The Great 'Cheapest Decent Laptop' Hunt

Whits

toasterman wrote: »

I'd say the graphics is moderately better on the Acer compared to the HP, but its all cheap onboard graphics, which isn't great either way...fine for everything except the most modern games though.

Not fussed about delivery times as I work for Comet so they're largely irrelevant

It also means that I get a discount

Thanks for your input, I'm pretty sure I'll opt for the Acer

:beer:

Sammz

Hmm, Dell don't seem to be offering much anymore. I tried last night and got offered £9 off a £434 Inspiron 6400. Called again tonight and the guy denied over and over again they offer better deals over the phone. I told him I'd go else where and he suddenly changed his mind. Told him the one I wanted but he said there was no way I'd get a better deal on that.

Still, I like it and it is a good deal so will probably go via Quidco for some discount.

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?b=&c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&oc=N05642

lola - have you checked https://www.dmxdimensions.com as they show all the advertised deals?

melancholly

for me, i had the toshiba from dabs on my computer screen (link in a post above) and told them that i was about to buy but that someone told me to try dell first. they didn't offer me a better price, just a few upgrades so i got a better spec for the same price.

it may be worth having something else that you can refer to as a guide of what you want and its price..... they offered me the 120GB without me asking - I had to push a little for the battery though.

Weebert

Any thoughts on this?

http://www.disking.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=98774109

Usually visit one of their shops (5 minutes walk away)

Basically need an ultra portable laptop for software developlment. Ideally 12.1 with a C2D processor, 2GB RAM and at least a 160GB hard disk drive. Looking at £800-850 for a budget.

Sammz

melancholly wrote: »

for me, i had the toshiba from dabs on my computer screen (link in a post above) and told them that i was about to buy but that someone told me to try dell first. they didn't offer me a better price, just a few upgrades so i got a better spec for the same price.

it may be worth having something else that you can refer to as a guide of what you want and its price..... they offered me the 120GB without me asking - I had to push a little for the battery though.

I mentioned Dabs and PCWorld I will try once over the weekend but if no joy then I'll just order online.

roryk83

Don't buy the laptop unless you have to. Wait a couple of weeks. Dell changes their offers every few weeks. you were unlucky in that you must have contacted them just after their last great offer expired.

To get a good deal from Dell you have to have patience. It will be worth it in the long run!!! Just keep your eye on the Dell advertisements in the papers and keep checking the website for their special offers

neilersmc

Think its standard practice you ask for upgrades they speak to their boss and suddenly you have a better battery, bigger hard drive, free case.

its definately an advantage to have a better spec system from another website on your screen when you are chatting.

Again lave it till late on in the day when they are trying to get as many sales as possible.

kats53

Advertised in yesterday's daily mail,

HP PAVILLION LAPTOP G5056EA
Intel Pentium Duel Core Processor T2080
DVD+/- RW, Duel layer
120gb Hard Drive
1gb RAM
Microsoft Vista Home Premium

£449.99

Only available in store while stocks last.
Sounds like a good deal?

melancholly

kats53 wrote: »

Advertised in yesterday's daily mail,

HP PAVILLION LAPTOP G5056EA
Intel Pentium Duel Core Processor T2080
DVD+/- RW, Duel layer
120gb Hard Drive
1gb RAM
Microsoft Vista Home Premium

£449.99

Only available in store while stocks last.
Sounds like a good deal?

if HP are still doing their £50 cashback offer then yes it does!

:username:

Hey all!

Did a bit of haggling with Dell today and got a pretty good deal:

BASE Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5300 Processor (1.73GHz,533MHz,2MB L2 cache)
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
HARDWARE SUPPORT Collect & Return, 1 Year Service only
LCD 15.4" UltraSharp™ Wide Screen WXGA+ (1440x900) TFT Display with TrueLife™
MEMORY 1024MB 533MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x512]
HARD DRIVE 120GB (5400rpm) SATA Hard Drive
GRAPHICS CARD Intel® Media Accelerator 950 Graphics Up to 256MB shared graphics memory
OPTICAL DRIVE Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW with Software
PRIMARY BATTERY 6 cell Lithium-Ion Battery (53 Whr)
SECURITY SOFTWARE McAfee® Security Centre™ 8.0 - 36 Month
MICROSOFT SOFTWARE Microsoft® Works 8.0 - English

All this is worth £686 includind VAT and Delivery

I managed to get it for £483 including VAT and Delivery

I used a very closly spec'ed HP laptop as my tool for pulling the best deal out of there hands. Seems to have worked.