Laptop recommendations

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I’m looking for a laptop. I had one years ago, it died, I replaced it with an iPad and have had an iPad with a case/keyboard ever since but it’s not quite doing it for me any more, and have not a clue where to start when shopping for a laptop.

I guess the main thing I want it for is editing photos (nothing fancy, just basic photoshop I guess), and general browsing/basic word processing etc. I have no idea what processors, memory, etc mean in terms of performance.

my heart says MacBook Air but my head says I should be more sensible with my money.

can anyone recommend a small ish laptop that might fit what I want, or tell me what I should look for/avoid
 
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I’m looking for a laptop. I had one years ago, it died, I replaced it with an iPad and have had an iPad with a case/keyboard ever since but it’s not quite doing it for me any more, and have not a clue where to start when shopping for a laptop.

I guess the main thing I want it for is editing photos (nothing fancy, just basic photoshop I guess), and general browsing/basic word processing etc. I have no idea what processors, memory, etc mean in terms of performance.

my heart says MacBook Air but my head says I should be more sensible with my money.

can anyone recommend a small ish laptop that might fit what I want, or tell me what I should look for/avoid
I can’t recommend but Currys PC World have a guide to choosing one based on your needs. I found it handy


They also did a FaceTime service thing where I talked to them about what I needed.

Im not trying to do an ad for them I promise 😂 but I was in your position and completely clueless and they really helped me understand the jargon.

Mine was a HP, around £500 I think. I wanted it for the same stuff as you plus streaming films/tv and basic video and photo editing. I think Mac book would be too much for what you need cos mine is more than good enough for that stuff. :)
 
Ngl, Macbooks for me are the only laptops that haven't slowed down phenomenally quickly, particularly if you have any number of large files (RAW files etc).
 
Ngl, Macbooks for me are the only laptops that haven't slowed down phenomenally quickly, particularly if you have any number of large files (RAW files etc).
This is my issue - I’ve had an iPhone for years, iPad, Apple Watch, it seems the obvious decision but the cheapest air is almost twice the price of what look like equivalent non-apple products….!


I can’t recommend but Currys PC World have a guide to choosing one based on your needs. I found it handy


They also did a FaceTime service thing where I talked to them about what I needed.

Im not trying to do an ad for them I promise 😂 but I was in your position and completely clueless and they really helped me understand the jargon.

Mine was a HP, around £500 I think. I wanted it for the same stuff as you plus streaming films/tv and basic video and photo editing. I think Mac book would be too much for what you need cos mine is more than good enough for that stuff. :)
Thank you! I hadn’t found that. I can get vouchers for curry’s at work which is a nice bonus
 
i got a dell inspiron 14" 2in1 a few months ago and really enjoy it! great battery life, good with photoshop and enjoy drawing with their own stylus on adobe fresco. i used to use procreate on an ipad pro first gen (still have it) but find myself reaching for it less. if you don't mind a refurbished one then i've heard good things about laptops direct!
 
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I upgraded a few years back to a HP Envy 360 (turns into a tablet, but a chunky one obvs). I had an old laptop that was only 4GB of RAM and it drove me mad because it was so slow. I wouldn't buy anything under 8GB of RAM anymore, so that's something to be aware of.

Currys is a good site for research, even if you don't buy from there (I bought from John Lewis as they had what I wanted cheaper) Definitely check out the customer reviews they have for each laptop too.
 
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Thanks for the advice, everyone - I went with my heart, and my MacBook arrived this morning ❤ Decided that my windows laptop for work irritates me, and everything else we have in the house is apple so it made sense in the end