Sub-£350 powerful laptops discussion

NAR

neilj203 wrote: »

ASDA are doing a Dell Inspiron N5050 3GB RAM, 320G, CORE I3 Intel for £339.
Is this any good for day-today internet, saving a few pics and writing a few word documents?
I can't see any sign of HDMI connection on spec..is this good or bad?

Is there any software with this? Nothing mentioned that I can see. Somewhat tarnishes "bargain" for me.

neilj203

[nar wrote: Is there any software with this? Nothing mentioned that I can see. Somewhat tarnishes "bargain" for me.]

Based on the fact that most companies only offer preloaded systems which they want you to buy, does this matter? Apart from Adobe preloaded (which can be downloaded v easily), I am not sure there is much missing with this one from Asda, or am I missing something?

I will be loading a student Microsoft 2010 so no need for preloaded system apart from windows 7

grumpycrab

For Dell fans this Inspiron 15 (N5050 - same type as the Asda one above) is about £360 after cashback (eg. Quidco discount at the moment is 9% for Dell).

http://www.dmxdimension.com/recommend/N00N5537
That's for an i3-2350M, 500GB disk and 4GB RAM.

NB. if you go via a cashback site the e-value code to search for is, as in the above link, N00N5537

neilj203

Thanks for all the help so far. Having looked at reliability articles, I turned my attention to ACER and Asus.

Asus have this for £329.
Intel Pentium Dual Core B940 Processor, 15.6" HD Screen, Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64-bit, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 500GB HDD, DVD Rewriter, Integrated Graphics, K53E-SX195V


And Acer have this for £329: Acer Aspire 5733Z P6200 4GB 750GB DVD-RW 15.6"

What do people think?
Your help and advice is very much appreciated.

grumpycrab

^ Asus good, Acer bad. I'd advise to get the best CPU you can afford (it cannot be upgraded). So for an extra £20 more the previously recommended Asus is good...
http://www.ebuyer.com/322115-asus-x54h-laptop-x54h-sx168v

neilj203

grumpycrab wrote: »

^ Asus good, Acer bad. I'd advise to get the best CPU you can afford (it cannot be upgraded). So for an extra £20 more the previously recommended Asus is good...
http://www.ebuyer.com/322115-asus-x54h-laptop-x54h-sx168v

Thanks for that. Looks a good one and great value. My only reservation is the amount of preloaded Asus stuff which is preloaded. Lots of it looks no use at all.

By the way, why do people have reservations about Acer?

manulike

Any thoughts about this refurbished Toshiba for £359 (less 5.5% cash back at Quidco) - at Currys and PC World?
TOSHIBA Satellite L750-1E8 Refurbished 15.6" Laptop - Red
i5-2430M Processor 4GB RAM and 500 GBHD

BBAnne

Thanks grumpycrab for the info on laptops - I went for the Toshiba L750D-14R from PC World in the end, got a good deal on Data Transfer as well (I guess I hit lucky with my PC World store!) And cashback too - not much, but cashback all the same

And it's a fab little laptop

manulike - would recommend this brand new one for an extra £20, it's got 6gb ram and 640gbhd

Sorry can't post a link as I'm a newbie

manulike

Thanks BBAnne,
It has taken me a week to figure out the various i3 and i5 and the 1st and 2nd generations... Not quite sure how the AMD E-450 fits into that...

I noticed that its spec is: speed: 1.65GHz +1MB Cache -
whereby the 1st generation i3 is usually 2.3GHz and 3MB Cache.

Is this a fair comparison? I read somewhere that the AMD A6 compares better to the i3

madbird_2

Ok this is just over at £379, but any views either way http://www.tesco.com/direct/samsung-rv520-laptop-intel-core-i3-4gb-500gb-156-display/215-7118.prd?skuId=215-7118&pageLevel=

I've clubcard vouchers to spend so hoping to get something from Tesco if can! Thanks.