Sub-£350 powerful laptops discussion

tillygirl_2

Hi everyone

I have a teeny tiny budget of just £250 - can't justify spending more with a baby on the way. Currently have a netbook but want something bigger to put itunes on - had to get rid of our 10 year old desktop which had the itunes on it and don't really want to slow the netbook down... plus its my husbands and he thinks i'll break it if i put itunes on it?!

i've seen these today

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/toshiba-satellite-c660d-1gr-refurbished-15-6-laptop-12284659-pdt.html?intcmpid=display~RR~~12284659

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TOSHIBA-C660-1J6-500GB-15-6IN-LAPTOP-BLACK-/330730918883?pt=UK_Computing_Laptops_EH&hash=item4d011953e3

any thoughts?

Can anyone recommend any particular cheap brands? thanks in advance

I also have a 250gb external hard drive from the departed laptop for photos and the like so will only be using this for itunes and browsing... no time for anything else with a toddler and 1 on the way!

black_paw

i think they both look good and a good make , i would see what the after sales are like in case of fault ..friend had her argos laptop away month when had fault .....but same story if got new one , at least these have been tested ..i would prob go for the one from local shop , easy to go back for help advice ect...but of course everyone has there fav make and do diff things on computer's

lexilex

Hi,

I recently sent my old Packard Bell in for repair (bought extra warranty) and they have decided its a write off. I've received a cheque for £400 and want to get a new laptop this weekend. I (obviously been a MSE'r!) want a laptop for as little as possible so I have a bit of cash to put towards another warranty.

I mainly use my laptop for internet use and messing around with pictures. No gaming really. I am participating in one of the work from home schemes at the minute and my laptop can easily be on all day long as part of this.

I have been looking all last night and this morning and I am extremely confused! I am leaning towards Lenovo because they sound much more reliable.

I'm trying to find something in store rather than ordering online, and as a family we are very anti-PC World after having major issues in the past.

Any advice or recommendations?

Doctor_Reg

lexilex, strongly suggest you check out laptops direct - they have a good range of competitively priced laptops and others. Beware the sales support line though - I phoned up yesterday and was not very impressed.

They have an Acer 5749, core 3i at £359. Ebuyer have a Lenovo B570 at £339. Sadly I'm too new to post links, sorry so go and check the sites yourself if you are interested

Last year I was able to get an Acer from laptops direct with 3 year warranty for about £270 after cash back, but seems such deals aren't around at the moment.

alimbee

Hi, i am looking for a laptop £300 ish or less if possible for my daughters birthday next week.
Will be for mainly school work and then general browsing, skype, facebook etc, shes not into games etc. so it doesn't need to be too powerful, but I would like it to last her a good few years.

Chap in Comet recommended
http://www.comet.co.uk/p/Laptops/buy-ASUS-X53U-SX196V-Laptop/791628

then I saw this in Tesco, but see that HP are not highly rated here.
http://www.tesco.com/direct/hp-pavilion-g6-1154sa-laptop-intel-core-i3-3gb-320gb-156-display/212-8865.prd?skuId=212-8865&pageLevel=
Any suggestions would be very helpful please.

gonzo127

Asus are a good brand but the processor included in that system is very low powered (although would be acceptable for the basic uses you have stated it doesnt have much growth if she wants to do a bit more)

and HP can be fine, although you have a higher chance of something going wrong than with other makes, the odds are still in your favour that you will not have any problems - last survey stated 25% of HP failed within the first 3 years, but the flip side is that 75% of them where still fine within the first 3 years! - although the system in tesco is expensive for the spec!

all this being said with your budget in mind you would probably be better going to a refurb model as you will probably get much more system for your money - currently for around £300 this is still one of the better buys http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/hp-pavilion-g6-1220sa-refurbished-15-6-laptop-charcoal-grey-12263581-pdt.html as (although its a HP as discussed above) the overall spec is very balanced and even allows for some gaming if your daughter would like to (sims 3?)

alimbee

Thanks very much for taking the time and giving me your your advice Gonzo, athough sadly it looks like I am too late for this one now, it showing out of stock.
Will see what other deals I can see, we hadn't considered refurbished before.

Thanks for the reminder re the Sims 3, I hadn't thought of that one!

Hebblethwaite

Four years ago, I bought a laptop that I originally saw recommended in this forum and it served me well until recently. Unfortunately, it's now broken and would be more expensive to repair than it is worth. So, I am back and hunting for another great bargain!

I saw Gonzo's recommendation of the refurbished HP Pavilion 1220sa from PC World and have to admit I have been giving it some serious thought (though perhaps too much thought, given that it's now out of stock...)

However, I've also seen this which is available for £399 (or £379 refurbished) and would like some advice on whether it's likely to be suitable for me and whether it's worth the extra money. (Apologies, I know these are slightly above the £350 mark, but I'm comparing them with the one Gonzo posted earlier).

I mostly use my computer for surfing the internet and word processing. However, I also enjoy playing games though I've struggled in the last year because my laptop's fan was misbehaving (I should have replaced it, but life got in the way) Having a desktop isn't really an option at this time, though I'll probably want to have both a desktop and a laptop in the future. I was managing to play Fallout 3 on my old laptop and would like to play that on my new laptop, as well as other similar (and not so similar) games. Currently, I have my eye on Portal 2 and Skyrim (although I'm also considering getting an X-Box in future, in which case I'll hold off on Skyrim). Based on reviews and discussions about these games and the HP Pavilion g6-1331ea that I have read on several websites, I think this laptop should be able to play all of these games as long as I don't expect to be able to crank the settings up too high. So far so good...

I decided to pop into Curry's so that I could check out the laptop and also hoping I might be able to get a better deal on it (having read the MSE guide to haggling!) There, I met the most utterly charmless sales assistant I have ever encountered. He was actually quite rude to me and treated me like I was an absolute moron for thinking this laptop could be used for anything other than light internet surfing and word processing (and this was before I tried asking if there was any flexibility in the price ). Obviously, he was trying to sell me a more expensive laptop but he had absolutely no salesmanship at all. He insisted that the laptop would not even be able to play Fallout 3, which I am certain cannot be true given than my four year old budget laptop played it!

I was left with the impression that he didn't really know what he was talking about, but just in case I am being a moron, I thought I'd come and see what people here thought! I'll admit, I was initially surprised to read people's comments about the laptop being able to run Skyrim, so if it wouldn't, that's not a dealbreaker. But surely, surely it will play Fallout 3?

So, is it a good spec and is it good value for money?

(Btw, the haggling didn't go well either. It went something like this...

Me: I was just wondering if there might be any flexibility in the...
Him: No.
Me: Would your manager be able to offer any flex...
Him: No.

If he'd actually been polite and pleasant, and said no with a little bit of grace, I actually might have been persuaded to buy it yesterday (even at the full price). As it is, I've walked away with serious doubts and could very well end up buying a laptop from somewhere else.)

gonzo127

well never trust one of the sales people in those types of stores, as everytime i have gone in one they dont seem to know their !!!! from their elbow, although i do sometimes go in to have a giggle at what they dont know, however i have occasionally come across someone who does know there stuff that tends to be an exception rather than a rule, most of the time its a case of this one is better becauses its got bigger numbers in the title, or its more expensive so of course it will be better at everything than the cheaper model

the one you have posted about i would really expect it to work with Fallout 3 and portal 2, with very few problems (i believe Fallout 3 works very well with crossfire set ups) skyrim well if people have said they have it running i see no reason it wouldnt run for you,

the one thing to bare in mind is that the duel graphics, although can give some serious gains, can cause some problems as well, this in the most part is worked around by the drivers which (should) automatically switch to single graphics when something wont work with 2 chipsets, but this being said as noted above, its not perfect and so somethings can go screwy with it.

as to value and spec, hm, baring in mind the above about the duel graphics then i would say in the most part yes to both, as you are paying roughly £50 extra for the added graphics card in the system (above the refurb i posted about) which seems to be about average for a discreate (low end) GPU in a laptop, above the base spec or the laptop without it, and so for gaming it is (if no problews occure due to the duel graphics) good value, if not gaming then it is not good value as the price of the system is taken up by the graphics chipsets

Hebblethwaite

Thanks Gonzo! I think I'm going to go for it. I'm not good at spending money (I'm a Yorkshirewoman ) so I always have to talk myself into making big purchases like this.