The Great 'Cheapest Decent Laptop' Hunt

Aiadi

djohnsonhk wrote: »

I've bought refurb'd computers from eBay, and there's nothing wrong with them, especially if you're looking for a cheaper deal.

Also, that eBay shop/seller's feedback is not poor - 99.3% transactions is actually very good (that's around 250 disgruntled customers out of 38,000 transactions). Consider if your regular high-street store had a feedback rating like with eBay's - I reckon many would do a lot worse off.

Not sure what you really mean by 'probable spam' though. If you're looking for a cheap decent laptop, eBay is a good source.

You must have missed all the warnings on these threads and on the web about buying laptops from eBay particularly refurbished ones. Also 250 out of 38,0000 customers (using your example) have the courage to neg the seller and many many more are disgruntled but are held to ransom as we all here know by eBay's unfair feedback system. What I mean by 'Probable spam' is that the poster might have been advertising for that seller as I don't believe that the offer is anything special or that people are not already aware of eBay as a source for cheaper goods.

searchlight123

maybe not THE cheapest but i've bought it and am well pleased with performance etc.
PC World
compaq, 1.8ghz amd mobile processor
128mb graphics card
1gb ram
15.4" brilliant screen
windows vista premium
wireless enabled

superb!!!!!!

Roger_Rampant

Try Dell online £399

For a dual core 1gb memory laptop 60gb SATA hard drive

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dells...ftdhpnotebook1

dell laptops tend to be very sturdy and are used widely in the IT industry.

Minibloke

I was going to vote in the poll, but my answer would have been Dell and they aren't listed as an option!

Karen1980

Im still looking for a laptop so wheres the best now?? Still dell?

iwontpaytoomuch

I've never seen it in stock but this one from PC world is apparently £99.97

Spec is this;

EI SYSTEM 3001 LAPTOP
# VIA C3 1GHz processor
# 133 Mhz FSB
# 64 Kb Cache
# Windows XP Home Edition
# 256Mb RAM
# 20 Gb Hard Drive
# DVD ROM/CD ReWriter
# 14.1" TFT display
# Shared 64Mb Castle Rock
# 4 USB Connections
# 1 Year Free Warranty

Not really a decent PC but its new and has a years guarantee which is worth £100 to anyone isn't it.

jaxxy00

Roger_Rampant wrote: »

I was going to vote in the poll, but my answer would have been Dell and they aren't listed as an option!

Me too. Why hasnt Dell been put on the list?

ianeverton

Not the cheapest but an absolutely amazing spec for the money.

Acer Aspire 7003WSMI 17" Laptop 120 GB hard drive Media Centre Dual layer writer, 1.8 CPU.

£430

Bought three weeks ago from Tesco online, buy through Quidco for some cashback, also when i bought there was triple clubcard points which when converted to clubcard deals were worth about £60.

I use it for watching and recording TV using a usb digital tv device. Great on the 17inch screen. It is also capable of playing some of the newer games. plays GTA vice city okay.

trogit

Okay, perhaps someone can help me out -
I've found a couple of very similarly priced laptops with some differences in specification:

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5612_WLMi_Laptop_LX.AFY0J.019/version-1.asp is an Acer Aspire 5612WLMi for £498 from Laptops Direct. This has:
* Intel Core Duo T2300 1.66GHz processor
* 667MHz FSB, 2MB L2 cache
* Integrated Graphics (presumably Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950?)

The other is a Dell Inspiron 6400 (eValue code 305-NO4643) for £504. The differences from the first one are:
* Intel Core 2 Duo T5200 1.6GHz processor
* 533MHz FSB, 2MB L2 cache
* 256MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 7300 TurboCache

I have a vague idea what these things mean, but which combination (marginally older processor, faster FSB, onboard graphics, or the more recent processor but slower FSB and seperate graphics card) is going to be quicker for general usage?

Thanks,
trogit

stuwright10

Dear all,

My first post! - if you after buying an Apple Mac, call their sales team and tell them you're a student. Just net search a Uni and give that address and you get a good 10%off!

Also, on their website https://www.apple.com/ukstore search for 'refurbished' and there's a big load of their refurb'd products at cut down prices.

Now, can anyone tell me where you can get a laptop as good and reliable, and most importantly, one that looks decent ;-) for under 800 bucks??

The Vaio's and macbooks seem like the only ones with a different style?

Stu

BobDelamare

trogit wrote: »

Okay, perhaps someone can help me out -
I've found a couple of very similarly priced laptops with some differences in specification:

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5612_WLMi_Laptop_LX.AFY0J.019/version-1.asp is an Acer Aspire 5612WLMi for £498 from Laptops Direct. This has:
* Intel Core Duo T2300 1.66GHz processor
* 667MHz FSB, 2MB L2 cache
* Integrated Graphics (presumably Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950?)

The other is a Dell Inspiron 6400 (eValue code 305-NO4643) for £504. The differences from the first one are:
* Intel Core 2 Duo T5200 1.6GHz processor
* 533MHz FSB, 2MB L2 cache
* 256MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 7300 TurboCache

I have a vague idea what these things mean, but which combination (marginally older processor, faster FSB, onboard graphics, or the more recent processor but slower FSB and seperate graphics card) is going to be quicker for general usage?

Thanks,
trogit

Both makes have an equally good reputation. The Dell has the more recent processor and likely to run cooler and longer on the battery. It also has the 256mb graphics which is vastly superior to the integated ones, which will use up some of the system RAM. You don't mention how much RAM in either but they should have at least 1 gigabyte. Assuming they both have, then the Dell is the winner at the same price. How about screen size? Both 15.4 inch?