

More seriously though, the 'good' ones start at around £350, stretch that budget to £399 and there are a lot to choose from.

Good hunting.....

Thanks. :) I don't feel like needing to hunt in such a hurry now as now have 3 useable laptops. Despite hinges on my main one. The netbook is now quite fun to use for internet usage. The Spectre X360 I have persevered with and found that actually it doesn't matter that the touchpad is so big - because left click goes all the way across to within an inch of right click! Dur. I was assuming I had to move my hand all the way over to the left side of the enormous mousepad. So I'm typing fine on it at the moment (has Windows 11 installed) depending on how I sit! Slouched down is good typing. Sitting up is awkward. Oh well. If I can cope with that for day to day typing (and now I've found I can upgrade it to Windows 11) I might just hang fire for a bit longer. I might even attempt to repair the hinges on the old HP laptop. Really don't think it will work though.

So. I "inherited" a 15.6" Dell which I wiped and clean installed Windows 10 on. Great spec laptop but far too big to use as a laptop. So I'm selling that and will put the proceeds towards something else. I persisted trying to use the Spectre X360 but the way I used it it's just a no go. It hurts! Edges too hard and sharp and everything just in the wrong place. It is just too "flat" a keyboard. Lovely laptop but I hate typing on it and makes my wrists and palms hurt.

So I have my eye on a used Surface Laptop 3 on a well known auction site. A couple of them. I've narrowed it down in terms of comfort and size (after reading lots of reviews). However one only has a 128gb drive and the other a 256gb drive. And although it seems it's possible to upgrade the SSD (not the simplest of laptops to do that with) - the biggest stumbling block seems to be actually obtaining an m2.2230 ssd (it is not easy to find I think). I guess I could use a large sd card but not quite the same as having everything accessible in the documents folder without switching between drives. I am currently using a 1tb drive which is half full. I could get away with 500gb if I offloaded a lot of photos and videos to an external drive (but quite like having them to hand).

Any thoughts? I remember with the 7" Eee pc's that you could somehow link an sd card and leave it in permanently.

Currently, the thing I enjoy typing on most is a 10" netbook with small keyboard and small mouse pad. Doesn't have enough grunt for my main machine though.

Hazel123 said:

the biggest stumbling block seems to be actually obtaining an m2.2230 ssd (it is not easy to find I think)

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Dell: Compare | Dell UK

Or look for the Kioxia (previously known as Toshiba) BG4 series on eBay/Amazon.

Hazel123 said:

(snip)

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Hazel123 said:

And although it seems it's possible to upgrade the SSD (not the simplest of laptops to do that with) - the biggest stumbling block seems to be actually obtaining an m2.2230 ssd (it is not easy to find I think).

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(snip)

I see lots of them on eBay in the US. Don't know about the UK.

I'd guess that they are a format that is no longer readily available as new.

Bree said:

Dell: Compare | Dell UK

Or look for the Kioxia (previously known as Toshiba) BG4 series on eBay/Amazon.

The Toshiba/Kioxia BG4 1TB SSD Review: A Look At Your Next Laptop's SSD

www.anandtech.com

BG4 Series NVMe™ SSD M.2 | KIOXIA - Europe (English)

The BG4 series is a line-up of compact single package NVMe™ SSDs with capacities up to 1,024GB, and leverages a PCIe® Gen3 x4 lane interface and KIOXIA’s 96-layer TLC BiCS FLASH™.

business.kioxia.com

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Thanks Bree. Seems a lot of hassle to have a bigger drive.

Hazel123 said:

Any thoughts?

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Not on your question but I had a new angle to share with you: how about a Mini PC at your TV? I recently got one that's not bad.



It already has more than enough RAM and you can easily open it up to add various types of storage. That's the sale price in America that comes and goes. This unit isn't as fast as my main desktop with a 10th Gen i5 -- but despite benchmarks I've seen -- it doesn't feel slow. I'm linking two reviewers below I trust a great deal --



I used to be The Mini PC Maniac (in these parts) but I had trouble finding one that was as 'silent' or quiet as promised. All the vendors kinda lied about fan noise (as did several YouTube reviewers). This unit is not silent but it's also not annoying. Typically it's very quiet.

So I'm keeping this one. One great thing about a TV PC is that if you're watching YouTube through a web browser that has ad blocking, you're not seeing those annoying ads, are you?

Oh, and it does upgrade to 11. For some reason it wouldn't do it naturally so I used the Windows Update assistant to get the upgrade now. It's working fine.

The Pool Man said:

Not on your question but I had a new angle to share with you: how about a Mini PC at your TV? I recently got one that's not bad.

View attachment 12423

It already has more than enough RAM and you can easily open it up to add various types of storage. That's the sale price in America that comes and goes. This unit isn't as fast as my main desktop with a 10th Gen i5 -- but despite benchmarks I've seen -- it doesn't feel slow. I'm linking two reviewers below I trust a great deal --

I used to be The Mini PC Maniac (in these parts) but I had trouble finding one that was as 'silent' or quiet as promised. All the vendors kinda lied about fan noise (as did several YouTube reviewers). This unit is not silent but it's also not annoying. Typically it's very quiet.

So I'm keeping this one. One great thing about a TV PC is that if you're watching YouTube through a web browser that has ad blocking, you're not seeing those annoying ads, are you?

Oh, and it does upgrade to 11. For some reason it wouldn't do it naturally so I used the Windows Update assistant to get the upgrade now. It's working fine.

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Thanks! Funnily enough I was wondering about that the other day - then you can choose your keyboard. But - our living room is cluttered enough as it is!

Anyway I have now bought something. After much searching. I narrowed it down to used Dell XPS 13 8th generation or Surface Laptop 3 (not many of those on ebay). Plenty of Dells - not all 8th generation though. And was watching two virtually new Surface Laptop 3's. A bit more consideration was - the Dell would be easier to upgrade and seems incredibly popular to most people so must be very usable (and has a less hard cold metal palm rest). But I was a bit concerned at minimal key travel - might be ok but haven't tried it. So narrowed it down to the Surface Laptop 3.

Anyway had an offer accepted on one - spent more than my original budget (which was £500 and I've spent £650 and still need a new ssd drive!). But - felt confident about the seller, plenty of communication - unwanted work laptop - one had a sound problem - the laptop was replaced under guarantee and no longer needed as they have a macbook now.

So assuming my gut feeling about it all is correct, it seems a good buy - 10th generation processor, core i5, 8gb ram and 250gb ssd and still under guarantee for 2 years which they are going to try and transfer to me

Equivalent new Surface laptop 4 is about £999 I think.

Will update back when it arrives. I just had one bad thought though - buying a microsoft laptop - I hope they don't "do an Apple" and make it obsolete after x years like ipads! ie stop doing updates for it. I am used to keeping laptops 8 to 10 years!

Oh and I really do like the idea of a magnetic charger cable. I have had about 3 machines xxxxxed by someone tripping over the cable (or had to do fiddly charger socket repairs).

I went Dell for my latest laptop and can recommend them as they are really pushing boundaries in technology and usability with the XPS ranges
Only issue is that the price can rise quite quickly, I went for an XPS17 which had been specified by someone else, built but never purchased and I got a good deal on the price - even with the special discount it was still North of £2500, but at the time it outperformed my desktop at the time _ it's my 2nd system here in my specs

barman58 said:

I went Dell for my latest laptop and can recommend them as they are really pushing boundaries in technology and usability with the XPS ranges
Only issue is that the price can rise quite quickly, I went for an XPS17 which had been specified by someone else, built but never purchased and I got a good deal on the price - even with the special discount it was still North of £2500, but at the time it outperformed my desktop at the time _ it's my 2nd system here in my specs

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Yes I nearly bit the bullet on an xps but couldn't face having a keyboard I possibly couldn't get on with again! The Surface laptop has the same amount of travel as the HP spectre 13 and I find that keyboard fine (just the mouse and the rest of the ergonomics I can't get on with).

I get on ok with the Dell keyboard and the large Trackpad although a lot of the time I am using my Logi MX Keys and MX Master 3 mouse. With the laptop next to my Desktop and with logi Flow the mouse moves onto the laptop screen as it reaches the edge of the Main monitor and the keyboard follows it so I use the MX Keys which is brilliant

If I go anywhere to work I throw the Keyboard and mouse in the bag and use it if I can

Hazel123 said:

I just had one bad thought though - buying a microsoft laptop - I hope they don't "do an Apple" and make it obsolete after x years like ipads! ie stop doing updates for it. I am used to keeping laptops 8 to 10 years!

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There are different schools of PC shopping. You and I, lol, went to different schools.

I appreciate you wanting to keep something for 8 to 10 years and celebrate your efforts in this endeavor. But with this approach comes all the issues you suggest: opening things up, augmenting RAM or storage, keyboard failure, hinge failure etc.. What I would call a lot of stress. 8 to 10 years means your hard drive could just die one day and there you are -- up Schitt's Creek.

I can't live with that stress.

What I do is never buy a super-duper-frooper PC (or Mac back in the day). Instead I buy a good one that requires no upgrading whatsoever. One that I'll be happy with for 3 years. I pay SquareTrade to extend the warranty and that gets me 3 years of almost no stress. If something breaks, it ain't my problem.

Now I know this sounds expensive. And that first PC with warranty is. But then comes eBay three years later. If you bought the type of model that was nice enough, someone will want it 3 years later. Forgive me, Hazel, but let THEM deal with the 'what happens when it breaks' stress. I find you'll typically get anywhere from 1/3rd to 1/2 of the purchase price back -- depending on the unit -- and now you can extend your stress free PC playtime with a new screen, new SSD, new keyboard. Extend that warranty, rinse and repeat.

I did the math once and it's like each PC I have is 'leased' for $100 a year. (Almost $200 for Macs, lol.) If that's too steep, I understand, but I pick and choose where I spend my money. I make my own coffee EACH AND EVERY day so that I can keep up my PC habit, lol

:). Yes it’s like the car philosophy - some people buy new and sell after 3 years. Some people buy 3 year old models and keep them till they drop. Some people buy a 15 year old banger and see how long it lasts.

I think your way sounds good. What would freak me out is having a brand new computer and a motherboard failure just outside warranty lol. Computer finances here have to come further down the list unfortunately. I quite enjoy fixing things and upgrading them as well. This is the first time I have actually kept a laptop until it was 11 years old though - usually they get fatally damaged before that. And usually we have a “hand me down” system :). The teenager gets the new one, I get his old one - OH won’t use one - does everything on his phone just about. On this occasion I didn’t get on with the teenager’s hand me down laptop. And funds are low!

However things are changing IMO - laptops used to be so easily upgradeable. Should have changed mine 2 years ago but funds were low then too. So I just upgraded with a 1tb ssd and was happy with that. It’s surprising how long some of them keep going trouble free. Hinge failure and soldering I draw the line at though. Unfortunately we have child support to pay as well which makes life frugal.