Daft (but genuine) question: what else is there that I could use it for? I mean, I do the odd bit of work on it (MS Office, Word, XL, ppt etc) but can’t think of much else…

Games, recording music, design work, video editing, etc.

Video / music editing, heavy spreadsheet work, gaming, running a business, a media centre - all sorts.

If you want to use MS Office then a Chromebook won’t be for you, though I don’t miss having them (I use Google’s alternatives at work and home).

Considered getting a good tablet with a keyboard instead? For most casual use they’re more than enough, and you can get Word/Excel/PowerPoint etc for them nowadays too.

e.g…?

Won’t be doing any of these

Do you need a disc drive?

CWBAFT

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Yes

few laptops come with CD/DVD drives these days, so your best bet is to grab a cheap USB cd/dvd drive off amazon for about 15 quid . just a tip

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Buy online or in a store?

I got this around 6 months ago for around £350 and I’ve been pretty happy with it. Use it for basic internetting and some work stuff including fairly heavy data processing. I’ve found having a solid state hard drive makes a massive difference in terms of speed. The main drawback is that the hard drive is pretty small - I replaced the CD/DVD drive with a second hard drive.

https://www.ebuyer.com/800868-lenovo-v110-laptop-80th0013uk?mkwid=s_dc&pcrid=250126554847&pkw=&pmt=&gclid=CjwKCAjw75HWBRAwEiwAdzefxPrG2Pq4cP4O5up-oSFSSLgL_X98RjkQlZvCQSnunQeBt8GtI6Wr4hoCNLUQAvD_BwE

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*need it about

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Lenovo’s seem to always be a great option for value for money and options.

Microsoft Surface Pro or Book if you’re feeling well flash I guess.

Basically if you spend a decent amount you tend to get a good machine

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Yeah but most people* don’t actually need a “good machine”, right? A Chromebook would do everything they use a computer for with no issues.

*citation needed

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Oh sure but I mean more that I think the years when people built their own PC and hyper priced Macs have sort of convinced people that any expensive laptop is a rip off. And I don’t think it is. Much like cars I guess. Most people don’t need to spend big bucks but at least if someone buys a cheap car they don’t expect it to be amazing.

I bought my HP laptop on Black Friday a few years ago for £400 I think.

Probably spent a bit much on something that’s used for doing the online shopping and searching online for things that I want to look at slightly bigger than on my phone.

In a similar position to OP. Can you download torrents with a chromebook and does it have a good alternative to word then so I can continue to write my beat poetry?

definitely agree that a SSD is pretty much essential

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