The Great 'Cheapest Decent Laptop' Hunt

boobbby

**woody123** wrote: »

I'm interested in these 2 cheap laptops.

http://www.currys.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/637224

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.203-4147.aspx

Its for my mum and dad just for internet use and getting to know computers. On camparison the tesco one looks the best. Just thought i would put them on here encase anyone had missed them.

Both those have only 1GB RAM and microsoft vista basic

For about the same money you can get an Acer Aspire with with 2GB memory and Vista Home. (Gives a much more enjoyable experince with Vista) Look at the earlier posts or go to amazon.co.uk

Lezanne26

I'm looking for a £300ish laptop for my 14yr old - wants it for GCSE coursework etc, playing Sims, communicating with friends on MSN and Bebo.

I've been looking at Acer 5920 - seems just what I'm looking for and it has an integrated webcam. However this webcam is only 0.3 megapixel - would this be any good?

Also seen Toshiba Equium (with AMD Turion processor) in PC World with 1.3 megapixel webcam although at £449 this is a little more than I wanted to pay. Does anyone think prices will come down between now and Christmas?

jackthenipper

I would wait untill the January sales now if i was going to buy anything electrical. I'm looking for sat nav but i'm just going to hang off & see.

debjay

Lezanne26 wrote: »

I'm looking for a £300ish laptop for my 14yr old - wants it for GCSE coursework etc, playing Sims, communicating with friends on MSN and Bebo.

I've been looking at Acer 5920 - seems just what I'm looking for and it has an integrated webcam. However this webcam is only 0.3 megapixel - would this be any good?

Also seen Toshiba Equium (with AMD Turion processor) in PC World with 1.3 megapixel webcam although at £449 this is a little more than I wanted to pay. Does anyone think prices will come down between now and Christmas?

From what I have read on here and researched myself most laptops struggle with games unless they have a separate graphics card which can mean they cost loads. I went for the ACER 5920g which I know will probably still struggle with a lot of games but it does have a separate graphics card (the g means gaming)

BMcN

I am looking for a laptop for a family member. Looking for a basic spec, 2gig+ of ram and a reasonable processor. Only thing it really must have are a built in webcam and mic as it will be used for Skype a lot.

What do you think of this HP on ebuyer:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149335

4gig of RAM, integrated graphics (although reviews say it is a lot better than the normal X3100 chips you get). Only thing I am not sure about is the AMD processors, not ever really had a laptop with one - anyone have any better suggestions?

drunknmunky

Hi all,

I'm after a fairly basic spec laptop:

Intel Core 2 Duo processor;
2Gb RAM
160Gb hard drive
17 inch screen
Intergrated Web Cam

...however the main thing is that is that it should have very long battery life. (it's going to be used at clients houses for around 4 hours where I can't really ask to recharge the battery)

Budget is around £600, although obviously the lower the better.
I'd stick to the reliable manufacturers i.e. Sony, Toshiba, Acer etc as i'm buying this on behalf of someone else.

I have found this one http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/5817056/Sony-Vaio-AR71-J-Pentium-Dual-Core-T2370-1-73GHz-3GB-200GB-17-DVD-SM-Vista-Home-Premium-Laptop-Notebook/Product.html
but its seems to be pretty over-specced for what I require, and just over the £600 budget.

Does anyone have any recomendations, or ideas on how I can find out which laptops have a good battery life? I've been searching google for the past hour without much luck.

Thanks in advance.

JDPower

BMcN wrote: »

Only thing I am not sure about is the AMD processors, not ever really had a laptop with one

Absolutely nothing wrong with AMD processors, personally I've always preferred them.

bugeyed

As this thread is huge I apologize if someone has posted the same.
Ebay hosts 2 major computer manufactuers factory outlets. HP and Dell.
Search for 'hp_marketplace_uk' and 'dellfactoryoutlet' (try searching product description if you dont find them straight away)
They sell off three types
reconditioned/refurbished - been found faulty and returned = now perfect
Old stock - Lines no longer produced/replaced by newer model
Overstock - Ordered more than they think they can sell

There are fantastic bargains to be had

I just bought a new desktop HP Pavilion a6355
8800ghz Phenom quad core processor clockable to 9600ghz
3GB Ram
500gb sata hard drive
Nvidia GT8500 graphics card
Dual layer DVD burner with lightscribe
Windows Vista home Premium
80gb pocket media drive
Media keyboard and a mouse

Auction number 380073460357

All that for £272 + £5 postage (yep - £5 to post a whole desktop system)

Last year I bought a widescreen laptop, 4ghz P4, 120gb hard drive, DVD rewriter, 128mb graphics card, wireless, bluetooth - £232 again from HP

Also check out 3M outlet (3mselect) for stationary supplies on ebay (the scotchtape people)

My favourite seach for a real bargain on ebay is to search for the word 'outlet'

Try 'brother_uk' for printers and 'canon_uk1' - cameras and photo printers

Worried about refurbished - they come as new, unmarked, and have been through the quality assurance twice

:money:

drunknmunky

drunknmunky wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm after a fairly basic spec laptop:

Intel Core 2 Duo processor;
2Gb RAM
160Gb hard drive
17 inch screen
Intergrated Web Cam

...however the main thing is that is that it should have very long battery life. (it's going to be used at clients houses for around 4 hours where I can't really ask to recharge the battery)

Budget is around £600, although obviously the lower the better.
I'd stick to the reliable manufacturers i.e. Sony, Toshiba, Acer etc as i'm buying this on behalf of someone else.

I have found this one http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/5817056/Sony-Vaio-AR71-J-Pentium-Dual-Core-T2370-1-73GHz-3GB-200GB-17-DVD-SM-Vista-Home-Premium-Laptop-Notebook/Product.html
but its seems to be pretty over-specced for what I require, and just over the £600 budget.

Does anyone have any recomendations, or ideas on how I can find out which laptops have a good battery life? I've been searching google for the past hour without much luck.

Thanks in advance.

Anyone? I'm hoping to buy one this weekend

littleange

drunknmunky wrote: »

Anyone? I'm hoping to buy one this weekend

A quick google search suggests the battery only lasts 95 minutes.