Which Windows laptop should I buy for near £250?

Question

I am looking for a potential upgrade to my laptop. I want a Windows 10 machine; something smaller, lighter and more portable than what I now have, preferably with a metal shell. I have a budget of about £250.

The CPU needs to be at least at the level of an AMD A9-9410, or better, as this is what my current laptop has.

Other features that are necessary are: at least 32 GB of storage and at least 4 GB of ram with room to add an M.2 SSD, full HD 1920x1080 screen, as thin and light as possible. It must run Windows 10.

Nice-to-to-haves would be USB type C, and backlit keyboard.

Please can you advise me on what to buy? I have seen brands like CHUWI, Jumper and Teclast. that all seem to do these standards of laptops. Thank You!

Answer 1

In the US, finding a new laptop under $265 USD (That is the equivalent to 250 euro) is tough, but I have found a couple that might interest you. US laptops might be different than what European laptops can offer in build though, so keep that in mind. The only issue is you're not going to find an M.2 expansion slot on a budget laptop. Even my Dell Inspiron Gaming Laptop doesn't have one.

Lenovo IdeaPad This option has pretty much everything you want. It has 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD, Windows 10 and a nice AMD CPU that is extremely similar to your CPU. I don't see an M.2 slot.
ASUS VivoBook L203MA This is another nice option. 4GB of RAM, 64GB of eMMC Storage, Windows 10, and a decent CPU. The screen isn't Full HD, it is 720p (1366 x 768). This even has a USB-C port.
HP Elitebook 8470p This is an AWESOME laptop if it was new. This is a refurbished laptop, but that means you will get a lot more bang for your buck. Speaking from experience, this is a stellar CPU and RAM config with 8GB of RAM. 500GB HDD (SATA) and you can remove this one and add a bigger 2.5" SATA drive down the road, DVD/CD Drive, 720p screen and a backlight keyboard. This is one of the best ones you can find below $250 USD.

If I had to purchase one for you, I would buy the HP Elitebook 8470p. It is a great laptop with some stellar hardware under the hood, and you'll enjoy the added speed compared to what a new laptop would be in that same range.