Sub-£350 powerful laptops discussion

indprince2000

I have shortlisted a Toshiba being sold for £499 at Tesco Direct (though temporarily out of stock).

As a new member, this site would not allow me to post a link, so stating the product's catalogue number: 212-8773.

((Toshiba L755-15R Laptop (Intel Core i5, 4GB, 640GB, 15.6" Display) Red))

Any feedback on this particular model would be highly appreciated.

Thanks.

indprince2000

AlfiestheCat wrote:

Questions:
1. Does processor matter? If so, which one is best?....

i3 or i5 is, perhaps, being preferred by many these days....

grumpycrab

indprince2000 wrote: »

...i3 or i5 is, perhaps, being preferred by many these days....

e.g. i3-2310M is the leatest i3 (see my Toshiba suggestion at the top of the page ONLY 6 LEFT IN STOCK); i3-380M is also good but 2nd generation.

EDIT: fix your budget, then its between to things 1. best CPU 2. warranty.
Whichever CPU you get you are stuck with (its not upgradeable). Laptops have a bad reliability record so an extended warranty is recommended.

JDPower

grumpycrab wrote: »

i3-380M is also good but 2nd generation.

1st generation

AlfiestheCat

The Toshiba, although a good price, gets a pretty poor review on CNET

indprince2000

^^

Which Toshiba model are you referring to (that gets a poor review on CNET) i.e. Toshiba L755-15R or Toshiba Satellite C660-21M?

If the latter, just to let you know the poor review may have been for an earlier C660 model with, perhaps, a different processor (and not this C660-21M with an i3 processor).

InDebted2U_2

indprince2000 wrote: »

The surface that gets heated on the laptop is the plasticky metallic surface on the left side of the keyboard that is near/just below the 'ctrl' and the 'fn' buttons etc.

Have checked today and DD's one is not getting hot at all as you've described. Perhaps you were unlucky.

indprince2000

Thanks InDebted2you for the feedback.

I may return the laptop this week.

pimento

Hello!

Can someone tell me if this looks like a bargain? I want to be able to run iTunes and surf. I need to be able to plug my usb external hard drive in and load music from CD.

It would be nice to be able to pluc the laptop into the TV so that I can watch iPlayer.

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Samsung_R540-JA07UK_-_Pentium_DC_P6100_2GHz_4GB_500GB_15.6_Win7HP_64Bit_In_NP-R540-JA07UK/version.asp#feedback

Thanks

grumpycrab

pimento wrote: »

...I want to be able to run iTunes and surf. I need to be able to plug my usb external hard drive in and load music from CD.

It would be nice to be able to pluc the laptop into the TV so that I can watch iPlayer...

Almost any laptop will let you do these these, although HDMI makes watching TV easier (assuming your TV has HDMI?)

For £315 this laptop is not bad; CPU is OK rest is very good. No extended warranty; Samsung quite good.

This might be the same laptop @sainburys for £300?
http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/sol/shop/technology/computing_and_gaming/top_rated_computing/121631757_samsung_r540_intel_pentium_dual_core_p6100_4gb_500gb_156_silver_notebook.html?CAWELAID=867847580