Sub-£350 powerful laptops discussion

grumpycrab

A bit over budget, but a Toshiba i5 for £380 (after cashback). (Again without HDMI.)
http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Toshiba_Satellite_Pro_C660-29W_1158974.html

evansmg00

Hi,

Just wondering if someone could give me some advice

Looking for a laptop to run general MS office, plus online poker. Current laptop is unable to handle running poker software plus a HUD (stats analysis software) in the background.

have a budget around £350, currently looking at:

Toshiba Satellite C660-2K0 Laptop, Intel Core i3, 2.3GHz, 4GB RAM, 500GB, 15.6", Black - from John Lewis - £350

or

TOSHIBA A660-17E LAPTOP 500GB 16 INCH INTEL CORE I3 350M 4GB RAM - BLACK REFURB

REFURBISHED WITH A 12 MONTH ARGOS WARRANTY - £350 (linked to earlier in this thread)




(cant post links, sorry)

Leaning towards John Lewis at the moment due to 2 yr warranty, but if anyone else thinks different, or has any other suggestions, I would be most grateful

Thanks

silvercar

evansmg00 wrote: »

Hi,

Just wondering if someone could give me some advice

Looking for a laptop to run general MS office, plus online poker. Current laptop is unable to handle running poker software plus a HUD (stats analysis software) in the background.

have a budget around £350, currently looking at:

Toshiba Satellite C660-2K0 Laptop, Intel Core i3, 2.3GHz, 4GB RAM, 500GB, 15.6", Black - from John Lewis - £350

or

TOSHIBA A660-17E LAPTOP 500GB 16 INCH INTEL CORE I3 350M 4GB RAM - BLACK REFURB

REFURBISHED WITH A 12 MONTH ARGOS WARRANTY - £350 (linked to earlier in this thread)




(cant post links, sorry)

Leaning towards John Lewis at the moment due to 2 yr warranty, but if anyone else thinks different, or has any other suggestions, I would be most grateful

Thanks

The John Lewis one has less ram and smaller HDD than the toshiba satellite proC660-2F8 available for the same price from ebuyer on eBay or £20 more at ebuyer itself. So the value of the extra warranty versus 50% more RAM??

beefster

TakeThis wrote: »

With a closer look, perhaps it's on the money. Though it would certainly help if you were looking for a laptop with dedicated graphics.

Buy it first and think about it later.

Open to suggestions TT, Budget is £400.
She will be going on to UNI so hopefully something that will last the distance.
She has a Lenovo 3000 N200 at present but has filled the C drive which i too small i realise at 150GB! Now its starting to play up as lack of disc space.

Cheers

TakeThis

beefster wrote: »

Open to suggestions TT, Budget is £400.
She will be going on to UNI so hopefully something that will last the distance.
She has a Lenovo 3000 N200 at present but has filled the C drive which i too small i realise at 150GB! Now its starting to play up as lack of disc space.

Cheers

My suggestion? Back up her important data and run a clean install/factory restore, upgrade the RAM if still on 1 GB RAM and think about the upgrade to Windows 7.

If she's happy with the screen resolution on the Lenovo, she might not be happy with the relatively poor screen resolution of the newer breed of laptop. Down from 1680 x 1050 pixels to 1366 x 768 pixels.

What course is she doing/what are her likely requirements?

The aforementioned Toshiba looks fine, but it's a bit old now, as was originally shipped in mid 2010. So battery life might be an issue.

This MSI CR640-425UK/MS16Y1 has a decent specification, though you might want to get it a test run before deciding to keep it.

More info here.

If their auto backup software(Time Stamp) causes some problems, remove it.

boatman

HP A1E92EA#ABU for apx £480 but there is £150 trade in available.
i5 processor, 13" screen, 640Gb hard drive, 4Gb ram, USB3, Windows 7 Pro.

http://www.lambda-tek.com/A1E92EA-ABU-HP-4330S-I5-2430M-13-3IN-4GB-640GB~cs/B720619&viewSpec=y

silvercar

JDPower wrote: »

Nothing special, in fact would expect a first gen i3 to be cheaper than that. Look out for the second gen i processors, they have a 4 digit model number, eg i3-2380
.

grumpycrab wrote: »

This Toshiba may be better value (new, also from Ebuyer).
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270949090538
.

Ordered.:j

Thank you for your advice.

beefster

TakeThis wrote: »

My suggestion? Back up her important data and run a clean install/factory restore, upgrade the RAM if still on 1 GB RAM and think about the upgrade to Windows 7.

If she's happy with the screen resolution on the Lenovo, she might not be happy with the relatively poor screen resolution of the newer breed of laptop. Down from 1680 x 1050 pixels to 1366 x 768 pixels.

What course is she doing/what are her likely requirements?

The aforementioned Toshiba looks fine, but it's a bit old now, as was originally shipped in mid 2010. So battery life might be an issue.

This MSI CR640-425UK/MS16Y1 has a decent specification, though you might want to get it a test run before deciding to keep it.

More info here.

If their auto backup software(Time Stamp) causes some problems, remove it.

Thanks TT, you are starting to loose me a bit as not that techie minded however..
I upgraded the RAM on the Lenovo doubled it. Will check but think it is 2GB now.
The only real issue is the C drive is full... it is only 150GB

Factory restore... will have to check out how.

She is happy with the Lenove so if all tat works you may have saved me a few bob:D:D

TakeThis

Just copy her important info elsewhere and run the factory restore or clone her hard drive on to a larger capacity hard drive and then just slot it in.

A few other configurations possible.

beefster

You make it sound so easy....
I would not know where to start unfortunatly.

Changing the hard drive seems a logical solution. May have to get someone to do for me tho. Does cloningthe hard drive mean copying it to a remote drive, change the hard drive and paste it back... in simple terms?

how much would a hard drive upgrade cost me? may as well go for the windows 7 upgrade too i suppose.

Ta very much