Need a laptop - don't have a clue!

anniebanannie

Hi There

I hope one of you guys can help me out because I am clueless!

I am starting a course soon and there will be online tutorials and question and answer sessions. I will be using the internet for research and as I will also be working I need to be able to have internet access on the move.

The course is costing £800 and on top of that I will have books to buy, therefore I don't want/can't afford to spend too much on a laptop.

I hope someone can point me in the right direction.

Many thanks in advance.

johng_uk

anniebanannie wrote: »

Hi There

I hope one of you guys can help me out because I am clueless!

I am starting a course soon and there will be online tutorials and question and answer sessions. I will be using the internet for research and as I will also be working I need to be able to have internet access on the move.

The course is costing £800 and on top of that I will have books to buy, therefore I don't want/can't afford to spend too much on a laptop.

I hope someone can point me in the right direction.

Many thanks in advance.

Will you be using it purely for the internet and your course etc, or will anyone be playing games on it?

iviv

If its just going to be for internet access on the move, and not much else, then you'd probably be better off with either a second hand/refurbished one, as they will be cheap and not too powerful, but you won't need power. Alternatively, the Asus EEE PC should do the job. They retail at around £200, have a small screen and hard drive, but are rugged and pretty fast.

Aiadi

Should be more than enough for the requirements you mentioned:


http://www.hotukdeals.com/item/221929/dell-vostro-1510-notebook-1-8ghz-c2/

Credit to Mike T

Edit: Sorry just expired...

johng_uk

iviv wrote: »

If its just going to be for internet access on the move, and not much else, then you'd probably be better off with either a second hand/refurbished one, as they will be cheap and not too powerful, but you won't need power. Alternatively, the Asus EEE PC should do the job. They retail at around £200, have a small screen and hard drive, but are rugged and pretty fast.

I wouldn't necessarily advise a refurb when you can pick up cheapo laptops around the £300 mark brand new that just contain on-board graphics.

It all hinges on the graphics card (gaming) question really...

[Deleted User]

iviv wrote: »

If its just going to be for internet access on the move, and not much else, then you'd probably be better off with either a second hand/refurbished one, as they will be cheap and not too powerful, but you won't need power. Alternatively, the Asus EEE PC should do the job. They retail at around £200, have a small screen and hard drive, but are rugged and pretty fast.

I don't think the EEE would be very suitable if you need to do a course workload of wordprocessing, it wouldn't be very comfortable

iviv

Well, it depends on the price. I'm assuming that the OP isn't in this for gaming, so a powerful processor and graphics card isn't needed. And as for refurbs, it depends how much they are going for. If it isn't much cheaper than a new one, then it may be better. But around the £200 they may be worth a look.

johng_uk

iviv wrote: »

Well, it depends on the price. I'm assuming that the OP isn't in this for gaming, so a powerful processor and graphics card isn't needed. And as for refurbs, it depends how much they are going for. If it isn't much cheaper than a new one, then it may be better. But around the £200 they may be worth a look.

Yes it doesn't sound like a high-spec gaming laptop is on the agenda.

I would still go for new over a refurb though. More protection and better warranty.

However if the budget is severely limited.............

Mips

PC World are giving free latops or laptops half price (even Macs and Vaios) when you sign up to a T mobile mobile internet plan which starts at £25 a month.

I got a Toshiba AMD Turion 64 which suits me.

I was told Intel Core Duo is the same as AMD - when I went in I wanted the core but I got the laptop that looks the nicest

I got 2gb memory, AMD, wi fi... dont know about much else to be honest but it cost me £450 for this.

I was going to sign up to the web and walk thing but changed my mind and thought its just best to buy the laptop outright.

anniebanannie

johng_uk wrote: »

Will you be using it purely for the internet and your course etc, or will anyone be playing games on it?

No games just work! (And maybe a wee bit comping!)

johng_uk

Then you don't need a decent graphics card.

There are many cheap laptops on t'interweb for £300 - £350 ish. One of the big 'price cutters' is the lack of a decent graphics card which wouldn't affect you.

Even Tesco etc do cheapo comps...Have a look around!