I need a new windows Laptop. resolved

[super8rescue]

Current laptop
Fujitsu lifebook with an i5 processor. windows 8.1

I want to pass this on to my partner and have myself a better spec laptop for basic video editing, and my partner have a better laptop than the i3 HP peice of junk currently being used for mostly downloading with utorrent and surfing the net, itunes and youtube. So not demanding for an i5 Fujitsu.

I can't have a desktop as the laptop needs to go with me on occassions.

I have a budget of around £550 inc vat/tax
Not interested in apple products as I have to be able to use VirtualDub and a couple of other windows only programs.

What I would like in a new laptop.

15" screen .. minimum i7 processor .. ssd would be nice, but I don't mind regular hard drive, min 8gb RAM and a memory card slot.

Line in would be a bonus but not essential as I have USB interface for audio.

I don't need an optical drive, I have an ext usb disc burner if I ever need disc based work done.
USB 3 is essential, at least two and a third regular USB for the wireless mouse.

Ethernet, must have for my home network

Hard drive size is not really a factor as all of my work is on ext USB 3 drives sticks and memory cards

What I would not like in a new laptop, a pile of manufactures software which I will never use.

The dreaded microsoft office package free trial and possibly some daft trial for anti virus software or other junk installed at the behest of the head of the company.

I find pre loaded software by a computer manufacture a pain in the neck and yes, I could uninstall it all, but I would rather it wasn't there in the first place.

The life book just came with the drivers it needed for specific things like hot keys, battery life and bios updates.

Acer seems to be the worst culprit for this, and HP do a pretty rubbish job of filling up a computer with junk software

Lenovo and Dell appeal to me for a new laptop and I do love Fujitsu laptops, I am on No3 fujitsu laptop now..

Video rendering is the main requirement, the i5 fujitsu does a good job but if I am giving that away, it seems wise to move up to i7

I run a youtube channel and just need to post examples of 8mm cine film captured with a cine film scanner, compiled in virtualdub and assuming it runs on windows 10, be able to still use MoviePlus X6 edit software.

Probably most demanding task, VirtualDub work for my cine film scans, compiling thousands of still images in to h264 avi files and then 1080p exports from MoviePLus X6 for you tube, anything up to 1gb uploads, so not too demanding.


I don't need a laptop powerful enough to run da vinci resolve but if my new laptop will run it, so much the better.

Movieplus X6 does everything I need, very quickly and easily. I love movieplus X6 and have used it for 7 years now.

Feel free to throw some suggestions at me for a new laptop manufacturer.

It has to be within my budget. I have googled a ton of laptop reviews and prices, I thought it sensible to gather some opinions from here too.

I intend to purchase in the next three months.

Is there an option to buy an empty laptop and then buy my own copy of windows?

I have seen refurbished laptops online, with good specs at decent prices, that could be an option

Thanks in advance for any time you take to give me some ideas to consider. Thank You.

If you're interested in the film scanning I do for a hobby https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-qdcImZPLRxBEhwI0z6XdQ/videos

[super8rescue]

bought myself an A1 refurbished Fujitsu i7 laptop with 8gb and ssd (£570) after four days of google research and several hours of you tube.
Next job to turn the 8gb in to 16gb memory. Can't wait!