New Laptop Advice?

[Pamplemousse]

Chromebooks aren't really up to the task of gaming, and in terms of viruses I've run around 20 different computers over the last 15 years or so and never once had a virus issue on anything. AV programs tend to flag up all sorts of stuff that isn't really an issue, really to justify their own existence. Built in Windows defender is all you need. People almost always get viruses from clicking on things they shouldn't click on, and no software will stop people doing that. I've run both Mac and PC for work and play machines.

Edit - Just found out you can actually add a second hard drive internally too if you want to. Any computer tech can do all this, it doesn't take long.

I've only ever had one virus in 25 years online, and that was a 'drive-by' on an e-card site my late wife visited thanks to the dreaded security hole that was ActiveX; I've forgotten the name of it but it involved some very specific software to get rid of it. Some of my friends have picked up ransomware - usually because the libidinous twerps have been looking at porn. You're right - Windows Defender is more than up to the job.

Now, I have always used motherboards from MSI in all the PCs I have ever built and they are brilliant. I can only imagine their laptops would be as good.

That looks a good buy to me.

[WiredIncorrectly]

If she wants to play The Sims without lags or crashes you're going to need a laptop with a half decent graphics card. Expect to pay in £500 mark used but are powerful enough for games like The Sims.

Here's a Lenovo that will run The Sims: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lenovo-Id...D/203264172553

Also look at the ASUS VivoBook 15.

I've got a mid level chromebook. I don't recommend them. They get slow once you start installing apps. You're pretty limited to what you can download and install.

[WiredIncorrectly]

I've only ever had one virus in 25 years online, and that was a 'drive-by' on an e-card site my late wife visited thanks to the dreaded security hole that was ActiveX; I've forgotten the name of it but it involved some very specific software to get rid of it. Some of my friends have picked up ransomware - usually because the libidinous twerps have been looking at porn. You're right - Windows Defender is more than up to the job.

Now, I have always used motherboards from MSI in all the PCs I have ever built and they are brilliant. I can only imagine their laptops would be as good.

That looks a good buy to me.

You can have malware and not be aware of it A chunk of the Internet are zombies in a botnet and they don't even realize.

[ankietyjoe]

If she wants to play The Sims without lags or crashes you're going to need a laptop with a half decent graphics card. Expect to pay in £500 mark used but are powerful enough for games like The Sims.

Here's a Lenovo that will run The Sims: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lenovo-Id...D/203264172553

Also look at the ASUS VivoBook 15.

I've got a mid level chromebook. I don't recommend them. They get slow once you start installing apps. You're pretty limited to what you can download and install.

Weird. Pretty much identical the spec of the new one I posted.


The MSI has upgradeable RAM, NVME AND 2.5" bay for a secondary drive. Not bad for a mid range laptop.

[WiredIncorrectly]

Weird. Pretty much identical the spec of the new one I posted.


The MSI has upgradeable RAM, NVME AND 2.5" bay for a secondary drive. Not bad for a mid range laptop.

Ah, my bad Joe. I hadn't read all of the replies.

[ankietyjoe]

Ah, my bad Joe. I hadn't read all of the replies.

It's not a bad thing....it's just weird lol.

Seems to be a bit of a specification sweet spot.

[pulisa]

Thank you for finding the MSI, Joe..I'm not sure that she wants an actual gaming laptop because she's very specific as to what games she plays and isn't a serious gamer. However, it looks like a very good laptop and I presume you could just use it for basic day to day stuff? Sorry, I just haven't got a clue as you know!

We're also looking at the ASUS VivoBook 15 which has got some good reviews and looks to be well priced.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Errrr.... that's simply not true, Terry. I have Office 2003 running perfectly on my Windows 10 machine, straight out of the box (because Office 2010 was hateful). The only change I made is to download the Compatibility Pack, so it could work with documents created using the newer XML-based Office versions.

Copy off Ebay, probably OEM, so won't install. Not sure if there is a way around the tightened installation (i assumed it was this so thanks for telling me you can run it) of W10 as I've not looked that far but it won't even recognise the disk.

Pulisa - if you can game nothing office related will trouble you, not that she wants that. Gaming is far more demanding. So the kind of specs Joe & James (our 2 techies who often speak in a language beyond me) will handle a lot of less demanding stuff like internet, streaming, etc since you need a decent amount of grunt to game.

[ankietyjoe]

Thank you for finding the MSI, Joe..I'm not sure that she wants an actual gaming laptop because she's very specific as to what games she plays and isn't a serious gamer. However, it looks like a very good laptop and I presume you could just use it for basic day to day stuff? Sorry, I just haven't got a clue as you know!

We're also looking at the ASUS VivoBook 15 which has got some good reviews and looks to be well priced.

A gaming laptop is just a name tag P. The main difference between a normal laptop and a 'gaming' laptop is generally just the separate processor that deal with graphics. Other than that it's all the same kind of components.

Just a quick look at the Asus Vivobook (for example), it will come in several specification varieties but the most common one seems to use a GPU (graphical processor) that's around 300-400% slower than the one J and I mentioned. This does matter if she wants to play games.

The other important factor is that the MSI laptop, although more expensive, can be upgraded. This may turn it into something that can be used for 4-5 years rather than 1-3 years.

[Pamplemousse]

You can have malware and not be aware of it A chunk of the Internet are zombies in a botnet and they don't even realize.

Oh, I know. There's adequate protection on this heap to protect against it - I hope. It has Bitdefender AV+ upon it. Do you think adding good ol' Malwarebytes to it is a good idea, or not worth the effort?