Good laptops don't have to cost £1,000.
I test budget laptops, refurbs and cheap peripherals so you don't have to gamble your money. Some links are affiliate links — it never changes what I recommend.
The annual "what laptop for uni?" post. Three machines I'd actually send a fresher off with, why the £300 supermarket laptop is a trap, and the refurb route most STEM students should take instead.
New monthly format: the deals I'd spend my own money on, and two I wouldn't — including the £349 "deal" that's really a downgrade with a sticker on it. Full table with expiry dates on the deals page.
OLED used to mean £1,300 minimum. Not anymore — I found three models under £750 with genuinely decent panels, and one that I'd actually spend my own money on (spoiler: the one with the boring chassis).
The T480 is still the king of cheap laptops in 2026, but there are a lot of dodgy "Grade A" listings out there. Battery cycles, screen replacements, and the one screw you should never let a seller talk you out of checking.
I used an 8GB machine as my only computer for four weeks: browser tabs, Teams calls, light photo editing. The results surprised me — and the one situation where 8GB will absolutely wreck your day.
Cheap monitors are better than ever, but the panel lottery is alive and well. Here's how to spot a bad backlight bleed from the reviews, and which three models I keep recommending to friends.
I did the maths on five years of checkout-page warranties versus actual repair costs. Short version: put the £7 a month in a savings pot instead. Longer version inside, with actual numbers.
Photos of the actual unit or it didn't happen. Here's the checklist I run through before buying any refurb — and the phrases in listings that make me close the tab immediately.