The Great 'Cheapest Decent Laptop' Hunt

Sarah1970

Thanks intercptor02 - however, I have read to steer clear of AMD Processors and also that it needs to have at least 2MB of RAM to run Vista!

As I said, I am so confused with all the technical information and conflicting technical information at that, I just don't know whats best.

A list of top 10 laptops for £300-£400 and under would be useful - listed in order of performance etc with number one being the best overall for the money.

Thanks

JDPower

Sarah1970 wrote: »

Thanks intercptor02 - however, I have read to steer clear of AMD Processors and also that it needs to have at least 2MB of RAM to run Vista!

There's nothing at all wrong with AMD processors, I have one of those Vostro 1000s with the AMD Athlon and it works great. Also you can easily and cheaply upgrade the RAM to 2MB yourself, I did and cost £28 IIRC (it really is simple to do yourself, don't let that put you off).

dryan

The Asus Eee PC 900 coming out in May looks promising-

http://www.trustedreviews.com/notebooks/review/2008/04/16/Asus-Eee-PC-900/p1

Around the 300 mark and really tiny. Played with an older model in PC world the other day and they are so light yet seem very quick and responsive. you can buy either XP with less memory or linux with more memory for the same price. saw a review on the gadget show - it stood up well against the macbook air as a cheap alternative;

I'm sold on it so will buy one when they come out and share my thoughts on it on the forums later - they just seem so light and handy to carry!


its not a powerful workhorse laptop (althougth there are a few youtube vids floating around showing it playing 3D games of all things!) but great for email, web surfing word processing and so on.

Worth seeing the reviews on Youtube;-

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Asus+Eee+PC++900&search_type=

all the magazines say this is the best value for money laptop out there (webcam + two finger touchpad like the Apple Air!) - for less than £300 i'm there!

d

radebe2k

Aria are quality for bargains, bought 2 identical tosh l40's for a client a month apart and got a 1gig extra upgrade for 5 notes less than the original (originally about £360)

This one seems to be pretty good and HP's IMHO are pretty decent although with every manufacturer it is always full of freebie trial rubbish, rebuild as soon as i open the box!

http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Laptops/%C2%A350+Cash+Back%21+-+HP+6720S+Core+2+Duo+T7250+2GHz+Business+Notebook+?productId=30906

They have the Asus one mentioned above here too
http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Laptops/%C2%A350+Cash+Back%21+-+HP+6720S+Core+2+Duo+T7250+2GHz+Business+Notebook+?productId=30906

Ok so some might not look to brilliant on there but the the SuperSpecials are not mentioned in the standard listing.

Shipping is also proper quick even on standard!

Sounds like i'm an advert but i just find that even though novatech are only just up the road these guys can rarely be beaten

snowqueen555

i want the ee as well but am worried about the low spec, it should be able to handle the internet easy pc but in a few years time it might not

dadrock

JDPower wrote: »

There's nothing at all wrong with AMD processors, I have one of those Vostro 1000s with the AMD Athlon and it works great. Also you can easily and cheaply upgrade the RAM to 2MB yourself, I did and cost £28 IIRC (it really is simple to do yourself, don't let that put you off).

Vista needs 2GB of memory minimum.

I'm hanging on for the new EeePC which is due out 1st May in the UK. Not too sure of the price, hence wait. But I want a genuinely portable laptop and that one is the only one. Plus it doesnt need Vista. Win Win situation.

snowqueen555

the rrp is is about £320

either

windows xp + 12gb
or linux + 20gb

same price i think..

i think a lot of people are going to buy the linux model and just put windows on it themselves

dryan

I'd read that the windows XP with lower memory is the same price as the linux with more memory because of the costs of buying an XP licence. I'd be inclined to go with Linux and put XP on myself. according some some early adopters the manual has instructions on how to do this, and you get a CD with all the drivers on for both operating systems. throw in a cheap SDHD card for more storage space drive space' or plug in your iPod and use the spare storage on that if you really need it.

I'd be happy to get this for £300 - sure you can buy a vista laptop for around the same price with a higher spec but those things weigh a ton. These run smoothly on Linux and XP - great for surfing and productivity apps, and the main thing is it fits in my jacket pocket! in 3 years time it'll seem dated, but for £100 per year thats not a bad investment. i think in june they are releasing a higher spec'd one with a faster processor - obviously this might effect the price - think the 900 series will be a hit.

d

BIGGER_THAN_THE_GAME

Bought myself an Eee PC 4gb about a fortnight ago, and I am well impressed.

As a result ditched my home broadband to just a landline package, saving £11 a month.

I have a 3 dongle at £15 a month, but this enables me to surf on the bus to and from work, also on train but not so effectively.

Thus dont buy The Guardian/Observer daily and thus save circa £30 a month. Instead look at the paper online. Catch up with my emails quicker.

Even cancelled my mobile date pack bundle at £7.50 per month.

As a result of being online whilst travelling to and from work I spend less time when at home, which also goes down well with the wife.

Glad I didnt bother with the i-phone after reading some negative reviews.

......and now for the WOW factor. At lot of people comment on it saying how ideal, cute, nice, novel it is. I get curious, admiring looks from others (and it certainly aint my looks!)

ZINXYX

Hi,
Will someone view this laptop Tesco is selling and recommend it or an alternative for the same or lower price,please?
http://direct.tesco.com/content/specials/hponthemove.aspx
Thanks