The Great 'Cheapest Decent Laptop' Hunt

kevin_smith98M

JDPower wrote: »

Looks a good deal to me too, has some dedicated graphics memory which is quite impressive for under £400 and the rest of the spec is reasonable.

Bought this online via Dixons (Dixons, Currys, PCWorld and Pixmania i believe are all part of DSG)

Paid £371 (5% discount code on Dixons web site pre-Christmas) for it based upon the Dell name and the dedicated graphics card (ATI Radeon 3650)

Laptop arrived just before Christmas and has gone back to Dixons today, as it was supplied with Intel onboard graphics, not the web site advertised ATI Graphics Card

will let you know what happens but i am not optimistic based upon this web site Consumer Action Group

interestingly PCWorld and Pixmania still showing thjis on line with the ATI card but it seems to have been pulled from Currys and Dixons web sites

ATB

Kevin

kevin_smith98M

sgrech wrote: »

I am seriously looking a HP machine to replace my 5 yr old Dell Inspiron.

I have come across this on ebuyer

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/151493

Seems to be a pretty decent price I can seem to find it for less than about £500 elsewhere. It seems to meet my requirements although would like to know if the machine is likely to run reasonably cool and quiet.

Does anyone on this forum have experience of HP machine with regards to this?

Thanks
Simon

see also my thread ref the Dell Studio 1737 - which if supplied as spec would be fantastic e.g at Pixmania

i have been looking too for a good quality laptop - from ebuyer this HP seems a better option as it has a dedicated graphics capability at the same price - processor is AMD though not Intel

i'd be interested to see what some computer literate folks thought of the two HP alternatives via EBuyer

ATB

Kevin

JDPower

kevin_smith98M wrote: »

from ebuyer this HP seems a better option as it has a dedicated graphics capability at the same price

According to the link that does NOT have dedicated graphics memory

GunJack

kevin_smith98M wrote: »

processor is AMD though not Intel

if it's a dual core AMD in most applications you would never notice a difference between that and an intel

chocolateteddy

mcallister1 wrote: »

Back on the cheap laptop front, in the end I went for the toshiba L300-1AQ recommended earlier on this thread or the HD one- from Bennetts £391 down to £359 with 10% code from signing up to their email list, and 4% from cashbackkings .I think it looks really good and I would like to thank all those who post on the techie board to help others get to grips with the options. It really helps those of us who only look at this sort of thing now and then so don't have a handle on how things have moved on.:beer:
It has
15.4
: Intel Core 2 Duo T5800 2.0GHz 2MB L2, 800MHz FSB
: 2GB RAM
: 250GB Hard Drive

• : DVD Super Multi - Dual Layer
• : Wifi
• : Windows Vista Home Premium

Does anyone know if this has a dedicated graphics board am looking to edit my camcorder footage on it Nothing spectacular but wondered do I need a dedicated graphics board or is this spec enough. Your help would be appreciated

Faston

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152233

Could I trouble the experts here for opinion on this offer.

Is an SD writer essential?

Would I be able to use this for simple video editing and adding soundtracks.

Any other recommended purchasable periferals?

JDPower

chocolateteddy wrote: »

Does anyone know if this has a dedicated graphics board am looking to edit my camcorder footage on it Nothing spectacular but wondered do I need a dedicated graphics board or is this spec enough. Your help would be appreciated

That one doesn't have dedicated graphics but for just editing occasional camcorder footage you shouldn't really need it.

As it's come up a few times, to help those struggling with "Do I need dedicated graphics?" and "How do I tell if it's got dedicated graphics?":

If you're planning on playing games (other than internet Flash/Shockwave type games) that have 3D graphics or will be using any fairly graphics intensive programs (such as 3D design programs) then you are best to go for dedicated graphics. If just using internet, word processing etc it's completely unnecessary.

As for telling from the spec if it has got dedicated graphics card or not (not always obvious if you're unsure what you're looking for), look in the spec list for the graphics spec and if it says it has 'Shared' or 'Integrated' or 'Onboard' graphics/graphics memory then it does NOT have a dedicated graphics (but bear in mind what I said above, you may not NEED it anyway).

One other thing to bear in mind with integrated (non dedicated) graphics chips is that they will use some of the system RAM for graphics. The spec will usually state how much, eg it may say "up to 512MB total available graphics memory". In this case if you have 2GB of RAM on the laptop the computer will only be able to use 1.5GB of RAM.
Not usually a problem but just something to be aware of

(And before anyone pulls me up I know my GB figures are rounded up at the end there, just trying to keep it simple)

JDPower

Faston wrote: »

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152233

Could I trouble the experts here for opinion on this offer.

Is an SD writer essential?

Would I be able to use this for simple video editing and adding soundtracks.

Any other recommended purchasable periferals?

It's a pretty good spec and should do fine for what you need. I assume you mean SD card reader? The fact you're asking probably means you don't particularly need it but alot of laptops have them anyway. It just allows you to plug an SD card (from your digital camera if it uses SD cards) directly into the computer rather than using a separate card reader or a cable from your camera.

kevin_smith98M

JDPower wrote: »

According to the link that does NOT have dedicated graphics memory

just shows what i dont know about computers; presumably the spec'd card is no good?

Intergrated Graphics ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3200 512MB


i have found a graphics card comparison "league table" - not sure if it is any good/accurate though

ATB

Kevin

chocolateteddy

You techies have been so helpful so I wondered which of the two toshibas below you would say is better spec wise. I do want to be able to wordprocess, surf a bit and edit my humble home videos and I know they both have shared graphics but didn't know if one was superior to other. I realise one is amd and the other intel but wasn't sure if one was better than the other as there are so many different names about (centrino, core2duo, pentium, turion etc etc!!)Sorry about long post Couldn't figure out which bits to leave out in case they were important.
Thanks in advance:beer:
The 1AQ is £391 at bennets at the mo with 10% off with code and 4% cashback so good deal I thought- but hey what do I know!!

Satellite L300D-11V
Part Number : PSLC0E-00901QKS

Key Features
- AMD Athlon X2 Dual-Core Processor TK-57
- Genuine Windows® Vista® Home Premium
- DVD-RW SuperMulti drive (Double Layer)
- 2048 MB (1024+ 1024) DDR RAM (667MHz)
- 15.4" Widescreen TruBrite® XGA (1280 x 800) High Brightness display

Processor type : AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor TK-57
clock speed : 1.9 GHz


System memory standard : 2,048 (1,024 + 1,024) MB
maximum expandability : 4,096 MB
technology : DDR2 RAM (667 MHz)
Hard disk (Copy) capacity : 160 GB
certification : S.M.A.R.T.
DVD Super Multi drive (Double Layer) compatibility : CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-R(DL), DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+R(DL), DVD+RW, DVD-RAM
maximum speed : Read: 24x CD-ROM, 8x DVD-ROM/ Write: 24x CD-R, 4x CD-RW, 10x HS CD-RW, 10x US CD-RW, 8x DVD-R, 4x DVD-R (Double Layer), 4x DVD-RW, 8x DVD+R, 4x DVD+R (Double Layer), 4x DVD+RW, 5x DVD-RAM
type : DVD Super Multi (Double Layer) drive
Display size : 15.4 "
type : Toshiba TruBrite® WXGA TFT High Brightness display
internal resolution : 1,280 x 800
Graphics adapter manufacturer : ATI
type : ATI Radeon® X1250
memory : up to 831 MB total available graphics memory with 2 GB system memory MB
memory type : shared


OR



Satellite L300-1AQ
Part Number : PSLB8E-00K007EN

Key Features
- Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology featuring Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T5800 (2.0)
- Genuine Windows® Vista® Home Premium
- DVD-RW SuperMulti drive (Double Layer)
- 2048 MB (1024+ 1024) DDR RAM (800MHz)
- 15.4" Widescreen TruBrite® XGA (1280 x 800) High Brightness display


Technology type : Intel® Centrino® processor technology featuring Intel® Core 2 Duo Processor T5800, Intel® GM45 Express chipset and Intel® WiFi Link 5100
clock speed : 2.00 GHz
front side bus : 800 MHz
2nd level cache : 2 MB
System memory standard : 2,048 (1,024 + 1,024) MB
maximum expandability : 8,192 MB
technology : DDR2 RAM (800 MHz)
Hard disk (Copy) capacity : 250 GB
certification : S.M.A.R.T.
DVD Super Multi drive (Double Layer) compatibility : CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-R(DL), DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+R(DL), DVD+RW, DVD-RAM
maximum speed : Read: 24x CD-ROM, 8x DVD-ROM/ Write: 24x CD-R, 4x CD-RW, 10x HS CD-RW, 24x US CD-RW, 8x DVD-R, 6x DVD-R (Double Layer), 6x DVD-RW, 8x DVD+R, 6x DVD+R (Double Layer), 8x DVD+RW, 5x DVD-RAM
type : DVD Super Multi (Double Layer) drive
Display size : 15.4 "
type : Toshiba TruBrite® WXGA TFT High Brightness display
internal resolution : 1,280 x 800
Graphics adapter manufacturer : Intel®
type : Mobile Intel® GMA 4500MHD
memory : up to 1,340 MB total available graphics memory with 4 GB system memory
memory type : shared