The Great 'Cheapest Decent Laptop' Hunt

[billinge]

If you want a really cheap ultra-mobile pc and only want it for email, surfing the net and typping letters etc, try the ASUS Eee PC, and if you are flying somewhere soon, Dixons Tax free at Manchester Airport have this for £186.38. My wife wants me to fly somewhere on business so I can get her a pink one!!!

[irrelevant]

We bought one of these: link (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Laptops/Acer+Extensa+5220+Intel+Celeron+M+550+2GHz+Laptop+ ?productId=31930) for my mother-in-law recently. It's a nice little machine, 1GB RAM, 80GB disc, 15.4" ws, DVD +/- RW & DL - Vista, all for £268. It's come down a touch since i got it. And don't forget the cashback sites.. (they are on quidco at least.) Hurry, only 3 left..

[Jake'sGran]

If you want a really cheap ultra-mobile pc and only want it for email, surfing the net and typping letters etc, try the ASUS Eee PC, and if you are flying somewhere soon, Dixons Tax free at Manchester Airport have this for £186.38. My wife wants me to fly somewhere on business so I can get her a pink one!!!

Is this the very small laptop i.e. so small that it could be difficult for someone to find it difficult to read/see detail? Also, I have wondered why Hewlett Packard are not mentioned in the list of popular PCs as they seem to have regular offers and are a big company. Are they unreliable?. I was just reading about one with a free carry case and a decent spec for around £320. Whilst Sony is the second most popular there is nothing below £400. I asked for one of their digital cameras for my birthday but find it complicated to use.
The instruction book is a nightmare.

[chris667]

The EEE is a very small PC, (I think) its screen is 7" and it has a little keyboard.
I've fixed a lot of HP and Sony laptops, and can say they're no more or less reliable than anything else. If they aren't here, they probably aren't the best price, although let us know if you know different!

[folkestonelisa]

Hi

I think ive pulled my hair out looking at laptops so wondered if someone could help me

Im after a laptop for my son to use when he goes to college. Hes doing a national diploma in ICT so we thought we treat him and get him a laptop. He already has a computer that he uses for gaming so this one is for him (and me a mature student starting uni in september) to do his college work on and browsing the internet.

Ive been looking at the samsung range. the r60 and the r700 and wondered if they were any good.

[debbiedebt]

Hi
I am using my asus eee pc with vodafone mobile broadband & it's amazing. I am fully mobile and can browse the web when I'm sat outside anywhere. It's small enough to carry in my handbag and with an additional memory card I have all my music photos etc with me.
Debbie

[chris667]

Hi

I think ive pulled my hair out looking at laptops so wondered if someone could help me

Im after a laptop for my son to use when he goes to college. Hes doing a national diploma in ICT so we thought we treat him and get him a laptop. He already has a computer that he uses for gaming so this one is for him (and me a mature student starting uni in september) to do his college work on and browsing the internet.

Ive been looking at the samsung range. the r60 and the r700 and wondered if they were any good.

My ex girlfriend owns an r60. She owns a successful IT company and is one of the most knowledgeable IT people I know. She bought it because it was dual core and available in red.:p

It has been OK. But if he is going to be learning about programming and might want to try Linux, bear in mind that it was quite hard to set up Fedora on it.

If he likes tinkering with computers there's the Elonex One+ at £99, or £119, depending on which one he goes for. It's designed for children and has a ruggedised case and a special operating system. He could buy one of those, install a lightweight Linux like Puppy on it, and do whatever he likes with one. You need to be in full time education to get one though.

[barneyrubs]

I'ts stressing me out looking through all these laptops aswell, theres so many to choose from

can anyone tell me if this is any good?

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/603563

also any other suggestions would be appreciated

ideally i'm looking for 1Gig of ram and a decent memory

also will it vastly increase the price if it has dual core?

thanks in advance

edit: also i'm looking to spend around £400 if possible and wouldn't mind a refurbished one

[Capricorn One]

For £400 you could get a pretty good deal.

I was thinking of getting this one. Reconditioned, it's only £300.

http://www.reevoo.com/reviews/mpn/packard_bell/easynote_mx37_u_005

As mentioned previously PC World's website has lots of recon. laptops for sale.

[itsallaboutthemoney]

hi guys

at this point in time, i'm buying a laptop and the question i'm facing is:

VISTA or XP? quite the conundrum

any ideas?

[bandraoi]

Vista, it's not a conundrum anymore.

[Capricorn One]

Vista, it's not a conundrum anymore.

Whether people like Vista or XP is usually based on their experiences rather than one being better than the other. I happen to like XP and other than Microsoft de-supporting it, don't want to move to Vista.

One of the reasons we're sold the latest CPUs is just so we can run Vista "acceptably".

I've been using XP on a 6-year old desktop (Athlon 1.2 Ghz processor/1Mb RAM) and it runs great.
If I put Linux on it, it would probably be even quicker.

[bandraoi]

It's fair enough to continue to run XP if you have everything set up to run on it. If you buy a new pc which runs XP and start trying to set up itunes, firefox, word, excel etc. etc. you're causing alot of unnecessary hassle for yourself and XP will be fully obsolete before your machine is.

A dilemmna between a mac and a pc, or between linux and microsoft i can see, a dilemmna between a new machine with Vista or a new machine with XP doesn't exist.

[billionairelizzie]

ADVENT K4000 Refurbished Laptop


http://www.pcworld.co.uk/product/250/FO/808259.jpg</IMG>






Intel Celeron M Processor 530


<LI class=indentFeature>( 1.73GHz, 533MHz FSB, 1MB Cache)
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (http://javascript<b></b>:showEditorial('Genuine-Windows');)
2 GB Memory
120 GB Hard driveJust found this for £259.99, I was looking at it for my 14 year old son who needs it for internet, homework & playing games will it be any good, TIA..

this is the link if anyone else is interested http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1956350760.121460245 4@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccdladeehhildmdcflgceggdhhmdgmh.0&page=Product&sku=808259&category_oid=-28487&fm=undefined&sm=undefined&tm=undefined#productInformationSection

[gavilancomun]

It's fair enough to continue to run XP if you have everything set up to run on it. If you buy a new pc which runs XP and start trying to set up itunes, firefox, word, excel etc. etc. you're causing alot of unnecessary hassle for yourself and XP will be fully obsolete before your machine is.

Hi.

What specific problems with "itunes, firefox, word, excel" do you have on XP?

[Mr-Ebeneezer]

Asus EEEPC running Linux A mini laptop with a lot of go, great to use and non microsoft. £219 at Bennetts Electrical. Get the 4G with microphone & webcam, not the 2G surf. It can take XP but there's enough on it already not to bother. Once you get used to it, switch it to advanced desktop and its a different machine.

[darrelljon]

Hi.

What specific problems with "itunes, firefox, word, excel" do you have on XP?
Maybe the fact that they all use different installers from different sources, some need validation and some use different interfaces, unlike Linux where the vast majority of software can be apt-got and installed from a single server on the internet with little need for validation.

[flashnazia]

Why are Acer laptops so much cheaper? Are they rubbish or what?

[snowqueen555]

a hint to those who wanted to get the msi wind... pc world have the same laptop for sale under a different brand but by msi for only 279.99 for a 1.6 atom 1gb ram 80 gb 10 inch beauty, rrp for the msi is 350 when it comes out later this month

[snowqueen555]

other bargains. pc world refubished laptop.... core 2 duo processer and 2gb ram for 259.99.. i am akeptical about now good condition it is in but sounds good

[nikaso]

Thats a pretty good price for a core 2 duo processor and 2gb RAM though, usually £300 plus in my experience

[pepsi_max2k]

Geez, just spent 30 mins writing this lot out at HUKD, hit post, told me I wasn't logged in and lost the lot. So, their loss MSE's gain :)

Best PC World 17" lappy refurbs.
YAWJULY08 = 5% pcw, REFURB10 = dixons £10 off refurb lap, FREDEL149 = dixons free del til tonight.
Quidco 5% pcw til 11th, 3% dixons.

HP DV9702EA - £339.99 from dixons with codes (would be cheaper from pcw but they're currently not allowing purchases for it).
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/305728
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/en/ho/WF06b/321957-321957-3329744-64354-64354-3632106-3722400.html?jumpid=oc_R1002_UKENC-001_HP%20Pavilion%20dv9702ea%20Notebook%20PC&lang=en&cc=uk

Advent 9517 - £308.94 with codes.
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/854682
http://www.uniwill.com/products/value/l75ii/l75ii.php

Fujitsu-Siemens Li 1818 - £299.44 with codes.
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/868380
http://www.fujitsu-siemens.co.uk/home/products/notebooks/amilo_li_18xx.html


EDIT: FFS! just did it again here! ok well no stats then. i'm cursed with this post.

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Processors-Benchmarklist.2436.0.html

figure stats out yourselves as i'm destined never to get them down anywhere. fwiw HP - TL-60 + GMA 8400 GS, Advent T5250 + GMA X3100, Fuji T5300 + GMA 950 (and the only one stuck at 2 GB mem, others are 4GB expandable).

[snowqueen555]

pcworls refurbished have very good prices, but i cannot find any info about their warranties on these laptops etc so i would rather not buy them

[pepsi_max2k]

yeah i posted here about that yesterday :)

They all say "Includes standard manufacturers warranty" which for new ones is usually 12 months from manfacturers, though i don't know how this differs for refurbs (usually it's the same).

Most of them actually state this specifically in the list (eg the Fuji Li1818 says "THIS IS A REFURBISHED PRODUCT AND COMES WITH A FULL 12 MONTHS WARRANTY.". The ones that don't may just be lazy description writers. There's deffinately a lot of Advent ones that don't say this and these are DSGi's own brand laptops so I don't know if there's a connection there or not. Either way you've got at least the 7 day cooling off + a few weeks to ensure it's not faulty.

[Io07]

Hi
I'm looking for a new laptop; we already have a sony NR21 but DH uses it a lot after work and I've now been 'granted' £500 (!) to find myself a laptop!

I would like to buy a sony/HP; will need to be fast,email,surfing,watching movies (HD),wifi (& maybe bluetooth). a webcam would be great but not essential. oh dear, am I asking too much for £500??

I missed out on this deal from john lewis:
http://www.johnlewis.com/230472317/Product.aspx
HP DV6799, 15.4',T8100 core2duo 2.10gz,2 mb ram, 250 gb HDD, multi card reader, bluetooth - all for £499

then saw this on amazon:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-Dual-Core-Processor-Hard-drive-Accelerator/dp/B00131QZS6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1215336582&sr=1-1
Sony VAIO NR21 Notebook, Intel Pentium Dual-Core Processor T2330, 1.60GHz, 15.4" TFT, 2048MB Memory, 200GB Hard-drive, DVD±RW, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100, Vista Home Premium

Can someone help?? I'm really tempted by the sony only 'coz the HP is now OOS and I want to order soon!

Thanks!!!

[pepsi_max2k]

http://uk.insight.com/apps/productpresentation/index.php?product_id=HPYA05SUI
HP 6715b, AMD TL-62 2.1 GHz, 15.4" TFT, 2048MB Memory, 250GB Hard-drive, DVD±RW Lightscribe, Radeon X1250, Vista Home Premium

~£450 shipped but £30 cashback from HP and may be other codes / quidco available.

[georgemac]

I also just missed out on the John Lewis HP laptop deal, which was a cracker, especially with the 2 year gaurantee - the model has now been removed from the website.

http://www.johnlewis.com/230479200/Product.aspx this is the exact same laptop except this one has 3 gbytes or ram instead of 2 gytes - I am now hoping they reduce this one too!

[robtruscott]

just found this on Ebuyer

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/138095

280 smackers the only problem is it dont have 2Gb memory but i'm sure you can pick up another 1GB of memory cheap.

[batthink]

Why not a Asus Eee? http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=959&catid=1070

Or an MSI wind:
http://www.expansys.com/p.aspx?i=168086&partner=froogle

Or a Dell or Lenovo, not sure what the cheapest deal is but the build quality and reliability are worth the extra in the long run.

[batthink]

You said you want a laptop for HD movies, but the laptops you list do not have screens capable of full HD. Full HD is 1080 pixels (vertically). Just thought I'd mention it.

[Fortyfoot]

HP 530 Laptop Intel Celeron M 520 1x 1GB 120GB brightview 15.4" widescreen DVD±RW WLAN Vista Home Basic (Office 07 Ready *Trial) *FREE 1GB MEMORY (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/140709)*


I bought one of these a few months ago, it's great. Extra memory was easy to put in.

Fortyfoot

[patchwork cat]

My son has spilled a drink on his 3 year old laptop - Dell inspiron 6000, centrino, 1gb, 80mb hard. He is 15 and doing GCSE's and online gaming ( although this will reduce we hope!!). Ironically my contents with accidental damage insurance is due up in 4 days. We don't know whether to claim as excess is £100 and quote will increase by £100 if we lose 5 years claim free.

What price are we realistically talking for an non reconditioned one and where is the best deal - prob, dual core?Thankyou

What does everyone think of this http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Toshiba_Satellite_Pro_L300-12H_PSLB1E-00U015EN/version.asp

[pepsi_max2k]

Important news regarding cheap laptop hunting...

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/07/09/nvidia-g84-g86-bad

Nothing officially confirmed yet but apparently many / all G86 and G84 based graphics chips (eg. 8400M, 8600M) have a very high failure rate, so try to avoid for now.

HP are currently extending warranties to +2 years on many affected laptops:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&docname=c01300427#c01300427_dv94

The news only broke a couple days ago though so expect further updates, clarifications and possibly recalls later on.

Update: The Inq may be overreacting on the extent of the issue, but there's deffinately heat issues with the 8 series, and those HP models really should be avoided. I'd still stay away from 8xxx graphics until Nvidia confirm the extent of the problem.

[pepsi_max2k]

Neighbour's PC World (well, dixons, but only cos PCW refused to ship it :| ) refurb came today :) Just got back from setting it up for them, and would both add to the PC World complaints from here, and say it's a damn good deal if you can put the effort in.

1. From boot, vista post setup, reboot, bsod (UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_ERROR). WTF I say? 2 hours later and I figure it was a corrupted C partition, gawd knows how, and lucky for me HP include a simple util to both repartition and reinstall vista + drivers (which could save a week of work) which appears to have fixed the problem. Took a while getting there (tried Vista recovery environment first, no use but had a console which couldn't access C: due to crc errors) but anyway...

2. Visual defects are virtually nil (still had sticky plastic protective covering on the top). It's the right laptop (always a plus), it appears to look fine, pretty much appears functioning fine (no errors in device manager), even came with a remote control but I've had like 10 seconds on it at the vista desktop though so gawd knows if there's any other issues. but basically...

other than the slightly major issue at the start, it seems fine. Hopefully that's the one and only big issue with the thing. so, deals to be had from DSGi, just don't expect to not have to fix owt yourself at some point :)

[Io07]

I also just missed out on the John Lewis HP laptop deal, which was a cracker, especially with the 2 year gaurantee - the model has now been removed from the website.

http://www.johnlewis.com/230479200/Product.aspx this is the exact same laptop except this one has 3 gbytes or ram instead of 2 gytes - I am now hoping they reduce this one too!

Hi
just thought i'd let people know, I managed to get the DV6799 from John Lewis after all:j
I called my local store and tho' they didn't have any in stock they took my details down and ordered it in for me from some other store which had it!
Picked it up y'day; for £499 its amazing! and its not red (was praying it wouldn't be too girly!) its more of a deep mahogany brown!
waiting for it to charge, to set it all up!:T

[Flickering Ember]

Before I bought my laptop I asked around for recommendations and one guy I met who repairs them for a living said Toshiba is the one brand he has never had back. I got mine for £379 from John Lewis, with a £10 off voucher I found on here, bought through Quidco for another £22 something off. Works very well. The model is a Satellite something.

[rubia1409]

Why not a Asus Eee? http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=959&catid=1070

Or an MSI wind:
http://www.expansys.com/p.aspx?i=168086&partner=froogle

Or a Dell or Lenovo, not sure what the cheapest deal is but the build quality and reliability are worth the extra in the long run.

Is the Asus Eee really good? I know nothing about laptops, but want to buy one. I travel alot, and although I have a desk top at home I want a laptop to take with me for when I'm bored in a hotel room somewhere in the world. I want cheap and light weight, to be able to use Skype, access the internet and occasionally download work stuff. Would the Asus be good for that or would anyone recommend something else? Also, I don't understand all this 1Gb or 4Gb stuff! I think it's about the memory size?! What do I need to look for there? Thanks in advance.

[stamford]

Bigpockets Core duo 17" 2gb ram, 120gb hd 12 months refurb/as new £299

http://www.bigpockets.co.uk/product.php?lang=&product=GATEWAY011

[sysadmin]

Or an MSI wind:
http://www.expansys.com/p.aspx?i=168086&partner=froogle
.

Just to let you know the Advent 4211 from PCWorld is a re-badged MSI Wind and allot cheaper ;)

Link (http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1229650079.121612993 5@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccciadeeimehhemcflgceggdhhmdgmk.0&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null&sku=219404&category_oid=)

[Lilgurn]

Product description Pavilion DV6529EA
CPU / Processor Athlon-64 X2 TK53 1.7GHz
Hard Drive Size 120GB SATA
RAM / Memory Size 1024M DDR2
Optical Drive(s) DVD-RW
Video(s) Integrated
15.4" WXGA
Network LAN, Modem, WiFi
Audio / Sound Integrated
Additional information Remote Control, Card Reader,
Operating System Windows Vista Home Premium

This is currently on bigpockets (http://www.bigpockets.co.uk/product.php?nav=227&lang=&product=GRADEA226) for £444.99 (inc. VAT) and it has a 12 month refurbished warranty with HP

[stamford]

This is currently on bigpockets (http://www.bigpockets.co.uk/product.php?nav=227&lang=&product=GRADEA226) for £444.99 (inc. VAT) and it has a 12 month refurbished warranty with HP

Brand new Tosh

* Processor - AMD Athlon 64 X2 TK-55 / 1.8 GHz ( Dual-Core )
* RAM - 1 GB (installed) / 4 GB (max) - DDR II SDRAM - 667 MHz ( 2 x 512 MB )
* Hard Drive - 120 GB
* Operating System - Microsoft Windows Vista Business
* Screen - 15.4" TFT active matrix 1280 x 800 ( WXGA )
* Optical Drive - DVD±RW (±R DL) / DVD-RAM
* Warranty - 1 year warranty

£422.46 inc VAT £8 delivery

http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=20408&category_id=310&manufacturer_id=290&tid=psafhe-00t00een

[kat384]

Hi
just thought i'd let people know, I managed to get the DV6799 from John Lewis after all:j
I called my local store and tho' they didn't have any in stock they took my details down and ordered it in for me from some other store which had it!
Picked it up y'day; for £499 its amazing! and its not red (was praying it wouldn't be too girly!) its more of a deep mahogany brown!
waiting for it to charge, to set it all up!:T

Update: I just (Friday 18th July) did a little hunting for this laptop deal and found it in the Liverpool store. They have around 30 left and they deliver anywhere in the UK - it's a bargain!
The clearance event ends on sunday 20th so I'd be quick if you want it. It's not online anymore, you have to phone them, :D

[Treen]

I can't decide whether to go for the laptop in Martin's e-mail of last week
http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/347769...k/Product.html (http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/3477695/Acer-Aspire-5920-Core-2-Duo-T7300-2-0GHz-2GB-120GB-15-4-DVD-SM-Vista-Home-Premium-Laptop-Notebook/Product.html)
or go for the Dell as in the following link
http://www.dmxdimension.com/dell-uk/...ouchers-codes/ (http://www.dmxdimension.com/dell-uk/inspiron-1525-deals-vouchers-codes/)

Could anyone advise me which of the above computers is better. The Acer Aspire 5920 for £379.99 or the Dell 1525 for £399.

TIA

Treen


I posted the above message in the How much have you saved board and realised it would be better to post it here.

[JDPower]

I can't decide whether to go for the laptop in Martin's e-mail of last week
http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/347769...k/Product.html (http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/3477695/Acer-Aspire-5920-Core-2-Duo-T7300-2-0GHz-2GB-120GB-15-4-DVD-SM-Vista-Home-Premium-Laptop-Notebook/Product.html)
or go for the Dell as in the following link
http://www.dmxdimension.com/dell-uk/...ouchers-codes/ (http://www.dmxdimension.com/dell-uk/inspiron-1525-deals-vouchers-codes/)

Could anyone advise me which of the above computers is better. The Acer Aspire 5920 for £379.99 or the Dell 1525 for £399.
I would say the Acer just edges it - very similar but the Acer has a slightly better processor and as a bonus is the slightly cheaper of the two. The only thing the Dell has over it is the slightly bigger hard drive but unless your gonna be downloading bucket loads of music/films the hard drive in the Acer is plenty big enough ;)

[Jake'sGran]

I only want a basic laptop and therefore assume the ones listed on Big Pockets wouild do for me i.e. don't want gaming, music downloads etc; only do browsing, letters, email, forums and photos. To be honest I don't understand what a lot of the abbreciations mean in some of the descriptions.

Just wanted to tell you that in last Sunday's Times newspaper (Ingear section) they rated the Acer Aspire One @ £234.00 as great value and ultra
mobile BUT it runs Linux.

[Kelloggs]

Hey,

Ive had a little browse of the thread but cant seem to find an answer...

Basically Im looking to buy a laptop within the next few months. I have an HP Pavillion desktop PC which has great specs and Im hoping to get something similar in a laptop.

The specs Im looking for are at least 2ghz processor, 2gb RAM, 160gb+ HDD and a decent graphics card would be great as I do play alot of gaming (CounterStrike and COD4). Ive browsed the usual places...(PC World, Currys and even a site id ever buy off - dell) but nothing ive seen has taken my fancy.

My question is, can anyone recommend some good sites to buy from. My price range is within £350-£500.

Cheers

[anewhope]

Is there any reason you particulary want a laptop, because for gaming they are quite limited

[Kelloggs]

Well theres no particular reason, what id like is to be able to move around and be able to take the laptop around with me (work or even out in the garden to do some work while we have some nice weather...)

To be honest as long as its got the speed and memory as I mentioned above id be happy...

[stephenc87]

I originally posted in the sub £300 laptops discussion but think these questions should be here... Sorry for double posting.


Quote:
Originally Posted by simonwien http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/images/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=12342487#post12342487)
I got aFujitsu Siemens V5515 Esprimo Mobile Laptop from ebay it is refurbished but seems new I got it from the company Buyista
Here is the spec:

Processor - Intel Pentium Dual Core T2130 / 1.86 GHz ( Dual-Core )
RAM - 2 GB (installed) / 2 GB (max) - DDR II SDRAM - 667 MHz ( 2 x 1 GB )
Hard Drive - 160 GB - Serial ATA-150 - 5400 rpm
Operating System - Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic
Screen - 15.4" TFT active matrix 1280 x 800 ( WXGA )
Optical Drive - DVD±RW (+R double layer) / DVD-RAM - integrated
Graphics - SiS Mirage 3+It cost me £233.50 including postage. Its got Windows Vista and has a year Warranty.
I'm very pleased with it I have had it since mid May
Simon


This seems to be the best deal around?

I'm still struggling to decide what to do about a laptop so hoping for some advice here.

It would only really be for using the internet and printing off notes and powerpoints for uni, with some RTS gaming, like Sins of a Solar Empire or a TotalWar game. Nothing major I would say.

I was considering getting a Macbook since I've heard they are meant to be great and I get the discount through my uni, but they are still quite expensive and I'm not sure if its worth it for what I need. I don't know very much about computers so would feel like I was being taken advantage of if I went to a shop but would prefer to maybe get one made at a small computer shop. Would this end up being more expensive than the above deal? I don't know if the graphics are up to spec for these games either :( I wouldn't know what kind of processor, graphics card, screen resolution, hard drive speed etc I would need. Don't want to make a mistake and go for something when I could get something better for cheaper. But thats life I suppose...

Any advice would be appreciated :)

[Marshall_Mellow]

Hi
Can anyone help? I'm looking to get a laptop for someone as a present. After a couple of days looking, these are the best I could find for my budget...which was initially £300 and is now £350. I would appreciate any help if someone can tell me which is the best option.
http://www.dabs.com/ProductView.aspx?Quicklinx=4YJV
http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?quicklinx=54WL
3rd was a Dell Vostro 1510
Intel C2D t5670 1.8Mhz
2GB Ram 667Mhz
160GB (5400rpm) HD
etc...

What do you think?

[robroy]

Hi.

I was recentlly burgled and have been given vouchers by my insurer to replace my Laptop from Comet/Currys.

I would be grateful if anyone could advise whether they feel any others up to £500 are much better......not keen on Acers.

Thanks

http://www.comet.co.uk/shopcomet/product/462802/SONY-VGNNR32M-S?cm_sp=FeatureEnd-_-Laptops-_-position2

[gimme4free1]

I voted Sony but I think I made the wrong decision!!!!

Ive currently got a Sony Vaio, Ive had it for 3 years and this year the fan is exceptionally noisy. I have phoned Sony and they have offered £400 for an exchange. This doesn't seem very good to me as Im sure its just dust in the fan but I cant find a guide on the model that I have got to opening it up.

Also Sony customer support is terrible, you spend at least 20 minutes on hold, I made 3 phone calls, one of them 20 mins on hold, second 40 mins on hold and third 55 mins on hold and then a further 15 mins on hold while the guy got his manager and I was only to be told after these 3 phone calls (3 hours) that I could only get an exchange for £400 and I managed to call the 0845 number :(

[jaydeeuk1]

I think this is a great laptop for someone who likes a bit of gaming, and has some HD-DVDs lying around.

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/asp/versions.asp?rewrite=Acer_Aspire_5920G-302G25Hi_Laptop_LX.AN60X.041&pagetype=version&page=
(http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/asp/versions.asp?rewrite=Acer_Aspire_5920G-302G25Hi_Laptop_LX.AN60X.041&pagetype=version&page=)
Processor - Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 / 2 GHz ( Dual-Core )
RAM - 2 GB (installed) / 4 GB (max) - DDR II SDRAM ( 2 x 1 GB )
- Please call 0870 167 0818 for double memory offer
Hard Drive - 250 GB - Serial ATA-150 - 5400 rpm
Operating System - Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
Screen - 15.4' TFT active matrix 1280 x 800 ( WXGA ) - 24-bit (16.7 million colours)
Optical Drive - HD DVD-ROM - integrated
Graphics - NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS - 256 MB
Bluetooth - No
Notebook Camera - Integrated - 0.3 Megapixel
Warranty - 1 year warranty£479!!!

[peahenrose]

The Acer Aspire 5920 is now no longer available from Play (just had an email from their customer services confirming this) but I have ordered a refurbished one from Dixons at £329.99 and I found a code for £10 off this (code is REFURB10 which expires either on 30th or 31st July, can't remember which). Also 3% cashback from Dixons with Quidco. (but have to pay £4.95 for delivery.) Hoping the refurbished one will be OK, just waiting for it to arrive!

[TiTheRev]

Why is Apple not offered as an option of 'best brand of laptop'?! ;)

[anewhope]

Why is Apple not offered as an option of 'best brand of laptop'?! ;)

Because this is for cheap laptops?

[windowwindow]

Hi,

I’m on the lookout to buy a cheap, small and cute laptop over the next few weeks! Will stretch to £470 for the right deal, £400 would be great better for the budget though.

I will use it for photo and music storage, internet browsing and a bit word processing. Main thing is surfing though. Would like decent ram on it.

I am fine with a 13-14” screen, and would like it to be lighter than 2.5kg.

I also want it to be a pretty one! I love the shiny covered HPs and Toshibas.

Any suggestions? Am I asking for too much!!

[a7man]

Samsung R60+, looks amazing for the price...spend a bit extra and upgrade to 2GB RAM.

www.ebuyer.com (http://www.ebuyer.com)

[reennaa]

Acer Aspire 2920 T5450 2GB 12.1" Laptop


Catalogue number: 203-5847
[/URL] [URL="http://direct.tesco.com/product/images/?R=203-5847"]http://direct.tesco.com/direct/i/b/enlargeImageWhiteBg.gif (http://direct.tesco.com/product/images/?R=203-5847)


£399.00is this a good laptop please.
It has been reduced in Tesco but i just wondered if you are better buying one with a good reduction or not.
is it reduced because it is not a good seller or an older model.?????

I always like to buy more expensive things in sales but with a good discount rather than a cheaper version.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

[hethmar]

Ive never heard anything good about Acers. For years I bought MESH computers thinking they must be the best - they have all those awards! The last one was an absolute nightmare, wrong from day 1 and spent weeks and weeks at the factory being repaired only to return with extra faults. Even though it was still under another 3 years warranty, I gave up on it. The service people were useless, often Id take days constantly ringing on a premium number to try to get help.

I then looked at Dell - Id been a bit of a puter snob and assumed they werent up to much. When it arrived, no speakers. I rang them, they apologised and said I hadnt ordered them - oh, I hadnt :( but seeing as they should have queried that when I ordered, please accept speakers free of charge :) Three weeks later, oh dear, blue screening. I rang service, got answered in a couple of minutes and got sincere apologies for the delay . The chap spoke good English, asked me to check some stuff out and I said I still wasnt happy - so a new puter was sent in 5 days. They also included all the accessories and when I rang said keep them as spares.

They have been brilliant - I recently rung again after a dreaded MS download which stopped my puter opening. Free of charge phone call, 15 minutes later, all sorted, puter back to normal. So far I am very happy with Dell.

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/notebooks?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=mn&dgc=AF&cid=5212&lid=122756 (http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/notebooks?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs&%7Eck=mn&dgc=AF&cid=5212&lid=122756)

[Lady_K]

Why do you think sony and toshiba are the most preferred laptops to buy on this thread poll? I've never really considered either of them especially toshiba I thought they were one of the worst. Also why arent dell in the poll?

[Rabiddog]

People dont Like DELL becuase they use non-standard parts. If anything breaks or falls off you have to buy the replacement from DELL. Thats for their desktop machines, I quite like ACER desktop and would hope their laptop's are just as good. But they are all made to a price point, and none are really robust (except TOUGHBOOK and army models)

[iviv]

Agreed, I would avoid buying a Dell desktop as I like to upgrade and poke around inside, plus the locked BIOS is annoying (No overclocking). But for a laptop, you aren't going to be doing any of those things anyway. Plus they are a very large company, so they can take advantage of the economies of scale to buy everything for massive discounts. I've had a Latitude D800 for 3 years now. Its dated, but held up extremely well considering how I've treated it. Lots of scuff marks, and I did manage to kill the DVD drive, but other than that its been great.

[bread of heaven]

http://img.moneysavingexpert.com/rating/rating_0.gif





http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/images/icons/icon5.gif I wanna Laptop for 10Yr Old - ADVICE PLEASE
Hi, want to go out and get my son new laptop today, approx up to £700, approx. 15 inch scrren with the crystalbrite, wireless and webcam. This is all i know he def will require, the rest confuses me!! :confused:

Please can anyone advise to which is best pentium etc. He likes to play the sims and rollercoater tycoon type games, so would need graphics that are suitable for that.

I have tried looking on tesco.com are they are offering double points at moment, but don't really understand the gb's, rams and graphics. Saw this one - HP Pavillion tx2530 ZM-80 2GB 12.1" Laptop. Anyone recommend one from there or anywhere else. Thanks in advance:j

[mp80]

I bought a Dell Vostro about 5 months ago when the new Intel Penryn chips were coming in and they were selling off the old chips. Plus they had a special offer on which was £100 off and also free delivery.

I paid £528 inc VAT for an Intel Centrino Dual Core 2.5Ghz, 4GB RAM, 320 GB HD, 8400 GS Graphics , 1440x900 screen, and N-WiFi card.

The same system costs about £200 more today, so I think I got a bargain :)

[boobbby]

People dont Like DELL becuase they use non-standard parts. If anything breaks or falls off you have to buy the replacement from DELL. Thats for their desktop machines, I quite like ACER desktop and would hope their laptop's are just as good. But they are all made to a price point, and none are really robust (except TOUGHBOOK and army models)

What Dell parts are we talking about?..It is easy to change the graphic card, add memory or change the Cd/dvd player most people dont want to change the motherboard or case?

[boobbby]

http://img.moneysavingexpert.com/rating/rating_0.gif





http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/images/icons/icon5.gif I wanna Laptop for 10Yr Old - ADVICE PLEASE
Hi, want to go out and get my son new laptop today, approx up to £700, approx. 15 inch scrren with the crystalbrite, wireless and webcam. This is all i know he def will require, the rest confuses me!! :confused:

Please can anyone advise to which is best pentium etc. He likes to play the sims and rollercoater tycoon type games, so would need graphics that are suitable for that.

I have tried looking on tesco.com are they are offering double points at moment, but don't really understand the gb's, rams and graphics. Saw this one - HP Pavillion tx2530 ZM-80 2GB 12.1" Laptop. Anyone recommend one from there or anywhere else. Thanks in advance:j

Try amazon.co.uk and you can get a decent new laptop for less than £500. Make sure it has at least 2GB RAM, a seperate graphics card and a dual core processor and you wont go far wrong.

[The_Chappers]

You can get some great deals at www.ebuyer.com. I have used them for memory cards and other bits and have always been happy with the service. Most products have reviews from customers so you can get a real idea of how good or bad the item is.

Steve

[Fortyfoot]

Intel Pentium Dual Core T2330 1.6GHz, 15.4" TFT, 2GB RAM, 80GB Hard-drive, DVD±RW, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100, WiFi, Vista Home Premium

AMAZON (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acer-Aspire-5715Z-Hard-drive-Accelerator/dp/B0010X74AU/ref=pd_ts_zbw_ce_14014431_1_i?pf_rd_p=178249991&pf_rd_s=right-5&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=405287011&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=0SZGW5CRZ1S2GTMWDXQ5)

Fortyfoot

[boobbby]

Intel Pentium Dual Core T2330 1.6GHz, 15.4" TFT, 2GB RAM, 80GB Hard-drive, DVD±RW, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100, WiFi, Vista Home Premium

AMAZON (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acer-Aspire-5715Z-Hard-drive-Accelerator/dp/B0010X74AU/ref=pd_ts_zbw_ce_14014431_1_i?pf_rd_p=178249991&pf_rd_s=right-5&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=405287011&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=0SZGW5CRZ1S2GTMWDXQ5)

Fortyfoot

I bought one of these a couple of months ago..good value. One thing I did notice is that the price keeps changing between £279 and £329

Bob

[snowqueen555]

a good price for what you get, play.com has the same thing with core 2 duo for about £30-£50 more.

not sure about the actual acer brand though

[Sindy]

I'm looking at buying a Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop but wanted to know which is the best processor - Intel Pentium dual core or Intel Celeron dual core?

Also if anyone has this laptop and has any comments , please let me know.

Thanks in advance for any advice

:confused:

[boobbby]

I'm looking at buying a Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop but wanted to know which is the best processor - Intel Pentium dual core or Intel Celeron dual core?

Also if anyone has this laptop and has any comments , please let me know.

Thanks in advance for any advice

:confused:

http://www.build-gaming-computers.com/pentium-vs-celeron.html

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

Llist in order of performance
Core 2 Duo
Core Duo
Pentium M (for mobile, specifically for laptops)
Pentium D (for dual core)
Pentium 4
Celeron D
Celeron

Bob

[j-sto]

am looking to buy a cheap laptop mainly for internet use, with a bit of iplayer, microsoft office use aswell, and was likely to buy the £300 acer laptop on amazon / play etc.

what advantages would be £330 acer machine (with core 2 duo) on play.com have over the cheaper model?

won't be playing games or anything like that much so i don't see the extra £30 being worth it, unless anyone would beg to differ?!

many thanks in advance!

jonny

[snowqueen555]

any processer is fine for that, I would concentrate more on what kidn of laptop you are looking for in terms of battery life, size etc.

core 2 duo is indeed the best processer around, but its overkill for internet browsing and basic home use

[hunnybugs1]

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.203-1098.aspx

Hi all
Is this a decent enough laptop for the price? Just decided to update my computer which is 6 years old and decided to go for a laptop for taking up less space. It would mainly be used for the internet and to play games.

[boobbby]

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.203-1098.aspx

Hi all
Is this a decent enough laptop for the price? Just decided to update my computer which is 6 years old and decided to go for a laptop for taking up less space. It would mainly be used for the internet and to play games.

Its okay !! same as the laptops above at a lower price. When you buy a computer you have to decide which games you want to use it for. With lower spec games you will probably get away with this or similar type computers but if you want it to be able to play the latest games at high definition then you will need a computer with a separate graphics card which cost a lot more. You get what you pay for !!
Bob

[JDPower]

but if you want it to be able to play the latest games at high definition then you will need a computer with a separate graphics card which cost a lot more.That one has got a separate graphics card according to the description.

Personally I think it's a pretty decent laptop for the money.

[shebanjoed]

I've read thro the advice on cheap laptops and I'm getting more confused as I go on - have no technical savvy whatsoever.

For £300 I'm looking to download music, burn cds, surf internet, do a bit of word processing.

Is there any difference in buying a laptop and a pc monitor package (seem to be same price) apart from space saving and the fact you can take your laptop with you?

Thanks. :confused:

[techtitch]

Don't forget to order through quidco.com to get a further 4% or 5% off Dell prices. I'm looking at getting a Vostro 1510 for about £385 inc VAT and delivery and an upgrade to Windows XP. I'd highly recommend installing XP instead of Vista unless you are buying a very high spec system.

[techtitch]

shebanjoed - generally you get a better spec for the same money if you buy a desktop, and it is easier and cheaper to upgrade later on.

[boobbby]

Proviso! I'm not up to speed with PC laptops because I use Macs, myself, so please forgive me if this one is not a winner but it looks pretty good to my untutored eye:

http://www.dabs.com/ProductView.aspx?Quicklinx=5489#description

Core 2 Duo with 2 GB of RAM. Only 1.6 GHz but with a Core 2 Duo that's enough grunt to do simple things (it's the same as a MacBook Air!) and it's a penny less than £280. Which is very cheap.

I came across it in a weekly bulletin DABS sends me and thought I'd post it here in case it would assist anyone who's strapped for cash.

Hope it's helpful to somebody. :)

PC techies on here will no doubt advise whether it's good. :cool:


PS. It comes with free shipping (at least until 31 August) and you can get a 2% cashback if you buy it through Quidco. :money:


Seems good specs at first glance although I wondered why it only had 1 GB RAM. The reson was because it only had Vista basic installed and if you are going to get a Vista computer then make sure it has a least the Vista Home edition with 2Gb RAM. Although I have an XP computer all my family use Vista computers and have never had any problems with them !!
BB

[boobbby]

Whoops: my bad. Indeed it does have only 1 GB of RAM. Sorry. :o I've edited that.

Still, it wouldn't cost much to up it to 2 GB.

As for the Windows OS, I don't know enough about the various versions. Might be better to put XP on it anyway, if it has a modest spec?

Thought it might help somebody. Particularly if they've got a broken laptop and could just swap the hard drives (and maybe the RAM).

Thanks for giving the PC input on this. :)

I am not trying to be clever but swapping hard drives to a new computer is not that straight forward ! Whilst it is possible to put a new hard drive into an existing computer and providing you have a backup disk image on an external hard drive you can restore the image including the windows system. It is much more complicated to move the hard drive from one computer to another as each computer requires different setup requirements, using different drivers,hardware etc. Windows would also detect the move and require activation.

[boobbby]

This is a better core 2 duo for a cheap price.
Its a better core 2 duo processor too. 667 FSB rather than the one above whis is 553.

Gateway MT6917b Laptop
Core 2 Duo T5250 1.5GHz,
2GB RAM,
250GB HDD,
DVDRW,
Vista Home Premium
Wireless
Bluetooth
Card reader
webcam
.. etc

http://www.bigpockets.co.uk/product.php?product=gateway013&product_id=&nav=&next_limit=0&next_price=299.99

For the money it does seem to be the best bet. I also like the idea of the free delivery when you order something else from the site. I wonder if anybody will find better value !

[snowqueen555]

specwise that is very good for a new laptop,but we should all know that you cant judge a laptop just on spec, and the brand is an unknown for me, and i can't find any reviews online for it.

also noticed its sold 'as new' which is different to a new product...

pcworld refurbished website sells core 2 duo 12 inch laptops for about £280 but reviews online have found that they have a motherboard fault that makes them shut off randomly

[Jon 01]

There's a review here. . .
http://www.techradar.com/products/computing/laptops-portable-pcs/laptops/gateway-mt6917b-245202/review

Price has just gone to £324.95 but with free del...

[snowqueen555]

like i said, it is a second hand product, it isn't new. in that case it isn't exactly the best offer, and i think its important to always read consumer reviews rather then from websites that have a vested interest in giving good reviews i.e. the company will send them that laptop to review it.

i found good reviews for advent laptops but they said nothing about the hundreds of complaints about a faulty motherboard making the laptop switch off randomly!

companies will send a laptop protoype to a website to review, this laptop is often not the final spec, or typically the same as what the mass market will recieve.

[boobbby]

I have to agree with snowqueen555 and her "as new" spot. Also seems to have the best value laptop on the 2072 entry (Acer Aspire 5720)so unless anybody sees a better buy, then that is the one I would go for !!

[danielinfo]

Hi,

I am looking for a replacement laptop because mine has broken! I am a student so i need the cheapest possible. I dont really want to pay more than £300. I want a laptop that i can use the internet on as well as Microsoft Office.

I saw the Acer on amazon for £299.99 and wondered if there are any similar laptops that are cheaper out there?

Many Thanks,

Daniel

[snowqueen555]

Hi, I htink plenty have been posted or linked on here.. Check out play.com, dabs, ebuyer, those kind of places if you aren't looking for anything for graphics then any laptop is good, but with 300 you could get a 2 gig ram core 2 duo from many places

I am shopping right now for one too, but won't buy until i clear off my debt... I think some places offer a buy now pay later scheme with no interest... I wonderif anyone has used these, and whether it is good?

[Minxz]

I have seen this, and with the 3 year warranty 9 idea for 3 years at Uni!) wondered how this compared with other laptops of similar price?
http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5315_Gemstone_Laptop_with_ACER_Extende d_Warranty_-_3_Yrs_Collec/version.asp
or do you think this would be a better choice?
I'm tempted by the 3 yr warranty.. but have never bought a laptop before. i need to buy 2.. as have 2 sons starting Uni soon.
Thank you!

[Cat695]

I have seen this, and with the 3 year warranty 9 idea for 3 years at Uni!) wondered how this compared with other laptops of similar price?
http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5315_Gemstone_Laptop_with_ACER_Extende d_Warranty_-_3_Yrs_Collec/version.asp
or do you think this would be a better choice?
I'm tempted by the 3 yr warranty.. but have never bought a laptop before. i need to buy 2.. as have 2 sons starting Uni soon.
Thank you!

you can get cheaper....those specs aren't very good for the money i'm guessing your paying for the warranty

even the ones in lidl or tescos are better specs than that.....

[PeteHerts]

http://direct.tesco.com/pi/Enlarge/5/AW08204-9855TPS350735.jpg

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.204-9855.aspx

Battery LifeUp to 2 hours depending on usageBluetoothNoBox Contents1 x Laptop, 1 x power cord and adaptorBrandFujitsu SiemensBuilt-in WebcamNoFeatures of Product15.4 inch Widescreen display with brilliantview technology for sharper contrast and crisper images while watching your DVD movies. Built in b/g wireless LAN with speeds up to 54 mbps allowing faster connection to the internet and greater data transfer rates. Huge 160GB hard drive and 3072 MB memory for fast storage of all your data files, photos and music. Multi format DVD burner with double layer support allows you enjoy your films and music on the move and back up all your important files to CD or DVD. The genuine microsoft windows vista home premium operating system, microsoft works and office trial, together with an internet security suite gives you an excellent software package to get you started with your notebookFinger Print ReaderNoFirewireNoGraphics SharedIntel® graphics media accelerator X3100 with up to 358MB shared video memoryHard Drive Size160GBHard Drive Type2.5 inch 5400rpm SATALaptop ColourBlackMemory SizeSO-Dimm DDR2Memory Type3GBNumber of USB Ports4x USB 2.0Operating SystemWindows Vista™ Home PremiumOptical DriveDVD Dual Layer RewriterOptical Drive Bluray CompatibleNoOptical Drive HD CompatibleNoOptical Drive Lightscribe CompatibleNoOutputVGAProcessorIntel Core 2 DuoProcessor Bus667 MHzProcessor Cache2 MBProcessor Model NumberT5750Processor Speed2.0GHzProduct Depth26 cmProduct Height3.4 cmProduct Width35.5 cmRemote Control IncludedNoScreen Size15.4"Screen TypeWXGA brilliantview widescreenSoftware LoadVista home premium, microsoft works, microsoft office home and student (60 day trial), internet security suite with free updates for 90 days, DVD burning and playing SWUser Model EntertainmentYesWi-FiIntegrated 802.11 b/gWired Networking PortYes

[boobbby]

When customers buy


http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41MRo3skm8L._SL110_.jpg (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000HCZ8EO/ref=s9sdps_c3_img1-3095_p-rfc_p?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1KSQ735HHRQ7K52DZSFY&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=210507991&pf_rd_i=468294)
Microsoft Office 2007 Home and... (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000HCZ8EO/ref=s9sdps_c3_at1-3095_p-rfc_p?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1KSQ735HHRQ7K52DZSFY&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=210507991&pf_rd_i=468294) by Microsoft
£119.99 £69.98


From Amazon and licensed for 3 users so less than £25 each !!

[Minxz]

I have seen this, and with the 3 year warranty 9 idea for 3 years at Uni!) wondered how this compared with other laptops of similar price?
http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5315_Gemstone_Laptop_with_ACER_Extende d_Warranty_-_3_Yrs_Collec/version.asp
or do you think this would be a better choice?

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.204-4105.aspx

I'm tempted by the 3 yr warranty.. but have never bought a laptop before. i need to buy 2.. as have 2 sons starting Uni soon.
Thank you!

[Minxz]

you can get cheaper....those specs aren't very good for the money i'm guessing your paying for the warranty

even the ones in lidl or tescos are better specs than that.....
thank you :)
I shall keep on looking :)

[boobbby]

I have seen this, and with the 3 year warranty 9 idea for 3 years at Uni!) wondered how this compared with other laptops of similar price?
http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5315_Gemstone_Laptop_with_ACER_Extende d_Warranty_-_3_Yrs_Collec/version.asp
or do you think this would be a better choice?

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.204-4105.aspx

I'm tempted by the 3 yr warranty.. but have never bought a laptop before. i need to buy 2.. as have 2 sons starting Uni soon.
Thank you!

Dont get the Vista basic version (both the above have this) make sure if you get a Vista computer it has a least 2GB RAM

[whiterose11]

I found a laptop that i liked and the boyfriend said was good (dont understand much of the techie stuff lol) at this site

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Asus_...9C/version.asp (http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Asus_X50N-AP179C__Notebook_-_AMD_1.6GHz_-_2GB_-_120GB_HD_X50N-AP179C/version.asp)

330 + 10 delivery

typed the name into google to see if i could get it cheaper anywhere else and found this site

http://www.simplyasus.com/ASUS_X50N-AP179C_410225.html

310 and free delivery. the only thing im confused about is that the first one says dual core which the boyfriend says i need, whereas the other one doesnt say dual core. they have the same name its just the dual thing. if somebody could help me out and tell me if they are the same thing i would appreciate it a lot, as 30 is quite a saving for a new student money saver :)
thanks

[favelll]

I bought a laptop from simplyhp this last week.

Slight problem with ordering as I never got any emails, it seems that free emails don't like their addresses, mine isn't a free one and I tried changing to a number of different ones to see, still no joy. :confused:

I ordered the laptop Thursday and waited in expectantly Friday morning as it was next day delivery, kept checking progress online, just showing ready for posting. I rang up and after a number of calls where I was first in the queue till it cut me off I got through to a surly bloke who said because I'd had extra memory it wouldn't be arriving till Monday and he'd email me. It didn't arrive. :confused:

I was rather concerned but after taking another day off work I recieved my large box with a perfectly working, very pretty laptop and am now an extremly happy bunny.:j

If you are considering buying from this company I'd suggest checking the email thing first, other than that I'd say go for it

[susanann]

I have a budget of between £200 and £300. I need a laptop for internet, word processing, music downloading, msn, e-mail and maybe some very basic free games on the internet. Its for the kids starting GCSE's etc. I have been told to go for 2GB because vista needs a lot. There are so many out there different processors etc any idea on which one is best

[boobbby]

I have a budget of between £200 and £300. I need a laptop for internet, word processing, music downloading, msn, e-mail and maybe some very basic free games on the internet. Its for the kids starting GCSE's etc. I have been told to go for 2GB because vista needs a lot. There are so many out there different processors etc any idea on which one is best

Lots of suggestions on previous posts !!

[dwsjarcmcd]

Hi,
Looking for a 'smaller' laptop to take abroad/trains etc and saw this with £150 off. Use would be primarily iternet browsing, bit of word/excell etc. Good buy/price?

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.203-5847.aspx

David

[boobbby]

Hi,
Looking for a 'smaller' laptop to take abroad/trains etc and saw this with £150 off. Use would be primarily iternet browsing, bit of word/excell etc. Good buy/price?

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.203-5847.aspx

David

Computeractive has given 5 stars to the new acer aspire one A110L which costs just £235 but only has the Linux system or for those wanting XP home then they recommend the Advent 4211 at £280 and also given 5 stars. Both are mini laptops.

[snowqueen555]

the advent 4211 is a cheaper msi, but the battery is a 2200 rather then a 5000+mah.. This means that the laptop itseil will barely last 2 hours, which makes the 'portable' aspect of the laptop very poor.

the aspire one is fairly smaller, harder to type, and the cheaper version running linux was quite slow when i tried using it... The 4211 seemed to run everything fine...

Pc world and toys r us ar where you want to go if you wanna try out

eee 701
eee 900
eee 901
eee 1000h
Adevnt 4211
Aspire 1

In terms of size, I found all the machines hard to write with, bar the 10 inch laptops, the eee 1000 and the advent 4211

--

Bobby those specs look good, but I'd check user reviwes before even contemplating buying a laptop

I've done so much reading that I can't seem to find the right laptop for myself, but I think wait it out nearer christmas and there will be some bargains to be had

[Lavender13]

Anyone have advice re laptop for DS who is about to start A Levels, so would need it for coursework:A, but would also like to use the internet and play pc games smoothly even if the graphics aren't top notch. He would consider a desktop. Budget £600. Any tips about model/specs/etc would be greatly received.

TIA:j

[Gorskino10]

Anyone have advice re laptop for DS who is about to start A Levels, so would need it for coursework:A, but would also like to use the internet and play pc games smoothly even if the graphics aren't top notch. He would consider a desktop. Budget £600. Any tips about model/specs/etc would be greatly received.

TIA:j
I know LOTS about this so hopefully this will be handy for you. A Levels are what i have just finished but my course was very PC based so it all depends on programs he may need. Like i do photo manipulation,3d work, 2d animation and stuff so if he will do this then get good speed i would recommend 3gib ram memory this will be needed if he wants to play games, Hard Drive is not key but it is quite cheap so maybe 500Gb would be a great amount. Also with games is a good Graphics Card. the thing with these are that they change alot in MONTHS, like i started a list for my spec a few months latter my card was upgraded alot of times. but dont panic you can always upgrade these so getting a Nvidia is my fave make but AMD are very good too (you may understand these 2 are like Nike And Adidas Some kids like Nike more Some prefer Adidas) As i could go crazy with spec and get one for about 1 Thousand Pounds i would show you to this link,
http://forums.purepwnage.com/index.php?showtopic=78446 (http://http://forums.purepwnage.com/index.php?showtopic=78446)
this is a forum like this with a spec for intended budget (sorry its in American but there same price range over here) this will help you alot :)

Another plan is look at a Game he has stated he like (Example of games that are very hi teck, Call of Duty 4 and Crysis)
look on the box and it will say there recommended spec for a computer to run this game. but i would say Laptops are not the way to go for GAMING if he just wants to browse internet then thats fine but for GAMING its NOOO.
But if you are looking for JUST a laptop check out the Acer range and in particular the one at PCWORLD thats 399 Pounds that would do a great job for what your looking for.

[Gorskino10]

I have a budget of between £200 and £300. I need a laptop for internet, word processing, music downloading, msn, e-mail and maybe some very basic free games on the internet. Its for the kids starting GCSE's etc. I have been told to go for 2GB because vista needs a lot. There are so many out there different processors etc any idea on which one is best
(Sorry i know this is double post :A)

Ok well for that low budget i would say the BEST you can get is a Acer, They have a great customer support and there build quality us remarkable. check out PC World they have a few thats cheap in the Acer Range although i HATE big shops like these they have Better deals than some websites.
But with 2Gb its in that middle of kinda slow so to help your PC/Laptop DO NOT install Vista and run on XP as there is still lots of programs not compatible with that yet and XP used less of your SPEED.
But apart from that any Laptop with 2GB Memory and around 2Ghz with enough HD to store your music etc.. at moment i couldnt find an Acer but when your spending that little you can get a Laptop which is made poorly at would last months, Looking for a Referbished model would lower its price.

[snowqueen555]

i would agre witht he xp comment... vista is bloated, and purposely so. They want people to buy more expensive, more powerful OS, but the xp system do can pretty much the same, and you can download extra bits to keep xp working for th enext few years to come!

[Lavender13]

I know LOTS about this so hopefully this will be handy for you. A Levels are what i have just finished but my course was very PC based so it all depends on programs he may need. Like i do photo manipulation,3d work, 2d animation and stuff so if he will do this then get good speed i would recommend 3gib ram memory this will be needed if he wants to play games, Hard Drive is not key but it is quite cheap so maybe 500Gb would be a great amount. Also with games is a good Graphics Card. the thing with these are that they change alot in MONTHS, like i started a list for my spec a few months latter my card was upgraded alot of times. but dont panic you can always upgrade these so getting a Nvidia is my fave make but AMD are very good too (you may understand these 2 are like Nike And Adidas Some kids like Nike more Some prefer Adidas) As i could go crazy with spec and get one for about 1 Thousand Pounds i would show you to this link,
http://forums.purepwnage.com/index.php?showtopic=78446 (http://http://forums.purepwnage.com/index.php?showtopic=78446)
this is a forum like this with a spec for intended budget (sorry its in American but there same price range over here) this will help you alot :)

Another plan is look at a Game he has stated he like (Example of games that are very hi teck, Call of Duty 4 and Crysis)
look on the box and it will say there recommended spec for a computer to run this game. but i would say Laptops are not the way to go for GAMING if he just wants to browse internet then thats fine but for GAMING its NOOO.
But if you are looking for JUST a laptop check out the Acer range and in particular the one at PCWORLD thats 399 Pounds that would do a great job for what your looking for.

That helps alot, thanks. Re A levels he is doing History,Geog, Politics and English so not sure what programmes he will need ( we have microsoft office, student and teacher edition already). The info re ram memory really helps, am I right in thinking a Duo 2 core is best?

TIA

[Igol]

the only thing im confused about is that the first one says dual core which the boyfriend says i need, whereas the other one doesnt say dual core. they have the same name its just the dual thing. if somebody could help me out and tell me if they are the same thing i would appreciate it a lot, as 30 is quite a saving for a new student money saver :)
thanks[/quote]

In a nutshell a single core chip pretends that its doing 2 things at once. Using the internet and digitising your record collection for example. It just manages its time well so you dont notice that its not actually capable of doing that.

Nowt wrong with that its what we've all had for years.

Dual core chips and now quad core actually can do 2 things at once so they're quicker at processing and switching between the net, photo-editing software and wordprocessing package will be a lot smoother.

If your not going to be using 2 big processor time hungry programmes at the same time and dont feel that you need to be at the cutting edge, single core will do the job fine.

[JDPower]

I found a laptop that i liked and the boyfriend said was good (dont understand much of the techie stuff lol) at this site

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Asus_...9C/version.asp (http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Asus_X50N-AP179C__Notebook_-_AMD_1.6GHz_-_2GB_-_120GB_HD_X50N-AP179C/version.asp)

330 + 10 delivery

typed the name into google to see if i could get it cheaper anywhere else and found this site

http://www.simplyasus.com/ASUS_X50N-AP179C_410225.html

310 and free delivery. the only thing im confused about is that the first one says dual core which the boyfriend says i need, whereas the other one doesnt say dual core.
They are both the same, ie BOTH are dual core (the processor is a Turion X2, in AMD terminology X2 is dual core ;) )

[Ahmed]

Anyone have advice re laptop for DS who is about to start A Levels, so would need it for coursework:A, but would also like to use the internet and play pc games smoothly even if the graphics aren't top notch. He would consider a desktop. Budget £600. Any tips about model/specs/etc would be greatly received.

TIA:j
A good gaming laptop will easily go into the £800+ range and is quite frankly a waste of money as you will not be able tp upgrade apart from memory and HDD.
I hate to say it but check out the refurb section at PCworld, they are some good bargains.
For your basic internet WP needs any modern laptop will be fine but try to get one with a big HDD

[Lavender13]

Can anyone have a look at this laptop and tell me if it has the specs necessary for both gaming/internet surfing and A level work please:-
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acer-Aspire-7720G-Notebook-Hard-drive/dp/B0010X54LG/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1219575904&sr=1-11

Ahmed thatnks for the heads up, we will have a look over the week-end:beer:

[boobbby]

A good gaming laptop will easily go into the £800+ range and is quite frankly a waste of money as you will not be able tp upgrade apart from memory and HDD.
I hate to say it but check out the refurb section at PCworld, they are some good bargains.
For your basic internet WP needs any modern laptop will be fine but try to get one with a big HDD

I agree with most of your suggestions although a hybrid hard drive (HDD) is not necessary as an ordinary hard (HD)drive will do. Also in there is not need to worry about a large hard drive in the first place as you can always add an external hard drive on later if you really need one! I still consider an Acer Aspire 5715 from Amazon is all you need for £299 (free delivery)

[gario900]

Any decent 17" laptops going around?
Mostly for e-mailing, internet and light gaming.
Budget £500

Thanx in advance

:beer:

[boobbby]

Any decent 17" laptops going around?
Mostly for e-mailing, internet and light gaming.
Budget £500

Thanx in advance

:beer:

Cant see how you are going to beat this one for £399

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acer-Aspire-7720-Hard-drive-GraphicsX3100/dp/B0010X2L5S/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1219601090&sr=8-9

Bob

[hansi]

Computeractive has given 5 stars to the new acer aspire one A110L which costs just £235 but only has the Linux system or for those wanting XP home then they recommend the Advent 4211 at £280 and also given 5 stars. Both are mini laptops.

Is this the Acer A110L which Curry and Comet are selling at £199 this weekend?

[boobbby]

Is this the Acer A110L which Curry and Comet are selling at £199 this weekend?

Great price although I would go for a laptop with an XP system and not Linux

[anewhope]

I agree with most of your suggestions although a hybrid hard drive (HDD) is not necessary as an ordinary hard (HD)drive will do. Also in there is not need to worry about a large hard drive in the first place as you can always add an external hard drive on later if you really need one! I still consider an Acer Aspire 5715 from Amazon is all you need for £299 (free delivery)

You mean HHD rather than HDD if you're refering to Hybrid Hard Drives, just to clear that up.

[harrison.ben12]

All the cheap and best selling store you can find in http://www.checkcost.co.uk/laptops/c/4220/

I have bought a cheap and best laptop from eBuyer from CheckCost.

I got it from ebuyer as I have seen they have reasonable price compare to other store listed over there.

So compare and have a deal !!

[sam93]

I dont know if anyone else has said about this, but...

My lappie cost me £50 from PC world - when they had the free/£300 off a laptop with orange broadband... and it had just been reduced from £450 :D

In fairness I did have problems with orange (I got out of an 18 month contract early because they couldnt fix my problem - i was only with them for two months.) To be honest, I did rack up £50 worth of calls to them but then I claimed it all back, including my initial broadband fees.

So thats a £300 off laptop, and broadband for free for two months (when it worked)

Now thats moneysaving.

[snowqueen555]

not really, you are paying a lot of money for mobile broadband, which has a limit per month up 5gb max, thats not a lot.

the laptops are also overpriced for their specs and its quite likely that the broadband deals will get better in only a few months time

[neads]

hi i need a laptop for uni this year and i was wondering if htis was decent for the money, its an acer 5715z, it has 3gb of memorry, a 160gb hard drive a dual core t2390 processor. its £323 with staff discount is this good or is there a better deal?

[joshwa]

hi i need a laptop for uni this year and i was wondering if htis was decent for the money, its an acer 5715z, it has 3gb of memorry, a 160gb hard drive a dual core t2390 processor. its £323 with staff discount is this good or is there a better deal?

This page is slightly more up to date
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1021319&page=5&highlight=laptop

Play sell a core2duo laptop for £330 - and there's a 5% off discount code somewhere, making it around £315.

[wildbri]

asda are selling Acer laptop@ £245 and desk top @£197........bri

[sancho]

Have you got a link to the Asda laptop wildbri?

[nedmundo]

asda are selling Acer laptop@ £245 and desk top @£197........bri

I use a couple of those Acers at work - for general web browsing, and spreadsheets etc, they are excellent - couldn't recommend them enough.

[neads]

i cant fnd the acers listed on the asda website the cheapest one there is 320, this one http://www.asda-electricals.co.uk/shop/product/belinea/obook1-2gb-160gbhd.html? (http://http://www.asda-electricals.co.uk/shop/product/belinea/obook1-2gb-160gbhd.html?)?

[patchwork cat]

Right I have 4 options -
Staples - http://www.staples.co.uk/ENG/Catalog/cat_sku.asp?CatIds=%2C&webid=396307&affixedcode=WW (http://www.staples.co.uk/ENG/Catalog/cat_sku.asp?CatIds=%2C&webid=396307&affixedcode=WW) - £372 inc vat and quidco 7%

Play - http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/347755...k/Product.html (http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/3477557/Acer-Aspire-5720-Z-Intel-Pentium-Dual-Core-T2310-1-46GHz-2GB-80GB-15-4-DVD-SM-Vista-Home-Premium-Laptop-Notebook/Product.html) - £ 340 -5% and quidco 4% -£310

Tesco - http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.204-9312.aspx (http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.204-9312.aspx) -£278 with 576 points

laptops direct - http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_...77/version.asp (http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5720-1A2G08Mi_Laptop_LX.AVG0X.177/version.asp) - £349 these are local to us so could pick up today.

which would you pick?

( sorry if you find this twice didn't know which thread to put this on! maybe mods could merge the 2 threads?)

[GunJack]

....or..patchworkcat, have you tried pcworld refurbs(as new with 12 month warranty ?? with quidco cashback...got my dual-core advent from them, £250 after quidco, delivered within a few days...hang on, I'll find some links...

[GunJack]

They have loads of good machines on there at the moment, esp. some new AMD dual cores at around £300...some samples below...


http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/435888

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/701900

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0532940820.122018215 7@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccjadeemmkifedcflgceggdhhmdfhm.0&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null&sku=922515&category_oid=

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0532940820.122018215 7@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccjadeemmkifedcflgceggdhhmdfhm.0&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null&sku=942250&category_oid=

[patchwork cat]

Nooooo - more choice, please my head is going to explode as it is! TBH they don't look that much better than the ones I picked and save £20 on refurb compared to new, um.

Are core 2 and dual core the same?

[joshwa]

Nooooo - more choice, please my head is going to explode as it is! TBH they don't look that much better than the ones I picked and save £20 on refurb compared to new, um.

Are core 2 and dual core the same?

No. Intel core2duo are about 20% quicker, and let you run Windows 64 bit. Personally I'd go for the core2duo, there's so little price difference (dual core around £300, core2duo around £330 from play.com) that you may as well buy the quicker one for "future proofing", extra performance etc.

This one looks like a very good deal (especially as it was £450 a while ago)
http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/3360561/Sony-Vaio-VGN-N31M-W-Core-2-Duo-T5300-1-73GHz-1GB-120GB-DVD-SM-15-4-Vista-Home-Premium-Laptop-Notebook/Product.html - £330 Sony core2duo, 1gb ram - But it could do with a memory upgrade to 2gb (crucial.com/uk sell memory upgrades)

The Staples one is showing as £339 !! core 2 duo 2ghz, 3gb ram, absolute bargain!
http://www.staples.co.uk/ENG/Catalog/cat_sku.asp?CT=1&CatIds=%2C&webid=396307&affixedcode=WW

PS - Don't buy a celeron or a single core - when the price difference is £30 between celeron single core and dual core, there really is no reason to buy a celeron. Likewise you'd be better off with an AMD X2 than a celeron.

[patchwork cat]

Staples prices don't include VAT so price is £372 after quidco- is it still a good deal?

[beancounter1968]

Hi

I am starting to look for a new laptop and I have a budget of about £500. Last time I bought, 2 years ago, it was from Dell. As technology moves so quickly, I was wondering if there is a site that ranks the processors from budget to quickest. What should I be expecting to get for my £500?

Thanks for reading


Phil

[spud17]

Hi

I am starting to look for a new laptop and I have a budget of about £500. Last time I bought, 2 years ago, it was from Dell. As technology moves so quickly, I was wondering if there is a site that ranks the processors from budget to quickest. What should I be expecting to get for my £500?

Thanks for reading


Phil

Is THIS (http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/processors/3d-studio-max-9,369.html) any use as a start point?

[joshwa]

Staples prices don't include VAT so price is £372 after quidco- is it still a good deal?

Doh - didn't realise they were without vat. Yes I'd say it was still a good deal. Like I said in the other thread you should be looking at a core 2 duo, 2gb ram, 80gb hd (or bigger) and windows vista home premium (avoid basic) and the general price for one of these laptops is around £330 - £350. As spec (cpu speed, ram, hard drive etc) increases so does the price.

[joshwa]

Dell Vostro 1510s have £50 off at the moment and free postage...

This code gives 10% off GLTV1QH8DCMLWF

That makes the Vostro 1510 an excellent deal - it's already got £50 off, and free postage, so it's normally £350 inc vat for core2duo 1.8ghz, 2gb, 250gb hd, windows home premium, and £316 with the voucher. Very nice. Very very tempted to buy! (So tempted that I've just bought one! :D)

[boobbby]

Dell Vostro 1510s have £50 off at the moment and free postage...

This code gives 10% off GLTV1QH8DCMLWF

That makes the Vostro 1510 an excellent deal - it's already got £50 off, and free postage, so it's normally £350 inc vat for core2duo 1.8ghz, 2gb, 250gb hd, windows home premium, and £316 with the voucher. Very nice. Very very tempted to buy! (So tempted that I've just bought one! :D)

Very good deal well done!! I see the 10% offer finishes on the 31st Aug

[patchwork cat]

Hi
Thanks - have gone for the Fujitsu at staples out of stock online, but same price as online including Quidco discount instore. DH now set up for chartered exam.

[plebeian]

The Samsung R700, currently sitting in PCPro's Best Value Laptop spot, is a killer for £500. 17" screen so not hugely portable, although apparently it does have good battery life. Very good graphics and CPU for the price.
Review: http://www.pcpro.co.uk/labs/212334/samsung-r700.html (http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/alist/)
For £500 from ebuyer: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143912

[STEVED]

for £400 the laptop probably wont have a graphics card I was told

is that true

would I get a much better spec Desktop PC for £400 than spending on a laptop?

[boobbby]

for £400 the laptop probably wont have a graphics card I was told

is that true

would I get a much better spec Desktop PC for £400 than spending on a laptop?

Yes!! and easier to upgrade later !!

[tradetime]

for £400 the laptop probably wont have a graphics card I was told

is that true

would I get a much better spec Desktop PC for £400 than spending on a laptop?
No question, penny for penny you should be able to get a vastly superior spec desktop for the equivalent laptop price.

[Ice]

http://www.acerdirect.co.uk/FO_-_Acer_Aspire_9815WKHi_Desktop_Replacement_Laptop_-_Not_in_original_box,/version.asp
just bought this off there other company laptopsdirect.co.uk at £513.78 then with £9.95 delivery which is on Tuesday 9th then also £59.99 for a further 3 years warranty...comes to £583.72 which for a 20.1 size laptop is pretty damn good...
but be warned they do ring you and ask you or almost beg you to take out something else like anti-virus at £39.99 don't do this as there are plenty of free ones then they asked me if I wanted to buy there pre-inspection package...for another £39.99 I said no cos this is simply them turning it on & off to see if it works...I have got 3-4 years cover on this laptop so if anything is wrong they get it back up until the first 28 days then acer fix it under the warranty...for the next 3-4 years...
so no problems there then...
here's the one I bought...
http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/FO_-_Acer_Aspire_9815WKHi_Desktop_Replacement_Laptop,_ Scratches_23434-LX.AF60U.023/version.asp
these are in the open boxed bargains...nothing wrong with them just someone didin't want them...so they cannot sell them as new cos they have been opened...
hths anyone...
:D
I got my SIL an acer laptop of here in January 08 for her daughter it is in excellent condition...
and a bargain then at £249.00

[STEVED]

I want the laptop not for games but i do want to watch LIVE sporting events and now have it buffer

Is this okay?

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T5750 (2.0 GHz, 667 MHz FSB, 2 MB L2 Cache)

For £30 more I can upgrade to 3MB Ram, is that needed?

TY

[snowqueen555]

thats not enough information to make a real informed answer, but pretty much all computers in the shops these days will handle that, most integrated graphics cards should be able to handle back video play and streaming.

[tradetime]

I want the laptop not for games but i do want to watch LIVE sporting events and now have it buffer

Is this okay?

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T5750 (2.0 GHz, 667 MHz FSB, 2 MB L2 Cache)

For £30 more I can upgrade to 3MB Ram, is that needed?

TY
An integrated graphics card will handle video and streaming media just fine. That computer would be fine for what you have described.
Plenty of RAM is always a good thing.

[snowqueen555]

Holey moley, the fujitsu amilo at staples website has gone down to 340 pounds!

Thats uber cheap, in fact, its the best best laptop (spec wise) in all of the UK.. I am pretty sure of it. However I cannot find any reviews of it...

its the only laptop aruond i can find with such a decent core 2 duo (2 gig) and 3 gig ram .

The same laptop is sold in tesco home plus for around 380...

This is the best offer around guys, no lie.

So tempted, but i got no money, shouldn't buy thi, the price is no excuse to get into more debt

http://www.staples.co.uk/ENG/Catalog/cat_sku.asp?CatIds=%2C&webid=396307&affixedcode=WW (http://www.staples.co.uk/ENG/Catalog/cat_sku.asp?CatIds=%2C&webid=396307&affixedcode=WW)

but more specs are neede so maybe i will search for reviews and stuff, because it strangely has none that i can find

[Lovaabargain]

Holey moley, the fujitsu amilo at staples website has gone down to 340 pounds!

Thats uber cheap, in fact, its the best best laptop (spec wise) in all of the UK.. I am pretty sure of it. However I cannot find any reviews of it...

its the only laptop aruond i can find with such a decent core 2 duo (2 gig) and 3 gig ram .

The same laptop is sold in tesco home plus for around 380...

This is the best offer around guys, no lie.

So tempted, but i got no money, shouldn't buy thi, the price is no excuse to get into more debt

http://www.staples.co.uk/ENG/Catalog/cat_sku.asp?CatIds=%2C&webid=396307&affixedcode=WW

but more specs are neede so maybe i will search for reviews and stuff, because it strangely has none that i can find

Now showing as out of stock online - & don't forget that the price is excluding VAT so once you've added that on it will bump the price up.

[snowqueen555]

GAH!!!

I guess tesco is the cheapest, its 379.99 there, still an awesome offer...

Have been looking at the eee 701 4g, as cheap as 169.99, a very good offer i am so tempted,,,

[windym]

GAH!!!

I guess tesco is the cheapest, its 379.99 there, still an awesome offer...

Have been looking at the eee 701 4g, as cheap as 169.99, a very good offer i am so tempted,,,

£359 delivered at Laskys. http://www.laskys.com/computing/laptops_and_pdas/laptops/fujitsu_siemens_amilo_li_2735.html?cm_mmc=Froogle-_-Computing-_-Laptops-_-483214_FUJITSU_SIEMENS_AMILO_LI_2735&_$ja=tsid:5824%7Ccc:%7Cprd:483214%7Ccat:Computing+ %2F+Laptops+And+Pdas+%2F+Laptops+%2F+&engine=froogle&keyword=FUJITSU+SIEMENS+AMILO+LI+2735

[Ice]

ever wondered why these are on offer...and what is around the corner but at a huge price cos it's new...
and is what I am buying now gonna be old and out of date in 12 months times...:confused:
I confuse myself sometimes as well...:rotfl:

[CS111]

Hi guys, just been going roudn in circles for a couple of hours looking for a Laptop for approx £400, must have at least 2g RAM and pref office.
Any help very very much appreciated.
Cheers

[Ice]

Hi guys, just been going roudn in circles for a couple of hours looking for a Laptop for approx £400, must have at least 2g RAM and pref office.
Any help very very much appreciated.
Cheers
http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_7720Z_Laptop_LX.ALJ0X.028/version.asp?tref=fpg-Acer%20Aspire%207720Z

I think you might have to buy office to go with it...
:D

[CS111]

Thanks, sorry should have said am looking for a 15.4" light as possible.

[Ice]

Thanks, sorry should have said am looking for a 15.4" light as possible.
http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/FO_-_Asus_X51RL_Laptop_-_X_Display,_lid_scratched_33290-X51RL-AP036C/version.asp

:Dthey also sell office for 79.99 :D
http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Software/cat.asp

[sweetnskint]

mine has to be the best

[snowqueen555]

ANything you buy in pc world will be okay in price, not good or amazing...

[boom123]

Hi there I'm buying a laptop for my mum and I'm not that techie minded, it needs to be wireless, she won't be doing much on it apart from surfing the web, storing a few pics etc. I've found theses 2 deals at £299 each which seems good :j I know from previous threads you need 2gb ram for vista but my mum won't be doing too much on it so would 1gb do? Anyone wanting to give there opinion on which laptop seems a better deal would be very helpful,

Thanks



http://www.bargaincrazy.com/epages/BargainCrazy.sf/en_GB/?ChangeObjectID=3240622&ChangeAction=AddToBasket&L astViewObjectID=3240622&ViewAction=View (http://www.bargaincrazy.com/epages/BargainCrazy.sf/en_GB/?ChangeObjectID=3240622&ChangeAction=AddToBasket&LastViewObjectID=3240622&ViewAction=View)


Processor: Powerful Intel Core 2 Duo T5500 1.66GHz Processor
RAM: 1024MB fast DDR2 RAM
Hard Drive: 80GB Hard Drive for file storage
Screen: 15.4" WXGA TFT Display with Acer CrystalBrite technology
Optical Drive: DVD Re-writer (DVD SuperMulti)
Graphics: Shared Graphics
Wireless LAN: 802.11b/g
Operating System: New Windows Vista Home Premium
Card Reader: 5 in 1 Memory Card Reader


or

ACER ASPIRE 5715Z (http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5715Z-2A2G08Mi_LX.ALD0X.018/version.asp?tref=fpg-Acer Aspire 5715Z)


Performance
And Style

Intel D.Core T2330
2GB RAM, 80GB HDD
Vista Home Premium
15.4" Widescreen
DVD Supermulti DL
Wireless LAN




http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/imageupload/showimage.aspx?id=4968&width=120&height=120 (http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5715Z-2A2G08Mi_LX.ALD0X.018/version.asp?tref=fpg-Acer Aspire 5715Z)

[boobbby]

Hi there I'm buying a laptop for my mum and I'm not that techie minded, it needs to be wireless, she won't be doing much on it apart from surfing the web, storing a few pics etc. I've found theses 2 deals at £299 each which seems good :j I know from previous threads you need 2gb ram for vista but my mum won't be doing too much on it so would 1gb do? Anyone wanting to give there opinion on which laptop seems a better deal would be very helpful,

Thanks



http://www.bargaincrazy.com/epages/BargainCrazy.sf/en_GB/?ChangeObjectID=3240622&ChangeAction=AddToBasket&L astViewObjectID=3240622&ViewAction=View (http://www.bargaincrazy.com/epages/BargainCrazy.sf/en_GB/?ChangeObjectID=3240622&ChangeAction=AddToBasket&LastViewObjectID=3240622&ViewAction=View)


Processor: Powerful Intel Core 2 Duo T5500 1.66GHz Processor
RAM: 1024MB fast DDR2 RAM
Hard Drive: 80GB Hard Drive for file storage
Screen: 15.4&quot; WXGA TFT Display with Acer CrystalBrite technology
Optical Drive: DVD Re-writer (DVD SuperMulti)
Graphics: Shared Graphics
Wireless LAN: 802.11b/g
Operating System: New Windows Vista Home Premium
Card Reader: 5 in 1 Memory Card Reader


or

ACER ASPIRE 5715Z (http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5715Z-2A2G08Mi_LX.ALD0X.018/version.asp?tref=fpg-Acer Aspire 5715Z)


Performance
And Style

Intel D.Core T2330
2GB RAM, 80GB HDD
Vista Home Premium
15.4&quot; Widescreen
DVD Supermulti DL
Wireless LAN




http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/imageupload/showimage.aspx?id=4968&width=120&height=120 (http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5715Z-2A2G08Mi_LX.ALD0X.018/version.asp?tref=fpg-Acer Aspire 5715Z)

Both are a good buy although I would increase the RAM to 2GB for the top one (by the way it sells for £293 at Amazon)

[divadee]

I am looking for a laptop for my daughter for xmas. We have really a max of £350 to spend.

It will mainly be used for internet, school work and some games (quite low spec games, nothing huge) needs to have a wireless card thing as she will be on wireless broadband.

I have been looking at the dell Vostro 1510, but without a working coupon (gutted i missed last months 10% one) it is a bit to much at £386.

I am clueless really about laptops only ever had desktops before.

Any help??

[Browntoa]

play the waiting game , I got a huge bargain on a dell for my daughter 2 weeks before Xmas the other year

I think in the current climate its a case of who bottles out first , you with xmas rushing up , or the retailers with stock on their books to clear

keep an eye on the grabbit board on here and the deals on HUKD ,

[waterman3]

Hello

I'm new to this site and a technophobe so I apologise in advance for daft questions.

In the weekly email, Martin mentions the Sony Vaio NR32 at play.com for £399. Just wondered if anyone knew if that came with any sort of anti virus packages as you can get what looks like the same laptop in pc world for £429 but you get half price Norton 360.

Also, on play.com, the laptop is called Sony Vaio nr 32 M/S and on PC world its Sony Vaio nr L/S and the specifications are slightly different. I take it they're different laptops - anybody know?

I don't really know enough about anti virus software to search out and download free software and would feel more secure just buying something like Norton.

Thanks for any help.

[hansi]

Don't waste your money on buying anti virus software! There are loads of freebies out there. I use AntVir. Brilliant!

[Ice]

your new laptop may come with a trial of 3 months norton which you can then just buy straight from them when the trial is over...that should be enough time for you to get to know norton and see if you like it or not..not alot of people do...but don't buy any anti-virus you can get it free from...
www.download.com (http://www.download.com)
I recommend threatfire...which is free and owned by the same company as norton...

http://www.threatfire.com/?gclid=CN3Po9Wv2ZUCFRJFxwodUQg7Ww

[Woodyrocks]

My Mom wants to buy a laptop for her niece in Africa. Can anyone provide a link to that cheap laptop that is priced at £199. I remember seeing a post a while ago but can't remember key words. Also is there one that can run on solarpower or something like that (lots of powercuts where her niece lives)?

Any other recommendations for laptops under £250 would be greatly received :beer:

[Ice]

My Mom wants to buy a laptop for her niece in Africa. Can anyone provide a link to that cheap laptop that is priced at £199. I remember seeing a post a while ago but can't remember key words. Also is there one that can run on solarpower or something like that (lots of powercuts where her niece lives)?

Any other recommendations for laptops under £250 would be greatly received :beer:
I know which ones you mean...
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/personal_tech/article3374812.ece
is this the one your on about...
or you couls search click at bbc.co.uk as they mentioned the ones that you wind up...
Hi I am back again is this the One you mean...

http://www.elonexone.co.uk/shop.html

or there is the fizzbook...

http://www.fizzbook.org.uk/

here we go...

http://laptop.org/

[d123]

My Mom wants to buy a laptop for her niece in Africa. Can anyone provide a link to that cheap laptop that is priced at £199. I remember seeing a post a while ago but can't remember key words. Also is there one that can run on solarpower or something like that (lots of powercuts where her niece lives)?

Any other recommendations for laptops under £250 would be greatly received :beer:

PC World, Currys or ToysRus have the older EeePC range for £179-£199 or the Aspire One for £199. They all run Linux (and are upgradeable to Windows if needs be) and the EeePC range is now proven as good reliable well built machines.

[trojjer]

There probably aren't many people who, once they have used a Linux distribution that is well suited to them and as long as they're not "gamers", would class installing Windows on an "webbook" PC as an upgrade. ;)

I was impressed by the OpenOffice loading time on a webbook that I was playing with at Carphone Warehouse, but their "Free laptop after paying £25 for 18 months" deal is a bit absurd, I think. Like the "free iPhone" contract that locks you in to paying £45/month for 18 months, to a total of £810! Free indeed...

Not to mention that the latest in "ultra mobile" laptops seem to be missing some basic ergonomic enhancements like comfortable keyboard layouts... Try before you buy, online or otherwise! :)

[Ice]

I know what you mean a friend of mine encouraged me to take out a contract on a mobile phone the Nokia N95 costing me £31 a month over 18 months is £558 if I'd seen this price in the shop I wouldn't have bought it...although I cannot complain about the phone it's great as it serves as a camera as well...but had I thought about it at the time I wouldn't have gone for it...I prefere to save up the money and set an amount for what I think is worth a good mobile phone...and with the credit crunch the phone is gonna be one of the things to go...I have wanted a laptop for a while now...infact I went down to London just to get a laptop in the summer months as I knew I could get a decent gaming alienware laptop for £1000 for my son which I did...at an event its worth twice that...but for myself I saved up £600 and thought right that's all I want to spend and it needs to be 20.1 inch with all the mod cons...well I did get one for just under £600 with 3 yrs extra warranty so not bad really...I believe that if you want something so bad you'll save up for it...and when you get it ...its great cos you know you paid cash for it...and you can just enjoy it instead of worrying how your gonna afford the monthly payments...what's the point in getting something if you can't afford it...

down with the monthly contract they are just a rip off and up with the piggy bank and save for that Luxury item you always wanted...whatever it is...:D

[sdavis1970]

Tesco have got a great deal on the Acer Aspire 5720 at the moment, both in store and online here - http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.204-6256.aspx

Here's the spec:

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7500 (2.2GHz) processor
2gb Ram (memory)
160gb hard drive
CrystalBrite TFT LCD screen

All that for just £349 - down from £449.

Go get it!



Simon

[boobbby]

Tesco have got a great deal on the Acer Aspire 5720 at the moment, both in store and online here - http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.204-6256.aspx

Here's the spec:

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7500 (2.2GHz) processor
2gb Ram (memory)
160gb hard drive
CrystalBrite TFT LCD screen

All that for just £349 - down from £449.

Go get it!



Simon

What gets me about the Acer Aspire collection is that it is hard to get a like for like price using just the model number

i.e. the 5720 could be fitted with an AMD or Intel processer, have an 80GB or 160 hard drive or even have 1GB or 2GB of RAM. Then they try to confuse further by swapping the model numbers around i.e. the 7520 has a 17" screen

[tulipthecat]

Hi,

Please can anyone advise me if this is a good deal at £320? If not, what would you recommend with a similar spec at that price or less?

Fujitsu-Siemens Esprimo Mobile V5505 Notebook Core 2 Duo T5450 1.66GHz 2048MB (2x1024MB)
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo (T5450) 1660MHz 2048KB (L2 Cache) http://www.morecomputers.com/images/Padding.gif
Hard Disk: 160GB (1 x 160GB) 5400RPM Serial ATA 150 Hard Drive http://www.morecomputers.com/images/Padding.gif
Monitor: 15.4ins Anti-glare Active Matrix TFT Colour WXGA http://www.morecomputers.com/images/Padding.gif
Network Interface: Realtek 8111B-GR Ethernet 10/100/1000Mbps Integrated
Modem: 56Kbps (Integrated) http://www.morecomputers.com/images/Padding.gif
Graphics Device: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 with 128MB VRAM http://www.morecomputers.com/images/Padding.gif
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium

http://www.portableuniverse.co.uk/All+Laptop+Stock/FUJITSU+V5505.html

Thanks

[debjay]

Total technophobe here but looking for some advice. I want to buy my daughter a laptop for her birthday. She has just started secondary and will be 12. It will be mainly for school work, surfing and the odd game esp The Sims.
As like everyone looking for the best spec for the cheapest price and bit worried about whether her Sims will work on it.
I understand from earlier posts I should look for Intel Core™ 2 Duo but apart form that I dont know where to start.

Help

[Manx Cat]

OK. We need a laptop for my daughter - but I will occasionally use it for studenty stuff (I teach at the OU and can't use my work laptop for it).

We would like the screen to be big enought to watch a DVD on occasionally, but we don't need gaming quality.

So.... what do people think between..

The Acer Aspire 5720 T7500 2GB 15.4" Laptop at Tesco for £349 (Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7500 processor. 2048MB RAM. 160Gb Hard Disk Drive) at http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.204-6256.aspx ;)

or the Acer Aspire 7720Z Gemstone Laptop - LX.ALJ0X.028 at laptops direct (http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_7720Z_Laptop_LX.ALJ0X.028/version.asp?tref=fpg-Acer%20Aspire%207720Z) for £379.97 (Intel Pentium Dual Core T2310 / 1.46 GHz. RAM - 2 GB. 160 GB Hard Drive):cool:

And if it's the second one, what do people think about the doubling the Ram offer?:confused:

Plus - for software (I need office) is it better to go for theultimatesteal at £38.95 (http://www.microsoft.com/student/discounts/theultimatesteal-uk/default.aspx - but it's download plus £8.95 for a backup disk) or something like Amazon at £54.98 (or even cheaper if bought with something else....)

[jaydeeuk1]

The Acer Aspire 5720 is fine, in fact it will be quicker than the 2nd one. Depends which you prefer, the 15.4" screen in the first laptop or a 17" in the second. The larger laptop will be heavier and not something you'd want to lug about regularly!

Don't bother with the double your memory option, waste of money for your needs, plus you can only use about 3gb in Vista 32bit anyway!

[Jake'sGran]

Manx Cat, Have you ever looked at Open Office? It's very good and it's free. Just a thought. I am looking for the same sort of laptop as you. This one is upstairs and I sleep downstairs for health reason (bathroom is downstairs).
Might have a look at the Tesco site. I think they are cheaper on line. Don't know why I am dithering about really. Been looking at the AOL packages with free laptop but they are not really cheap when you work it out.

[Patrick20]

I'm searching for a laptop with a good graphics card. If anyone spots any decent laptops with around 2gb memory, 120gb+ fast hard drive and NO shared graphics please pm me. I have officially given up looking my brain hurts.

[Luis-FlightManWithAPlan]

I'm searching for a laptop with a good graphics card. If anyone spots any decent laptops with around 2gb memory, 120gb+ fast hard drive and NO shared graphics please pm me. I have officially given up looking my brain hurts.

I am too! Ive seen a few but like a true bargain hunter the specs have really got to have refelct the price!

[debjay]

http://www.currys.co.uk/martprd/store/cur_page.jsp?page=Product&sku=816726&camp_id=ppc_model_numbers_laptops_google&source_id=esearchvision&esvt=GOUKP106459747&esvadt=999999-0-1114341-1&esvid=104173


What does everyone think of this? Its £399 instore. Its for my 12 year old to do homework etc and must be able to run the Sims too.

Am thinking between this and the ACER at Tesco mentioned before

[MissPop]

http://www.currys.co.uk/martprd/store/cur_page.jsp?page=Product&sku=816726&camp_id=ppc_model_numbers_laptops_google&source_id=esearchvision&esvt=GOUKP106459747&esvadt=999999-0-1114341-1&esvid=104173


What does everyone think of this? Its £399 instore. Its for my 12 year old to do homework etc and must be able to run the Sims too.

Am thinking between this and the ACER at Tesco mentioned before
Homework and The Sims do not go well together :p

To be honest, I think the specs on that are above and beyond what will be needed for school homework and The Sims! My laptop has 1GB RAM and an 80GB HD, and I have lots of college work and several Sims games on here no probs. However, if you plan on having it a LONG time, it would probably be good in the long run as you shouldn't need to upgrade it. But 12 year olds aren't always the carefullest (is that even a word?) so maybe a second hand/refurbished one may be a safer bet.

[debjay]

[QUOTE=MissPop;14535189]Homework and The Sims do not go well together :p

Lol good point.

How do you think the laptops compare?

[real1314]

Homework and The Sims do not go well together :p

To be honest, I think the specs on that are above and beyond what will be needed for school homework and The Sims! My laptop has 1GB RAM and an 80GB HD, and I have lots of college work and several Sims games on here no probs. However, if you plan on having it a LONG time, it would probably be good in the long run as you shouldn't need to upgrade it. But 12 year olds aren't always the carefullest (is that even a word?) so maybe a second hand/refurbished one may be a safer bet.


Are you running Sims2? What sort of spec is your laptop?

My daughter wants a laptop for xmas, but wants to be able to run sims2 on it.

[spud17]

Are you running Sims2? What sort of spec is your laptop?

My daughter wants a laptop for xmas, but wants to be able to run sims2 on it

See the thread HERE (http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1173727).

[chippa2k]

http://www.viking-direct.co.uk/a/sku%2Fbusiness%2FMedion-T5250-17-Widescreen-Wireless-Laptop/pr=Q29&id=MD96648/

[JDPower]

http://www.viking-direct.co.uk/a/sku%2Fbusiness%2FMedion-T5250-17-Widescreen-Wireless-Laptop/pr=Q29&id=MD96648/ (http://www.viking-direct.co.uk/a/sku%2Fbusiness%2FMedion-T5250-17-Widescreen-Wireless-Laptop/pr=Q29&id=MD96648/)
Seems pretty good to me - cheap brand but good specs for the money

[Og Troff]

I just bought a Dell Vostro 1000 laptop. 80gb 2gb ram from their Dell Outlet

Please review your details below.
Order Summary:
£230.59 Service Tag No. *******
V1000 Sempron 3600 (2.0GHz/256KB)
£55.31 1 BUY NOW & SAVE ! MONEY OFF VOUCH

£175.28 Order Sub Total
£0.00 Estimated System Shipping* for Standard
*Monitor Shipping is no additional charge when purchased with a System
£205.95 Grand Total Including Delivery and VAT
Shipping on Accessories: applicable shipping
on accessories will be added.


That's a bargain. You have to select the discount at the end of the transaction as an 'option' though.

[MissPop]

Are you running Sims2? What sort of spec is your laptop?

My daughter wants a laptop for xmas, but wants to be able to run sims2 on it.

Mine is an Advent ERT2250 (Steer WELL clear! There's a thread in this subforum about how shoddy they are!) 80GB, 1GB RAM, shared graphics card. It can be a bit slow, but I think that could be down to the shared graphics card (I dunno anything about graphics cards, so I couldn't tell you which one I have in here! :o )

1GB is probably the minimum you'll need to run it well - however, lots of laptops come with 2GB these days.

Og Troff - could you link to that? My laptop's doing my head in (won't charge properly due to a broken power socket and switches itself off when it feels like it!) and I'm looking for something small and CHEAP!

[GunJack]

misspop - how long you had yours ?? I got a refurb ERT2250 earlier this year, it's been grand so far. popped another 1GB in a few weeks ago just to extend it's potential life, no probs. try getting it fixed, may save you a few bob....

[cheeseandchive]

I have come up with the following from looking today.

Any advice?

I just want a laptop to surf the net (at home and out and about) do some work on, watch DVD's on and that's about it.

Nothing to replace my home PC, but more than one of those EEE type things


http://www.ebuyer.com/product/147733
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/144826
http://www.bargaincrazy.com/epages/BargainCrazy.sf/en_GB/?ChangeObjectID=3240622&ChangeAction=AddToBasket&LastViewObjectID=3240622&ViewAction=View
http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.204-6256.aspx

[JDPower]

I have come up with the following from looking today.

Any advice?

I just want a laptop to surf the net (at home and out and about) do some work on, watch DVD's on and that's about it.

Nothing to replace my home PC, but more than one of those EEE type things


http://www.ebuyer.com/product/147733
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/144826
http://www.bargaincrazy.com/epages/BargainCrazy.sf/en_GB/?ChangeObjectID=3240622&ChangeAction=AddToBasket&LastViewObjectID=3240622&ViewAction=View
http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.204-6256.aspx
Out of those I'd go for the first or last one in the list. All will do what you want them for but the first is the better spec of the first three (which are all near enough the same price) and the last is better spec of the lot but is £40 more, though is probably around forty quids worth better spec. If you really need the extra hard drive space and extra RAM (though more RAM is always a good thing) perhaps pay the extra for the last one. Otherwise save £40 and go for the first ;)

(Just my personal opinion though)

[x__Indigo_x]

Right im losing the will to live haha my head is sooo confused with all the different specs and i would LOVE someone to help...basically im a 3rd year uni student in need of a new cheap laptop after my last one has died literally ...all i use my laptop for is to browse the internet [ ie upload pics on facebook, check emails,shop...i dont play games/watch movies] and do my uni essay so what im looking for is a cheap but reliable laptop that will last me 2 years or so untill i can afford a better one :) i dont understand much about ram and all that stuff or how much memory i really need :o

alot of people reccomend the acer aspire laptops...will the £279 one be enough for me?
or the fujitis amil0 - £299?
or should i push the budget and get a dell?

i do not want one of them tiny laptops as i couldnt write my essays on them as easily as i want to.

i dont really want to use ebay ....

[B]PLEASE someone reccomend a laptop for my needs under £300 but could push to £350 if it was really worth it the cheaper the better :)

[MissPop]

misspop - how long you had yours ?? I got a refurb ERT2250 earlier this year, it's been grand so far. popped another 1GB in a few weeks ago just to extend it's potential life, no probs. try getting it fixed, may save you a few bob....

I've had mine for about 18 months now, so it's out of warranty. When I took it in to the repair shop for the socket replacement, they couldn't shed any light on the power problem. I've asked on another forum and people have suggested putting the laptop on a stack of CDs to allow more room under the fan, and to clean out any build up of dust, but I don't think that either of these are the problem... However, I should give it a go before I consider replacing the whole thing I guess!

[charuk]

Just wondering if you have ever considered reconditioned laptops? I got one from a site aimed at students http://www.ukstudentlaptops.com (http://www.ukstudentlaptops.com/) which sells good makes like Dell, HP, etc for the cheapest I've seen! I don't think I'd trust paying a load of money out for a cheapo make!

[x__Indigo_x]

Just wondering if you have ever considered reconditioned laptops? I got one from a site aimed at students http://www.ukstudentlaptops.com (http://www.ukstudentlaptops.com/) which sells good makes like Dell, HP, etc for the cheapest I've seen! I don't think I'd trust paying a load of money out for a cheapo make!
'thanks' i will check it out :)

[Khrone]

Hello,

I'm looking for some advice on getting a Laptop? I want to be able to surf the net wireless and play some of the latest games. I also want a software package that has word and excel.

I have seen the Acer Aspire 7520 TK 53 17" Gemstone Laptop on Tesco's site, but i have found this through Amazon for £299.99 (£50 saving if your not in for Club Card points).

Will this be suitable for my needs? Has anyone got any other options for the £300 - £400 mark.

Cheers

[JDPower]

I want to be able to surf the net wireless and play some of the latest games. I also want a software package that has word and excel.

I have seen the Acer Aspire 7520 TK 53 17" Gemstone Laptop on Tesco's site, but i have found this through Amazon for £299.99 (£50 saving if your not in for Club Card points).

Will this be suitable for my needs? Has anyone got any other options for the £300 - £400 mark.
I'm afraid you're extremely unlikely to get a laptop capable of playing the latest games for that price. That Acer certainly won't due to the integrated graphics (and relatively low RAM). To play the latest games on a laptop you need a non integrated graphics card and preferably 2GB or more RAM, which is probably gonna cost upwards of £500

A good site for checking how capable a laptops graphics card is is:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Comparison-of-Graphic-Cards.130.0.html

(Which incidentally for the above Acer's integrated graphics card states: "Older games such as Fear can be scarcely playable even in minimum details")

[Patrick20]

I've been searching for a new laptop for ages and just when I've almost given up I find these two that really suit my needs at a realistic price that I can afford to spend. I'm not a person who is happy about parting with my hard earned loot so is there any computer savy specimen know if if these appear meritorious bargains. Also which system is the best buy?


Thanks for any help anyone can offer on this. Although I'm OK understanding the majority of specifications I seem to always miss some major requirement of a system and I always end up getting sold a large, expensive paperweight. Just to clarify I'll be using this system mainly for work with photoshop and design type applications and lots of games.


Laptop 1 : Dell Office Vostro


Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T5670 (1.8 GHz, 2 MB L2 Cache, 800 MHz FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1 - English
15.4" Widescreen WXGA (1280 x 800) Display with Anti-Glare Coating
3072MB (1x2048 & 1x1024) 667MHz DDR2 Dual Channel
320GB (5400rpm) SATA Hard Drive
256 MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8400M GS (64 bit) Graphic Card
Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Slot Load Drive including Software
Primary 6-cell 56 WHr Lithium Ion battery
find it here : hxxp://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?reconfigure=true&vw=list&cart=ActiveCart&id=5c5477f9-7b17-40a9-af8a-a1eb195bc61e&ecomm=ecomm.euro.dell.com&c=uk&l=en&cs=ukbsdt1


£527.58 including VAT and Shipping.




Laptop 2 : Scan Computers


Intel Core 2 Duo T5750 (2 Ghz, Level 2 cache 2 MB
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium with Service Pack 1
15.4” WXGA High Definition BrightView Widescreen
3072 MB (1 x 1024 MB + 1 x 2048 MB)
250 GB 5400 rpm SATA Hard Disk Drive
Blu-Ray ROM with SuperMulti DVD±R/RW Double Layer
5-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader for Secure Digital cards, Multimedia cards,
Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, or xD Picture cards


£590.38 including VAT and Shipping.


find it here : hxxp://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=884417


If anyone wonders why ive substituted peculiar infrequently used words into this post its because I'm bored and playing with a thesaurus.

[Patrick20]

I'm afraid you're extremely unlikely to get a laptop capable of playing the latest games for that price. That Acer certainly won't due to the integrated graphics (and relatively low RAM). To play the latest games on a laptop you need a non integrated graphics card and preferably 2GB or more RAM, which is probably gonna cost upwards of £500

A good site for checking how capable a laptops graphics card is is:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Comparison-of-Graphic-Cards.130.0.html

(Which incidentally for the Acer above states: "Older games such as Fear can be scarcely playable even in minimum details")

The two laptops ive just mentioned may be what Khrone is looking for but a little over the price range. I would agree that £300-400 for a laptop with a good graphics card will be impossible.

[Khrone]

The two laptops ive just mentioned may be what Khrone is looking for but a little over the price range. I would agree that £300-400 for a laptop with a good graphics card will be impossible.


Yes i think your right, i think i would push my budget up to ensure i have a good graphics card and a laptop that will last a couple of years. The spec for the Dell looks like a possibility.

[rich1lfc]

hi can anyone help!? my 8 year old daughter has asked for a pink lap top for christmas can anyone recommend one priced around £300?
laura

[JDPower]

hi can anyone help!? my 8 year old daughter has asked for a pink lap top for christmas can anyone recommend one priced around £300?
laura
Well that makes a change from the usual requests, you're probably gonna have to give a little more detail than that regards what she will use it for (does she really need £300 worth of laptop at 8 years old?).

Only pink laptop that springs to mind is the Dell Inspirons which are available in a range of colours, but work out around £360. I'm sure there'll be far cheaper options aimed at girls somewhere.

[MissPop]

I was still playing with Barbies and Lego at 8 O_O

As JD said, does she really NEED a laptop? Do you already have a family computer/laptop that she could use? If you really want to get her one, is she careful and does she understand the value of things? I know some 8 year olds do not understand that laptops are expensive and need to be looked after carefully! You could get a secondhand or refurbished one - I have seen basic laptops in my local computer shop for £150 or so - they're basic but can do the essentials. I expect you could upgrade them if she's likely to want to play something like The Sims.

On the pink front, you could get a "decal" or sticker to put on the top.

I assume the laptop wouldn't be taken out the house, as well?

:edit: Googlin "laptop decals" provides lots of useful links, including this one http://www.schtickers.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=32 - they seem to have lots of colours and designs.

[HeaddyMX]

I'm proud to announce I bought myself a Dell Inspiron some time ago. That thing is a beauty.

[scotty1971]

can anyone recommend a good laptop for me,just wanting it too surf net,and use word

[JDPower]

can anyone recommend a good laptop for me,just wanting it too surf net,and use word
Just have a look through last couple of pages, already plenty of recommendations posted.

[chiefmissile]

Any opinons on this deal?

New Important Information: We have changed our Misco eDeal send address to misco@news.misco.co.uk to continue to view our eDeal images and ensure our eDeal updates are delivered to your inbox, please add misco@news.misco.co.uk to your Safe Senders list.

If you cannot see any images, please click here (http://news.misco.co.uk/t/575397/620671/26589/0/)
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[HeaddyMX]

That's similar to the one I have. I say go for it, especially if you can get cashback.

[chickadee13]

Does anyone have any advice? I need a laptop to take with me to Canada. I'm going for a year, so it will probably end up being like a desktop replacement. I really would like it to have a CD/DVD drive so I can watch films or play music. However I am worried about carrying something too big and paying too much - I don't know if it's more worth the money to just get a small notebook type, although then I won't have the CD option.

I'm looking at the Dell Inspiron - is this good value for money?

thanks for thoughts...

[stamford]

I was still playing with Barbies and Lego at 8 O_O

As JD said, does she really NEED a laptop? Do you already have a family computer/laptop that she could use? If you really want to get her one, is she careful and does she understand the value of things? I know some 8 year olds do not understand that laptops are expensive and need to be looked after carefully! You could get a secondhand or refurbished one - I have seen basic laptops in my local computer shop for £150 or so - they're basic but can do the essentials. I expect you could upgrade them if she's likely to want to play something like The Sims.

On the pink front, you could get a "decal" or sticker to put on the top.

I assume the laptop wouldn't be taken out the house, as well?

:edit: Googlin "laptop decals" provides lots of useful links, including this one http://www.schtickers.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=32 - they seem to have lots of colours and designs.

Each to his own but I can't believe the poster is serious about buying a £300 laptop for an 8 year old

[MissPop]

Each to his own but I can't believe the poster is serious about buying a £300 laptop for an 8 year old

Well to be honest, that's exactly what I was thinking :confused:

[littleange]

I don't think you are ever too young to start learning how to use a computer and not to mention all the other ways you can use it to learn things, you just need to be a little careful thats all.

Much better than sticking them in front of the television.

[MissPop]

I don't think you are ever too young to start learning how to use a computer and not to mention all the other ways you can use it to learn things, you just need to be a little careful thats all.

Much better than sticking them in front of the television.

Yeah, but do children need their own laptop? To be honest, I thought I was too young to have a mobile phone at 11, but it was a necessity as I travelled a long way to school every day and needed to keep in touch with my mum.

My OH's sister lets her 18 month old play with her Macbook >.< £1000 piece of equipment with keys missing and pen all over the screen.

[littleange]

Yeah, but do children need their own laptop? To be honest, I thought I was too young to have a mobile phone at 11, but it was a necessity as I travelled a long way to school every day and needed to keep in touch with my mum.

My OH's sister lets her 18 month old play with her Macbook >.< £1000 piece of equipment with keys missing and pen all over the screen.

I guess it all depends on how much other family members need to use the computer too. There is nothing wrong with each child having their own as long as they understand how much it cost and that they need to look after it.

[stamford]

I don't think you are ever too young to start learning how to use a computer and not to mention all the other ways you can use it to learn things, you just need to be a little careful thats all.

Much better than sticking them in front of the television.

I doubt if an 8 year old fully appreciates being careful with a £300 item - a £100 job from Bigpockets maybe....................

[littleange]

I doubt if an 8 year old fully appreciates being careful with a £300 item - a £100 job from Bigpockets maybe....................

I guess it depends on how they have been brought up, I'm sure you can be responsible for something at the age of 8! You could make them do chores for points or something before they got it so they felt like they had earned it if you don't think they would apprechiate it.

New laptops don't really come much cheaper than £300, if you buy a used one no doubt the battery won't last 5 minutes. You'd be better off with a desktop if you didn't want to spend £300.

[and6868]

Can you please let me know if this is a good laptop? its £489 and i want to give it to my daughter for Christmas. Is it worth getting one this early or wait untill a little closer. I dont know if there are better deals that time of year or availability get scarce.

Cheers Andrew



Acer Aspire 7720G Notebook Laptop, Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0GHz, 17" TFT, 2048MB RAM, 2x160GB Hard-drive, DVD±RW with HD Capability, GeForce 8400M Graphics, Integ Webcam, WiFi, Vista Home Premium

[MissPop]

Can you please let me know if this is a good laptop? its £489 and i want to give it to my daughter for Christmas. Is it worth getting one this early or wait untill a little closer. I dont know if there are better deals that time of year or availability get scarce.

Cheers Andrew



Acer Aspire 7720G Notebook Laptop, Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0GHz, 17" TFT, 2048MB RAM, 2x160GB Hard-drive, DVD±RW with HD Capability, GeForce 8400M Graphics, Integ Webcam, WiFi, Vista Home Premium

IMO (bearing in mind I'm not as tech-savvy as some of the posters in this thread ;)) that looks a pretty good deal - nice fast RAM and processor, seperate graphics card all good for gaming/movies) and I couldn't fill a hard drive that size in a lifetime ;) Do have a look around though, as you MIGHT be able to find it with a few quid off somewhere (however, I think that is a pretty reasonable pirice for something with those specs)

[JDPower]

Can you please let me know if this is a good laptop? its £489 and i want to give it to my daughter for Christmas. Is it worth getting one this early or wait untill a little closer. I dont know if there are better deals that time of year or availability get scarce.

Cheers Andrew



Acer Aspire 7720G Notebook Laptop, Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0GHz, 17" TFT, 2048MB RAM, 2x160GB Hard-drive, DVD±RW with HD Capability, GeForce 8400M Graphics, Integ Webcam, WiFi, Vista Home Premium
Not bad, probably being sold off cheap due to the now defunct HD-DVD format support DVD drive (tough it'll work fine for regular CD/DVD use).

There are a couple of variations on the spec of that laptop for £449 on Play.com (both have a slightly slower processor):

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/3595211/Acer-Aspire-7720g-Core-2-Duo-T5550-2GB-160GB-17-DVD-SM-Vista-Home-Premium-Laptop-Notebook/Product.html?cm_mmc=Froogle-_-PC-_-Computers-_-Acer%2BAspire%2B7720g%2B%2F%2BCore%2B2%2BDuo%2BT55 50%2B%2F%2B2GB%2B%2F%2B160GB%2F%2B17%22%2B%2F%2BDV D-SM%2B%2F%2BVista%2BHome%2BPremium%2B%2F%2BLaptop%2 B%2F%2BNotebook&source=5066&engine=froogle_pc&keyword=Acer+Aspire+7720g+%2F+Core+2+Duo+T5550+%2F +2GB+%2F+160GB%2F+17%22+%2F+DVD-SM+%2F+Vista+Home+Premium+%2F+Laptop+%2F+Notebook

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/3477772/Acer-Aspire-7720G-Core-2-Duo-T5250-1-5GHz-2GB-240GB-17-WXGA+-DVD-SM-Vista-Home-Premium-Laptop-Notebook/Product.html?cm_mmc=Froogle-_-PC-_-Computers-_-Acer%2BAspire%2B7720G%2B%2F%2BCore%2B2%2BDuo%2BT52 50%2B1.5GHz%2B%2F%2B2GB%2B%2F%2B240GB%2B%2F%2B17%2 2%2BWXGA%2B%2B%2F%2BDVD-SM%2B%2F%2BVista%2BHome%2BPremium%2B%2F%2BLaptop%2 B%2F%2BNotebook&source=5066&engine=froogle_pc&keyword=Acer+Aspire+7720G+%2F+Core+2+Duo+T5250+1.5 GHz+%2F+2GB+%2F+240GB+%2F+17%22+WXGA%2B+%2F+DVD-SM+%2F+Vista+Home+Premium+%2F+Laptop+%2F+Notebook

(Personally I'd pick the first of those two options as I can't see many requiring 2 120GB hard drives as the second has, plus the first has the slightly better processor of those)

[xoanon]

The laptop is a decent spec but horses for courses.

You are getting, and paying for a dedicated gfx card, albeit an older one. Is your daughter going to want to play games?

17" screen is great but not so great if you want to take your laptop around with you a lot.

Finally, and most importantly, if this isn't an early present and is going to be stored away until Christmas - nearly 3months away - I would wait. There will be deals as companies vie for your custom. Plus, despite being out of the loop for a while and not knowing specifically what is coming out, products will come out in time for Christmas driving prices down on the not-five-minutes-old-technology.

[and6868]

thank you all for your replies

[elfmay]

hi can anyone help!? my 8 year old daughter has asked for a pink lap top for christmas can anyone recommend one priced around £300?
laura






PC world have this (http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0538797979.122314480 4@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccgadefgegkmljcflgceggdhhmdfhj.0&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null&sku=305071&category_oid=) ?

Might be ideal as a little 'starter' laptop?

My 5yr old DD wants a laptop, pink of course! So she's getting one of these. :rolleyes: :D My cousin actually bought one of these for her 8yr old a few weeks ago. She let her 13yr old on it to see what she thought of it and it got a huge thumbs up from her? OK, its not all singing and dancing, but it's wireless, built in webcam, 4gb and its light and compact for a little one to carry around. :confused:

As for the comments regarding buying an 8yr old a laptop, there are worse things to spend money on for kids. I consider @ £200 for a console and £40 per game a waste of money! I'd much rather 'waste' £300 on something that could be educational and useful as well as fun.

And not all children are destructive! :rolleyes: My DD certainly doesn't understand how much things cost, though she does understand some things cost 'lots' and has to be taken extra care of etc. She uses my laptop and has yet to pull keys apart or scribble on the screen! In fact she has never scribbled in her reading books or put barbie down the loo! Maybe I just have an exceptionly well behaved child? Or just maybe I brought her up to look after things!!? :rolleyes:



Kids are much more technical now, they use computers in school and at home. I think its only natural they want one of 'their own' I'd much rather buy the item above for £170 than spend as much on a DS and a few games.

[MissPop]

PC world have this (http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0538797979.122314480 4@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccgadefgegkmljcflgceggdhhmdfhj.0&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null&sku=305071&category_oid=) ?

Might be ideal as a little 'starter' laptop?

My 5yr old DD wants a laptop, pink of course! So she's getting one of these. :rolleyes: :D My cousin actually bought one of these for her 8yr old a few weeks ago. She let her 13yr old on it to see what she thought of it and it got a huge thumbs up from her? OK, its not all singing and dancing, but it's wireless, built in webcam, 4gb and its light and compact for a little one to carry around. :confused:

As for the comments regarding buying an 8yr old a laptop, there are worse things to spend money on for kids. I consider @ £200 for a console and £40 per game a waste of money! I'd much rather 'waste' £300 on something that could be educational and useful as well as fun.

And not all children are destructive! :rolleyes: My DD certainly doesn't understand how much things cost, though she does understand some things cost 'lots' and has to be taken extra care of etc. She uses my laptop and has yet to pull keys apart or scribble on the screen! In fact she has never scribbled in her reading books or put barbie down the loo! Maybe I just have an exceptionly well behaved child? Or just maybe I brought her up to look after things!!? :rolleyes:



Kids are much more technical now, they use computers in school and at home. I think its only natural they want one of 'their own' I'd much rather buy the item above for £170 than spend as much on a DS and a few games.

Actually, I quite resent the accusation that my niece is destructive. As I mentioned in my post about her scribbling on the laptop, she did it when she was about a year old, so I don't think she can really be held accountable for that. She's a lovely little girl and is being brought up beautifully, but I'd challenge any one year old in a room with a laptop not to do something to it. To be honest, I'd blame her mum more for letting her anywhere near her Macbook.

Let's not get into the finer details of child rearing, I just think that young children can learn just as well from other sources, like books or toys, and that a laptop is just an unnecessary expense.

But hey, money was very tight for us when I was growing up, so my mum couldn't afford to buy us laptops at that age. I got my laptop when I was 16 and starting college, after wanting one for a good 5 years.

[thecrazy1]

hi all
i know this question has been asked so many timesbefore but its been a while since i looked at laptops not sure what's good and what's not
don'tlaugh but i have been wanting to buy a laptop for the past few years but its never been the right time so now finally i can, i don't know what to get.
this is what i need:
lightweight, 95% of the time i will use the internet along with spreadsheets and word won't play games but may want to watch tv/ movies i will be using lots of pdf and family history based documents and working with others so screen needs to be clear.
i like toshiba and samsung poss sony any ideas please

thanks all

[elfmay]

Actually, I quite resent the accusation that my niece is destructive. As I mentioned in my post about her scribbling on the laptop, she did it when she was about a year old, so I don't think she can really be held accountable for that. She's a lovely little girl and is being brought up beautifully, but I'd challenge any one year old in a room with a laptop not to do something to it. To be honest, I'd blame her mum more for letting her anywhere near her Macbook.

Let's not get into the finer details of child rearing, I just think that young children can learn just as well from other sources, like books or toys, and that a laptop is just an unnecessary expense.

But hey, money was very tight for us when I was growing up, so my mum couldn't afford to buy us laptops at that age. I got my laptop when I was 16 and starting college, after wanting one for a good 5 years.

Actually I never said your niece was destructive!!!! I quoted the person asking about the laptop for their daughter and was commenting on the general theme of the replies to that post. i.e. that 8yr olds don't need/deserve/should have etc a laptop of their own. For reasons such as the fact they would destroy/not look after it etc!

For whats it worth, IF I had quoted you, I would have agreed that letting a 1yr old loose on a laptop is a bit silly. At 1 my DD would have probably tried to eat mine! At the least it would have been covered in rusk, which I can't imagine is covered by warranty! :D

And yes when growing up money was tight at our house too. Our first computer was a commodore 64!!! :o :rotfl: It was a shared christmas present between me, my sis and brother! I'm lucky enough to be in a position right now where I can spend a little bit more on my kids at christmas. Maybe the op is too? And as I said earlier, I don't think the price of laptop is excessive compared to games consoles etc. :)

[MissPop]

Actually I never said your niece was destructive!!!! I quoted the person asking about the laptop for their daughter and was commenting on the general theme of the replies to that post. i.e. that 8yr olds don't need/deserve/should have etc a laptop of their own. For reasons such as the fact they would destroy/not look after it etc!

For whats it worth, IF I had quoted you, I would have agreed that letting a 1yr old loose on a laptop is a bit silly. At 1 my DD would have probably tried to eat mine! At the least it would have been covered in rusk, which I can't imagine is covered by warranty! :D

And yes when growing up money was tight at our house too. Our first computer was a commodore 64!!! :o :rotfl: It was a shared christmas present between me, my sis and brother! I'm lucky enough to be in a position right now where I can spend a little bit more on my kids at christmas. Maybe the op is too? And as I said earlier, I don't think the price of laptop is excessive compared to games consoles etc. :)
Sorry, I obviously read your post a bit wrong then. Bit touchy at the moment! :o

Just for the record, you can get Xbox 360's now from £130, and if you look in the right places (ie pre-owned sections in Game, eBay etc) you can get very decent games for as little as a fiver ;) Plus I think Wiis are coming down in price, and they have some great exercise/family/educational games.

Anyway, fair enough, obviously it's your choice and your money, it's just not something I'd do.

[MaddenLover85]

If you want a laptop as good as a Sony for half the price, I strongly suggest going to Staples and buying a Fujitsu, you can get a really good spec one for £350.

Looking at those results I am horrified how many people think Toshiba are good, they are seriously the WORST laptops that you can buy.

Please take my advise I don't want my fellow money savers to be wasting their hard earned money on rubbish laptops. I am a qualified Web Design and Applications Support Technician so please take my word on this; Do NOT buy a Toshiba, please, go for the Fujitsu or Sony instead.

[caffenero]

I just bought a Dell Vostro 1000 laptop. 80gb 2gb ram from their Dell Outlet

Please review your details below.
Order Summary:
£230.59 Service Tag No. *******
V1000 Sempron 3600 (2.0GHz/256KB)
£55.31 1 BUY NOW & SAVE ! MONEY OFF VOUCH

£175.28 Order Sub Total
£0.00 Estimated System Shipping* for Standard
*Monitor Shipping is no additional charge when purchased with a System
£205.95 Grand Total Including Delivery and VAT
Shipping on Accessories: applicable shipping
on accessories will be added.


That's a bargain. You have to select the discount at the end of the transaction as an 'option' though.

thanks og, ill be having a look at this, cost 205 total?? i always get confused on the dell site thoug

[caffenero]

thanks og, ill be having a look at this, cost 205 total?? i always get confused on the dell site thoug

og i cant even find this on the dell website, the vospre ones only show under business and there isnt a 1000 model, please can you help!

[caffenero]

cheapest laptop i can find on dell is 286 inc vat. i hate their site i can never work out the deals i take it i missed the one from og

[bob_a_builder]

i hate their site i can never work out the deals

Use this to find the DELL deals

http://www.dmxdimension.com/

[caffenero]

Use this to find the DELL deals

http://www.dmxdimension.com/

thanks!

if i am using it right looks like the vostro 1000 laptop is 251 with the offer.

http://www.dmxdimension.com/dell-uk/vostro-deal-comparison/

any ideas how often the offers change, my mate has asked me to find a laptop close to 200 !!! what a task!

[caffenero]

also the vostro is a business laptop, what difference does that make to service/warrenty etc

[berrya1]

Hi I was wondering if someone could help... Im going to use the examples given in the sub £400 laptops page on the main site as benchmarks. This page was updated on 07/10/08, however I feel the deals got worse, not better.

To outline I am after a powerful/ speedy laptop for less than £400. I will use this laptop for internet, some gaming, work etc So I deem Speed as the most important factor.

I picked the following laptop as the best value for money, speedy laptop:

Acer TM5720 £339 - Dabs
Processor - 2 Ghz Dual Core (T7300)
Bus Size - 800 Mhz
Cache - 4mb
Hard Drive - 160gb
RAM - 1gb (max 4gb)
Battery - 6 cell (3 hr)

Whilst the new update shows the following laptop as the best solution for speed:

Fujitsu - Seimens Esprimo Mobile U5505 £377 - Ebuyer
Processor - 2 Ghz Dual Core (T7250)
Bus Size - 800 Mhz
Cache - 2mb
Hard Drive - 250gb
RAM - 2gb (max 4gb)
Battery - 6 cell (3 hr)


Now obviously the Fujitsu laptop has a bigger Hard drive, and bigger initial RAM. However, considering I want to upgrade RAM to 4gb anyway and 160 gb Hard drive is way too much anyway (let alone the 250gb!) I believe the Acer to be better value for money. Especially when the Cache is twice the size. This may not seem must but it adds that little bit of power when processing.

Now what I want to know is if anyone can use the above benchmark and find a more powerful/ faster laptop for less than £400? I don't think its possible!!

Given that processor & RAM I believe are the most important aspects that make a machine fast... these will be the judging factors.... can anyone help??

Also if anyone has any tips or disagrees please do not hesitate to say!

Thanks for the help.

[boobbby]

Hi I was wondering if someone could help... Im going to use the examples given in the sub £400 laptops page on the main site as benchmarks. This page was updated on 07/10/08, however I feel the deals got worse, not better.

To outline I am after a powerful/ speedy laptop for less than £400. I will use this laptop for internet, some gaming, work etc So I deem Speed as the most important factor.

I picked the following laptop as the best value for money, speedy laptop:

Acer TM5720 £339 - Dabs
Processor - 2 Ghz Dual Core (T7300)
Bus Size - 800 Mhz
Cache - 4mb
Hard Drive - 160gb
RAM - 1gb (max 4gb)
Battery - 6 cell (3 hr)

Whilst the new update shows the following laptop as the best solution for speed:

Fujitsu - Seimens Esprimo Mobile U5505 £377 - Ebuyer
Processor - 2 Ghz Dual Core (T7250)
Bus Size - 800 Mhz
Cache - 2mb
Hard Drive - 250gb
RAM - 2gb (max 4gb)
Battery - 6 cell (3 hr)


Now obviously the Fujitsu laptop has a bigger Hard drive, and bigger initial RAM. However, considering I want to upgrade RAM to 4gb anyway and 160 gb Hard drive is way too much anyway (let alone the 250gb!) I believe the Acer to be better value for money. Especially when the Cache is twice the size. This may not seem must but it adds that little bit of power when processing.

Now what I want to know is if anyone can use the above benchmark and find a more powerful/ faster laptop for less than £400? I don't think its possible!!

Given that processor & RAM I believe are the most important aspects that make a machine fast... these will be the judging factors.... can anyone help??

Also if anyone has any tips or disagrees please do not hesitate to say!

Thanks for the help.

Yes! there is avery slight difference in speed depending on your processor and RAM but this is hardly noticable on a modern computer. What makes the real difference is the connection speed to your ISP. Cable customers can choose their connection speed

[Rainbow Butterfly]

Hello, would love some help if possible.

We are looking for a laptop for me to use upstairs for university study, and also for my hubby to take away with him for a few months at a time as he is in the military.

We need wireless internet, dvd writer, for it to be reasonably quick and ideally for it to be able to play games from a couple of years ago for hubby - fifa etc. A built in webcam would be a bonus too. A tiny screen is out as I will be looking at it for hours at a time, so need 16in+

We have 400-450 to spend.

I am clueless with computers, only had one laptop before, a toshiba A60 and it was a ******* nightmare, overheated terribly, wouldnt hold charge etc etc.

Am I right in thinking that one that blows out air from underneath is better? The toshiba sucked from under and blew out the back and used to turn itself off all the time from being too hot.

Thanks all.

[JDPower]

only had one laptop before, a toshiba A60 and it was a ******* nightmare, overheated terribly, wouldnt hold charge etc etc.

Am I right in thinking that one that blows out air from underneath is better? The toshiba sucked from under and blew out the back and used to turn itself off all the time from being too hot.
Oh I feel your pain there, my last laptop was a Tosh A40 or A60 and suffered exactly the same. In the end the processor ended up damaged from constant overheating. As a result I always have my current laptop (a Dell Vostro) sat on a cooling pad, may be unnecessary but just a few quid to extend my laptops life is a small price to pay IMO - I got a cheap £10 three fan pad from Maplin about two year ago and its still going strong (there are plenty available at the likes of Amazon (http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_ce/026-4317484-1230004?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=cooling+pad&x=13&y=23), Maplin (http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?criteria=coolin%20pad&source=15&menu=-3) etc)

[Max M4X WW]

Hi, My parents are after a 'cheap' laptop around £300. They want to look at photos, use word the internet etc. Nothing major.

I'm looking on dell, ebuyer, tesco, pc world etc and am stumped really. Think the normal sort of screen size is 15", dont know if we can get a 17" for the money?

BUT they all seem to be wide-screen, you don't take photos in wide-screen! So this doesn't make sense to me. We had the same problem when finding a non widescreen digi photo frame.

Can anyone suggest any suitable laptops?

Thanks

[debjay]

Despite lots of helpful advice on here I still haven't decided on which laptop for my 12 year old daughter.

What does everyone think of this?

http://www.currys.co.uk/martprd/store/cur_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0279877989.122389867 3@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccdcadefgjmdhemcflgceggdhhmdgmj.0&page=Product&sku=576061&calling_page=Product#productInformationSection

Would the graphics card be ok for gaming? Esp The Sims

Is this one the same?
http://www.comet.co.uk/shopcomet/product/438189/ACER-5920G-302G25HN/tab/reviews#reviews

[chiefmissile]

As posted on page 111, i think the lap top you are questioning is available on Misco deals for £379 http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=308484&sourceid=6642

I think its the same one, but lots cheaper.

Hope this helps

[debjay]

As posted on page 111, i think the lap top you are questioning is available on Misco deals for £379 http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=308484&sourceid=6642

I think its the same one, but lots cheaper.

Hope this helps

Dont think it is the same as the ones I have posted have separate graphics cards. I found it really difficult comparing ACERS as even same model number has different spec

[littleange]

As for the comments regarding buying an 8yr old a laptop, there are worse things to spend money on for kids. I consider @ £200 for a console and £40 per game a waste of money! I'd much rather 'waste' £300 on something that could be educational and useful as well as fun.

Consoles seem to have a pretty bad reputation, which I think is a little unfair. I'd much rather my kids (if I can ever afford any) be sitting infront of a console than just stuck infront of the television. Console games can be educational aswell, they are much more advanced today and provide players with a challenge, which stimulates the child, and many provide exercise. They can also be quite social either in the house together or if you play online, I'm sure it would be a great way to spend time with your kids. And as someone has already pointed out the prices have dropped quite a lot or you could always rent.

I grew up with a sega master system and a mega drive, which my parents made me do chores to earn, people I have met who say their parents wouldn't let them have a console have said they felt like they missed out.

Technology used to cost a lot more than it does today so it is not surprising most of us didnt have a pc until we were teenagers. Computers are used for pretty much everything today so it is a huge advantage to your child to start them off as early as you can.

[dunkmat]

I am after a laptop budget max £500 cheaper the better. Doing degree in photography so needs to have good memory though I will use an external hard drive also. Needs to be mobile so 15" would be better than 17". Prefer a good processor and decent make.

Can anyone assist. Seen a HP at ebuyer for £399 but its AMD Processor also Play.com have a Sony Vaio for the same money. Would it be wiser to pay more for a Dell?

[boobbby]

I am after a laptop budget max £500 cheaper the better. Doing degree in photography so needs to have good memory though I will use an external hard drive also. Needs to be mobile so 15" would be better than 17". Prefer a good processor and decent make.

Can anyone assist. Seen a HP at ebuyer for £399 but its AMD Processor also Play.com have a Sony Vaio for the same money. Would it be wiser to pay more for a Dell?

You may also like this which is available for half price (£40)

http://www.portraitprofessional.com/?gclid=CNeH_-_VpJYCFQ6T1Qodwx9t7Q

[trying-very-trying]

I'm looking at this Acer model www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?quicklinx=57GY
Any opinions would be apprecciated. It's mainly for internet use, wp and photo editing. I know it's not got a huge hd, but that wouldn't be a problem, as I have plenty storage on the pc, and also an external 250gb hd.

[real1314]

Just seen this at morgan:

http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/shop/detail.asp?ProductID=4412&CategoryID=11&SubCategoryID=228

what do people think? my daughter wants a lappy for xmas, willing to spend £300 upwards aiming to get something decent that will last her a few years and would run sims2. Would go up as far as £450 myabe if the bang per buck justified it.

Only 1gb memory, but can be upgraded, although only to 2gb according to crucial. Some review sites seem to suggest a 2 yr warranty is incl by msi too.
not really interested in the swarovski stuff, just seems to have a decent proccessor and decent graphics for the price?

[scotty1971]

can someone please tell me which laptop is best
Acer Aspire 5720 T7500 2GB 15.4" Laptop

or

Inspiron TM 1525 (N1052509) Qty 1 Intel® Pentium Dual Core Processor T3200 (2.0 GHz, 667 MHz FSB, 1 MB L2 cache), Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1 - EnglishUnit Price Incl. VAT £349.00 http://i.dell.com/images/global/general/spacer.gifGet Free Colour Upgrade until 22/10/2008
Expires 22 October 2008 View Details (http://javascript<b></b>:window.open('/dellstore/PopUps/popup_discount_details.aspx?itemtype=CFG&s=dhs&l=en&cs=ukdhs1&c=uk&campitem_id=69253&marketable=false','newwindow','width=580,height=40 0,scrollbars=yes,RESIZABLE=yes,toolbar=no,menubar= no').focus();) http://i.dell.com/images/global/general/spacer.gif

or

InspironTM 1525 (N1052504) Qty 1 Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T5800 (2.0 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 2 MB L2 cache), Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1 - EnglishUnit Price Incl. VAT £429.01 http://i.dell.com/images/global/general/spacer.gifGet Free Colour Upgrade until 22/10/2008

[azzaelectro]

can someone please tell me which laptop is best
Acer Aspire 5720 T7500 2GB 15.4" Laptop

or

Inspiron TM 1525 (N1052509) Qty 1 Intel® Pentium Dual Core Processor T3200 (2.0 GHz, 667 MHz FSB, 1 MB L2 cache), Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1 - EnglishUnit Price Incl. VAT £349.00 http://i.dell.com/images/global/general/spacer.gifGet Free Colour Upgrade until 22/10/2008
Expires 22 October 2008 View Details (http://javascript<b></b>:window.open('/dellstore/PopUps/popup_discount_details.aspx?itemtype=CFG&s=dhs&l=en&cs=ukdhs1&c=uk&campitem_id=69253&marketable=false','newwindow','width=580,height=40 0,scrollbars=yes,RESIZABLE=yes,toolbar=no,menubar= no').focus();) http://i.dell.com/images/global/general/spacer.gif

or

InspironTM 1525 (N1052504) Qty 1 Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T5800 (2.0 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 2 MB L2 cache), Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1 - EnglishUnit Price Incl. VAT £429.01 http://i.dell.com/images/global/general/spacer.gifGet Free Colour Upgrade until 22/10/2008

I would get the "InspironTM 1525 (N1052504)"...Just make sure it comes with 2GB of RAM thou.

[debjay]

Sorry for totallt silly question but had wanted to buy

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/576061/?camp_id=ppc_google_long_tail_laptops_acer_5920g_l aptop

But it has gone up to £530.

Are these the same pc?

http://www.acerdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5920G_Laptop_LX.AQB0X.611/version.asp

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5920G_Laptop_LX.AQB0X.611/version.asp?refsource=ldfroogle

Is this the same company? Has anyone bought from them and can recommend them or should I pay £30 more and buy from PC World?