The Great 'Cheapest Decent Laptop' Hunt

bartman

The Staples website isn't for retail purchases - so the prices are ex-vat. If the Toshiba is the same price instore it works out about £391.

Thunderbird_2

Hi

I have been to Staples yesterday and unfortunately they have put the price up again to £440 for the L300-1AS. The L300-1AQ is the same machine but with 2G RAM rather than the 4G RAM of the L300-1AS.

The choice is yours. You can always upgrade the RAM after a year, should you want to.

For over all value for money with today's prices, it seems the hp G70-120EA or EM is the best value that money can get for less than £500.

It is sold by pcworld and currys. click here and here

It has the same processor as the two toshiba above, but comes with :
17" screen
3G RAM
160G HDD
Dedicated graphic card nvidia G 9200
Blu-ray player

all for £469 ( plus possible £11.72 cashback if you go through quidco then pcworld for reserve and collect in strore, making it less than £458!)

One thing worth mentioning that this hp's RAM is the maximum this computer supports according to hp website click here however, I think, it is unlikely you will feel the need to upgrade the memory in the life of the machine because it 3G with dedicated graphic card.

To add one last thing to the mix, this Dell is promising, but it has got no webcam built-in click here for £399.

There is always acer which is good spec for the money, but, my last acer failed because of the hinges broke in less than 3 years, so no more acer for me! others may have different opinions.

hp G70-120EA £469 from pcworld and currys
Toshiba L300-1AS £440 from staples
Dell 1545 £399 from pcworld and currys
Toshiba L300-1AQ £3xx

The above is my opinion and the choice obviously is yours to pick up something that suits your needs.

I hope this will help somebody pick the laptop they want.

ETD: I have bought the Toshiba L300-1AS when it was for £398 from Staples. Should I wanted to buy today, I would have considered either the L300-1AQ or the hp (more probably the hp), depending on my budget. My sister in-law has chosen the hp G70-120EA for the value of money compared to my Toshiba at today's price (£440), plus she is not bothered about portability, and it is a big machine, I am telling you!

lksearle

I hope someone can help me, I just need to know if this is a good deal or not or if I should carry on looking? (i have been looking for days )
I need a new Laptop for general internet use plus photo editing using elements 7 and general Microsoft Office stuff and maybe the odd game. I would like one with a dedicated graphics card and 15" monitor size minimum.

I have found this HP Pavillion DV5-1112EA for £579.99 on play.com although I have found it on simplyhp.co.uk for £559.59 but I have never heard of them so was a bit reluctant.

AMD Turion X2 UltraCore Mobile Processor ZM-82
4GB RAM
320 HD
15.4" display
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3450 Graphics Card

Hope someone can help me decide, thanks,

MiM

The Toshiba L300-1AQ comes out at £390.99 delivered from Staples plus there's 4% Quidco.

chocolateteddy

H
P

HP FM180EA/G7095EM for £369.99
Can anyone tell me if this is a good spec or not for the price also on the comet website in the spec it says

Built-in wireless networking - Not featured
Wireless networking standard 802.11b/g/n
Wired networking - Yes




Does this mean I can't use it with a wireless router at home or connect in a public hotspot for example On the HP website I downloaded the specs below and have highlighted what I think is relevant can anyone tell me if this is wireless or not?
Also if anyone has one does it have a numeric keypad to the right hand side like a full size keyboard has?

Operating system

Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (32-bit)
Processor

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T5750
2 GHz, Level 2 cache 2 MB
Memory

2048 MB (2 x 1024 MB)
Supports up to 3 GB DDR2 memory
Storage
160 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive 5400 rpm
up to 9 GB partition for system recovery
Super Multi DVD Writer (+/-R +/-RW) with Double Layer support
Mobile entertainment
Webcam with integrated microphone
Communication

High speed 56K modem
Ethernet 10/100BT integrated network interface
802.11b/g WLAN
Display

15.4” WXGA High Definition BrightView Widescreen
Resolution: 1280 x 800
Video
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
Up to 358 MB Total Available Graphics Memory
Sound
3D Sound Blaster Pro compatible sound 16 bit integrated
Altec Lansing® speakers
Keyboard
101 key compatible keyboard
Touch Pad with On/Off button and dedicated vertical Scroll Up/Down
pad, volume control, mute button
Ports
3 USB 2.0, 1 VGA port, 1 RJ11 modem connector, 1 RJ45 ethernet
connector, S-video TV out, 1 headphones-out, 1 mic-in
Power
65 W AC Power Adapter
6-cell Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) battery
Software
Microsoft® Works and Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007
60-Day Trial Version
Microsoft® Internet Explorer
Windows Mail

Adobe® Reader

Windows Media Player
Windows Photo Gallery
DVD Play
Windows Movie Maker, Windows DVD Maker
Cyberlink DVD Suite
Windows Media center, QuickPlay for Windows
HP Total Care Advisor
Service & support
Recovery partition (including possibility to recover system, applications
and drivers separately)
Optional re-allocation of recovery partition

Recovery CD/DVD creation tool

Symantec™ Norton Internet Security™ 2008 (60 days live update)
Notebook Help & Support
Additional information
P/N: FM180EA#ABU
UPC/EAN code: 884420208525
Weight
Out of package: 3.10 kg (6.87 lbs)
Packed: 4.45 kg
Dimensions
Out of package: 35.70 cm (L) x 25.70 cm (W) x 2.54 cm (min) H /
3.96 cm (max) H
Packed: 485 x 112 x 360 mm
Warranty
1 year, pick-up and return, parts and labour

Thank you as you can tell not technically minded;)

barnishroader

which is best out of the following:
ACER AS5735
http://www.comet.co.uk/shopcomet/product/510335/ACER-AS5735
Toshiba L350
http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.205-1729.aspx
Dell 1545
http://www.currys.co.uk/martprd/store/cur_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0597985342.1232536306@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccfkadegeldklikcflgceggdhhmdgmi.0&sku=557073&page=Product#productInformationSection
HP 6735
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152233
Lenovo N500 Pentium Laptop
http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/AdvSearch/Compare.aspx?s=21&prod=NS73BUK

it will be used mostly for home use ie downloading music dvds etc (legally of course!!) but also at work for emails and AutoCAD drawings.
Looking for:
Price approx £400 or less
Built in wireless
Good battery life
Bluetooth would be handy as well but not vital

Thunderbird_2

chocolateteddy wrote: »

Does this mean I can't use it with a wireless router at home or connect in a public hotspot for example

From what you have highlightened, it seems that you can!

barryheffron wrote: »

it will be used mostly for home use ie downloading music dvds etc (legally of course!!) but also at work for emails and AutoCAD drawings.

Acer's spec is superior to the rest.
Dell's battery can be short with these 4 cells!

Why not consider hp G70-120EA as it seems a very good value for the money with 3G RAM and dedicated graphic card and blu-ray player, if you can stretch your budget to £469 from pcworld ( £11.72 possible cashback through quidco for reserve and collect in store, see my previous post) ? It's screen is 17" , which I think it is not a huge problem since you are looking at the acer which is 15.6" itself!! and battery life is up to 2 hours

The acer has got a shared graphic uo to 1350 of the RAM of its 4G RAM. Battery is up to 3 hours.

Others might follow with better ideas.

Good luck

suzid

chocolateteddy wrote: »

H

PAlso if anyone has one does it have a numeric keypad to the right hand side like a full size keyboard has?

Yes it does. I've just ordered one online from Comet but went into local store where they had similar on show. Also zoomed in on photo and it shows it well. That was the thing that put me off others because I use the numeric alot. :money:

chocolateteddy

suzid wrote: »

chocolateteddy wrote: »

H

PAlso if anyone has one does it have a numeric keypad to the right hand side like a full size keyboard has?

Yes it does. I've just ordered one online from Comet but went into local store where they had similar on show. Also zoomed in on photo and it shows it well. That was the thing that put me off others because I use the numeric alot. :money:

Thanks for that likewise I use the numeric keypad alot I too have ordered one should be delivered tuesday next week between 7am and 6pm!!!!
You can guarentee it will arrive whilst I am on school run. I did ring customer services and they said parcel force were delivering it so if out should go to local royal mail office so at least I can pick up rather than waiting in another day. Am getting excited as I have been looking for one since xmas and everytime I found one researched and made my mind up to buy it, it was sold out:mad: so can't wait now till tuesday. Thanks for everyone's help when I have asked questions:T

Esmerelda

Hi, I'm looking for a good value, small (less than 15" screen), lightweight laptop. A netbook is probably too small for me, and I'd like a DVD drive and half decent graphics for watching the odd DVD. Any suggestions please?