I'm looking to buy my first laptop that will be used just for gaming and browsing the Internet. I dont care about any ai features. I can't decide if I should get a laptop with a 5060,4070 or 3080(16gb) I've heard they are all kinda similar in performance but i want someone that actually knows which is the best,thanks!

no weird shit as well please thank youu

• Country United Kingdom (Scotland)

• Budget £200-600 preferably, but absolutely no more than £1,200 I am a student ($264.97-$794.90, $1589.80 max (USD))

• Are you open to refurbs/used options? Probably? I don't know enough about laptops, but preferably a new one

• Screen size 14"-16"

• Weight limit As light as it can be tbh

• Purpose Schoolwork mostly, but being able to game on it would be cool too

• Form factor Standard/Clamshell (a regular laptop)

• Intended usage The main thing I want is something I can download files onto

• Desired battery life 6-8 hours, as many as I can get really

• Please list, in order of most important to least important, the priority between Size, Weight, Performance, Battery life Weight Size Performance Battery life I need a light laptop, I am disabled and can't lug something heavy around

• Info/Requirements Preferably windows, but I'm open to most as long as it's not a chromebook or macbook 16-24 GB RAM 256-500 GB SDD/Storage

Thanks in advance!! :)

LAPTOP QUESTIONNAIRE

* Country

UK/Scotland

* Budget

Honestly just whatever is best value for money without breaking the bank. I don’t have a set amount or budget - will consider most just so long as it’s good value and not extortionate!

* Are you open to refurbs/used options?

Yes, open to any options really, but just unsure if it’s worth it, or is it still best to just go with something new?

* Screen size

Really any, but larger is better as my teen will be using it for watching video, playing basic games, doing school work.and generic low- stress usage.

* Weight limit

Any

* Purpose

School work/typing up word docs, games (nothing too intense usage though!), and watching videos, streaming films/movies etc.

* Form factor

Honestly not fussed!

* Intended usage

Ideally it should be capable of running most games (they aren’t too fussed on big high-spec games, more simple quirky ones - think Meccha Chameleon etc) and also be a decent screen size/useful for watching video, and generic schoolwork etc.

They also have an iPad, as they are great with drawing etc, but the school loans them an iPad for their school work anyway, so not too fussed there!!

* Desired battery life

Again, not too fussed, but obviously it’s a plus if it can last a decent length of time not plugged in!

* Please list, in order of most important to least important, the priority between Size, Weight, Performance, Battery life

Honestly none matter that much! I just want to make sure it’s at least half-decent rather than ending up with something practically unusable for loads of things as happened when her Mum got her a basic Chromebook!

* Info/Requirements

Hi all, currently on the lookout for a laptop for my teenage kid. They want to be able to use it for various games on Steam (no idea what yet as they’ve never been able to use Steam before since they only have a Chromebook their Mum got them ages ago! - I know!!)

For Christmas I’m looking at getting a semi-decent laptop for them, however I’m limited in budget as I am a student myself (why, oh why did I decide to be a mature student?!)

Ideally it should be capable of running most games (they aren’t too fussed on big high-spec games, more simple quirky ones - think Meccha Chameleon etc) and also be a decent screen size/useful for watching video, and generic schoolwork etc.

They also have an iPad, as they are great with drawing etc, but the school loans them an iPad for their school work anyway, so not too fussed there!!

* Should run windows - they can’t use macs, despite having an iPhone, iPad etc!

* best value for money without breaking the bank (I don’t have a set amount or budget - will consider most just so long as it’s good value and not extortionate!

* is there any point in considering used/reconditioned laptops?

* would it be worth holding off for ‘Black Friday’ or is it not really worth it for this kind of thing in the UK? Those sales are very hit-or-miss!

* I also have student status, so can get student discount in some places etc if that makes a difference!

* any tips or recommendations for what to look out for is greatly appreciated, but also specific models etc would be great since I’m not that great with all this stuff!!

As I said, I’m not that great with this type of tech, but I am relatively ok at understanding if it’s explained - I’m by no means a boomer etc! 😂

Thanks so much in advance!!

Country

• UK, ideally purchasing from a real shop like John Lewis or Currys for better buyer protection.

Budget

• £700 max, lower better (£500 would be great if that's at all possible)

Are you open to refurbs/used options?

• Much much prefer new.

Screen size

• 14-16" is good

Weight limit

• Not something I'd thought about, normal laptop bulkiness.

Purpose

• Basic online browsing, watching youtube videos, online shopping, some light excel/office use, and playing OSRS (described in Intended usage section below).

Form factor

• Standard clamshell laptop.

Intended usage

• As above just basic internet and some office use for the most part.
• I would also like to play Old School Runescape on it using Runelite (GPU plugin turned on, 117hd not). I understand this is not a particularly hard to run game and definitely won't need a dedicated GPU, but frame rate stability would be appreciated i.e. a rock solid 60fps no stuttering.

Desired battery life

• Obviously the more the better but this isn't a huge priority.

Please list, in order of most important to least important, the priority between Size, Weight, Performance, Battery life

• Build quality
• Performance
• Budget
• Battery life
• Size/weight

Info/Requirements

• We'd like something fairly well built physically.
• I'm allergic to bloatware/spyware/preinstalled crap running in the background. Everything will be nuked on day 1 and I'll use tools like WinAeroTweaker to make the thing I paid for mine. If a laptop comes with particularly offensive preinstalled crap it'll ruin my day, but not get in the way long term.
• Been a Windows user for a long time but I would strongly consider the new Macbook Neo. It'll definitely be fast enough for the basics and people are saying it runs OSRS fine, and I know the physical build quality will be prioritised. It is right at the top of the budget though.

I've been using my Dell XPS 15" 9550 for about 10 years at this point and it's nearly at the end of its usefullness when it comes to heavier tasks with Lightroom, cutting out and going completely dead when attempting things like denoise or masking etc.

So... I'm looking for my next 10-year machine!

Location: UK

Budget: ~£2500 - Value for money is important, I'm not just looking for a spec-sheet monster
I should state that I bought my XPS as the display model so did get it for ~£1100 10 years ago when the sticker price was more around £1500-1600 IIRC

Use case:

• Lightroom - Use it every other week for my hobby photography
• Photoshop - Along with lightroom for photography and also planning DIY projects
• Coding - I'm a SWE by trade so I'll likely be fiddling with my own projects at times

Current Machine specs: Dell XPS 15" 9550

• Intel Core i7-6700HQ (quad-core, 2.6 GHz up to 3.5 GHz)
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M (2GB GDDR5)
• 512GB SSD
• 32GB DDR4 (2133 MHz)
• IPS screen

I am well aware that most "higher end" machines these days will run rings around my current machine, however I'm looking for one with longevity. The only thing I've had to fix on my current machine is replace the battery a few years ago.

Things I've seen so far:

• Macbook Pro M5 24gb 1TB ~ £2100 (plus charger) - I use a Macbook for work but I always begrudge its usability downsides when compared to windows. I know there are workarounds and plugins etc
  • Pros:
    • Seems the best allrounder and said to work great for LR + PS
    • Has an SD card slot
  • Cons:
    • Mac OS can be contentious for me - I do know how to use it for the most part but I've used Windows for most of my life
    • There is talk of the M6 on the horizon?
• Dell XPS 14 32GB 1TB ~ £2500 - I feel like this would be the most like for like, but it's definitely a lot of money
  • Pros:
    • Familiar
    • Windows
  • Cons:
    • About parity/more expensive than a similarly priced MBP
    • NO SD CARD SLOT?
• Asus ProArt 14 - I've heard these are good for creatives although I've no reference point for an Asus whatsoever

I was thinking to buy macbook neo 521 gb for £699 pounds, but is there any better alternatives or option?
The phone chip is kinda bugging me. I already have a alright pc.

I need a laptop for doing college assignments and stuff. Video editing maybe, and music production. Beginner level obviously, just wanna play with it and see if i am any good at it.

I dont know if MacBook neo is the right choice?
I am also looking for value for money, something i can keep for a while also use it on Uni if I ever go there.

please recommend the most quiet panther lake laptop. 35dB max in performance mode. i think it should have 2 large coolers to make it. any screensize, any budget.

update:

i'm considering all panther lake on the list:

Intel Core Ultra X9 388H

Intel Core Ultra X9 378H

Intel Core Ultra X7 368H

Intel Core Ultra 9 386H

Intel Core Ultra X7 358H

Intel Core Ultra 7 366H

Intel Core Ultra 7 356H

wanting to buy my mum a laptop soon. she’s 66, so.. facebook and accessing hmrc lol. just really casual use. my budget could probably be 400-600 and i’d prefer to get something new. something with a battery life of 5-8 hours would be great as she does go camping in her van sometimes and it’d be nice for her to be able to watch films on it, but it’s not a dealbreaker. also a decent chunk of storage would be great since she and i are digital hoarders lol

thanks!

They both seem pretty similar and would go for the latitude purely on the basis of the slightly better battery capacity but I've seen people complain that it's quite loud and high pitched, though I'm not sure how accurate that is, or different the Elitebook is in that respect. I've included notebookcheck.net reviews of both:

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-Latitude-7300-Laptop-Review-business-subnotebook-falls-short-of-its-performance-goals.434588.0.html

https://www.notebookcheck.net/HP-EliteBook-x360-830-G6-Laptop-Review-HP-Convertible-impresses-in-almost-every-way.436881.0.html

LAPTOP QUESTIONNAIRE

Country

United Kingdom

Budget

£500 GBP (approximately $670 USD). Absolute maximum of £600 GBP (approximately $805 USD) if the extra cost is genuinely worth it.

Are you open to refurbs/used options?

No. Brand new only.

Screen size

Essential: 15"–16".

Preference: 14" is acceptable if the specifications and value are significantly better.

Weight limit

Essential: No strict weight limit.

Preference: Avoid excessively heavy models because I will carry the laptop to university.

Purpose

University work, general everyday use, storing music and files, and casual gaming. Before doing my university work, I also spend some time gaming, particularly playing Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail.

Form factor

Essential: Standard/clamshell laptop.

Intended usage

Essential uses:

- University assignments, Microsoft Word, research, and multitasking.

- Cyber Security with Digital Forensics coursework, including programming, virtual machines, and potentially forensic software.

- Storing music, documents, university files, and other data.

- Playing Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail at 1080p with playable, smooth performance.

Preferred uses:

- Running Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail with good graphics settings.

- Trying other games in the future, although I am not a hardcore gamer.

Desired battery life

Essential: Suitable battery life for university work and everyday use.

Preference: Approximately 6–8 hours under typical productivity use.

Note: I understand that gaming will significantly reduce battery life.

Please list, in order of most important to least important, the priority between Size, Weight, Performance, Battery life

Performance, battery life, weight, size.

Essential requirements

- Brand new laptop only.

- At least 16GB RAM, or a model with a practical upgrade path to 16GB.

- At least 512GB SSD storage.

- A modern Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 5 processor, or better.

- Dedicated graphics capable of running Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail at 1080p with smooth, playable performance.

- Reliable performance for university work, programming, virtual machines, and potentially forensic software.

- Adequate cooling and stable performance during longer gaming sessions.

- Good overall reliability and build quality for use throughout my university degree.

- Best overall balance of performance, storage, reliability, and price within the budget.

Preferences

- 1TB SSD storage, because Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail require considerable space alongside university files and music.

- NVIDIA RTX 4050 graphics.

- A decent 1080p display with good colour quality.

- A 120Hz or higher refresh rate.

- Reasonable portability for carrying to university.

- A laptop that can remain suitable throughout my degree without requiring an upgrade.

Nice-to-have features

- 32GB RAM, particularly for cyber security coursework and running multiple virtual machines.

- NVIDIA RTX 4050 if it cannot be found within budget; an RTX 3050 is acceptable if it offers substantially better value.

- Performance suitable for trying additional games in the future.

- Extra storage capacity or an easily upgradeable SSD.

- Features that improve long-term usability, provided they do not require sacrificing essential performance or value.

My budget is limited, so I would prefer the best value for money rather than paying extra for features I do not need. The absolute maximum of £600 should only be recommended if the additional cost provides a meaningful improvement in essential performance, reliability, storage, or longevity.

LAPTOP QUESTIONNAIRE

• Country

uk

• Budget

£1000

• Are you open to refurbs/used options?

no as I have 100 pounds off at Curry's which I would like to use

• Screen size

14' would be best but can be a bit smaller or bigger

• Weight limit

any weight is fine but preferably on the lighter side if possible

• Purpose

for doing uni work and occasional gaming

• Form factor

standard/ clamshell

• Intended usage

I mainly use a laptop for uni work so things like one note and word but do occasionally play indie games on my laptop. I have a steam deck which I do most of my gaming on though so being good for gaming isn't essential.

• Desired battery life

at least six hours as I sometimes have six hours of lectures in a day and unfortunately our lecture theatres don't have charging point

• Please list, in order of most important to least important, the priority between Size, Weight, Performance, Battery life

battery life, performance, size, weight

• Info/Requirements

I would like a fairly durable laptop if possible and I will be buying from curry's due to the discount I have. I would also steer away from any apple laptops as while I have heard good things about them I find them quite difficult to use. thankyou in advance for any recommendations c:

​

**Budget:** Unlimited (£5,000–£7,000+, willing to spend more for the absolute best)

**Country:** United Kingdom (UK)

**Use Case:** High-end AAA gaming, 4K gaming, ultra settings, ray tracing and long gaming sessions. Looking for desktop-level performance in a laptop.

**Preferred Specs:**

- **Display:** 18-inch only. Preferably OLED or Mini LED, with excellent HDR, colours and refresh rate.

- **GPU:** NVIDIA RTX 5090 (highest-performance configuration).

- **CPU:** Best available gaming processor.

- **RAM:** 64GB minimum, ideally upgradeable to 128GB.

- **Storage:** 2TB–4TB SSD minimum, with upgrade options.

- **Cooling:** Excellent thermal performance with minimal throttling.

- **Build:** Premium materials, reliability and long-term durability.

**Notes:**

Hey everyone!

I'm looking to purchase the absolute best 18-inch gaming laptop money can buy in 2026. Budget genuinely isn't an issue, and I'm happy to pay a premium for the best possible experience.

I've been considering the following laptops:

- ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 18

- MSI Titan 18 HX

- Alienware 18 Area-51

- Lenovo Legion 9i

- Gigabyte AORUS MASTER 18

My biggest priorities are maximum gaming performance, the best possible display, excellent cooling and long-term reliability.

I don't particularly care about weight, thickness or portability. It'll mainly be used plugged in, so battery life isn't a major concern.

I'm especially interested in whether Mini LED or OLED is the better option for an 18-inch gaming laptop.

**If you had an unlimited budget, which 18-inch gaming laptop would you buy in 2026?**

Would love recommendations from people who actually own these machines, especially regarding gaming benchmarks, temperatures, fan noise, screen quality and reliability.

Thanks in advance!

I'm a developer facing a hardware dilemma and could use some advice.
My Setup:
Personal: 2019 MacBook Pro (dying).
Work: M5 MacBook Air (company-provided).

The Situation: My personal laptop is dying. Right now, my personal use is strictly reading and non-coding projects. A lightweight MacBook Neo covers all my current needs today. Plus, I travel a lot, and carrying a Neo alongside my work Air is much easier than lugging around a heavy 14" Pro.
The Dilemma: I'm contemplating leaving my job at some point, which means I'd lose my work laptop. I was considering saving up for a high-spec 14" MacBook Pro just in case I need a personal dev machine in the future.
However, I'm questioning if buying the Pro even makes sense:
What if my next job provides a laptop too, and I never actually need a personal dev machine?
Why spend money on a Pro now when I won't use its specs today? By the time I actually need one, better chips/models will be out anyway.
My Question: Is it better to just buy the Neo now for travel and casual use, and only buy a 14" Pro later if I end up needing a coding machine? Or should I hold off, save up, and buy the Pro now to be safe? Just looking for opinions here

i'm going to study computer science at university next year, and need a laptop. however, my family doesn't have a lot of money and we can't afford anything that's too expensive. i was thinking of asking for a macbook neo, since it seems like it's a good option for me, but i'm unsure of how suitable it is for programming and if i might need to find something with 16gb ram instead of 8gb.

can i get other people's opinions on this? is there other budget friendly alternatives?

Hey guys currently I have an asus vivobook 8gb r5 5600H 256gb laptop with 56% battery health (28w out of the 52w). I have used it for 3 years. Usually paradox fm24 and such. Ik the 8gb is too bad but it runs the type of games i play okay especially in sp.

However in my 2nd year in uni the battery and the ram will be a problem. the battery itslef dies after 2hrs on normal few tabs open for uni.

I was looking at a new laptop with these specs.

Asus vivobook 24gb 1tb r7 170 but it says that its battery is only 42hr watts. Ik that for gaming it be way better for what I play and plan on. But would the battery be enough for uni or should i look for a bigger one. I play games plugged in but for uni and my internship work could the battery last like 5 or so hours.

Thank you

Edit

I ended up buying a Lenovo Ideapad 3 16gb 512gb r7 7735HS Oled 16in and 60w. It was on very good sale especialy with my student prime and I can upgrade to 1tb and 24gb if i need to easily.

Thank you everyoen for your help much appreciated.

i dont really mind buying second hand either

Or if not, can someone advise what to buy instead?

Specifically considering this one

I'm a casual gamer, playing some Assassin's Creed on lowish settings but my top games are/will be The Sims 4 with all expansions and a ton of mods, and Planet Zoo 2. I had an Asus before (can't remember the model but it was a ROG) and it was awful from day 1 whereas my now 8 yr old Gigabyte Aero 15 has been brilliant it's just getting old and can't handle newer requirements.

On paper the above should be okay I think? And it's on budget. But are there others I should look at instead?

• Total budget (in local currency): No maximum
• Are you open to refurbs/used? No
• How would you prioritize form factor (ultrabook, 2-in-1, etc.), build quality, performance, and battery life? Form factor and battery life are very important to me
• How important is weight and thinness to you? Very important
• Do you have a preferred screen size? If indifferent, put N/A. 14"-16"
• Are you doing any CAD/video editing/photo editing/gaming? List which programs/games you desire to run. Gaming, photo and video editing.
• If you're gaming, do you have certain games you want to play? At what settings and FPS do you want? As good as possible.
• Any specific requirements such as good keyboard, reliable build quality, touch-screen, finger-print reader, optical drive or good input devices (keyboard/touchpad)? No.
• Leave any finishing thoughts here that you may feel are necessary and beneficial to the discussion.

I work in the games industry and this laptop is for work. I'm going to grab an ASUS ROG XG (2025) external GPU with either a 5070ti or 5090, so that I can get a thin/light laptop with good battery life and then take the ROG XG with me when I'm away for longer periods of time. I'd like a powerful laptop with the latest generation CPU and ideally 64GBs of RAM. The laptop absolutely must have at least 1 Thunderbolt 5 port and a screen with a high refresh rate would be a big plus. Thanks :)

Hi all,

Am I wasting money if I spend the extra £200 going for the 24GB option over the 16GB? Starting a software engineering degree soon and my IDE of choice is CLion if that affects anything. ^{At worst I'll just move to nvim}

Also happy to take alternatives to the MacBook's although from my research, there isn't anything that really competes in the same price range if you aren't tied to Windows.

Cheers!

EDIT 26 Jul 2026:

Thank you for the responses! From them, I've decided to stick to 24 GB. After combing around, I saw a listing on Argos for the last generation M4 Air on a 15 inch screen with 24GB for £1279 so I hopped straight onto that.

Hello, avoiding too many parameters since I'm interested in people throwing out suggestions without too much restriction.

A MacBook air M5 is a good example of what works perfectly: reliable, I can play FFXIV at 30fps on it stable, 60fps which heats a bit.

Any windows alternatives? I tried a yoga slim 7i which is apparently very reliable but it ran into a shut down issue when getting moderately hot. There's the Surface Studio 2 which has a 4050 and looks great but I'm not familiar with it and aware of how reliable surface is.

But these are the form factors I'm interested in;

- not too heavy, ideally below 1.7kg

- below £1600, open to eBay so you can mention a higher RRPG since it'll be lower on eBay.

- reliable, and can last me 4+ years

- aesthetically modern and minimal, basically not bulky and cheap in the exterior

Thanks.

LAPTOP QUESTIONNAIRE

• Country

UK

• Budget

£2500

Are you open to refurbs/used options?

No

• Screen size

14"

• Weight limit

Light

• Purpose

SWE/ business ops

• Form factor

Standard/Clamshell (a regular laptop)

Intended usage

Docker, VS code, Ollama (sometimes), Claude code and Codex, GCP cli... I am a Software Engineer and build enterprise applications... am concerned by the drawbacks of moving off windows, and whether a MacBook Pro is actually worth it... not sure if something like an XPS would be better

• Desired battery life

12+

• Please list, in order of most important to least important, the priority between Size, Weight, Performance, Battery life

Performance while multitasking and battery life are probably the most important

• Info/Requirements

No huge req's... Just need a good laptop that I can run pretty heavy enterprise apps on while they are in local dev and can demo to clients without feeling like I'm on a potato... this is a laptop for work so price not much of an object but probably not willing to spend more than £2.5. My biggest concern is about moving outside the windows ecosystem where lots of my clients are very MS centric... equally appreciate MacOS' Linux architecture and the advantages there for development. Just want someone to help play devil's advocate!

Hello,

My laptop of 6 years (Asus zenbook, can't remember which series) recently broke after a bike accident, and I have no idea where to start looking for a new one.

I need a new one ASAP for uni work (most of my work is on Google, but I may need to run SPSS or R throughout the year), along with recreational watching YouTube. I'm not a gamer so don't need a lot of storage, but battery life was a big issue with my last laptop only lasting 2/3 hours at a time. Hoping this time for 4+ hours reliably.

My budget is £250-500 max (!!!) and would prefer something cheap, reliable and with decent battery life.

Also needs to be on the smaller size, around 14 inches and lightweight. I am very open to refurbs.

Not looking for anything Apple as I've never had an iPhone, but apart from that I'm open to pretty much everything else.

Please, if anyone has any recommendations or second hand places for me to look, let me know as I'm lost and anxious about the whole situation :(

I'm looking to buy a new laptop with a 16–18-inch screen, a 1TB SSD and at least 16GB RAM. My maximum budget is £1,400, and ideally I'd like it to last at least five years.

My main priorities are reliability, build quality and long-term performance. I'm happy to spend close to my budget if it's worthwhile, but I don't want to spend extra on specifications that won't make a meaningful difference to me.

I've narrowed it down to these four options:

1. Acer Aspire 16 AI

Ryzen AI 7 350 16GB RAM 1TB SSD 16-inch OLED display Available from Costco UK

1. ASUS Vivobook S16 OLED

Intel Core Ultra 9 386H 16GB RAM 1TB SSD 16-inch OLED display Available from Currys

1. ASUS Vivobook S16 OLED

AMD Ryzen AI 7 445 32GB RAM 1TB SSD 16-inch WUXGA OLED display Available from Overclockers UK

1. ASUS Vivobook 18 M1807GA

AMD Ryzen AI 7 445 16GB RAM 1TB SSD 18-inch WUXGA IPS display Available from Scan UK

I'm currently leaning towards option 3, the 32GB ASUS Vivobook S16 OLED, but it's at the top of my budget. I'm wondering whether it's genuinely worth spending that much for the extra RAM and whether the laptop itself is likely to last.

Which of these is the best deal? Or is there any other laptops I'm missing?

Any input would be appreciated. Thank you

• Country

United Kingdom

• Budget

£500-600

• Are you open to refurbs/used options?

Yes

• Screen size

Any

• Weight limit

Any

• Purpose

General purpose

• Form factor

Standard/Clamshell (a regular laptop) - I don't get it so I just put this?

• Intended usage

Schoolwork mostly, but I also want to be able to use stuff like godot too

• Desired battery life

4 - 5 hours minimum

• Info/Requirements

Not really any requirements except it has to run decently well. My current has touchscreen which would be nice to have again but not 100% needed)