The Great 'Cheapest Decent Laptop' Hunt

elpaw

if it's just internet, word processing, music & photos then celeron processors should do fine.

Spudnik_2

JDPower wrote: »

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)

No, I haven't phoned, but I'll give that a bash - on the systems that DO come with XP, it costs an extra £20 or so, which I find a bit silly.

Speaking of calling, does anyone have any tips on getting them to lower the prices over the phone?

JDPower

Spudnik wrote: »

No, I haven't phoned, but I'll give that a bash - on the systems that DO come with XP, it costs an extra £20 or so, which I find a bit silly.

Speaking of calling, does anyone have any tips on getting them to lower the prices over the phone?

Didn't cost me any extra. After a lengthy discussion on their online chat their agent told me they could offer me XP but only over the phone. I phoned up, told them what the agent had said and they let me have it without question. Their phone agents are pretty sales heavy though so if you do phone stick rigidly to your chosen spec and don't let them talk you into anything. They tried to convince me the basic warranty wasn't available for my laptop and I would have to pay more but surprise surprise a couple of minutes later it wasn't a problem (it's amazing how the impossible suddenly becomes possible if they think they might lose a sale)

As for getting a discount over the phone I doubt you'll get money off as such but if your persuasive you may get an extra thrown in (no guarantees here). Or a sneaky way to go about that would be to downgrade one of the spec options you've decided on before phoning then give the sob story that you really wanted that particular spec a little higher but that would take it out of your price range (and you just happen to have seen a laptop with that spec within your price range elsewhere;))

JDPower

elpaw wrote: »

if it's just internet, word processing, music & photos then celeron processors should do fine.

That is true but for the relatively small increase in price (plenty of dual core laptops around the £350 mark atm) it's worth getting a dual core, it will be much more 'future proof' and AFAIA Vista will run smoother on it if you decide on a Vista system.

sahun

Hi, Im a student and browsing for a cheap but respectable laptop, to basically serve as a carry around on campus, incase i need a laptop for a lecture or a group meet or something. Reason is my current laptop is pretty hefty and not the most portable with lots of problems.

Im looking for a laptop for internet use(so wifi needed), word processing and other minor tasks really. With decent battery life so do not have to worry about finding a power socket every 5 mintues, and will not overheat if it leaves its cosy room. Not for gaming, as have just got a new desktop so doesnt need big RAM.

Can anyone point in the write direction of where i should be looking? This is not a must buy today purchase, as can't directly afford it atm, just could do with ideas for when am ready to buy.

Thanks

JDPower

sahun wrote: »

Not for gaming, as have just got a new desktop so doesnt need big RAM.

RAM is not just for gaming. If you get a Vista laptop you will HAVE to have 1gb minimum just to run and ideally 2GB or more. Even with an XP laptop you would ideally be looking for 1GB (certainly 512Mb absolute minimum).
Bear in mind that whatever graphics card it has will use a chunk of memory too (unless it specifically states otherwise). So a laptop with 512Mb RAM and a 128Mb graphics card would leave you with a laptop with just 384Mb of RAM useable by Windows and other programs.

Spudnik_2

512Mb RAM might be a better idea than 512Kb, mind you.

sahun

haha thanks for the pointers there, anywhere that you would suggest i look for a basic laptop, and if possible somewhere offering student discounts?

and thank you spudnik for the heads up, didnt notice that!

JDPower

Spudnik wrote: »

512Mb RAM might be a better idea than 512Kb, mind you.

Yeah that'd be a better idea

Viz_2

JDPower wrote: »

Bear in mind that whatever graphics card it has will use a chunk of memory too (unless it specifically states otherwise). So a laptop with 512Mb RAM and a 128Mb graphics card would leave you with a laptop with just 384Mb of RAM useable by Windows and other programs.

I thought the idea of having a graphics card was that it used its own RAM rather than the system. An intergrated graphics card would use more system RAM.