Sub-£350 powerful laptops discussion

chico

Robinhood wrote: »

Have Dell laptops jumped up in price?

Wanted to buy one for my mum just for general use. Don't seem to be able to get anything half decent for around £400. Am i missing a trick? I remember last time I visited this site there were links to the dell site but having gone back through previous posts the most recent links are no longer valid. I'd like a dell as thats what I have and touch wood have had no probltms with it. Thats tempted fate!

I agree that Dell prices are not competitive now.

I have used the Dell Outlet website in the past, when it had a large list of varied laptops types, scratch and dent, refurbished, etc and was very satisfied with the pricing and condition of the items.

However, Dell have changed the website to show more detail per item, but now there are very few (six 1545's) items, at very uncompetitive prices, with a delivery charge on top.

I am looking for another laptop but with the DMXDimension prices being always expensive, I am looking to buying a different make, despite having bought a number of Dell desktops and laptops, all of which are still working well for various members of the family.

I'm consider using the Argos ebay website, where the major disadvantage is their insistence on payment by paypal, and also there have been a number of comments regarding delivery of items in poor condition.

BOBS

Comparing two laptops and just need a bit of advice -

http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?storeId=10001&catalogId=1500002451&langId=-1&searchTerms=5082384
OR
http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?storeId=10001&catalogId=1500002451&langId=-1&searchTerms=5082360

Not sure whether to pick Toshiba with 2.16Ghz processor speed and 160GB SATA hard drive
or the SAmsung with 1.9Ghz processor speed and 250GB SATA hard drive

There isnt really any other difference apart from the Samsung has a webcam which I am not bothered about having.

Just dont really understand which one is more important the processor speed or hard drive GB ??
Thanks.

Snooze

BOBS wrote: »

Comparing two laptops and just need a bit of advice -

http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?storeId=10001&catalogId=1500002451&langId=-1&searchTerms=5082384
OR
http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?storeId=10001&catalogId=1500002451&langId=-1&searchTerms=5082360

Not sure whether to pick Toshiba with 2.16Ghz processor speed and 160GB SATA hard drive
or the SAmsung with 1.9Ghz processor speed and 250GB SATA hard drive

There isnt really any other difference apart from the Samsung has a webcam which I am not bothered about having.

Just dont really understand which one is more important the processor speed or hard drive GB ??
Thanks.

Depends what you want to do with it. If it's just usual email and internet stuff then 160 gig is plenty. My ancient tower desktop here only has an 80 gig drive in it and I do all the usual stuff plus a fair whack of audio downloading and I'm currently only using 63% of the capacity. :cool:

BOBS

Thanks snooze - would there be much difference in 1.9 or 2.16Ghz processor speed ??

Aiadi

BOBS wrote: »

Not sure whether to pick Toshiba with 2.16Ghz processor speed and 160GB SATA hard drive
or the SAmsung with 1.9Ghz processor speed and 250GB SATA hard drive

There isnt really any other difference apart from the Samsung has a webcam which I am not bothered about having.

Just dont really understand which one is more important the processor speed or hard drive GB ??
Thanks.

Why not have both for cheaper as well (and also a webcam):

http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?storeId=10001&catalogId=1500002451&langId=-1&searchTerms=LENOVO

BOBS

Aiadi wrote: »

Why not have both for cheaper as well (and also a webcam):

http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?storeId=10001&catalogId=1500002451&langId=-1&searchTerms=LENOVO

because i am playing safe with a well known brand - have never heard of Lenovo .....
Reasoning is that my current computer is e-systems (4 years old) and has been slower consistently than one my friend got at the same time - packard bell - and both had the same spec.

Snooze

BOBS wrote: »

Thanks snooze - would there be much difference in 1.9 or 2.16Ghz processor speed ??

The 1.9 is the T3100 processor which ranks at 355. The 2.16 one doesn't say which model it is in the link, but it says it's a Celeron so I'm guessing it will be the 900 model at 2.2 ghz (Toshiba site seems to agree for the L500). If it is that one, then that's quite an archaic processor by modern day standards and ranks at a lowly 538 so you'd better off with the other machine if you're looking for a faster processor. The 2.2 will still do everything you need (assuming basic email, internet use etc). My desktop here is an old Celeron 1.6 ghz with 760 meg of RAM which is somewhere down in the 900s in the CPU rankings, but it chugs along quite happily without any noticeable lag (unless I have gazillions of apps running all at the same time) so don't be put off by 'inferior' ranking CPUs if you only need it for basic stuff.

Snooze

BOBS wrote: »

because i am playing safe with a well known brand - have never heard of Lenovo .....
Reasoning is that my current computer is e-systems (4 years old) and has been slower consistently than one my friend got at the same time - packard bell - and both had the same spec.

Lenovo is good stuff. It's essentially IBM under a different name. I'd have Lenovo machines over anything else as the reliability is superb and they're well built (although standards seem to have slipped a bit this past few years).

Aiadi

BOBS wrote: »

because i am playing safe with a well known brand - have never heard of Lenovo .....

Asus and Lenovo are some of the best laptop manufacturers out there. Why not do some googling for reviews instead of jumping into conclusions based only on what you know (and save yourself some money in the process)?

BOBS

Ok - apologies - I did jump to conclusions and because I hadnt heard of Lenovo I totally disregarded it and if I had taken the time to look great reviews on Argos. Cant wait to Thursday now until I go pick it up :-) Think picking a laptop / computer is one of the toughest things to do - so much baffling info - thats why I am not looking at anymore now decision made -
thanks for the help.