You asked for a Laptop costing under £406.
You told me that you needed a schoolwork laptop for schoolwork purposes. 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.
Essentially, you need your laptop to be speedy and to be able to deal with schoolwork presumably for the duration of the student’s time in education. I think the laptops below have the specs to do this at your price point. For the long term, I’d prefer you to have 16GB of RAM (like option 3) with a modern CPU (like option 1). However, I chose the HP 250 G9 as option 1 because it is possible and not too tricky to upgrade the RAM later on down the line (see pg. 37 of this service manual) . However, if you don’t ever intend to do this, I’d lean towards option 3 as the 16GB of RAM will be really useful for the long term.
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 16th Nov 2023
1. Best overall performance: HP 250 G9 Core i5-1235U 8GB 256GB 15.6 Inch Windows 11 La…
£387.97
Key features:
CPU: Intel Core i5 1235U
RAM: 8GB
Storage: 256GB
Graphics: Intel Integrated
This choice represents the best overall performance I could get from your budget. I chose it primarily based on its all round performance.
2. Cheapest option: HP 250 G9 Intel Core i3-1215U 8GB 256GB SSD 15.6 Inch FHD…
£337.97
Key features:
CPU: Intel Core i3 1215U
RAM: 8GB
Storage: 256GB
Graphics: UHD Graphics
This choice represents the cheapest device I could find that still meets your needs. I chose it primarily based on its all round performance.
3. Third option: Microsoft Surface Laptop Go Intel Core i5 16GB RAM 256GB SSD
£399.99
Key features:
CPU: Intel Core i5 1035G1
RAM: 16GB
Storage: 256GB
Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics
This choice represents the third option – cheaper than choice 1 but more powerful than choice 2. I chose it primarily based on its RAM, which is very good.
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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