The Great 'Cheapest Decent Laptop' Hunt

buglawton

Tier1 sell refurbished IBM T42s for £299 inc p&p and VAT. Apparently this has quite good graphics (Radeon 7500), albeit at 1024 native resolution (which I prefer - a reason for buying) on the 14" screen. Not the highest spec, not even new but good for serviceability and battery running time. 1GB RAM and 40 GB drive. Inbuilt wifi. Mine arrived in 48 hrs. Oh yes and XP not Vista - another reason for buying.

joshtbh

hi all, I have £450 to spend on a laptop but it has to be from Currys, PC World or Dixons in store, any recommendations please? Saw a Core 2 Duo Tosh on a PC World advert earlier for £399 - would that be the best?

minnietheminx_2

I'm interested in the Dell laptop below, but I'm wondering whether it's worth calling them rather than ordering online so that I can opt for XP over Vista and maybe see if I can even haggle a bit. Does 'downgrading' to XP give me more/any bargaining power? Will they even switch the operating system? Am I even able to buy a 'business' laptop? I presume so?

I just want to get the best deal I can (don't we all?!) so if anyone has any suggestions? I can't find any free delivery codes anywhere either.

TIA

Vostro 1500
Components
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7100 Processor (1.8GHz,800MHz,2MB L2 cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Business - English
Base Warranty - 1 Year Business Hardware Support
15.4" Wide Screen WXGA (1280 x 800) Display
Matte Jet Black with 2.0 mega pixel camera
2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM (2x1024)
160GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive
256MB nVidia® GeForce® 8600M GT
Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive
Primary 6-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (56 WHr)

Total excl. VAT VAT Rate Total incl. VAT
Sub-total £429.00 17.50 % £504.08
Total Delivery Charge £51.06 17.50 % £60.00
Total Price £480.06 17.50 % £564.07

haven't_a_clue

Hello
I followed the link but it says it has timed out, i have top whack 500.00 to spend on the best value loptop, I am really a novice when it comes to it and the 'spec' do you have any suggestions on which brand or any deals you may know about?
thanks

haven't_a_clue

hello is the dell vostro a good laptop then? i have up to 500.00gbp to spend as will be replacing my desktop dell 5150 - and want the best value / best spec for the money - what do you suggest?
thanks x

sb78

Hi there, looking for some adv. Got a buisness start up grant to help start up a small buisness and am looking to spend some of that money on a laptop.

I'm looking for a laptop that I'll be able to use the net (wifi), excel/word (possibly a desktop publishing program) download some music on and maybe support mp3 player software, if I ever get around to buying one.

I've had a look at some of the past offers that have been posted on the site and they seem to be in this price range. The question is my budget realistic or should I be looking to put aside more money.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks,
Gregor

Itchy_Niagras

joshtbh wrote: »

hi all, I have £450 to spend on a laptop but it has to be from Currys, PC World or Dixons in store, any recommendations please? Saw a Core 2 Duo Tosh on a PC World advert earlier for £399 - would that be the best?

I bought this one recently, and I'm chuffed to bits with it. Lovely crisp large screen, respectable spec and very stable.

buglawton

This is what I would have bought if the screen wasn't a piano-gloss finish, also I notice that Comet didn't specify if a/which version of Windows. I can't afford to move to Vista right now (some business packages I use are not even Vista ready for example) but had to get a new machine anyway.

minnietheminx_2

Well, I took the plunge and ordered the Vostro 1500. Calling Dell turned into a pointless exercise and I wasn't being offered a better deal - just a pricier Inspiron 6400 with a 2-year support package, anti-virus and XP. Turns out they can't offer XP on a Vostro. Hmmm.

Decided I'd rather take a chance with Vista and also take my chances re. support and save myself a couple of hundred quid.

I think that for the money, it's a great spec. The most similar I can find to it is the Dell Inspiron 1520 (N0815207) which comes in at £798.98. It looks more attractive, but I'd rather save my cash.

Here's the spec for the Inspiron 1520:
Components
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7100 Processor (1.8GHz,800MHz,2MB L2 cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium - English
Jet Black Colour with Matte Finish & 2.0mp camera
15.4" Wide Screen WXGA (1280 x 800) Display
2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024]
160GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive
nVidia® GeForce™ Go 8600M GT with 256MB DDR2 dedicated graphic memory
Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including Software
Primary 6-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (56 WHr)

buglawton

Recently sighted - Sony Vaio's at Costco £470 inc VAT.