My first recommendation is the Lenovo ThinkPad edge e540 starting at £449.55 from Lenovo’s site. This laptop has a fourth generation i3-4000m dual core processor, the latest Intel HD 4600 graphics, a top of the range fast 7200rpm hard drive with 500gb of storage space, a disk drive and a decent 1366×768 matt display. The 7200 rpm hard drive is the real draw here, guaranteeing fast data retrieval that will make your system responsive, smooth and enjoyable to use. The sound system is quite loud and the Intel graphics will allow for a smooth movie watching experience. A real all rounder at a low price, the e540 comes highly recommended.
My second recommendation is the Acer Aspire E1-570 at £379.99 from PC World. This laptop has a third generation i3-3217U processor, 8gb of RAM, a large 1tb hard drive (5400rpm), a disk drive, Intel HD 4000 graphics and a below average 1366×768 LED display. This PC is quite a bit slower than the e540 on all counts, the sound system isn’t going to blow you away and the display has worse viewing angles, making it harder for more people to enjoy a movie with you. However, if you have lots of music, movies and games, the terabyte hard drive will be a godsend and the price tag is definitely far more agreeable than the e540.
My third recommendation is the Lenovo Flex 14 inch touchscreen ultrabook at £500 from PC World. This laptop has an i3-4010U, 4GB of RAM, a 500gb hard drive (5400 rpm) as well as an 8gb caching SSD, a 1366×768 touch screen, a whopping 8 hours of battery life and Intel HD 4400 graphics. This ultrabook features an 8gb caching SSD which will speed up boot times and load applications and folders very quickly. The flex also has a touch screen that can be flipped by 300 degrees, allowing you to take full advantage of Windows 8’s touch friendly interface. While pricier than my other two recommendations, if you can stomach the cost, this laptop will make for a very portable life companion.
