You asked for a Laptop costing under £1200.

You told me that you needed a high performance laptop for high performance/speed in productivity. You also added the following additional information: CAD usage, business design please.

I searched a range of different shops for something that would suit your needs. I have chosen the three options below as the best ones to suit your requirements. However, we all have our own tastes (and of course, prices can change), so I have also included search links for each shop at the bottom of this page in case you’d like to browse further.

I always choose three options. These are usually (1) the best performing option within your budget (i.e. best suited to meet your needs for the longest possible time), (2) the cheapest option that still meets your needs effectively and (3) usually a wildcard option or a compromise between the two. If you are able to, I would usually recommend the first option as it is likely to be powerful enough to meet your needs for the longest before it needs replacing. However, I specify three choices so that you can pick the one that best suits your circumstances.

I do not work for or on behalf of any of the retailers listed below.

Prices correct as of 7th Mar 2022


1. Best overall performance: Inspiron 16 Plus
£1054.79

Key features:
CPU: 11th Generation Intel Core i7-11800H
RAM: 16GB
Storage: 1024GB
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050, 4 GB GDDR6
This choice represents almost the best overall performance I could get from your budget and is the most business-focussed design with the GPU you’ll need for work. I chose it primarily based on its RAM and CPU, both of which are excellent. However, I am recommending it on the basis that you upgrade the Video card from the 3050 to the 3060 on the linked page. It will put the price up to £1150 which is still within your budget but is definitely worth it in terms of performance. The screen is 3K and it has a large 1TB NVMe SSD.


2. Cheapest option: ACER Nitro 5 AMD Ryzen 5 5600H 16GB 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD G…
£849.97

Key features:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600H
RAM: 16GB
Storage: 512GB
Graphics: RTX 3060 6GB
This choice represents the cheapest device I could find that still meets your needs. I chose it primarily based on its GPU, RAM and CPU, all of which are very good. It is a more gamer-y design though, so despite the performance, you might prefer something else.


3. Third option: MSI Katana GF66 Core i7 16GB 512GB SSD RTX 3070 Max Q 15….
£1099.98

Key features:
CPU: Intel Core i7 11800H 2.3GHz
RAM: 16GB
Storage: 512GB
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Max-Q 8GB
This choice represents the third option – wildcard. I chose it primarily based on its GPUP, RAM and CPU, all of which are excellent. It has all the internal features of choice 1 but with a considerably stronger GPU. It has a distinct gaming vibe with the red keyboard though. It’s up to you waht you want to prioritise.


Why did I choose these for you?

It is important that you understand what the components of a laptop do so that you can make an informed choice. Here is my very basic explanation for each:

  • CPU: The brain of your laptop. A better one makes your laptop faster.
  • RAM: Your laptop’s short term memory – more of this means it can cope well with doing more things at once.
  • Storage: How much space your laptop has to store files, photos, apps etc. More storage means you can store more stuff.
  • Graphics: Your laptop has a graphics processor (GPU) responsible for how things appear on the screen. A better GPU will mean your device will cope better with more complicated graphics, such as in 3D games.

If you would like to browse the shops I searched for yourself, here are some links that will take you directly to the search results you require:

Some of the links on this page are affiliate links – that means if you go on to buy after clicking one of them, I may receive a small payment. This is how I am able to provide this service for free. It does not affect the price you pay, nor does it affect the recommendations I make – I will always recommend the best I can find to fit your usage, regardless of what shop it is from or any affiliation.

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