The Great 'Cheapest Decent Laptop' Hunt

faevilangel

i went into my local staples and they had mnany laptops cheap as chips, most had missing psu cables
i got a 1.7 ghz single core intel, 80gb hard drive & 512mb ram with vista basic for £200, got a psu cable from maplin for £30 so a decent enough laptop for £230, its a fujitsu siemens. in built wireless too.

they were selling quick. they had a few dual core models with big hard drives for less than £40

Poc

Please give me your opinions on this deal as I know nothing about computers. My friend has won a Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Li1718 notebook and has offered to sell it to me for £300. It's new price is £450. So I know the price is generous.

It has Intel Core 2 Duo T5300 /1.73GHz Dual Core -
2 Gb DDR2 RAM
160 GB HD
DVDRW Dual Layer Optical Drive 802 11 b/g - NIC
Windows Vista
15.4 TFT

I won't be gaming or downloading music. Mainly desktop brochures + storing photos

The problem is that the reviews I've read say it has a poor stiff keyboard, and monitor suffers from glare.I've also read that their after care service isn't great. I do need it to be reliable.

I'd be grateful for any comments
Thanks Poc

faevilangel

that is an amazing laptop, for the price, snap it up lol

i have a fujitsu siemens amilo, see previous post :P

Poc

Thanks so much for replying.Can you tell me if you have any problems with your Futitsu keyboard? All the reviews say theiy're stiff and hard to work with. I'll be doing a lot of report writing with mine

lol
Poc

faevilangel

i have only had it since friday but its not been a problem, used it for basic surfing and typing on msn, and its easy to use, but if ya dont like it, you can get a usb keyboard and use that if needed

OddjobKIA

my fathers looking for a laptop around the £350-400 mark That has XP on it Has to be wifi and office ready, arouind 17" screen not to botherd about make or anything really beefy as all hes going to do is surf and type any suggestions...?

dog1

Anyone interested in a good deal on either a dell vostro laptop or dell desktop should visit Hot Uk Deals and read some of the offers That MikeT is posting today!!! They seem pretty superb to me.

http://www.hotukdeals.com/

dog1

Spudnik_2

Hi guys,

I've been wanting to buy a laptop for the past couple of months now, but keep dithering over what to buy as ultimately it's a lot of money and I don't want to make the wrong decision. As such, I was hoping that some of you 'techie' guys might be able to advise me. I'll be using the laptop for writing, photo editing, listening to music, watching films, and perhaps occassional casual gaming. I'd also like to get something that will see me through a few years, at least university, so don't mind paying a little extra if it's going to work out more economical in the long run. Obviously due to what I want to use the machine for I'm not looking for a super-cheap notebook, but I'd like to get the best value possible.

I currently have my eye on Dell's Inspiron 1720, and I've tweaked the specifications a little to end up with:

• Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7250 (2.00 GHz, 2 MB L2 cache, 800 MHz FSB)
• Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium - English
• 2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024]
• nVidia® GeForce™ Go 8400M GS with 128MB DDR2 dedicated graphic memory
• 250GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive
• 56.6k V.92 Capable Internal Modem & Adapter - UK
• Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including Software
• Intel® Pro Wireless 3945 802.11a/b/g Mini-Card - Europe
• Microsoft® Works 8.0 - English
• 1 Year Base Warranty - Collect & Return
• 90W AC Adapter
• Dell™ Wireless 355 Bluetooth 2.0 Module (up to 3Mbps) with Enhanced Data rate - Eur
• Primary 9-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (85 WHr)
• 17.0" Widescreen WXGA+ (1440x900) TFT Display with TrueLife™

I'd have liked XP, but apparently that's a no-go for the 1720.

This comes to £615, but if I order by tonight then I can have an extra 10% discount bringing it down to £553.95. I can also use quidco to get 5% cashback, making it £530. So my question is, will this laptop perform well enough for my needs, and is £530 a reasonable price for the specifications? Or are any of these choices overkill, so I might get something cheaper?

Any help would be very much appreciated - I've been comparing laptops for so long that my mother is impatiently insisting that I should 'just bloody order it'!

JDPower

Spudnik wrote: »

I'd have liked XP, but apparently that's a no-go for the 1720.

Did you phone up and ask for it (or insist). I know some of their laptops are not listed online as being available with XP, and you will not be given the choice if you ask their online chat agents, but if you phone up you can usually get it (been there and done it myself a few months ago)

misscomickat

Hello people. I have planned to buy a laptop this month to take with me to Poland. I want it mainly for the internet, basic word processing, perhaps storing music/photos, but no huge applications or games.

I have my eye on these ones, but am pretty clueless. Someone said I should avoid "celeron" processors and go for dual core, but I don't know!

http://www.dabs.com/ProductView.aspx?Quicklinx=4SM0


http://www.ebuyer.com/product/136220

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Toshiba_Satellite_Pro_L40-15D_PSL4BE-00G005EN/version-1.asp

Can anyone advise?