The Great 'Cheapest Decent Laptop' Hunt

Jake'sGran

joecassels wrote: »

I keep an eye on cheap laptop deals for my site Support PCs. At the moment I think one from eBuyer is pretty hard to beat. http://www.ebuyer.com/product/140709. It's £269.97 inc VAT with free delivery. It only comes with Windows Vista Basic, but will be fine for general use. I think it's a good buy and would get it myself if I had the cash.

Thank you. I am impressed because you "are in the business". What is the difference between XP and Vista. If I buy this I will go for the XP anyway and really don't need any refinements for what I do. The only negative I can see from all the reviews is the less gthan 2 hours battery time.

cameo_2

Hi Jake'sGran, thats the first time I've been mistaken for a woman, does that mean I have a femine username or come across as feminine in my posts?

The vostro deal worked out great for me, got an additional 4% with quidco as well which took an extra £24 off the total. It's already validated so pretty quick going.

I did look at that HP on Ebuyer actually, my brother sent me the link. In the end I went with the vostro because the spec was better and with quidco and the extra10% discount on friday, I got the base unit down to sub £270 anyway so it really was a superb deal.

As far as xp and vista go, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference really, in my experience most flavours of windows are broadly the same with the occasional lick of paint and I don't think vista is any different. What are you currently using? I heard recently that MS are planning to support xp longer than they had originally planned so if you are using XP right now and happy with it, I would stay with it. I'm using XP myself, I tend not to upgrade windows unless absolutely forced to for hardware or software reasons.

kerryi27

hi, i want to buy a laptop to replace my pc. I surf the net , add my photos and download films and music. I also would like to be aBLE TO connect it to my tv and watch a film from it on my tv , can anyone recommend one. i was looking at the aol £19.99 per month broadband offer with free laptop. Is it worth doing that as i am currently with talk talk and my contract is up

was thinking about spending upto £300. also looking at currys refurbished ones. you can gety toshiba for £289.99.

any help would be appreciated as i have not got a clue.

My PC is about 4 year old and only got 20gb harddisk if that any help

wassupjackie

hi - i just got a dell vostro 17 inch , it came with free graphics card , free delivery and best of all was £349+vat [410]. only downside was dell were quoting 35 days for delivery - after a few emails - it came after 5 working days

chris667

The prices for the older machines seem unbelievable to me. A 486 laptop with 8MB RAM for £80? If It will struggle to run Windows 95. I would be very surprised if the resale value of one of these on Ebay was more than £15. Really, a machine of that age is a curiosity, unless you want to learn how to use Windows 3.1 or FreeDOS.

Incidentally, when I tried to go to the link it appears to redirect me to a page called https://www.sedoparking.com, which is blocked by my hosts file. Dodgy.

The P2 is a better bet for usability, but still! You can get a better specced one here for £69.99. This one would work a storm with Puppy Linux, you could use it with FireFox and OpenOffice.Org.

http://www.speedie.co.uk/acatalog/Pentium_II_Laptops.html

I have to say, though, secondhand computers are a bit of a minefield, and laptops in particular are subject to knocks and mechanical damage in a way that desktop PCs are not. I knew of one laptop that was finished off by vibrations from the carriage on a long train journey.

Also, the margins are very tight, so secondhand PC dealers can be a nightmare to deal with on guarantees, beware.:eek:

JeffLad wrote: »

Hi
Have done some research for you including some of the sites previously mentioned and some new ones. The results show that you can go from the unbelievably cheap (Sub £80 incl VAT) for very old low spec notebooks, through the still cheap (sub £300 incl VAT) refurbed, low spec machines right upto the brand new, high speed 1.5ghz processor, long life battery technology, wireless network enabled machines for less than £690 including VAT & delivery.
You really do not need to spend more than £700 for a laptop. If you are strapped for cash, look at the sub £300 items - but if you can afford mid to top range, then it's worth the extra for getting brand new, guaranteed equipment that you could always sell on in a year or two and get a good chunk of your cash back. If you do this using Martin's 0% credit card tips, you are in effect getting very cheap computer lease, interest free for say 18months or 2 years, before you then upgrade again.

1. Windows 95 Colour Laptop £79
http://www.student-laptops.co.uk/acatalog/Basic_Laptops.html

Product Specification
All specifications are minimum, you may recive a much higher spec machine!
Processor type - 80486
Memory - 8Mb (min)
Hard Disk - 200Mb (min)
Drives - Built in floppy drive (spare disks supplied)
Full Colour Screen
Power supply for mains use
Although this product is fully reconditioned it is unlikely the battery will hold a charge and is therefore intended for mains use only. Unfortunately, batteries are too expensive to replace on the lower specification machines when reconditioning, although they can be sourced if necessary. These machine will work perfectly when plugged in to the mains using the adapter provided.
Includes three month warranty on hardware, warranty excludes battery and software.
See terms and conditions for full details.

2. Dell Latitude CPI PII-366MHz Notebook for £292.57 including VAT

http://www.computerbargains.co.uk/shop/customer/product.php?productid=16246&cat=&page=

Dell Latitude CPI Notebook with Intel Pentium II 366MHz Processor 128MB Ram 6GB Hard Drive 13.3" TFT Screen CD ROM & Fax/Modem. These notebooks are ex corporate and have been refurbished with 6 months warranty.

3. DELL L400 ULTRA PORTABLE £310 including VAT
http://www.tiptoptechnologies.co.uk/asp/product.asp?recorprod=7&product=154&cat=47&ph=cat&keywords=&recor=1&SearchFor=&PT_ID=1

£310 DEAL - CDROM & FLOPPY
High Performance, Ultra Portable! Nice looking, slim & Lightweight! One of the most popular Ultra Portable Notebooks but at an affordable price. The excellent connectivity and high spec. allows for added versitility.
Ex-Corporate Refurbished
Excellent Condition
Mobile Intel PIII 700MHz CPU
20GB Hard Disk Drive
256MB Ram
12.1-inch XGA TFT
AGP graphics
Stereo Soundcard (Mic, Headphones)
56KBS Modem v.90
Type I or Type II slot External ports: one serial, one USB
Printer Port
15-hole video connector
IDE connector
Battery: Li-ion
External Drives (Original Dell)
CD-Rom drive
Floppy drive 1.44MB
Free Original Dell Carry Case
PLEASE NOTE CREDIT CARD PAYMENTS WILL INCUR A 2% CHARGE
Code No. Ex Tax (£) Inc Tax (£)
L400CD 310DELL 263.83 310.00

4. Del Inspiron 510m £681 incl VAT and delivery
http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/inspn_510m?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs

Processor
Intel® CentrinoT Mobile Technology with Intel® Pentium® M Processor 705 (1.50GHz, 1MB L2 Cache, 400MHz FSB) & Intel® Pro/Wireless 2100 (802.11b)
Operating system
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
Memory
256MB 266MHz DDR SDRAM
Harddrive
40GB Hard Drive
Monitor
14.1" XGA TFT (1024x768) Screen
Graphic Card
Integrated Direct AGP Graphics
Optical Drive
Modular 8xDVD/24x CDRW Combo Drive
Modem
56k Data fax modem with unlimited AOL Broadband from £19.99 1
Service
1 Year Euro Collect and Return Service

----
Personally, I'd go for option 4 at 0% interest then sell it in two years for about third to half price (effective cost £15 to £20 a month) then upgrade again. With this option - it's new & guaranteed equipment - 2nd hand laptop batteries can fail and can be expensive to replace £90+ for some.
Alternatively, if strapped for cash, option 3 would seem better than option 2 as for another £18 you get higher spec processor & much larger hard disk and carry case.
Hope this helps
Jeff-Lad

Jake'sGran

Hi CAMEO

I made that assumption because my son (who doesn't even use a PC) would never dream of doing something like that for me and my daughter who is much more thoughtful would never dream of getting involved with Mum's computer arrangements. Also, your name did suggest you were female.
I've still not got round to buying the laptop. Lately, I seem to be taking a long time considering before I buy anything but with the laptop in particular I worry that I may be missing out on something going for a very basic entry level one although I do admit that many of the posts on this Techie forum are like Chinese writing to me. I have been sitting here for a couple hours tonight trying to sort out why my computer is loading pages so slowly and I still haven't sorted it except for downloading a Kaspersky free trial which I'll run tomorrow....see if that improves things.

cameo_2

I tend to agree with Chris, I had a quick look at second hand and refurb machines but in the end there seemed little point with so many quality sub £300 machines (new) knocking about. I actually have a broken laptop of a few years which is still a decentish spec but out of warranty and there seemed no point spending the money getting it repaired when it was little more for a brand new machine. Pretty frightening how much they have come down in price in the last couple of years.

Jake'sgran, I wouldn't worry too much about your choice of machine. I bought a desktop system around 2 years ago which was about £1000 and many of the entry level laptops we are talking about here are just as powerful (and a fraction of the price). Besides, the specs these days are overkill for the average user who just wishes to browse the web, do some word processing, print a few photos and so on.

The problem you describe with your current system could be down to any number of things from your internet connection to viruses/malware or just its age if you've not kept it in good order.

GoldenT147

Hi all!

I am looking for an ultra mobile laptop with the following spec:
Min 1.8GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 12/13" screen size, Min 80GB hard drive, wireless, CD/DVD RW

My budget isn't very high - could probably stretch to about £250-£300. Does anyone know of anything around with this sort of spec?

Many thanks in advance!

chris667

When I tried to go to www.student-laptops.co.uk, I am redirected to a page that's blocked by my hosts file. Seems rather dodgy to me.
Incidentally, £80 for a 486 with 8MB of ram doesn't sound like such a good deal. 8MB is not enough memory to run Windows 95 properly, and you won't be able to attach a USB memory stick to transfer files to another PC. You're stuck with floppy disks or a (parallel port) printer. A machine of that age is a curiosity, really, unless you want to do word processing with Windows 3.1, Freedos/OpenGEM or similar, or play old games like Doom.

www.speedie.co.uk has cheap secondhand laptops. A Pentium 2, which would run quite nicely with Puppy Linux is on offer for £69.99.

Buyer beware, though. Laptops in particular are subject to mechanical damage in a way that desktop PCs aren't. I knew of one that was ruined purely by the vibrations it was exposed to in the carriage of a train. And some of the companies offer ridiculously short guarantees.

Edit- this was the 2,000th post - do I get a prize? (8

billinge

If you want a really cheap ultra-mobile pc and only want it for email, surfing the net and typping letters etc, try the ASUS Eee PC, and if you are flying somewhere soon, Dixons Tax free at Manchester Airport have this for £186.38. My wife wants me to fly somewhere on business so I can get her a pink one!!!