Looking to buy a laptop

Why new? Based on Dave’s previous advice I purchased a used Lenova Thinkpad from Microdream. Not only is this an approved centre for recycling Microsoft products they run a complete laptop refurbishing system eliminating any knocks/dings etc to give a like-new appearance. I was very pleased with the product and it meant that someone else ate the 60% first-year depreciation that is normally seen for non-Apple laptops. (Apple products tend to have a lower rate of depreciation).

Many of these laptops are ex Office use and come with an industry standard tpm module, which means with only a little work you can get a fairly secure baseline on which to install a reputable AV package.

Although you are not concerned about price a second hand route can give you a very high quality laptop at a reasonable price.

Well I am a big fan of the Thinkpads or HP Elites and MicroDream will put a 1TB SSD in for £100 which pretty much cost price.

Lenovo 14″ ThinkPad T450s Ultrabook – HDF+ (1600×900) Core i5-5300U 8GB 1TB SSD WebCam WiFi Bluetooth USB 3.0 Windows 10 Pro

With an extended 3 years warranty £439

I hate the thought of anything without an SSD, but new I’d be looking at the Lenovo V15 Core i5 8GB 1TB HDD £445 direct from Lenovo. I’ve bought a fair few of the V series (they are aimed at entry level SMB), you must consider them sealed units. They are a lot lighter than a Thinkpad but obviously not as robust.

In my experience everyone ignores the signs of a failing HDD until the bitter end anyway! If they do notice they usually get me to check for the virus that’s slowing thing down 😊

As far as photos are concerned, these days I think they belong in the cloud rather than on a PC. Google give you unlimited storage for photos up to 16MP and 1080P video.

There is talk that the Covid-19 issue is causing a slow down if not a drying up of portable computer supplies. Firms are either buying items to be used for newly created home workers or holding on to existing items in case of a need for the next few months. It might be wise to track what you can see.

Sorry to hear about your mother, issues like that really concentrate your mind on where it matters most. I trust that she is making good progress and getting all the help and care she needs.