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Why you don't need to spend more than £400 to get a great laptop
Buying a new laptop is always a big investment, but it doesn't have to be prohibitively expensive. Thanks to advances in mobile hardware, there's now a huge selection of fantastic laptops that can be bought for less than £400.
These laptops offer the kind of designs and performance that would have cost you much more only a few years ago. And, while there are some great premium laptops out there, budget laptops no longer force you to make the kind of compromises they used to.
If you're not yet convinced, you soon will be thanks to pioneering finance firm Zopa, who teamed up with TechRadar to pull together five great reasons why you don't need to spend more than £400 on the perfect laptop for your needs.
Mobile innovation
AMD and Intel are the two biggest companies when it comes to producing the hardware that powers laptops, and they've been battling it out for supremacy for years now. That's great news for us consumers, as it's meant they've been coming out with ever more impressive technology in a bid to win us over.
Those innovations have resulted in laptops that perform better than ever. Not only does Windows 10 and apps and games load up faster, but battery lives have been drastically improved as well.
The chips that AMD and Intel have been making for laptops are more power efficient than ever. Not only does this lead to batteries lasting longer, it means modern laptops can be thinner and lighter than ever before.
Best of all, these innovations aren't just for the most expensive laptops on the market - budget laptops also benefit. This means the laptops under £400 you can buy to day are excellent devices in their own right.
More choice than ever
There's never been a better time to buy a new laptop than right now thanks to the sheer amount of choice out there.
Big players like Dell, HP and Lenovo continue to put out brilliant laptops, while newer players in the laptop market like Huawei and Honor have shown you can have stunningly designed laptops that don't cost the earth.
This amount of choice means that you can shop around for more affordable laptops that will suit your needs. The extra competition also means laptop makers are getting more competitive when it comes to price - so it's even easier to find a bargain!
The rise of Black Friday
Black Friday is a relatively new phenomenon, and every year at the end of November, retailers across the internet start seriously slashing prices, and laptops are often heavily discounted. This makes it even easier to find an excellent laptop for less than £400.
Every year Black Friday seems to get bigger and bigger, with deals running throughout November. There's also Cyber Monday, which happens a few days later, which is also a great time to buy a laptop. Not only that, but Christmas, New Year and Amazon Prime Day all bring big discounts for laptops, with many excellent models dropping below £400.
The age of Chromebooks
Chromebooks are awesome devices. Running Chrome OS, rather than Windows 10, these laptops are fast and responsive, but don't require powerful hardware. Not only does this mean that they have the kind of battery lives many normal laptops can only dream of, it also means they are impressively cheap as well.
In fact, many of the best Chromebooks in the world go on sale for well below £400, proving that you don't have to spend more to get a brilliant laptop for day-to-day use.
Older models are worth considering
We'll let you in on a little secret: laptops are so good these days, you don't have to buy the latest model. You see, every year, laptop makers update their devices with cutting edge components. Sure, these bring even better performance and new features, but the older models remain great devices.
The good news is that when the new models are released, the older models usually get a price cut. By going for a slightly older model, you could save yourself some serious cash, while still getting a brilliant laptop.
So, with a bit of shopping around and good timing, there are plenty of reasons why you don't need to spend over £400 when buying a laptop.
If you’re thinking of upgrading or investing in some of the new tech reviewed here. Did you know, if you purchase it on a credit card like Zopa’s you’ll be covered under section 75 of the consumer credit act? This means if you purchase an item worth between £100 - £30,000 on your Zopa credit card your purchase will be covered in the instance that- it’s not as described, it arrives damaged or even doesn’t arrive at all.
Zopa’ no-nonsense credit card puts you in control (34.9% representative APR variable) - just apply on line, and manage everything in their simple app. As well as getting instant payment notifications and real-time balance updates so you can keep close track of your spending, you'll be able to shop with the confidence of section 75 protection too.
Zopa have been turning money on its head since 2005. Customer focused with no catches, Zopa offer access to simpler, better-value loans (15-4% representative APR) and credit cards (34.9% representative APR variable) to take the hassle out of money management.
