The Great 'Cheapest Decent Laptop' Hunt

Spudnik_2

m_shahin wrote: »

What is quidco/topcashback and is there any money involved on my side?

Quidco and Top CashBack are both cashback websites. There's no charge to join or use the service, although Quidco deducts £5 from your earnings every year as an admin charge. Although it's always worth checking before you go through with the transaction, Top CashBack generally matches the cashback offered by Quidco for each merchant and doesn't charge this annual fee.

Mandark

happychappy69 wrote: »

Many thanks Mandark, laptop technology is an enigma to me, processors, discrete cards, memory (ddr2, ddr3) and all the hype leaves my head spinning - when I was a lad :-) it used to be AMD or intel - wasn't life simple. anyway the Lenovo looks very interesting and I'm now off to look at Toshibas.
BTW do you know of any machines that have T5750 or T6400 processors in my price range and what difference do these numbers make in actual speed - would I notice the difference?

No problem happychappy. I think there's little difference in performance between the lower end processors unless they're at their limit it's 3D gaming or video editing.

bylromarha wrote: »

I'm not an expert,. but the one I've bought was £399 with Core 2 Duo T6500 DDR2. I don't have a clue what these things mean, but do know that its a fast processor, being in high end cpu list on cpubenchmark. Still have no clue what DDR is! I do know thought that the 4Gb ram is great and the 250Gb is more than adequate for my needs!

Spudnik wrote: »

I can get the Dell Inspiron 15 with:
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T6500
4096MB RAM
256MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD4330
500GB (5400RPM) Serial ATA Hard Drive
6-cell battery

For £455.03 delivered, plus I get £19 via either quidco or topcashback. Is that reasonable?

I think the custom Dells are good at the low end. You can get a lot of power for your money.

nanatopsy

bylromarha wrote: »

Just bought this Dell Inspiron 1545

Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB RAM, 250 GB, free upgrade to windows 7, £399 inc shipping and VAT. Offer ends tomorrow. Quidco 5% too.

Anyone know if this is new or refurbished? Also have spent hours, days, weeks looking for a budget laptop/netbook and my head is spinning.:rotfl:
Son won't have a landline and need internet access, so what must I look out for? Just barely got to grips with speed and memory!!!!

oops meant this one! http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Toshiba_Satellite_Pro_L300-26P_Laptop_PSLB9E-03V003EN2GB/version.asp

Jaffa.

It's new and their both good laptops.

Spudnik_2

Mandark wrote: »

No problem happychappy. I think there's little difference in performance between the lower end processors unless they're at their limit it's 3D gaming or video editing.


I think the custom Dells are good at the low end. You can get a lot of power for your money.

Okay, thanks. It's unlikely that I'll use the laptop for gaming, but I will use it quite heavily for most other processes so I want a fast machine. Do you think that I need the dedicated graphics card? If not, for £40 less I can get the Inspiron 1545. The 1545 also has a 250GB HDD rather than 500GB, but I don't think I really need 500GB anyway. So it's mainly a question of whether it's worth spending the extra £40 for the graphics.

Millionaire

Word of Warning: This 'Free' upgrade to Windows 7 might actually not be free. Make sure you read the small print or FAQ's on shipping/pricing of the different manufacturers.

I spotted Toshiba are charging £27.90 costs, for the 'free':rolleyes: Windows 7 Upgrade.

In regards to the Laptops, that Dell someone linked to, Dell 1545 with the Intel T6500 Core 2 duo is an excellent price at £399 IMO. I haven't seen that decent processor, that cheap anywhere.

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&oc=N0054504&dgc=AF&cid=5212&lid=122756

However just remember it does not have a webcam or Dedicated graphics if you require them and the 4 cell battery does not last that long so keep that in mind.

You can upgrade it, however if you need to upgrade more than one thing then it might be better to go for the £479 one as it then becomes a better buy which has a..Webcam, dedicated graphics, bigger hardrive(500gb instead of 250gb), bigger capacity battery(6 cell), Wireless 'n'

If you spec the £399 one to the £479 spec then it costs about £588;) Obviously it all depends if you need the extra stuff.

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?b=&c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&kc=DOD&l=en&oc=N0054508&rbc=N0054508&s=dhs

happychappy69

Many thanks bylromarha
not surprising that the acer was sold out - have found these three at laptops direct (am not allowed to post links as I'm a newbie), so I'd appreciate it if you could pass your expert? eye over these three.

Lenovo 3000 G530 model no. NSH24UK

Lenovo 3000 G530 model no. NSH29UK

Lenovo N500 model no. NS75SUK

I look forward to your or anybody else's feedback on these machines

kayleighj-xo

I'm looking for a laptop for university, therefore will be mainly using it for the internet, downloading and listening to music, storing photos and microsoft office, I dont want anything fancy, just something quite cheap but reliable.

What are people's opinions on the 'Toshiba L300-2DR M900 2GB 250GB 15.4" Laptop' from Tesco, it is £319 I think, apologies for not being able to post a link

Alternatively I was considering the Dell Inspiron 15, as I don't really want to spend over £350

Thanks for any help I may receive

bylromarha

bylromarha wrote: »

Just bought this Dell Inspiron 1545

Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB RAM, 250 GB, free upgrade to windows 7, £399 inc shipping and VAT. Offer ends tomorrow. Quidco 5% too.

It arrived today and am typing on it now.

VERY nice piece of kit and have made OH jealous as the processor speed far exceeds the 4 yr old PC.:D

Highly recommend it.

rose28454

any ideas on a good price for this laptop

AMD Phenom/Intel i5 processor, with 4GB/8GB DDR3 RAM and probably 1GB graphic card

prices seem to be about 800 but 600 is nearer my budget
ta