Sub-£350 powerful laptops discussion

Miroslav

Okay, looking at getting a laptop for around £400 and I have looked around here and got some good ideas - I have to avoid Windows CE? and have as much Ram as possible and I saw the graph which says which makes tend to break down more.

So, I need to find as good a machine as possible for £400ish which will be used for basic internet browsing/e-mail and for flatmates needs - facebook, twitter, youtube etc, but at the same time if a machine is better than the minimum required for that, then it will be useful for future uses too...maybe. Needs a DVD drive as well and be able to be setup wirelessly.

I've noticed ARGOs Clearance mentioned and they come with a good reputation. Are their refurbished machines with 12 month warranty as good an option as any?

DireEmblem

Surely the UL30 is a good one from the carphone warehouse?

Awesome battery life, and an external DVD drive can be had for peanuts nowadays.

chico

Miroslav wrote: »

I need to find as good a machine as possible for £400ish which will be used for basic internet browsing/e-mail and for flatmates needs - facebook, twitter, youtube etc, but at the same time if a machine is better than the minimum required for that, then it will be useful for future uses too...maybe. Needs a DVD drive as well and be able to be setup wirelessly.

deepakgeorge on hotukdeals posted a 15.6" compaq presario deal for £400 including shipping at ebuyer http://www.ebuyer.com/product/186604.

The full description is Compaq Presario CQ61-424sa Laptop, Pentium T4400 2.2GHz, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, 15.6" HD TFT, DVD±RW, GMA 4500M, Webcam, Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit.

The spec is quite reasonable, except that the processor is a bit average. However if you opt for a machine with a newer and better processor, say a Core i3, the price would be a lot more, or else the spec of the other parts, memory, hard drive, etc would be lower.

BargainHunter1012

I am trying to choose a new laptop, looking for something fast with at least 17inch screen & have narrowed it down to these 3 & hoping someone can tell me which would be the best buy..........

1] DELL STUDIO 17
Processor:

Intel i7 720QM Quad Core Processor, 4 x 1.6Ghz core, 6MB Cache

Ram:

4Gb DDR3 1333Mhz Ram installed (2 x 2Gb chip)

Hard drive:

500Gb 5400 rpm hard disk

Graphics card:

ATi Radeon HD 4650 1Gb dedicated graphics

Wireless:

Dell 1397 wireless card 802.11a/g WiFi

Optical drive:

8 x DVD±RW drive - watch, record and listen to DVDs and CDs

Screen:

17.3" Widescreen High Definition+ WLED with TrueLife 900P - 1600x900

Camera:

2.0 megapixel webcam with mic

Media Readers:

8 in 1 card reader - SD, SDHC, xD, MMC, MS etc

Battery:

Long life 9 Cell 85Whr battery - upto 8 hours battery life

Sound:

JBL® 2.1 + SRS Premium SoundTM Integrated palmrest speakers 2 speakers (3W total – 1.5W each) plus subwoofer (3W)

Ports:

2 x USB 2.0, 1 x USB 2.0/ eSata, HDMI, DisplayPort, VGA, 10/100/1000 GiGabit LAN, Firewire, 2 x Line-out, 1 x Mic-in, 34mm ExpressCard slot

Operating system:Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit This unit comes with a Dell 3 Year Next Business Day response warranty. £749.99

2] DELL STUDIO 17

3.06 ghz CPU i7 Quad Core
4 GIG DDR
500 GB Hard Drive
Windows 7 Professional
1GB Graphic Card
Built in Wireless
DVDRW
9 Cell Battery
Integrated Camera
JBL Speakers & Sub Woofer
Dells 3 Year Accidental Damage Protection £849.99

3] DELL STUDIO 17
2.80 ghz CPU i7 Quad Core
4 GIG DDR
500 GB Hard Drive
Windows 7 Premium
1GB Graphic Card
Built in Wireless
DVDRW
9 Cell Battery
Integrated Camera
15 Months McAfee Anti Virus £769.99

This is my first post so I hope I have given all the information needed, thanks.

starM

Hi,

My brother is looking for a laptop. What do you think of this one for £349?

http://www.dmxdimension.com/dell-uk/inspiron-17-deals-codes-coupons/

Intel Celeron Dual-Core T3100 1.9GHz
Windows Vista Basic
17.3" WLED High Definition + (1600 x 900) TFT
2048MB
160GB
Integrated Intel GMA 4500MHD
DVD Writer

Or any other recommendations?

MS

jaydeeuk1

starM wrote: »

Hi,

My brother is looking for a laptop. What do you think of this one for £349?

http://www.dmxdimension.com/dell-uk/inspiron-17-deals-codes-coupons/

Intel Celeron Dual-Core T3100 1.9GHz
Windows Vista Basic
17.3" WLED High Definition + (1600 x 900) TFT
2048MB
160GB
Integrated Intel GMA 4500MHD
DVD Writer

Or any other recommendations?

MS

If its for basic stuff like surfing, playing DVD's, listening to music etc then its fine. Is a big screen important? Battery life won't be brilliant mind, so might have to remain plugged in to the wall if watching a lord of the rings film.

Also has vista basic, so no fancy aero stuff amongst other things. Which might not be a bad thing, depending on your point of view.

Some alternatives..

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/182576 (the one I would go for)

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/186603

NiVZ

Hello,

I'm looking at two almost identical laptops at under £399.

Only difference is processor and RAM.

1st is Dell with Intel Pentium Dual Core T4400 2.2GHz and 3GB RAM at £379
2nd is HP with Intel Core i3 2.1GHz and 2GB of RAM at £399

Is it worth going for the newer i3 processor and dropping 1GB of RAM or go for the Dual Core with the extra 1GB of RAM?

Thanks,

NiVZ

chico

NiVZ wrote: »

I'm looking at two almost identical laptops at under £399.

1st is Dell with Intel Pentium Dual Core T4400 2.2GHz and 3GB RAM at £379
2nd is HP with Intel Core i3 2.1GHz and 2GB of RAM at £399

Is it worth going for the newer i3 processor and dropping 1GB of RAM or go for the Dual Core with the extra 1GB of RAM?

The HP with i3 processor is the better long term buy, particularly if the RAM is 1 x 2GB, in which case you can simply buy another 1 x 2GB to upgrade to the optimum 4GB. With the Dell you would have to discard 1 x 1GB to upgrade to 4GB.

NiVZ

Thanks for the reply.

Have done some more digging and in typical fashion have found something completely different which I think I prefer.

It's an ASUS X5DIJ-SX313V which seems to receive positive reviews.

It's £397 with Pentium Core 2 Duo T4400, 3GB RAM, 320GB HDD and it seems to get better reviews.

Noticed the spec of the HP was 250GB HDD and 2GB RAM vs 320GB HDD and 3GB RAM. Also the HP's i3 330 is a lower end i3 whereas the T4400 is a higher end Dual Core. Think the the Dell has been ruled out as it got a bit of a doing for only having 89min battery life.

Thanks again,

NiVZ.

motherbear

motherbear wrote: »

We'd be very grateful for advice on buying our first laptop.
It would be used for :-
My daughters college work i.e. ms word, powerpoint (travel & tourism course), listening to and downloading music, watching dvd's and general web surfing.
Would prefer built-in webcam and at least 15" screen size.
Weight & battery life not really an issue as only for home use.
TIA

I'm still having trouble trying to decide on a laptop, think it'll be between these :-
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5083194/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7COffice%2C+PCs+and+phones%7C14418968/c_2/3%7C15701344%7CLaptops+and+Netbooks%7C16164797/c_3/4%7Ccat_16164797%7CLaptops%7C16164800.htm


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280490824625

Any comments or other suggestions more than welcome.