Sub-£350 powerful laptops discussion

Donnie

nlpnlp wrote: »

Donnie I know you are the laptop maestro but I am after a desktop for moderate game playing - is there anything you can recommend?

Thanks

No laptop maestro. Not even particularly interested in computers. Just learning as I go along.

So don't really have anything particular in mind.

zaralondon

D&J Henry *seem* to be ok so far. Arranged a collection pretty much straight away. Getting a refund from Argos clearance seems to be a different story so far.

Donnie

zaralondon wrote: »

D&J Henry *seem* to be ok so far. Arranged a collection pretty much straight away. Getting a refund from Argos clearance seems to be a different story so far.

When was it picked up? If on Thursday/Friday, they still have to wait until D&J Henry confirm that it has been returned. Plus they are not open at the weekend...

joshm_2

Donnie wrote: »

When was it picked up? If on Thursday/Friday, they still have to wait until D&J Henry confirm that it has been returned. Plus they are not open at the weekend...

Yep, tha machine has to go back to D&J first (to be checked), then forwarded on to Argos for refund processing. Argos say my refund will take 7-10 days to process once the machine is with them, so I guess at least 2 weeks in all.

It's inconvenient but I doubt anyone will get stiffed by this lot - they seem pretty good (wish I could say the same about MSI refurb laptops!).

joshm_2

Donnie wrote: »

Thanks for the updated info. How did you apply the update?

I followed the instructions

- Found an old flash drive to use
- Donwloaded and installed UNetbootin on said drive
- Copied over the flash update to the drive
- Booted from the drive
- Ran the "flash" batch file

It erased the old image, wrote and verified the new one. After this, I pulled the power & battery, reapplied both, booted up and tested the screen.

The update process was smooth - it's just a shame it didn't work for me

joshm_2

I've finally got myself a decent (working!) machine. I'm not sure if the deal has appeared on this forum since it's a tad out the 350 price range, but I went for the Samsung R530 deal from Comet in the end. It's GBP 403 when you reserve & collect or take their free delivery option. To get the 403 price I had to apply a 6% discount code which gives you another GBP 25 (or thereabouts) off. If you seatch around I'm sure you can find the code (don't think I am allowed to post it on here).

The new machine is nice - Core i3 CPU, 3GB, 15.6" LED screen, 320GB HDD, Win 7 HP 32bit, webcam etc.

Donnie

joshm wrote: »

I followed the instructions

- Found an old flash drive to use
- Donwloaded and installed UNetbootin on said drive
- Copied over the flash update to the drive
- Booted from the drive
- Ran the "flash" batch file

It erased the old image, wrote and verified the new one. After this, I pulled the power & battery, reapplied both, booted up and tested the screen.

The update process was smooth - it's just a shame it didn't work for me

Ok. Thanks for the update. Shame, as they were great for the money apart from that.

Donnie

rbnrbn wrote: »

hey guys.

this thread is huge and i have read a little, however i havnt found a suitable laptop for my needs.

im currently looking for a 13" or smaller , duel core min , 2/4GB RAM , with minimum of 250GB hard disk space. Id like dedicated graphics memory but it isnt a neccesity.

hope someone can be of assistance,

cheers

An alternative is this DELL Inspiron M301z for £399. Not the greatest value on the surface, but it does come with a three year warranty and an external DVD Writer. Also a slightly better processor, a larger screen(13.3") and Bluetooth.
So if all of that is worth an extra £70 to you..

You have a private message.

blackswan2

I went for another MSI CR610 at the £342 price on Sunday, didn't want to pay that but ran out of time, and the first one seems good apart from having to get the battery replaced.
They have over 70 CR610s today at just £299, but these are listed with a lesser spec - 2gb ram instead of 4gm, 250gb hdd instead of 320gb, no DVD drive listed and a different graphics card.

Donnie

blackswan2 wrote: »

I went for another MSI CR610 at the £342 price on Sunday, didn't want to pay that but ran out of time, and the first one seems good apart from having to get the battery replaced.
They have over 70 CR610s today at just £299, but these are listed with a lesser spec - 2gb ram instead of 4gm, 250gb hdd instead of 320gb, no DVD drive listed and a different graphics card.

Of course it has a DVD Writer.

This was previously listed at £270, now back to £300. Here in #854. Covered the DVD drive question in #884.