The Great 'Cheapest Decent Laptop' Hunt

MissPop

GunJack wrote: »

misspop - how long you had yours ?? I got a refurb ERT2250 earlier this year, it's been grand so far. popped another 1GB in a few weeks ago just to extend it's potential life, no probs. try getting it fixed, may save you a few bob....

I've had mine for about 18 months now, so it's out of warranty. When I took it in to the repair shop for the socket replacement, they couldn't shed any light on the power problem. I've asked on another forum and people have suggested putting the laptop on a stack of CDs to allow more room under the fan, and to clean out any build up of dust, but I don't think that either of these are the problem... However, I should give it a go before I consider replacing the whole thing I guess!

charuk

Just wondering if you have ever considered reconditioned laptops? I got one from a site aimed at students http://www.ukstudentlaptops.com which sells good makes like Dell, HP, etc for the cheapest I've seen! I don't think I'd trust paying a load of money out for a cheapo make!

x__Indigo_x

charuk wrote: »

Just wondering if you have ever considered reconditioned laptops? I got one from a site aimed at students http://www.ukstudentlaptops.com which sells good makes like Dell, HP, etc for the cheapest I've seen! I don't think I'd trust paying a load of money out for a cheapo make!

'thanks' i will check it out

Khrone

Hello,

I'm looking for some advice on getting a Laptop? I want to be able to surf the net wireless and play some of the latest games. I also want a software package that has word and excel.

I have seen the Acer Aspire 7520 TK 53 17" Gemstone Laptop on Tesco's site, but i have found this through Amazon for £299.99 (£50 saving if your not in for Club Card points).

Will this be suitable for my needs? Has anyone got any other options for the £300 - £400 mark.

Cheers

JDPower

Khrone wrote: »

I want to be able to surf the net wireless and play some of the latest games. I also want a software package that has word and excel.

I have seen the Acer Aspire 7520 TK 53 17" Gemstone Laptop on Tesco's site, but i have found this through Amazon for £299.99 (£50 saving if your not in for Club Card points).

Will this be suitable for my needs? Has anyone got any other options for the £300 - £400 mark.

I'm afraid you're extremely unlikely to get a laptop capable of playing the latest games for that price. That Acer certainly won't due to the integrated graphics (and relatively low RAM). To play the latest games on a laptop you need a non integrated graphics card and preferably 2GB or more RAM, which is probably gonna cost upwards of £500

A good site for checking how capable a laptops graphics card is is:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Comparison-of-Graphic-Cards.130.0.html

(Which incidentally for the above Acer's integrated graphics card states: "Older games such as Fear can be scarcely playable even in minimum details")

Patrick20

[FONT=Berlin Sans FB, sans-serif]I've been searching for a new laptop for ages and just when I've almost given up I find these two that really suit my needs at a realistic price that I can afford to spend. I'm not a person who is happy about parting with my hard earned loot so is there any computer savy specimen know if if these appear [/FONT]meritorious [FONT=Berlin Sans FB, sans-serif]bargains. Also which system is the best buy?[/FONT]


[FONT=Berlin Sans FB, sans-serif]Thanks for any help anyone can offer on this. Although I'm OK understanding the majority of specifications I seem to always miss some major requirement of a system and I always end up getting sold a large, expensive paperweight. Just to clarify I'll be using this system mainly for work with photoshop and design type applications and lots of games. [/FONT]


[FONT=Berlin Sans FB, sans-serif]Laptop 1 : Dell Office Vostro[/FONT]


[FONT=Berlin Sans FB, sans-serif]Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T5670 (1.8 GHz, 2 MB L2 Cache, 800 MHz FSB) [/FONT]
[FONT=Berlin Sans FB, sans-serif]Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1 - English [/FONT]
[FONT=Berlin Sans FB, sans-serif]15.4" Widescreen WXGA (1280 x 800) Display with Anti-Glare Coating [/FONT]
[FONT=Berlin Sans FB, sans-serif]3072MB (1x2048 & 1x1024) 667MHz DDR2 Dual Channel [/FONT]
[FONT=Berlin Sans FB, sans-serif]320GB (5400rpm) SATA Hard Drive [/FONT]
[FONT=Berlin Sans FB, sans-serif]256 MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8400M GS (64 bit) Graphic Card [/FONT]
[FONT=Berlin Sans FB, sans-serif]Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Slot Load Drive including Software [/FONT]
[FONT=Berlin Sans FB, sans-serif]Primary 6-cell 56 WHr Lithium Ion battery [/FONT]
[FONT=Berlin Sans FB, sans-serif]find it here : hxxp://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?reconfigure=true&vw=list&cart=ActiveCart&id=5c5477f9-7b17-40a9-af8a-a1eb195bc61e&ecomm=ecomm.euro.dell.com&c=uk&l=en&cs=ukbsdt1[/FONT]


[FONT=Berlin Sans FB, sans-serif]£527.58 including VAT and Shipping.[/FONT]




[FONT=Berlin Sans FB, sans-serif]Laptop 2 : Scan Computers[/FONT]


[FONT=Berlin Sans FB, sans-serif]Intel Core 2 Duo T5750 (2 Ghz, Level 2 cache 2 MB [/FONT]
[FONT=Berlin Sans FB, sans-serif]Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium with Service Pack 1 [/FONT]
[FONT=Berlin Sans FB, sans-serif]15.4” WXGA High Definition BrightView Widescreen [/FONT]
[FONT=Berlin Sans FB, sans-serif]3072 MB (1 x 1024 MB + 1 x 2048 MB)[/FONT]
[FONT=Berlin Sans FB, sans-serif]250 GB [/FONT][FONT=Berlin Sans FB, sans-serif]5400 rpm [/FONT][FONT=Berlin Sans FB, sans-serif]SATA Hard Disk Drive [/FONT]
[FONT=Berlin Sans FB, sans-serif]Blu-Ray ROM with SuperMulti DVD±R/RW Double Layer [/FONT]
[FONT=Berlin Sans FB, sans-serif]5-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader for Secure Digital cards, Multimedia cards,
Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, or xD Picture cards [/FONT]


[FONT=Berlin Sans FB, sans-serif]£590.38 including VAT and Shipping.[/FONT]


[FONT=Berlin Sans FB, sans-serif]find it here : hxxp://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=884417[/FONT]


[FONT=Berlin Sans FB, sans-serif]If anyone wonders why ive substituted [/FONT]peculiar infrequently used[FONT=Berlin Sans FB, sans-serif] words into this post its because I'm bored and playing with a thesaurus.[/FONT]

Patrick20

JDPower wrote: »

I'm afraid you're extremely unlikely to get a laptop capable of playing the latest games for that price. That Acer certainly won't due to the integrated graphics (and relatively low RAM). To play the latest games on a laptop you need a non integrated graphics card and preferably 2GB or more RAM, which is probably gonna cost upwards of £500

A good site for checking how capable a laptops graphics card is is:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Comparison-of-Graphic-Cards.130.0.html

(Which incidentally for the Acer above states: "Older games such as Fear can be scarcely playable even in minimum details")

The two laptops ive just mentioned may be what Khrone is looking for but a little over the price range. I would agree that £300-400 for a laptop with a good graphics card will be impossible.

Khrone

Patrick20 wrote: »

The two laptops ive just mentioned may be what Khrone is looking for but a little over the price range. I would agree that £300-400 for a laptop with a good graphics card will be impossible.

Yes i think your right, i think i would push my budget up to ensure i have a good graphics card and a laptop that will last a couple of years. The spec for the Dell looks like a possibility.

rich1lfc

hi can anyone help!? my 8 year old daughter has asked for a pink lap top for christmas can anyone recommend one priced around £300?
laura

JDPower

rich1lfc wrote: »

hi can anyone help!? my 8 year old daughter has asked for a pink lap top for christmas can anyone recommend one priced around £300?
laura

Well that makes a change from the usual requests, you're probably gonna have to give a little more detail than that regards what she will use it for (does she really need £300 worth of laptop at 8 years old?).

Only pink laptop that springs to mind is the Dell Inspirons which are available in a range of colours, but work out around £360. I'm sure there'll be far cheaper options aimed at girls somewhere.