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Help needed choosing a laptop & office package please

Lotus

I need to buy a new laptop and I don't want to pay a lot for it. I only use one for browsing the internet, making online purchases, using Excel and occasionally watching YouTube or an online TV service like ITVX or Prime video. I don't need much storage as I only save a small amount of documents on it - I don't download music, videos, etc. and I don't use it for gaming either.

There are cheap laptops on the Argos website - some have Windows 11 and others use Google Chrome. The googling I've done suggests one with Windows 11 would be better if I want to install a Microsoft office package which includes Excel - is that correct?

I think that 4gb RAM and 64gb of storage would be enough for my needs?

Also, can anyone advise about buying an office package that includes Excel with a lifetime licence, as I don't want a subscription. How much is this likely to cost and where is best to purchase it?

Parents

  • You are correct that a Windows 11 laptop is required to run Microsoft office but 4GB RAM and 64GB storage won't get you very far at all with a Windows 11 machine. Those are Chromebook specs. I have a 5 year old 8GB personal laptop which is starting to struggle a bit now if it needs to to do more than one or two things at a time, the base level of RAM now seems to be 16GB. It may be more than meets your needs at the moment if you'll mostly be web browsing without multiple tabs open but if you want to keep the laptop for more than a year or two then it's worth getting that bit more RAM to keep things running efficiently if you can afford to. Storage I think absolute minimum 128GB (which I don't think is actually widely offered anymore) but 256GB will be good. Windows 11 itself will take up a fair chunk which will increase as more updates are applied, then also Microsoft Office as well. I have a new work laptop as we are finally upgrading to Windows 11 and my old one couldn't run it (no prizes for guessing which organisation I work for) it has no documents saved onto it, just system files and programs and it has already taken 70GB. The Windows folder alone is over 36.5GB. It has 16GB RAM and is running far more quickly and quietly than the old laptop ever did. 

    As for Microsoft office you can still buy it as a one off without subscribing to 365, Microsoft charge £120 but there might be some discounts around at the moment with students preparing to go off to university in the next few weeks

    To summarise I think you should be looking for a Windows 11 laptop, minimum 8GB, preferably 16GB with 256GB storage

Reply

  • You are correct that a Windows 11 laptop is required to run Microsoft office but 4GB RAM and 64GB storage won't get you very far at all with a Windows 11 machine. Those are Chromebook specs. I have a 5 year old 8GB personal laptop which is starting to struggle a bit now if it needs to to do more than one or two things at a time, the base level of RAM now seems to be 16GB. It may be more than meets your needs at the moment if you'll mostly be web browsing without multiple tabs open but if you want to keep the laptop for more than a year or two then it's worth getting that bit more RAM to keep things running efficiently if you can afford to. Storage I think absolute minimum 128GB (which I don't think is actually widely offered anymore) but 256GB will be good. Windows 11 itself will take up a fair chunk which will increase as more updates are applied, then also Microsoft Office as well. I have a new work laptop as we are finally upgrading to Windows 11 and my old one couldn't run it (no prizes for guessing which organisation I work for) it has no documents saved onto it, just system files and programs and it has already taken 70GB. The Windows folder alone is over 36.5GB. It has 16GB RAM and is running far more quickly and quietly than the old laptop ever did. 

    As for Microsoft office you can still buy it as a one off without subscribing to 365, Microsoft charge £120 but there might be some discounts around at the moment with students preparing to go off to university in the next few weeks

    To summarise I think you should be looking for a Windows 11 laptop, minimum 8GB, preferably 16GB with 256GB storage

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