The Great 'Cheapest Decent Laptop' Hunt

Davey_s2 · 15 January 2006 at 6:42PM

Am absolutely gutted!! Have been watching this forum, and dell.co.uk, and the ukdeals website desperate for a laptop deal, I have a day off and they go put a 1 day special on! Have subscribed to the dell email list, will I get emails about that type of thing then? How often do the deals come around?

jetbabe · 19 January 2006 at 11:12PM

wow... so many pieces of advice on here i have developed a headache.
i need a new laptop but am unfortuantely on a tight budget. The laptop needs to be small and light as I travel so much.
Main uses for the laptop are: surfing web, emailing, watching movies, downloading music.
any advice gratefully received.
thanks

cmallaby · 23 January 2006 at 3:32AM

Have a long on https://www.studentlaptops.co.uk

I like that site! Compaq is now HP btw lol and HP rules! why u not got them up there

urban_fox · 25 January 2006 at 7:30PM

panther wrote:

Saw these in my local Staples for £549. I'm very tempted but don't know much about laptops so if anyone can confirm if this is a good deal?

FUJITSU SIEMENS Amilo Pro V2040

Intel Pentium M Processor 725 1.6 GHz
Level 2 Cache 2 MB
RAM: 512 MB (2 x 256)
60GB HDD
DVD±RW
15Inch TFT 1024 x 768 pixels
6 cell Lithium Ion

4 x Hi-Speed USB
1 x audio - SPDIF
1 x display / video - S-video output
1 x headphones - output - mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm
1 x microphone - input - mini-phone 3.5mm
1 x modem - phone line - RJ-11
1 x network - Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T - RJ-45
1 x IEEE 1394 (FireWire)
1 x display / video - VGA - 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15)
Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g

I've it at Staples too. I am looking for one for my lad who is at Uni. He will be using it mainly for doing his projects and surfing the net. Can anyone recommend this one bearing in mind what it will be used for?

Nemo · 25 January 2006 at 10:56PM

Posting this on my V2040 which I bought in Xmas week. I paid £499 for it, plus got £15 off a bag with a bit of negotation. Don't know what the current price is, assuming they still sell them of course, but the £499 was supposedly a 2-day offer.

It's my first laptop, so don't really have anything to compare it to, but I'm very happy with it. Battery, with the WLAN on, lasts around 3hrs. Keyboard and mousepad work well. I thought it looked little strange at first, having white keys and black case, rather than the usual black keys and silver case, but I soon got used to it. It makes typing much easier in dim light. The laptop is also very quiet.

Definitely recommend it.

EdCov · 26 January 2006 at 2:17AM

I was in Staples yesterday and asked about the FUJITSU SIEMENS Amilo Pro V2040 and was told yes it was only on sale for £499 for two days, currently £549.

Is it likely to go on sale again at £499. The reality is they did not know, but said it was possible if there was lots of stock nationally. How many machines left at the shop? 10.

So it would be possible that it may end up on special offer again, but again for only a couple of days.

I asked where do I have to watch so I do not miss out and it was suggested that I signed up for the newsletter on the website.

Interestingly enough the said machine was not working in the shop, and they could not get it to turn on, and the keyboard does feel quite flimsy. Still my aim is to normally use it with a usb keyboard.

The techie who helped me said he bought one at £499 and got a 10% staff discount, it was not really what I wanted to hear!

Malestrom · 28 January 2006 at 12:11AM

I bought the Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Pro V2040 for £549 at Staples a few weeks ago and after minimal haggling we got a Logitech MediaPlay wireless mouse for nowt as the missus doesn't like trackpads much. Its excellent and doubles as a media remote-control for music or DVD/video files. Its 25 quids worth at Ebuyer so not a cheap piece of tat.

As mentioned above, the keyboard feels a bit flimsy so I hope this won't be a problem but its nice and quick and very, very quiet compared to most laptops i've worked on. The screen is excellent, very clear and a reasonable field of view. The wireless side seems to be very strong and was simple to setup although only supports WEP as far as I can see. I'd agree that battery life is about 3 hours on wireless, closer to five with it turned off. Our (unopened) box was missing WinDVD v5 which is supposed to be included but a quick call to Staples and they had one ready for us to collect within the hour.

Considering all the blimmin' hassle i've had since Christmas with first Dell and then Ebuyer with regards to laptop purchase, buying the Fujitsu from Staples was refreshingly trouble-free and both the salesman and the person at the end of the phone was english, fantastic! The salesman didn't even try to sell us a crappy warranty - what a refreshing change!

espresso · 29 January 2006 at 3:59PM

Malestrom wrote:

The wireless side seems to be very strong and was simple to setup although only supports WEP as far as I can see.

WPA wireless security was a Windows XP update, so this machine will support it if it is kept up to date.

:rolleyes:

Malestrom · 29 January 2006 at 6:39PM

Thats good to know, thanks. Although I fail to see why it warrants a 'Roll Eyes' smilie...perhaps i'm missing something here?

Tarquin_2 · 3 February 2006 at 3:15PM

Plumbuddle wrote:

Whatever you do, don't don't don't use Ebuyer. They have been slammed recently by Which? and there are several discussion boards on the web revealing that they consistently send the wrong or malfunctioning stuff, and then spend months and months replacing it or do not do so at all. I was given the run around by them on a multifunctional and found that only letters before legal action worked. See the discussions on Pricerunner at the very least.

I can vouch for this. You have to do returns via a website which only works, just, at about 3am! Each page takes forever to load up and it usually times out before it has loaded. The telephone side of things is worse as they keep you on hold forever and then refer you back to the website which they refuse to accept is at fault. I did eventually get a refund on my faulty goods, but I must have wasted a good ten hours of my time doing so (usually, like I say at silly times of the night).

The Great 'Cheapest Decent Laptop' Hunt

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