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Which 13 or 14 inch cheapish laptop?

K

keeper

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 23, 2008
520
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If you were looking for a cheapish small laptop for general use on your knee while watching TV what would you choose and why?

I already have a gaming PC and want a windows laptop to fill in where the ipad does not work as well as it could, ie, spreadsheets and some websites.

Lots of options I was thinking a Surface laptop Go, would suit but lots of options in Lenovo etc.
 
keeper said:
If you were looking for a cheapish small laptop for general use on your knee while watching TV what would you choose and why?

I already have a gaming PC and want a windows laptop to fill in where the ipad does not work as well as it could, ie, spreadsheets and some websites.

Lots of options I was thinking a Surface laptop Go, would suit but lots of options in Lenovo etc.
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What's your definition of "cheapish"? What "general uses" do you expect to be able to do on the device? I have some recommendations for Windows-based laptops and chromebooks but that would change depending on the answers.

I know that you mentioned a Windows laptop, but it is possible that a chromebook could fit well.
 
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I would say about £500-£600, email, internet, basic spreadsheet population. No photo or video editing.
Storage would be NAS based.

One thing the surface Go misses is backlit keyboard which would be helpful.
I would prefer windows 11
 
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Depends on what you value in terms of cheapness. Framework's value proposition is longevity in case parts break, and you can get second-hand parts off eBay for pretty cheap -- you may "only" need to pay $900.
On the other hand, in terms of low up-front costs, a CD/C2D, Pentium 3/M, Athlon, or ARM-based laptop like the $220/£165 Pinebook Pro is still enough. I have a 1.6GHz Dell Pentium M that still absolutely flies with lightweight OSes like Haiku -- which is another factor at play. For just spreadsheets, you could theoretically get along just fine with a(n Am)386, but web browsing really does demand at least hardware from about 2003, maybe you could get away with 1998 if you're keeping to static sites and forums. I can do browsing on my Sawtooth, but just barely, and PowerPC is a faster architecture than contemporary x86/amd64.
And then, this isn't exactly an alternative to Mac hardware, but the early MacBooks and MBAs are often under $100/£75 and are perfectly standard PC laptops that can run Windows 10 and probably 11 (11 runs as far back as Pentium 4) if you don't libreboot them.​
 
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Anything Ryzen 5 should probably be available within that budget.
I've been quite amazed by the HP Pavillion 13 Aero. Super light.
If you want larger laptop, the regular Pavillion 14 is cheaper, but heavier.
 
I've gone for a surface Go as it's small and light, I noticed what may have been an error and they had the 256 gig with £200 off so I snapped one to see what's it's like.

MS give 60 day returns so I'll give it a go, if it doesn't work out I think I may just pay the extra and get an XPS13 or maybe a safe M1 Air.
 
Can get a new surface laptop 3/4 for around that money on eBay. That is if you have your heart set in a surface. Would blow with laptop go out the water.
 
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So after looking at the cost options to update from the surface I had a complete change of mind and picked up a M1 MacBook Air that had a good discount, seemed to make sense as it will run the required programs and syncs with all my apple stuff, nice and fast and a joy to use, should have done it in the first place.......
 
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keeper said:
So after looking at the cost options to update from the surface I had a complete change of mind and picked up a M1 MacBook Air that had a good discount, seemed to make sense as it will run the required programs and syncs with all my apple stuff, nice and fast and a joy to use, should have done it in the first place.......
Click to expand...
Solid choice and it is always nice to get a good deal!! I might have waited for the M2 MB Air but it is really tempting to get the M1 Air on a decent discount.

I am sure it will serve you well!
 
hi
I recently used this laptop this laptop some from couple of months the name of laptop is acer aspire 5 slim laptop its price is 6 to 800$ you must try this laptop best for gaming for editing also for working.
 
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