Sub-£350 powerful laptops discussion

Witlim

is this any good? im looking at upgrading my laptop for no more than £400. i am a casual user - i want it to have the basic microsoft word and excel and windows 7 but thats it really as its mostly used for internet browsing.

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.211-9591.aspx


also would anyone recommend that i try the chromebook from google? or is this a different topic for another string?

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/samsung_chromebook-1469-commercial.html?srcid=198&gclid=CK-E-6Dq0KkCFUoc4QodmBLRNg

thanks for your help!

grumpycrab

The Acer is good but would recommend a 3 year warranty upgrade e.g. (£30) http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130533991522
Or there's a similar Toshiba from Argos for £350 which includes a 2 year warranty (look back in thread)

EDIT: for casual use you get get this http://www.ebuyer.com/product/250961 (plus warranty above); nice if you play old(ish) games; QUESTION. do you already have Word+Excel licences?

Re. chromebook - ask in the main thread but I believe it ties you down to online use (pretty much).

candtalan

Have just bought a Meenee, 13" display, notebook (black is £225) with preinstalled Ubuntu. Firefox starts up and shows google in 8 seconds from firefox first start, or 4 seconds, if previously been running. Not the fastest of machines but pretty good for my purposes. http://amzn.to/l8WX51 (black), http://amzn.to/lMTmJg (white).

InDebted2U_2

I'm looking at this (not quite sub-£350 but lots of bang for your buck) and wondered if anyone here had experience of using 'Save on Laptops', who seem to be offering it at a good price?

And/or any recommendations of laptops with similar/better spec for the same price point (not Acer!)?

grumpycrab

InDebted2U wrote: »

...And/or any recommendations of laptops with similar/better spec for the same price point (not Acer!)?

Another Samsung but only 15" £350 http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/samsung-r540-laptop-i3-380m-4gb-ram-500gb-hdd-hdmi-349-97-saveonlaptops-optional/954874
(3 year warranty is still half price @£50)

InDebted2U_2

Can you link me to the half-price warranty? I can't see it. :undecided

grumpycrab

InDebted2U wrote: »

Can you link me to the half-price warranty? I can't see it. :undecided

http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Samsung_3_Year_Collect__Return_Warranty_122323.html

InDebted2U_2

I see SoL is also giving away free Bullguard security software. Anyone got any experience/opinion of this?

The £50 Samsung 3-yr warranty makes that laptop even more tempting, providing 'major European cities' is not too limited.

Slinky_Malinky

Hi everyone,

After reading the last few pages on this thread I am very tempted by this recommended laptop

http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Samsung_R730_1041049.html

It will for basic home use, mostly for browsing websites, online shopping, emails, storing photos and music to put on my mp3 player (mostly from CDs rather than downloads) I could keep it plugged in so battery life is not a huge issue.

I have very limited techie knowledge but it seems to have it all - fast i3 processor, large storage, suitable disk drive, usb slots for connecting camera/printer/mouse.

I haven`t found anything comparable at this price - is there anything else I should be looking at or should I be making do with something cheaper considering my needs? I don`t mind paying the £400 if I am getting something significantly better than the £300ish alternatives. I am not the sort of person who upgrades regularly so will be keeping this laptop long term. For example here is a smaller cheaper laptop...

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/241152

This would save me money and has good reviews but perhaps I would be tearing my hair out if it was very slow in use.

Lastly please can someone recommend a good mouse for laptop use?

Thanks,
Slinky

grumpycrab

Slinky_Malinky wrote: »

... I don`t mind paying the £400 if I am getting something significantly better than the £300ish alternatives. I am not the sort of person who upgrades regularly so will be keeping this laptop long term...

The main feature of the £400 Samsung is the 17inch screen. I'd go to a shop and compare 15inch with 17inch to see if its that much better. If you will use the laptop alot at home then an external screen (e.g. 21inch for less than £100 or have you got a spare monitor?) is a great idea.

As you're getting for long term use I'd also get a 3 year warranty extension. (e.g. £30 for Acer Aspire above somewhere).