You asked for a Laptop costing under £900.
You told me that you needed an office laptop for mainly office apps. You also added the following additional information: I need MICROSOFT OFFICE on this laptop
You specifically asked for Office on this laptop. While it is possible to get a laptop with Microsoft Office (or Microsoft 365) pre-installed with a year-long subscription, I strongly, strongly recommend against this. The most powerful laptop I could find with Office preinstalled was this one at £450. However, it is completely underpowered for your needs – only 4GB RAM and 128GB storage. It is already out of date in my opinion, and choice 2 would last you far longer at only £110 more.
Instead, you should be looking at the best laptop you can buy for your budget, minus the cost of an Office/Microsoft 365 licence. It is extremely straightforward to install yourself, which is why very few laptops come with it pre-installed. You should read my blog post on this topic for more information and advice as to the best and cheapest way to buy Office/365.
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 4th Apr 2022
1. Best overall performance: ASUS Vivobook Pro 15 M3500QA 15.6-inch Full HD OLED Lapto…
£819.98
Key features:
CPU: Ryzen 7-5800H
RAM: 16GB
Storage: 1024GB
Graphics: Radeon Ryzen 7 5800H
This choice represents the best overall performance I could get from your budget. I chose it primarily based on its CPU and RAM, both of which are very good. This laptop will deal with Office and multitasking with ease, has plenty of storage and should last you a good long time.
2. Cheapest option: ASUS VivoBook 15 X515EA 15.6″ Full HD Laptop (Intel i5-11…
£559.99
Key features:
CPU: i5-1135G7
RAM: 16GB
Storage: 512GB
Graphics: Intel Iris Xe
This choice represents the cheapest device I could find that still meets your needs. I chose it primarily based on its RAM, which is good. It is actually a scaled down version of choice 1 but keeps the 16GB RAM, which I see as a real benefit for productivity and multitasking.
3. Third option: Inspiron 14 2-in-1
£779.00
Key features:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700U Mobile Processor with Radeon Graphics
RAM: 16GB
Storage: 1024GB
Graphics: AMD Radeon Graphics
This choice represents the third option – cheaper than choice 1 but more powerful than choice 2. I chose it primarily based on its CPU and RAM, both of which are good. Slightly lower spec CPU and smaller screen than choice 1, but a bit of a different design, with touch screen and a lot of the benefits of a tablet. It still keeps the 1TB storage and 16GB RAM of choice 1, making this an excellent alternative.
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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