Sub-£350 powerful laptops discussion

Donnie

Argos Clearance has reduced the AMD Sempron Mobile M120 version of the MSI CR610 to £270.

This laptop will not be suitable for gaming. Fine for everyday tasks.

Donnie

WELSHAL74 wrote: »

Hi, I am new to this site but have found it very interesting and informative. I have just been told my DELL Inspiron 6400 which is 4 years old will cost around £150 to fix, so am looking for a newer laptop instead.

What manufacturers are best or is it just down to spec? I am looking to spend between £300-£400 and am happy to buy A1 refurbs. I have seen this at pcworld : TOSHIBA Satellite C650D-114 - £399 (it does not say if it has webcam which I want)

My daughter has a Toshiba and to be honest we have found it much better than the DELL. Also I am not a fan of Vista so would prefer a Windows 7. I will use it partly for work (spreadsheets, WP etc. and for surfing, photos etc).

Is it a good laptop or has anybody got any better spec laptop for the money or similar for less money.

I would be very grateful for any comments/suggestions.

Thanks

That Toshiba doesn't have a webcam. At £400, that is ridiculous. Also be aware that if you buy a machine from PC World, your warranty reverts to them and not the manufacturer. You might not want that to happen.

Which model number(exactly) does your daughter own?

What is the problem with the DELL?

Donnie

BlueArmy73 wrote: »

Looking to grab a bargain for my lad for Christmas. Was looking at the dell mini 1011 or 1012 on the dell outlet.

He only uses for Internet access, youtube and facebook type stuff.

Plays the odd flash game etc.

Can anyone recommend something from the argos clearance maybe?

Not sure what is best to get. Dont want to end up paying £300 when I can get something for £200 that does the same. On the other hand I dont want to pay £200 for something when I can get something alot better for £220.

Any help appreciated guys

Do you actually want a Netbook? Is the main criteria portability/battery life?

WELSHAL74

I bought my daughter the following for £280 in January from 'Thelaptopshop':

Toshiba Satellite L300D 242 RF2986 Upgraded to 2GB FREE Nylon Carry Case
AMD Sempron 2.1GHz CPU, 2GB Ram, 160GB HDD, 15.4 Display, DVD-Burner, Vista Premium, Wireless, WebCam. 1yr RTB Warranty.

I have found the DELL extremely slow and prone to freezing especially while running several applications, and have found trying to sort issues out with the DELL support team a complete waste of time

Donnie

WELSHAL74 wrote: »

I bought my daughter the following for £280 in January from 'Thelaptopshop':

Toshiba Satellite L300D 242 RF2986 Upgraded to 2GB FREE Nylon Carry Case
AMD Sempron 2.1GHz CPU, 2GB Ram, 160GB HDD, 15.4 Display, DVD-Burner, Vista Premium, Wireless, WebCam. 1yr RTB Warranty.

I have found the DELL extremely slow and prone to freezing especially while running several applications, and have found trying to sort issues out with the DELL support team a complete waste of time

If you wish, we can take a look at the DELL. We can take a look at the specs and hardware and clean up any software problems, including helping you with a backup and clean install if necessary.

Carry out these instructions:

Download, install, update and run a Quick Scan with Malwarebytes' AntiMalware. When complete, choose 'Remove Selected' if there is anything to remove and Reboot your computer.

After restart, open the program again and go to 'Logs'. Double click on the log produced for today and post the contents here.

Next, download, install and run the HijackThis Version 2.0.3 installer and use the Quick Start guide to enable you to produce a log for posting here too.

Post the results by starting a new thread in the Techie Stuff board below the 'stickies' and placing them in there. Title it with the name of your machine.

BlueArmy73

Donnie wrote: »

Do you actually want a Netbook? Is the main criteria portability/battery life?

Well, no not really. The main thing is the price. But I want it to be able to do most things other than major gaming and video editing.

Basically anything web based, flash games etc. Possibly watch movies on the laptop. Youtube also.

Other than that, as long as web pages load up pretty sharpish then my lad will be happy.
I was just looking at that MSI CR610 that has been put on the argos ebay page today for £269.

Not sure how it runs though. Not been able to find any reviews of exact spec

Donnie

BlueArmy73 wrote: »

Well, no not really. The main thing is the price. But I want it to be able to do most things other than major gaming and video editing.

Basically anything web based, flash games etc. Possibly watch movies on the laptop. Youtube also.

Other than that, as long as web pages load up pretty sharpish then my lad will be happy.
I was just looking at that MSI CR610 that has been put on the argos ebay page today for £269.

Not sure how it runs though. Not been able to find any reviews of exact spec

I've posted about it in #845. Even with the mangy processor(which incidentally attains a higher benchmark score than my main PC ) it will most certainly outperform any Netbook in it's price range....apart from battery life.

For everyday browsing it should be good. You can always try it out. Bit early for Christmas though. Will have lost three months of warranty and will only be able to opt for repair/exchange if something goes wrong, as it will already be three months 'old' by then.

BlueArmy73

Donnie wrote: »

I've posted about it in #845. Even with the mangy processor(which incidentally attains a higher benchmark score than my main PC ) it will most certainly outperform any Netbook in it's price range....apart from battery life.

For everyday browsing it should be good. You can always try it out. Bit early for Christmas though. Will have lost three months of warranty and will only be able to opt for repair/exchange if something goes wrong, as it will already be three months 'old' by then.

Probably best to wait a couple of months then.
Thanks

bravehart

Donnie wrote: »

Which number are you calling?

Well finally managed to get through yesterday and appears my delivery has been lost or nicked :mad: Now after a lot of hassle they have agreed to send another out to me which I thought would have been the obvious thing to do anyway but it wasn't the option they preferred which was refund me then I buy it now at the higher price its listed yeah that was never going to happen .
So back to square one again and waiting on delivery..

blackswan2

can't look at ebay today - what's the £270 CR610 .... I presume it's not the one that was £299 last week and around £345 yesterday?