You asked for a Laptop costing under £500.
You told me that you needed an office laptop for mainly office apps. You also added the following additional information: Just need a basic laptop for work (word, excel etc)
As you just want a simple laptop, your budget is £500. Choice 1 is the top performing laptop from a specifications point of view, but choice 3 is an excellent alternative with a slightly slower CPU but larger and better-quality screen. It’s also £10 cheaper. I have to put the highest performing laptop as choice 1 (they are my rules), but I’d be tempted to go for choice 3 for the nicer overall experience.
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 15th Mar 2022
1. Best overall performance: Medion Akoya E14303 AMD Ryzen 7 4700U 8GB RAM 512GB SSD 1…
£499.98
Key features:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 4700U 2.0GHz
RAM: 8GB
Storage: 512GB
Graphics: AMD Radeon Graphics
This choice represents the best overall performance I could get from your budget. I chose it primarily based on its CPU, which is very good.
2. Cheapest option: MEDION AKOYA E15303 AMD Ryzen 5 4500U 8 GB 512 SSD 15.6″ …
£434.96
Key features:
CPU: Ryzen 5 4500U
RAM: 8GB
Storage: 512GB
This choice represents the cheapest device I could find that still meets your needs. I chose it primarily based on its CPU, which is very good value. It’s basically the same laptop as choice 1 but a slightly slower CPU and larger screen (and costs £65 less).
3. Third option: ASUS Vivobook 15 M513UA 15.6 Inch Full HD OLED Laptop (AM…
£489.98
Key features:
CPU: Ryzen 5-5500U
RAM: 8GB
Storage: 512GB
This choice represents the third option – cheaper than choice 1 but more powerful than choice 2. I chose it primarily based on its CPU, which is very good, and OLED screen, which should give excellent performance.
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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