The Great 'Cheapest Decent Laptop' Hunt

Browntoa

quidco also offers 2% which you did not make clear

http://www.quidco.com/play-com/

and you know you are not allowed to tote for referrals outside the referral section Lewt

no asking for PM's for referrals

cmorgan

Can anyone recommend me a laptop which we intend to buy for my Father in Law for his 70th birthday.

Overriding requirements;

1. Ability to connect to broadband wirelessly.
2. Decent battery life.
3. Decent memory 512k+
4. Use for office applications and internet.
5. Budget £400 (preferably less).

Any ideas as I am completely confused by laptops.

Any help gratefully received.

reknaw

After reading several threads like these on this site, I thought I would just put down the amazing deal I got today. Basically:

Wanted a Mac Desktop
Mum wanted a home PC
Bro wanted a stereo

Total: £1700 (phew!)

I asked how much of a discount I would get with these products. Told that it would depend on whether or not I bought the extended warranty (which I did, and am cancelling tomorrow, within my defined 14 day cooling off period). For this, the PC World guy serving me dropped the price to £1600. Bearing in mind I also picked up a book, which he threw in (£15), and the refund I will get for cancelling the warranty (£15), I saved £130. Not bad!

For those of you who might not feel that confident about doing this, neither am I! I simply said to him, 'what type of discount would I get if I bought all of these now?', and let him do the rest of the talking!

Good luck folks!

Blagalot

Does mum like your user name?

Thenotsowyzewun

This thread is gigantic!!

Here's the laptop I found (on HKUD, I'll copy the post from there...):

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ORIGINAL POST BY EDI

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ADVENT 7110 15" 1.7GHz Centrino 1GB RAM 40gb HD DVDRW WiFi XP laptop is just £359 inc Free delivery from Currys.co.uk

Use code RSANEW5 to get this price and go via Quidco for further 3% in cashback. Good price for a Centrino with descent specs.

Features: Intel Pentium M 735A Processor 1.70GHz | 533 MHz FSB | 2 MB Cache | 1024 MB RAM | 40 GB Hard Drive | Dual Layer DVD ReWriter MultiDrive | 15" Display | Microsoft Windows Media Center | 128MB Intel UMA Integrated graphics | 1 year FREE warranty



Link to Advent 7110

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END OF COPY 'N' PASTE

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As he said, go by Quidco for 3% cashback (and use a cashback credit card too if you've got one ).

Is there a better value deal around this pricemark (give or take £100)?

I'm talking better value by the way, not just a higher spec at a higher price (OK, value's a matter of opinion...)

EDIT: Just ordered one of these, having read the thread a bit it looks like I'd normally only get a Sempron or Celeron around this pricemark, and I can't really afford to spend any more so it's a blinding deal (and if I'm wrong, I'll return it and buy something else!)

zenmaster

I've ordered the Advent 7110 too, Let's hope they are good.

Just one annoying thing though. I printed out the Curry's confirmation of order - it's 9 pages long!!

Thenotsowyzewun

Not sure if this link will work...

Returns Policy

As it says, you're allowed to carefully remove it from it's packaging and examine it, and if you're not completely satisfied repackage it and take it to your local Curry's with the receipt for a refund.

So, I've got 5 days til it arrives (probably) and a further 7 til it has to be returned (starting the day after delivery) so I'm going to spend that time bargain hunting on Loot, Gumtree and eBay (and MSE & HKUD) for an even better deal - TBH I would prefer a 2 core processor, from a better brand, it's just this is the best value machine I've found (and I've been looking all day (bought it yesterday)).
Not sure about second hand machines; I'm wondering whether it's worth waiting for all the unwanted presents in January and Feb (aswell as the sales) after all I don't actually need a laptop until I move to Italy in Feb (I've got a Tecra M1 at the moment, slightly lower spec than the one I've just bought but this one isn't mine, wish it was though; the build quality is fantastic (this keyboard is so nice!).

Anyway enough rambling, just wanted to point out the returns policy

Sparky29

These seem good to me for about £500 http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/nbrange.html?REM

Best I can find for a dual core (Intel Core Duo T2050 1.66GHz 2MB Cache Dual Core Processor)

vinylmusic

I bought a fujitsu Siemens laptop from Staples
Everything looked great until I set it up for wireless networking.
When wired with an ethernet cable to the modem/router everything was fine but to have it working wirelessly was a pain in the backside
I tried everything possible and even went to Staples who couldnt help.

Ideally you should be able to open the lid and go straight to it. I had to make no less than 6 manouvres to get it to work.
Open the lid and turn it on

• rightclick on the wireless icon

• Choose search for available networks

• In the next window search for available networks again... nothing happens

• press fn+f2

• Then click search for available networks again and the signal comes up

• then click connect

If I try using fn+f2 before anything else I still have to do it again after clicking on the search option.

There has to be an easier way

I finally called fujitsu-siemens avoiding any 0870 numbers and got through.

They wouldnt help me and insisted the only way I could get support was through a premium rate number at 60p a minute. and theres no email support
It gives me a bad taste having to call such a number not knowing the final cost and wether or not I would be put on hold.
I dont think that a new customer with setup problems should have to pay for support in that way and its totally wrong not to give an email alternative.

For anyone wishing to buy a Fujitsu item I advise them to consider this when weighing up their options

espresso

So have you ticked the "connect when this network is in range" box in your wireless settings. Presumably the fn+f2 switches on your wireless, to conserve battery life when wireless is not required.