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[MSE Lawrence]

This is the new forum discussion to link on the back of the tip deal:

Sub-£400 powerful laptops

Seen a better deal? Please post below and I'll add it in.

I've started a fresh new discussion thread, but if you want you can read the old thread here.

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[shona]

What do people think about this at John Lewis for £379?
Toshiba Satellite Laptop, L300-16L, 1.86GHz with 15.4 Inch Display

[dreamypuma]

Originally Posted by shona

What do people think about this at John Lewis for £379?
Toshiba Satellite Laptop, L300-16L, 1.86GHz with 15.4 Inch Display

Not bad, however I would rather pay the extra £20 and get this:

http://www.laskys.com/computing/laptops_and_pdas/laptops/toshiba_sat_l300_18d.html?cm_mmc=Pricerunner-_-Computing-_-Laptops-_-474126_TOSHIBA_SAT_L300-18D&_$ja=tsid:5828|cc:|prd:474126|cat:Laptop+Compu ters&engine=pricerunner&keyword=TOSHIBA+SAT+L300-18D

WIth the Core2Duo. Laskys are also on Quidco. Note that the John Lewis Machine has a 2year guarantee.

I've just recently bought my new machine from Dell Outlet, and can highly recomend them. They deal with refurbished and cancelled orders. I've managed to get hold of a brand new Inspiron 1525 with a 2ghz Core2Duo, 2gb RAM and 160gb HDD with the Truelife screen and Midnight Blue Casing for £354 inclusive of VAT and delivery.

The dest times to look on the Dell Outlet website are mid-morning and early evening. I think that's when they update there lists. There are some great deals to be had. The cheapest I could find my machine was for £399 at PC World and they were out of stock online.

[CS111]

This is exactly what i am looking for and will need to order some time tomorrow, Hope a few people can suggest some laptops before then, im pulling my hair out looking for a good deal.

[Ice]

www.laptopsdirect.co.uk

you have to make your own recover disc but you do that as soon as you switch it on anyway...
but I found them to be ok...
I got a 20.1 inch acer 9815WKHi with 3 years cover for £583.73...not bad really concidering and its a dream...I know this is not sub 400 but still a very good bargain for the price...

its my first laptop...so I am grinning from ear to ear cos its so big and easy to use...although its a laptop I don't think I'll be moving it about much...

anyway just thought I'd say if your looking for something alittle bit bigger but alittle bit more money then get one its a dream...

[totalsolutions]

ICE, Can't see that exact model or price there, is that correct?

[Ice]

Originally Posted by totalsolutions

ICE, Can't see that exact model or price there, is that correct?

yep I took delivery of this beauty yesterday...keep watching the open boxed bargains and wait for one to come along I was watching this for 2 months...
before I decided to buy and it did go out of stock afew times...also keep an eye on
www.acerdirect.co.uk
as they are the same company only laptopsdirect were the cheapest...
only took 3 days from ordering to come as well...I was abit like...OMG what have I done ...all that money...but now I am so glad I did it anf have this now...my dream laptop...

[Ice]

Originally Posted by totalsolutions

ICE, Can't see that exact model or price there, is that correct?

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/FO_-_...23/version.asp

as seen on the other thread...

[cajef]

Originally Posted by shona

What do people think about this at John Lewis for £379?
Toshiba Satellite Laptop, L300-16L, 1.86GHz with 15.4 Inch Display

Another £20 will get you this Toshiba Satellite L350-14F 17" screen and 160GB hard drive.

[tododo]

Hi all

I think the best offers are on the dell outlet site when they appear

Had a m1530 and a m1330 for £480 and £520......much much better spec than the standard model......with biggger batterys, graphics card etc (the m1330 should have been around £800 for the spec we had)

Also the laptops are like new.......no complaints here at all

Now looking foor a 1525 laptop for the folks

[smiffy]

There seems to be an inconsistency (Dual Core b Core 2 Duo) between the MSE review and the actual spec of the ebuyer deal for the

Fujitsu Siemens ESPRIMO V5535 Intel Dual Core T2330 1.6GHz 2GB 80GB DVD-RW WLAN 15.4" Vista Home Premium


Can this be updated?

[PHIL2307]

Hi Martin,

I noticed that you only direct people to large multi nationals re the laptop pricing etc. There are many small laptop shops around the country. One of which I am) that can give as good if not better pricing and service back up as the big guys. I have a business in Aberdeen called ABC BUSINESS MACHINES on 01224 633251 and I can supply any of the laptops mentioned and send them anywhere in the country nxt day and accept all types of c/card and switch payments. It might be prudent to mention some of the smaller guys who offer the same service but do not have the same media hype as the biggies.

Kind regards

P Murray.

[drunkmunkey6969]

Take a look here: www.itcsales.co.uk

I bought a brand new laptop last week (to replace me finally deceased HP) for £250 inc delivery!!!

Spec:
Vostro 1000 AMD Sempron 3600 2GHz
1GB RAM
80GB HDD
DVD+/-RW
Wi-Fi
15.4" Screen
Vista Home
3 Year On site Dell Warranty

Its advertised for £199, but once you bang delivery and VAT on its £250....if you wanna go upto £300 you obviously get higher spec. But my £250 got me a perfectly good laptop, with a decent spec, and DELL 3 yr backup.

[tr3mor]

I presume the person writing the article knows nothing about computers.

The first laptop has the slowest chip. Definitely not a Core 2 Duo.

The only one of the ones in the article worth buying is the 2nd one. If you're going to market yourself as a consumer advice site then you should have someone knowledgeable giving the advice.

[Riamac]

My son's going to uni soon and needs a laptop but don't want to spend more than I need to on one as he's already cost me a fortune He says he needs (wants?) at least 2gb with a webcam. I know nothing about computers so have no idea where to start. Anyone suggest a suitable one? Thanks a bunch

[Riamac]

My son's going to uni soon and needs a laptop but don't want to spend more than I need to on one as he's already cost me a fortune He says he needs (wants?) at least 2gb with a webcam. I know nothing about computers so have no idea where to start. Anyone suggest a suitable one? Thanks a bunch

[dreamypuma]

Originally Posted by Riamac

My son's going to uni soon and needs a laptop but don't want to spend more than I need to on one as he's already cost me a fortune He says he needs (wants?) at least 2gb with a webcam. I know nothing about computers so have no idea where to start. Anyone suggest a suitable one? Thanks a bunch

See post #3. Dell Outlet will get you more laptop than most of the retailers. Don't confuse this with the standard Dell website (although they are the same company).http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/pr...=uk&l=en&s=dfh

On the 2nd page after you have picked your PC , below the "Peripheral" heading they often have money off deals. There isn't one there today, however the recently had £59 off and free delivery or £95 off. Check it's there (it's not always, it was on 1st September) and make sure you select it. Don't select it and you'll just miss out.

What they have available changes by the hour.

A things to look for are:

Minimum 2GB RAM for Windows Vista (although this will run on less, I wouldn't)

Intel Core2Duo (aim high not Not Dual Core) processors, a 2ghz T5750 is easily possible for below the £400 mark and the higher FSB flavour is starting to creep into this price bracket.

Get the biggest Hard Drive you can at this spec, most will start at a minimum of 120GB

Minimum of a 6 cell battery, 9cell if possible (however these often stick out from the casing)

Note that the batteries on most of the big box brands, can't normally be specified so read up on what they really come with.

Don't be sold on the the speed of AMD processors, they are not the breed they used to be and to be fair AMD should be much cheaper than an Intel processor. (generally have a lower cache than Intels Core2Duos)

[dreamypuma]

Originally Posted by Riamac

My son's going to uni soon and needs a laptop but don't want to spend more than I need to on one as he's already cost me a fortune He says he needs (wants?) at least 2gb with a webcam. I know nothing about computers so have no idea where to start. Anyone suggest a suitable one? Thanks a bunch

Bang for your money, this is a nice machine and is the T7250 flavour of the core2duo, so slightlt faster that the standard more common 2ghz processor.

I'm not sure what the situation is on quidco with this company as they are showing 0% cashback.

[gilesdavies]

Guys my advice in getting an excellent priced laptop is to look at shops that sell refurbished laptops...

PC World and Currys (both owned by the same company), have some exellent deals... They are selling 17 inch screen laptops, from £269 (inc VAT) on their website, even the cheapest of these has 120GB harddisk, 2GB of memory and a decent specs Intel or AMD processor. They are all big brands like Toshiba, Hewlett Packard, Advent and Sony...

Some of the lower spec laptops, which are fine for internet and word processing etc, start from £199!

They all come with a 12 month warranty (same as if bought boxed) and are fully checked before sending out - can only be purchased from the website and not in store.

Just be warned the stock is constantly changing and only have limited numbers, so if you see one you like buy it straight away! I saw a HP laptop that was £549 in PC World two months ago and they had it for £299 as a refurbishment model, but I hesitated and went back later that evening and had sold out!

PC World - Laptops
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/sto...&show_all=true

Currys - Laptops
http://www.currys.co.uk/martprd/stor...&show_all=true

[nedmundo]

Asda are doing Acer Gemstone laptops for £249 at the moment. Not the most powerful of beasts but more than capable for most peoples needs of a bit surfing and word processing! I've got 2 at work and they are excellent, if a bit bulky.