The Great 'Cheapest Decent Laptop' Hunt

mark*mark0

Hi all,

wonder if anyone can reccomend a good medium - high spec gaming laptop ??

Obviosuly looking to spend as little as poss but i realise that they are not cheap !


many thanks Mark

jaydeeuk1

mark*mark0 wrote: »

Hi all,

wonder if anyone can reccomend a good medium - high spec gaming laptop ??

Obviosuly looking to spend as little as poss but i realise that they are not cheap !


many thanks Mark

Aldi do a decent budget one.

£499

http://www.rboffers.com/computers/16-multimedia-notebook-499-aldi-26463.html/

Core 2 duo T6500, 4gb ram, 320gb HD, geforce GT220M, 8 cell battery

More budget ones...
http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/GRADE_A1_-_Acer_Aspire_6530G_Laptop_A1-LX.AUS0X.142/version.asp



Acer do a few decent ones for under £600 too,
http://www.simplyacer.com/Acer_Aspire_5536G_638744.html
http://www.simplyacer.com/Acer_Aspire_7735G_645491.html

or higher end (£800 +)
http://www.simplyacer.com/Acer_Aspire_8930G_638742.html

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/asp/versions.asp?rewrite=MSI_GT729-253BK-E_Laptop_GT729-253BK-E&pagetype=version&page=

There are hundreds of other choices too. Value for money, the aldi one at the top is pretty good. Graphics chipset around performance of a geforce 9600.
I would avoid laptops with full HD screens and anything less than a real top of the range card as you will not be able to play in that native resolution, and graphics may look stretched when trying a lower resolution. For a laptop capable of gaming at full HD resolution on latest games, you would need to spend upwards of £900, like the MIS one in the last (£1279)

mark*mark0

Thanks Jaydee,

I think im gonna be looking at the later reccomendations what does everyone think of the dell Dell Studio XPS 16 ? that is currently on offer ?

I really like the look of the Dell Alienware M17x but i can't realy justify the cost :rolleyes:


thanks Mark

wazza

Looking for a laptop with around 17" screen for my sister. Max price £400. My 12 year old nephew will use it for surfing etc while the family will use it for watching movies via DVD etc so it need not be fancy.

Thanks

beefster

I can get a Lenovo N500 PDC 4GB 320GB DVDRW VHP with the following spec for £384 through my companies discount scheme, I am being told its a cracking deal???

My daughter already has a Lenovo and likes it... tempted but would like a more informed opinion please....

Specifications

Audio Input Type Microphone

Audio Output

Audio Codec CX20561 Compliant Standards High Definition Audio Type Sound card
Battery

Cells 6-cell Installed Qty 1 Technology Lithium Ion Cabinet (Chassis)

Built-in Devices (AB) Bluetooth aerial Stereo speakers Wireless LAN aerial Cache Memory

Installed Size 1 MB Type L2 Cache Card Reader

Supported Flash Memory Cards (AB) Memory Stick Memory Stick PRO SD Memory Card xD-Picture Card Type 4 in 1 card reader Dimensions & Weight

Depth 25.7 cm Height 3.7 cm Weight 2.7 kg Width 35.9 cm Display (Projector)

Colour support 24-bit (16.7 million colours) Diagonal Size 15.4 in Display Feature (for SD) VibrantView Display Resolution Abbreviation WXGA Max Resolution 1280 x 800 Monitor Features Glossy VibrantView Technology TFT active matrix Widescreen Display Yes Header

Compatibility PC Country Kits United Kingdom Localization English Manufacturer Lenovo Model 4233 Packaged Quantity 1 Product Line Lenovo 3000 N500 Input Device

Type Keyboard Touchpad Mainboard

Chipset Type Mobile Intel GL40 Express Data Bus Speed 667 MHz Miscellaneous

Colour Black Silver Compliant Standards ACA BSMI CCC CE CER CISPR 22 Class B CSA C22.2 No. 950 FCC Part 15 B IEC 60950 MIC MPR II NOM RoHS UL 60950 VCCI Class B ITE Features Administrator password Hard drive password Power-on password Security lock slot (cable lock sold separately) Modem

Features V.92 upgradable Max Transfer Rate 56 Kbps Protocols & Specifications ITU V.90 Type Fax / modem Networking

Compliant Standards IEEE 802.11a IEEE 802.11b IEEE 802.11g IEEE 802.11n (draft) Data Link Protocol Bluetooth Ethernet Fast Ethernet IEEE 802.11a IEEE 802.11b IEEE 802.11g IEEE 802.11n (draft) Type Network adapter Wireless LAN Supported - Yes Wireless NIC Intel - Link 5100 Wireless Protocol 802.11 a/b/g/n (draft) Bluetooth Notebook Camera

Camera Type Integrated Sensor Resolution 1.3 Megapixel Optical Storage

Enclosure Type Integrated Type DVD-Writer Optical Storage (2nd)

Type None OS Provided

Type Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Power Device

Form Factor External Frequency Required 50/60 Hz Nominal Voltage AC 120/230 V Processor

64-bit Computing Yes Clock Speed 2.16 GHz Features Enhanced SpeedStep technology Execute Disable Bit capability Intel 64 Technology Manufacturer Intel Multi-Core Technology Dual-Core Processor Number T3400 Type Pentium RAM

Configuration Features 2 x 2 GB Form Factor SO DIMM 200-pin Installed Size 4 GB Max Supported Size 4 GB Memory Specification Compliance PC2-5300 Memory Speed 667 MHz Technology DDR2 SDRAM Service & Support

Type 1 year warranty Storage Controller

Serial ATA Interface Serial ATA-300 Type Serial ATA Storage Floppy Drive

Type None Storage Hard Drive

Capacity 320 GB Serial ATA Interface Serial ATA-150 Spindle Speed 5400 rpm Type Portable Storage Removable

Type None Supported Battery

Max Supported Qty 1 System

Hard Drive(-s) Total Capacity 320 GB Notebook Type Notebook Video Output

Graphics Processor / Vendor Intel GMA 4500M

---

I'm not a gamer, will be used for general home office, home video and picture work and surfing the net mainly. General family use.
Would pref a larger screen but het... seem's a good package otherwise??

Ta for looking.

jaydeeuk1

Seems a pretty good deal to me and will be more than adequate for your needs. Could get better spec for less £££ but then this is a Lenovo so will be better built than most.

Gravesendgirl

Just seen this on the Comet website and have a voucher for 10% off as well so was wondering if someone could give me some advice on whether this would be a good buy, don't know what to look for with the spec other than RAM of over 2GB

TOSHIBA L300-29X


Product description

An outstanding price for this 15.4 inch Toshiba L300-29X dual core laptop, featuring a huge 4GB memory and 250GB hard drive storage.
Product detail

Here are the details.

Like to know more? Rollover the Information icon for more details on a product feature.
Brand TOSHIBA
Screen size 15.4 inches
Processor Intel Celeron Dual Core
Intel Processor Star Rating Intel 1 star processor
Processor model number T3000
Processor speed 1.8 GHz
Processor bus 667 MHz
Processor cache 1 MB
Memory (RAM) 4 GB
Storage (hard drive) 250 GB
Storage (hard drive) Type SATA
Operating system Windows Vista Home Premium
Wireless networking standard 802.11b/gGigabit LAN NoFinger print reader NoUSB 2.0 slots 3Firewire NoMedia card slots NoBuilt-in bluetooth NoBuilt-in webcam YesBuilt-in TV Tuner NoSpeakers StandardBattery life Up to 2 hoursLaptop weight (kg) 2.5 kgPremier Collection NoOther features

Supports Double layer & Dual Format +/- recordingWired networkingDial-up modem included20 / 0.9watts :in use/powered-down power consumption


Sorry am a new user so can't post links yet!

Is reduced from £499.99 to £359 until 2nd Sept

Thanks very much

Mandark

mark*mark0 wrote: »

Thanks Jaydee,

I think im gonna be looking at the later reccomendations what does everyone think of the dell Dell Studio XPS 16 ? that is currently on offer ?

I really like the look of the Dell Alienware M17x but i can't realy justify the cost :rolleyes:


thanks Mark

What Laptop magazine rates Dell Studio & Studio XPS laptops very highly. I think you'll be fine with the XPS 16 but if you up the spec from the default £749 it starts to get expensive quickly.

Mandark

Gravesendgirl wrote: »

Just seen this on the Comet website and have a voucher for 10% off as well so was wondering if someone could give me some advice on whether this would be a good buy, don't know what to look for with the spec other than RAM of over 2GB

Sorry am a new user so can't post links yet!

Is reduced from £499.99 to £359 until 2nd Sept

Thanks very much

That's pretty good. I've said elsewhere that What Laptop magazine rates the L300 series. I note that Tesco is offering a cheaper version of the model - L300-2DR. It's got a much weaker celeron processor so may have better battery life but most other things should be similar - £298.
http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.206-2983.aspx

Mandark

beefster wrote: »

I can get a Lenovo N500 PDC 4GB 320GB DVDRW VHP with the following spec for £384 through my companies discount scheme, I am being told its a cracking deal???

My daughter already has a Lenovo and likes it... tempted but would like a more informed opinion please....

I'm not a gamer, will be used for general home office, home video and picture work and surfing the net mainly. General family use.
Would pref a larger screen but het... seem's a good package otherwise??

Ta for looking.

jaydeeuk1 wrote: »

Seems a pretty good deal to me and will be more than adequate for your needs. Could get better spec for less £££ but then this is a Lenovo so will be better built than most.

As jaydee says, Lenovo make good solid business machines. They bought IBM's PC division. The N500 entry level machines are only £375 and have features which aren't standard with other laptops in the range such as built in bluetooth, decent webcam and good 4-5 hour battery life. They don't skimp on features. They always do well in reviews. I was looking at one for myself!