The Great 'Cheapest Decent Laptop' Hunt

gotan

https://www.dell.co.uk/business e value code NPUK5-N04152 for the Inspiron 1501.
not as cheap as the one j1mgg found on 19th though they are pushing this model at the moment. Not sure if this laptop can come with bluetooth?
plus if you choose the 90 day C&R if they do ring you up to offer you a better deal on a 2 yr NBD?? (NBD is worth having imo).
Price it online and then ring up and see if they would knock a bit off as they work on commission.

toasterman

gotan wrote: »

https://www.dell.co.uk/business e value code NPUK5-N04152 for the Inspiron 1501.<snip>
Price it online and then ring up and see if they would knock a bit off as they work on commission.

This "90day service only". Whats the legality of that?
Surely its covered under the sale of goods act for at least 6 months from the time you buy it.
That is literally saying theres only 90 days cover on the hardware, and repairs after that would be chargable?
I guess it is the only way you'd get close to being under the £500 budget though.

Browntoa

I've just checked and that is your OWN referral web site Megamini

reported to abuse

Orson_Carson

Okay Moneysavers!

It’s new laptop time for me and I wondered if I could get your help.

My new laptop needs to be small, light and rugged. I’m on the road a lot – the 12” ones appeal, but with a budget of £500, I guess I’ll be lucky to find one. Basically, I’m not digging widescreens. 15.4 inch or smaller, I’m thinking.

Mostly I’m writing articles (MS office/windows XP) and surfing the web (so the computer needs to be wi-fi ready), but I also want to produce my own audio/video clips and be able to burn CDs and DVDs. I guess a built-in camera would be desirable, not essential. I haven’t got my head around linux yet and I don’t play games.

Thanks to the really useful forums here at MSE, I’m hip to the old “Don’t get windows vista without at least 1 meg of RAM” situation. How real a problem is this?

Also from the reading I’ve done, the name ACER seems to come up a lot, but some people reckon DELL is better pound for pound. Anybody care to stick there neck out and attempt to settle that one?

I’m also going to buy two of the same computer when I come to a decision – another one for my wife. This might give me a tiny bit more consumer power than just buying one.

I’ve got no problems with buying stuff online. Again thanks to this forum, it seems to me the places to go are Laptops Direct – and Tesco seem to be stealthily doing a brisk trade.
So all things considered, what I want your opinion on is:
Which brand/model laptop,
and which outlet to buy from
Budget £500

Also (I’m sure there’s info on this site but I haven’t searched it yet) what do I do about getting MS office, explorer, excel and firewall/virus protection software onto the new device. I’m sure we don’t have to give Mr Gates any more dosh, right? Do I just transfer software from my old laptop with a flash drive?

Apologies if any of these questions are hopelessly naïve and I thank you in anticipation of your time and help.

Orson

PS what do you tink about this - ACER travel mate £476?:

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_TravelMate_6413LMi_LX.TCX06.044/version-1.asp

Orson_Carson

PS of course I meant 1GIG of RAM for windows Vista in the previous post.

sophlowe45

What are the best Dell offers at the moment?

Thanks!

flyboy_2

For those of you who were too slow to grab the Acer E7004 from Tesco when it was £379 (myself included :embarasse ) you may be interested to know that it is now being advertised on their website for £449 - reduced from £479.

map200uk

check out =>

http://www.hotukdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?t=61208

some nice offers

ioscorpio

Toshiba L30-113 15.4" Cel-M 512mb 80GB DVDRW wifi Vista Laptop - £289.99 delivered @ empiredirect (via Google checkout)Description : Stunning 15.4'' widescreen display notebook, with Intel Celeron M processors for a powerful mobile experience. Complete with DVD-SuperMulti Drive to record and play CDs and DVDs.
Features: Intel Celeron M Processor430 (1.73GHz, 533MHz FSB, 1MB Cache) | Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic Edition | 512MB of DDR2 RAM60GB Hard Drive | DVDSuper Multi drive (Double Layer) | Compatibility : CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-R(DL), DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+R(DL), DVD+RW, DVD-RAM | maximum speed : Read: 24x CD-ROM, 8x DVD-ROM/ Write: 24x CD-R, 4x CD-RW, 10x HS CD-RW, 10x US CD-RW, 8x DVD-R, 2x DVD-R (Double Layer), 4x DVD-RW, 8x DVD+R, 2.4x DVD+R (Double Layer), 4x DVD+RW, 5x DVD-RAM | 15.4" WXGA (1280x800) resolution | ATI Radeon Xpress 200M graphics adaptor | Wireless LAN, 802.11b/g integrated | 1 Year Parts Guarantee / 1 Year Labour Guarantee

http://www.empiredirect.co.uk/content/products/details/index~modelcode~tos-l30-113.htm

toasterman

ioscorpio wrote: »

Toshiba L30-113 15.4" Cel-M 512mb 80GB DVDRW wifi Vista Laptop - £289.99 delivered @ empiredirect (via Google checkout)<snip> http://www.empiredirect.co.uk/content/products/details/index~modelcode~tos-l30-113.htm

Item not found.
Although theres now this one of identical spec but with smaller hard drive for £430: http://www.empiredirect.co.uk/content/products/details/index~modelcode~ING-PSAAPE-00D004EN.htm
A typo in the original perhaps?