Posted 17 hours ago

Coming back to Windows after years with Apple

Hi all
So my MacBook Pro 2014 is on it's last legs. Looking to get A new machine.
Thinking to maybe try Windows again.
Do you think is posable to get 13" laptop for about £300 been very out the Windows game so don't really know.
Mainly web stuff and streaming media. Only Steam games I play is the Aarkham games. lol yes old but now and then feel to replay them.
Community Updates
New Comment

18 Comments

sorted by
's avatar
  1. Willy_Wonka's avatar
    If you wait until the next lot of ebay discount codes on electricals you should be able to get a 12th gen i3 for sub £300.
  2. jameshothothot's avatar
    if you want to game and going second hand... amd ryzen has better integrated graphics
    need dual channel ram eg 2x8 gb = 16gb is great
    2x4 = 8gb is ok
    ryzen 5 processors should be fine for light gaming and what you need

    this for £250
    ebay.co.uk/itm…030

    this for £300 has extra 1tb storage ssd
    ebay.co.uk/itm…030 (edited)
    jameshothothot's avatar
    gaming on that latter pc
    (3450u and 3500u basically same) (edited)
  3. pekoz1's avatar
    Not sure about their gaming capabilities but on ebay you could have a look at Dell's Latitude or XPS ranges.

    So XPS will be 13" or 15" screens normally Windows Home 10 or 11 versions (could be some PRO)

    Latitude are the business range ...so normally Windows Pro 10 or 11 ..... normally there are 3 series escalating in price 3000/5000/7000 series models. 2nd character in model no. is normally screen size 3rd character is processor generation.

    Eg this Latitude 5410 is 5000 series/14" screen/10th gen processor

    ebay.co.uk/itm…237

    If youre looking at buying a Dell ask the seller to give you a screenshot of the battery condition from the bios ..ideally you want one in excellent condition. Plus if you ask the seller for the Dell Service Tag number you can look it up on the Dell website to check the spec of the machine as originally sold by Dell.

    You may find machines with touchscreens but you'll probably struggle to get better than full HD screens at that price.

    Good luck
  4. pekoz1's avatar
    would it have to be brand new at that price?
    HalCapone's avatar
    Author
    Would be nice. But open to second hand
  5. WhichWord's avatar
    eBay?
  6. pekoz1's avatar
    1/ would you consider a 14" screen as you may get a wider choice ....most ex-business laptops will probably be 14" with lesser 13" and 15.6" numbers (i would think...no hard facts)

    2/ What sort of ram and storage size do you think you'll need? A lot of machines will be 8gb ram/256Gb ssd storage...

    3/ what sort of screen resolution do you need ? Full HD 1920 x 1080 or better?

    I dont really know much about Macs to know how good a 2014 MacBook Pro is?

    Thanks (edited)
    aLV426's avatar
    A 2014 MacBook Pro used a 4th generation Intel CPU - either an i5 or an i7. Where it impressed over a Windows laptop of that era was the screen - it had a retina screen 2560x1600 resolution at 227 pixels per inch. You will struggle to find a non-Apple laptop even today tha natively supports that resolution on it's built in screen
  7. HalCapone's avatar
    Author
    14" could do as something small to use on travel
    500GB SSD would do me same as 8GB ram as that is my current setup. But if i can get more ram that be nice.
    Defo like full HD 1920 x 1080 or better would be nice.
    aLV426's avatar
    There is currently a deal on here to get Batman: Arkham City - Game of the Year Edition on Steam for £1.49. If you are playing those vintage games I would recommend a minimum 6th gen CPU. You'll need a laptop with a dedicated GPU so you might struggle to find something in your budget even second hand. It's the dedicated GPU that bumps the cost up - you can pick up a 10th gen laptop with 8GB of RAM & a 1080p display for £300 no problem, but it wil struggle to play games that demand a dedicated GPU. (Fortnite will run, but will be unplayable due to the low resolution)
  8. jameshothothot's avatar
    definitely! and i'd upgrade the ram as the gpu has to share that 8gb ram
    hopefully it has 1x8 gb stick so you can get another 1x8
    need dual channel ram (two sticks) for best gpu performance (edited)
's avatar