Sub-£350 powerful laptops discussion

timberflake

Hi guys, I'm in the market for a new laptop and wonder if anyone knows of any bargain at the minute?

I don't need anything too powerful, it's going to be used for general browsing, music, pictures, office etc, but I want to get the best deal for my money.

My budget is up to £500, but if I could find something suitable for £350 that would be a bonus!

noelphobic

Looking for a new laptop myself and wondered what people thought of this

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/fujitsu-ah530-laptop-i3-380m-6gb-ddr3-ram-500gb-hdrive-299-inc-vat-instore-only-1239763

shell820810

http://www.tier1online.com/Product/5356-6474AH5-4/Lenovo_ThinkPad_T400_6474_Core_2_Duo_P8600_24_GHz_141_TFT.htm

Any opinions on this laptop for day to day use, for a friend.

I have ordered this for myself http://www.dixons.co.uk/gbuk/toshiba-satellite-l750-1e5-refurbished-15-6-laptop-modena-red-12041353-pdt.html?srcid=369&xtor=AL-63&cmpid=aff~HotUKDeals~~ would my friend be better putting an extra £20 to it and get the same?

JDPower

shell820810 wrote: »

http://www.tier1online.com/Product/5356-6474AH5-4/Lenovo_ThinkPad_T400_6474_Core_2_Duo_P8600_24_GHz_141_TFT.htm

Any opinions on this laptop for day to day use, for a friend.

I have ordered this for myself http://www.dixons.co.uk/gbuk/toshiba-satellite-l750-1e5-refurbished-15-6-laptop-modena-red-12041353-pdt.html?srcid=369&xtor=AL-63&cmpid=aff~HotUKDeals~~ would my friend be better putting an extra £20 to it and get the same?

If you can get it for just an extra £20 then emphatically yes.

Edit: Just realised the first is a refurb too so even more emphatically spend the extra - its got double the ram (worth £20 in itself), a far superior processor and Windows 7, not the god-awful Vista of the first one.

Demonicomelette

Hi there, smart people.

I have just had an unexpected tax refund, on the same day that my laptop died. I'm going to use most of the money paying off a pesky credit card, but have agreed with my financial adviser/girlfriend that I can put a bit towards a new computer.

I've seen the Dixons refurb ones (I can't post a link, but someone else has above...) that are now an additional 15% off. My budget is around 300 (give or take twenty quid...), so with the discount am looking at one of the three 339 pound ones (under 300, with the discount..)

Now, we mostly use it for browsing the 'net, watching iPlayer and download films, and I enjoy my games, though mostly things like Age of Empires and such, nothing massively taxing. My missus does a bit of photoshopping.

Now, can someone help me out a bit? I have read through (some of) this thread, but to be honest I get baffled by numbers, and after a while (like 30 seconds) they all start looking the same.

Do any of those three (or, indeed, either of the cheaper ones) stand out as head-and-shoulders above the rest? Or should I stay away from refurb altogether, and get one of the brand new sub-300 pound ones Martin (or his techno-monkeys) suggests?

Please reply, please don't flame me for asking what is probably the same question everyone else asks. I don't mind a cut-and-paste reply, if you feel I have asked a cut-and-paste question!

gonzo127

how important is gaming to you compared to photoshop?

as this will inform which is the best processor/intergrated graphics to advise you to get,

as your other usage can be done on any current laptop with ease, and in which you wont notice that much difference between the processors

Demonicomelette

Well, like I said, I do like my games. But really, I only play RTS games like Age of Empires, the Total War games, &c. Nothing that requires lighting-fast frame rates or anything. And I am happy to turn all the graphics settings down.

And as far as photoshop goes, my current laptop (6 year old Pavillion with 1gig ram) runs Photoshop cs3 fine, though a bit slow.

I'm not looking for a stonking great computer, and like I said, from my limited technical knowledge, all three of the 339 quid laptops would probably serve me fine. I was just wondering which is the best of the three!

Thanks for the quick reply!

gonzo127

i would suggest looking for a AMD A series processor then as the intergrated graphics core on them is better than the HD3000/ or HD2000 graphics included on the intel core i processors

although the processor is better on the intel ones which would be better for photoshop, i feel from the usage you are looking at the AMD A series would be more than upto the task and would be better for games.

otherwise 4gb ram as a minimum (more is better for photoshop)

320gb hard drive probably as a minimum because of storage of your photos, once again bigger is probably better.

on this note this seems pretty good on initial checking
http://www.dixons.co.uk/gbuk/hp-pavilion-g6-1220sa-refurbished-15-6-laptop-charcoal-grey-12263581-pdt.html

http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-A-Series-A8-3500M-Notebook-Processor.55755.0.html

http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-6620G.54675.0.html

Demonicomelette

Ok, well there's a Toshiba Satellite l755, or an HP Pavillion g6-1228sa for a tenner more. They both have the a4 chip, and similar specs, (though the Pavillion has a bigger hdd).

My current Pavillion went wrong two weeks after the warranty (speakers stopped working), but how is the reliability of either of these? Which would you go for?

Sorry for all the questions. Like I said, I'm sure they'd all do the job I ask of them, but I do like to do my research before hand.

I do all the computer companies would merge, and they would all prodice the exact same specs, so you knew for a fact that a laptop for 350 pounds is exactly 50 pounds better in every way than a 300 pound one.

gonzo127

it is a hard call as any brand system can have a problem, for example Acer are generally thought of quite badly for reliability but my parents have had their Acer laptop for roughly 4 years totally trouble free.

but on a whole i believe Toshiba's are generally seen as more reliable than HP, however you do get more system for your money with the HP,

however going from most to least reliable makes (in the last survey from 2009) you are look at worst being 1 in 4 (25%) laptops will fail within 3 years, and the best being a little better than 1 in 6 (15%) will fail within 3 years so there really isnt that much in it (for comparison Apple who are always praised on their reliability have a 17% failure rate within 3 years)