The Great 'Cheapest Decent Laptop' Hunt

phillip3153

The cheapest I have seen is currys - with 10% EMAIL10 discount, any others out there as I am interested as well.

codetown

pavlovs_dog wrote:

do you recommend any particular supplier/ place to start my hunt? all i seem to be able to find are replacement batteries

To find external battery packs that can help with laptop battery life, you need to search for 'Generic battery' , or 'generic laptop battery supply' or similar. They are usually found in laptop shops.
They are quite handy for long trips or whenever you need more battery life!

One example product I just saw is this one:
http://www.laptopshop.co.uk/miscpages/maxpower_batteries.htm

Cost starts at ~90 pounds (for the 60 Wh slim model) and I think it is worth it as they can easily double (or more) your battery life bringing it over 10h

toastydave

Hillfly wrote:

When buying from Comet remember to get a Virgin credit card to save 13%. Requires a bit of forward planning but worth it for the savings.:money:

http://uk.virginmoney.com/members-shop/rewards/getHomeCatalogues.do


You also get discounts at Boots, Argos and Sainsburys.

Hi Hillfly, I've just checked the virgin web site and is say it gives you vouchers (you can buy) to get the discount. Does this mean you can only use these in a high street store, not on the internet?

Thanks

D

Hillfly

toastydave wrote:

Hi Hillfly, I've just checked the virgin web site and is say it gives you vouchers (you can buy) to get the discount. Does this mean you can only use these in a high street store, not on the internet?

Thanks

D

Yes - you can only use them instore (well i think that's the case - might be worth calling them to check). However i have heard that some people have managed to get the online price instore - though i can't confirm this. But if you could then that would be the best scenario. Might be worth not mentioning your paying with vouchers before you try and haggle for an online price. In fact go to the store and see if you can get the online price before you order the vouchers. If they agree ask them to reserve it for you while you wait for the vouchers to arrive.

Frugal_Moose

Hi, not sure if this is the correct place to ask but my Dad has asked me to recommend a laptop for him. He will only need basic internet and email capability but will take it around europe when they go off in their motorhome so it needs to be wireless. I was looking around the £500 mark and wanted to future proof it as much as possible because he really looks after stuff so it will last him ages (!) I found the following two
http://www.currys.co.uk/martprd/store/cur_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0479589980.1163280282@@@@&BV_EngineID=cceiaddjgfehdhdcflgceggdhhmdgmh.0&page=Product&sku=058358

Basic spec is Intel Core Duo T2050 Processor 1.6GHz

533 MHz FSB

2 MB Cache

1024 MB RAM

60 GB Hard Drive

DVD ReWriter SuperMulti

15.4" Widescreen TruBrite Display

Microsoft Windows Media Center

128mb Intel UMA 945 integrated Graphics

1 year FREE warranty

and this dell one which is a bit more as went for the bigger battery

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?b=&c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&oc=N11646&rbc=N11646&s=dhs&sbc=ukdhsrsinspn_6400_3

PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T5500 (1.66 GHz, 2 MB L2 cache, 667 MHz FSB) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 (incl Operating System Re-Installation CD) edit
SUPPORT SERVICES Collect & Return, 1 Year Service only edit
LCD 15.4" Wide Screen WXGA (1280 x 800) Display edit
MEMORY 1024MB 533MHz Single Channel DDR2 SDRAM (1x1024) edit
HARD DRIVE 80GB (5,400rpm) Hard Drive edit
OPTICAL DRIVE(S) Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW with Software edit
GRAPHICS CARD Intel® Media Accelerator 950 Graphics Up to 256MB shared graphics memory edit
PRIMARY BATTERY 9 Cell, 80Whr Lithium Ion Primary Battery

Comes out at £560

I presume the Currys one is the one mentioned above which with the 10% code makes an excellent deal.
Any help appreciated, cheers

codetown

Will he have access to a WLAN while out and about in Europe? Do not confuse WLAN with GPRS (which gives you full mobility but usually costs a lot!).
I would say 90% of modern laptops come with a WLAN card and if not this can be bought (either PCMCIA or USb) for 10-15 GBP. So that is not really the differentiator you should look for!

Going myslef a lot around I suggest you check two other parameters:- weight (the lower the better) and - battery life (the higher the better). These are crucial to those who are a lot around!

I ofen use this table to compare laptops:
http://www.reportlabs.com/testbed/version1/nbv1/nbtop10bat.php

it reports major models with battery life analsys, weights and some performance stats (les important for me). In my experience the Dell 640m (9-cell battery) is the best compromise between long battery life, portability and price (i.e. one of the few laptops below 3kg, 600 GBP and with over 6 hours of good working life!). Of course some Sony and Lenovo models are better and lighter but they cost over 1200 GBP!

So, check well your priorities before judging the laptops!
If the battery life is not a priority, then I would suggest this Packard Bell:
http://www.hotukdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30893
Those specs for 310 delivered are spectacular!
I did not buy it just for the battery life which was too short for me!

HCDayantis

The Celeron-M is looked a little dated too, mind. Still, for 'basic internet and email', that really shouldn't be an issue! Personally, I'm after a Core Duo and preferably a Core 2, but my needs are different.

Frugal_Moose

I presume there are wireless hotspots in europe same as here, I (mistakenly) thought that centrino mobile meant you could access the internet from anywhere.
Battery life will be important since he wont always be near to a mains hook up to recharge it. Weight not that important as he wont actually physically carry it anywhere.
Do you know how good the battery is with the Toshiba model from Currys?

I have a Pentium M Dell laptop and wanted to future proof this new one for him so will go for a Centrino duo rather than the Packard Bell one.
Thanks a lot for responding.

AnnieH

Is there a website like find-cd.co.uk where you can type in which laptop you want and it will find the cheapest seller of it? Or anything similar.
Thanks in advance:)

HCDayantis

Aside from the usual usual generic suspects (kelkoo, froogle, pricerunner, dealtime and the like), I don't think there is I'm afraid. Nothing specialised in laptops to my knowledge.