The Great 'Cheapest Decent Laptop' Hunt

i-luv-free-stuff

Schneaky wrote:

I have just purchased the Acer Aspire 5101AWLMi from ebuyer.com, which I am extremely pleased with:

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=24400744139&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=121052

* Processor: Mobile AMD MK-36 Turion 2.0GHz Processor
* RAM: 1024MB DDR2-533MHz
* Hard Drive: 120GB
* Screen: 15.4" Widescreen TFTwith CrystalBrite Technology
* Optical Drive: DVD±RW Super Multi
* Graphics: ATI Radeon® Xpress 1100 integrated 3D graphics
* Wireless LAN: 802.11b/g
* Warranty: 1 Year
* Operating System: Windows XP Media Center Edition
* Windows Vista Compatible (includes upgrade voucher)
* Fast Ethernet 10/100
* Built-In 0.3 MegaPixel Camera
* Flash Memory Card Reader (MMC, MS, MS-pro, SD, SM, XD)

Lovely machine, and excellent service from ebuyer, with free delivery (quoted at 5 days - took 2).:T

i got this one too from http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Aspire_Aspire_5101_AWLMi_Laptop_LX.ABH0J.083/version.asp
and i am extremely pleased with it.
i got mine for £489 but price seems to go up and down

j1mgg

i usually check out this

https://www.buyit247.net for good deals or always try misco

LJ50

wakandem wrote:

The cheap end of the market is so dodgy. You can get cheap laptops from Aldi, Asda, Tesco etc but at the end of the day the laptops are not built that well, get too hot & do not last that long. Stay well away from any 2nd hand laptops as they will be overpriced and worn out.
Dell laptops are generally robust work horses that will go on and on. There has also been some thought put into the design & build. For economy I wouldn't recomend anything else

Strongly disagree to be honest.

At the cheaper end of the market Acer reign supreme in my view. The only thing they do wrong is the daft partioning are formatting of the drives as FAT32.

Quite how Dell has risen to its prominence in the market is beyond me. I've experienced nothing but problems with them, and even when they've worked properly they've always "creaked" and rattled a bit. Dell's after sales service is woeful. After the markings on the keys on a Dell laptop my mum had started to disappear after only 3 months Dell wanted to charge her £100 for a new keyboard as apparently it counts a a "consumable" and therefore not covered under warranty! A integrated keyboard?! A consumable?!

HP laptops remain far and away the best IMO, but sadly my work have the usual Dell deal. 2 year old HP laptop at home, pristine still, 3 month old Dell for work, creaks, lid catch isn't right and the hard drive is noisy.

energy80s

i-luv-free-stuff wrote:

i got this one too from http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Aspire_Aspire_5101_AWLMi_Laptop_LX.ABH0J.083/version.asp
and i am extremely pleased with it.
i got mine for £489 but price seems to go up and down

I got a similar machine (except with an 80 gig HD) from PC World for £480 a few weeks ago. They are now down to £470. I can honestly say that it is a great machine - I have been using mine for both audio and video editing and general multimedia work. Have also been showing it off to friends in work and they are all suitably impressed. Go for it!

Backbiter

LJ50 wrote:

Quite how Dell has risen to its prominence in the market is beyond me. I've experienced nothing but problems with them, and even when they've worked properly they've always "creaked" and rattled a bit. Dell's after sales service is woeful. After the markings on the keys on a Dell laptop my mum had started to disappear after only 3 months Dell wanted to charge her £100 for a new keyboard as apparently it counts a a "consumable" and therefore not covered under warranty! A integrated keyboard?! A consumable?!

I agree. I've owned 2 Dell laptops (from work) and they've been poor from the day I had them - unbelievably slow. One (an XP) won't recognise a USB stick.
They also refused to honour the £100 cashback deal they were offering, and just ignored the letters we sent.

nickj_2

deedub777 wrote:

Have a look at http://www.acernotebooks.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5051AWXMi_LX.AG30J.056/version.asp
Processor: AMD Turion 64 MK-36 - 2GHz, 512KB L2 Cache
RAM: 512MB DDR2 - Low Cost Double Memory Offer - Call For Details! (about £59 fitted)
Hard Drive: 60GB
Screen: 14.1" Widescreen TFT (1280x800 - 16:10)
Optical Drive: DVD±RW Super Multi Double Layer (even does DVD-RAM)
Graphics: Integrated Graphics supporting 128MB
Wireless LAN: 802.11a/b/g
Battery Life (Depending on Use): 2.5 hours
Weight: Only 2.4 kg
Warranty: 1 Year Collect and Return - Upgradeable to 3 Years for only £49!
Operating System: Windows XP Media Center Edition - FREE Upgrade To Windows Vista
Fast Ethernet 10/100 + 56k Dial-Up Modem
S-Video Output (watch Laptop output on a TV)
Flash Memory Card Reader (MMC, MS, MS-pro, SD, XD)
Built-In Stereo Speakers + Microphone

Order any accessory or software (and get free delivery). If you haggle or quote them a cheaper price elsewhere, they will match it!!

i have just purchased this after my dd decided on tuesday that she wanted laptop for her birthday , ordered it at 4-00pm wednesday and it arrived 1st thing friday , it would have arrived thursday , but i upgraded the memory to cope with vista , the service was very good and efficient and i would reccomend them , the notebook is very good too

swizzle_2

Been looking at Toshiba A100-027, 1 thing I like is that it has a firewire port which means I will be able to plug my DV camcorder into it and burn to DVD.

Does anyone eles know of a Vista Premium laptop around £500 that also has firewire?

Thank you

energy80s

You can get a firewire PCMCIA card for a laptop from Ebay for a couple of quid. Don't be put off buying a laptop just because it doesn't have a firewire port. However, how well Vista will handle video editing is anyone's guess, as video uses up a lot of resources and Vista has most of those hogged already.

Haynonnie

petergatestone wrote:

If you're after a small and lightweight lappy you can pick up a 12" Dell Latitude D410 for £399.99 inc VAT. You'd think smaller laptops would be cheaper than bog standard 15" models but this is not the case. The cheapest 12" laptop I could find on Kelkoo is over £700

Unfortunately these sold out mega-fast. They looked fab.

I need an ultra-portable laptop to take on the bus to uni with me every day for wireless internet connection and MS Office applications only - I'm not bothered about it being Vista-enabled and it doesn't need to be powerful, just lightweight.

12" and under 2kg would be ideal but is there anything out there for less than £700? I'm too scared to buy refurbished/secondhand.

Thanks

fatbobbutler

does anyone know if you can get cheap deals on laptops because they are still loaded with XP? I've nothing against XP and so if I can save a few quid and not get a Vista laptop then I'll be happy.....