New Laptop Advice

Borehamwood_Boro

Active member
I currently have a Dell 2 in 1 XPS 12 with I7, 8gb, 256gb. I have had this for 6 years and it has been excellent, so fast and compact whilst also being able to power up to 2 external screens. I trade for a living so need multiple tabs (sometimes 50 etc) I also work a lot on the move so want it to be as portable small as possible. Touchscreen I use but not essential. Basically it looks like technology has hardly moved on as most laptops are still i7 and 8gb standard but I want to upgrade and make it a little future proof for the next 5 years. Not bothered about graphics as dont need them. I have found the deal below is anybody able to beat it or find better? £675 this comes to

IdeaPad L340-15IRH Gaming
Part Number: 81LKCTO1WW

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Ships in 3-4 weeks.
Configuration Details
Processor : Intel Core i7-9750H Processor (2.60GHz, up to 4.50GHz with Turbo Boost, 6 Cores, 12MB Cache)
Operating System : Windows 10 Home 64
Preload Language : Windows 10 Home 64 English
Microsoft Office : Microsoft Office Trial
Selectable Memory : 16GB DDR4 2400MHz SoDIMM
First Hard Drive : 1TB Hard Drive, 5400RPM, 2.5", 7mm
Second Hard Drive : None
Display : 15.6" FHD (1920x1080), IPS, 250nits, Anti-glare, No touch
Graphic Card : NVIDIA GeForce GTX1050 3GB GDDR5
Color : Black
Camera : 720P HD Camera with Dual Mic
Keyboard : Keyboard Grey English (UK)
Chipset : HM370
Battery : 3 Cell Li-Polymer Internal Battery, 45Wh
Power Adapter : 135W AC Adapter (3pin)-UK
WiFi Wireless LAN Adapters : Wireless 1x1 AC, Bluetooth Version 4.1 or above
Language Pack : Publication-English
Warranty : 1 Year Depot or Carry-in
 
First Hard Drive : 1TB Hard Drive, 5400RPM, 2.5", 7mm
Given that your current laptop runs an SSD, you really don't want to be going back to a spinny disk. Personally I would look for an i5 10th gen with an SSD, you should be able to get that spec for similar money. The i5 is plenty powerful enough for most people and the SSD will give you mush quicker load times.
 
They have kept the names of the processors the same but a 10th gen i7 will be very different to 4th/5th gen. The speed of the Ram has also changed so while the memory is still the same the speed and the performance of the processor makes it different.

If you are looking at Lenovo then if you sign up to their newsletter you'll get a 10% off code.

Lenovo had some good deals on recently on the brand new AMD (4700u) version of that laptop but without the graphics card which you could get with 16gb Ram and a 512gb 2280 SSD for £700. I'm waiting for it to be customisable again without a HDD so I can get a bigger battery.

If you don't need graphics then don't buy a gaming laptop. You're paying for something you don't need and it takes space/cost that means better battery etc.

Lenovo also have a 4 week wait for laptops so if you need it in a hurry your better off avoiding them.
 
Cheers yeah you are right that is HDD I want SSD really. I signed up to the 10%.

My current laptop is Del XPS 12, I7-4650 4th gen, 8gb, 256 GB SSD SamsungPM841, Intel Graphics 500

So was a great spec 6 years ago, willing to pay up to a grand for right spec, current laptop is still great just drops out wirless connection intermittently (tried every youtube video and forum and 3 PC shops have not been able to fix it, frustrting as seems to be software not hardware problem).

Just as fast as possible with multi app functionality, bigger harddricve and wireless connecivity to screens/tvs would be good.

This dell vostros seems ok, simialiar spec but better hard drive and worse graphics.

Vostro Notebooks 5490



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Original Price
£1,260.00
£819.00
Ex. VAT @20%
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  • processor-blk.svg

    10th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-10510U Processor (8MB Cache, up to 4.9 GHz, 4 cores)
  • laptop-blk.svg

    Windows 10 Pro 64bit, English, Dutch, French, German, Italian
  • videocard-blk.svg

    NVIDIA® GeForce® MX250 with 2GB GDDR5 graphics memory
  • memory-blk.svg

    16GB (8Gx1 + 8G onboard), DDR4, 2666MHz
  • harddrive-blk.svg

    512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive
 
Why not have a look at the surface range of laptops? Really nice machines. For extra £££ , and tablet functionality, go the surface pro route.

What are your plans with the old machine?
 
I have tablet functionality with this current XPS and never use it so planned not to go down that route again just extra cos for a function I wont use. That was the decision last time a surface pro or this dell xps 12 and it was quite a bit cheaper.

I will sell this machine, maybe somebody can get the wireless working fully again, Im sure it is fixable but nobody has managed it. Best laptop I have ever had by far. Tonnes of threads on the problem seems like a common fault with the intel AC-7260 cards

https://windowsreport.com/fix-intel-ac-7260-driver/
 
Why not pay almost double for the same spec and an apple badge;). Joking apart you should be able to get a decent dell or lenovo for your budget sometimes there are decent deals on the dell outlet store
 
That sounds a decent buy. We have purchased about 10 refurbs at work from various stores and ebay outlets got some real bargains but others have had problems like spill damage. So Its a bit hit and miss if your tech savy then its worth the risk as you can sort minor hardware problems if they arise.
 
Look at the grading of the laptop from the seller as well and what it means ie is it minor scratches on lid or something worse like dead pixels etc
 
Surface do laptops too, without the tablet function, which is what I was trying to say. Also yeah to reconditioned. Dell have an outlet too where you can get either returns or machines that were ordered but not bought.
 
I have tablet functionality with this current XPS and never use it so planned not to go down that route again just extra cos for a function I wont use. That was the decision last time a surface pro or this dell xps 12 and it was quite a bit cheaper.

I will sell this machine, maybe somebody can get the wireless working fully again, Im sure it is fixable but nobody has managed it. Best laptop I have ever had by far. Tonnes of threads on the problem seems like a common fault with the intel AC-7260 cards

https://windowsreport.com/fix-intel-ac-7260-driver/

What os is it running? Sounds like it could be 7 or 8?
If 10, have you tried the W8 version of WiFi drivers by any chance.
 
If you want the wifi adapter fixed you can get a replacement card on ebay for a tenner. It looks like a fairly simple job to replace the wifi card going by the service manual
 
Or just plug in a WiFi adapter if that’s your reason for upgrading
I've tried that aswell something was turning the plug in WiFi card off aswell. It really is a strange problem. Tried Windows 8 and 10. I've tried earl every driver rollback original and late and as many others as I could find.
 
I'm afraid I can't give any advice on spec, I'm not that techy, however I've just seen that Currys online have a 50% off on many items (starting today I think?) so there may be a bargain to be had if you can find a suitably spec'd machine
 
How about updating the bios?
Yeah this has been done. Its a real strange issue that nobody has been able to fix. Dell actually came out and fitted a new wirless card and it happened again over time, I think its a software issue and therefore should be fixable but Dell, 2 PC shops, trusted tech friends, various youtube videos and forums with questions and solutions for same fault have all been unsuccessful. Sometimes it has worked after 'fixing' for a few days and then becomes unstable again, very odd.
 
Ah, one of those issues then? Shame it’s not still in warranty, this is the sort of thing they should swap to a diff model for.
 
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