New Laptop: any recommendations?

The hybrids are expensive, have looked at them and decided against on cost and performance.

Your biggest problem is deciding what specific software you wish to run and what level of PC would be suitable at the price you are prepared to pay. You mention music software, if you are considering editing, some of the editing desks require a powerful laptop.

As far as make goes, stick with the market leaders, they are leaders because they produce quality products, personally I like HP, and they often have some good deals on their web site.

Well, I've been to PC World and I'm none the wiser. Yes, a hybrid is too expensive. I'm tempted by a few models, but there seems to be a huge variation in price and I can't account for it. I liked a few Asuses which were small laptops.

The music software I'm thinking of is something like Sibelius or Musescore. Composition software. I'm thinking of entering the strange and mysterious world of music production software too. But that's optional.

The main use will be word processing, excel etc. Nothing too fancy.

I'm rather at having to buy additional software.

John Lewis are good for advice and have a good after sales service which PC world does not (IMHO)

Looking at the software you mention any mid range lap should be fine, you mention Excell, that can need quite a bit of ram.

I am not a fan of Asuses, the people I know who have them are not pleased. Please don't think that by buying from PC world that you will get better support than buying online, PC world support is, or lack of it has been a source of several threads. If you would rather buy from a shop, try your local one.

Thanks all. The music software I had in mind is Audacity. I think it's the same software used in schools.

I'm going to head to John Lewis on the weekend, having looked at their online offer. Looks good.

I would agree with GandTea Pop in to a local computer shop or three and ask their advice. Much more informed than chain stores, good aftercare, able to match prices and to load software etc for you with minimum of hassle.

I use Audacity, it is good (and free !!!), but it does gobble up ram, so get a machine with as large a ram as your budget will allow.

4GB ram with a 2ghz processor is recommended by Audacity. Many of the cheaper one do not have an adequate specification.

We also use a local computer shop. We get free delivery, a personal service, knowledgeable advice about everything we want, free software loaded on, our existing files transferred etc. You can get to handle and compare at John Lewis, and I have found their customer service to be excellent but when it comes to a laptop the other extras make it worth a few pounds extra that the local shop charge.

I'm using an Asus netbook which is about a year old. It's pretty good, nice and light and doesn't get too hot - a bonus for me as I use it all the time on my lap. Unfortunately it has Windows 8 as an operating system. I've got used to it now but I preferred my old Windows 7. I'm told I don't have enough memory to download Windows 10 so I don't know what will happen when I can no longer use Windows 8.

I've had a Sony Vaio for years (about 7) and it is still going strong. It happily accepted Windows 10. For support I have a local "bright young man" who pays his way through university by offering this service.

I was fascinated recently on the Tube to be sitting next to a young chap who was tapping away a rhythm on his knee, whilst working away on his laptop and lo and behold a music score appeared on the screen. I had no idea it could be done that way, came home and told my husband who replied "Did you think people still dipped a pen into an inkwell and drew the notes?"

Grannyknot - my DH has just shown me a house that has been printed out. Printed out? I can't get my head around that one. Worse than music notes!

The Asus brand was a good choice, you can get another one

ASUS ROG GL552VW-DH71
1920*1080 IPS Display 15.6 inch
Intel Core i7-6700HQ
GeForce GTX 960M with 2GB DDR5 VRAM
1TB 7200RPM
16GB DDR4
More

I've been using Samsung for almost 8 years. No problems at all despite a few graphic programs installed. Nice device for music and video. Even if you are going to play games, there are more updated versions.