The Great 'Cheapest Decent Laptop' Hunt

mccristo

Don't make the mistake of thinking the graphics card is only for gaming....

Expect your laptop to run to as slow as 70% the speed of a similar spec machine with a dedicated graphics card.

This has been debated muchly however, its a trade off between a longer battery life and cooler running temperatures VS the smoother and quicker running of your laptop.

Loads of good deals on ebuyer at the moment if you feel that a gfx card really isn't necessary. Personally I'll be waiting until I find a similar spec machine with a graphics card included. Loads of bargains to be had in the next few weeks with WIndows 7 release I reckon.

mamamoo_3

Hi
I would really appreciate some advice. have been looking at midrange notebooks for a while. Am looking for windows 7, 3 or 4GB, lightweigt/portable/decentish battery and able to cope with photo shop/digital scrapbooking/multitasking.

Have considered the following but am a bit confused about teh different processors. Would I notice a difference for my purposes? Can someone explain the differences in speed?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asus-UL30A-QX094V-13-3-inch-Notebook-Processor/dp/B002SG7L5Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1256414526&sr=1-1
Asus UL30A-QX094V 13.3-inch Notebook (HD TFT Intel Core 2 Duo Processor SU7300 1.3 GHz Processor, 4 GB DDRIII RAM, Windows 7 Home Premium)

Acer Aspire 4810T 14-inch HD LED Notebook (Intel Pentium ULV SU4100, 3GB RAM, 250GB HDD, Windows 7 Home Premium, 8+ Hour Battery Life, 1.9 kg)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acer-14-inch-Notebook-Pentium-Windows/dp/B002SG7K2U/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1256414449&sr=1-6

http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=38455&category_id=969&manufacturer_id=0&tid=np-q320-js02uk samsung q320
Pentium Dual Core T4200 2.0GHz / 4GB / 500GB / DVD-SM / 13.4" / Windows 7 Home Premium / Laptop / Notebook / Black

Samsung R520 or r522
Intel Core 2 Duo (T6500) 2.1GHz 4096MB (2x2048MB) 500GB 15.6 inch TFT DVD SuperMulti LAN WLAN BT Windows 7 Home Premium (Intel GMA X4500) (Black/Silver)
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=38457&category_id=967&manufacturer_id=0&tid=np-r520-ja01uk

Thanks very much in advance. Any advice much appreciated.

JDPower

mccristo wrote: »

Don't make the mistake of thinking the graphics card is only for gaming....

Expect your laptop to run to as slow as 70% the speed of a similar spec machine with a dedicated graphics card.

Was about to half disagree then realised I'd hastily left out the OS considerations and I agree with Vista and Win7 a dedicated graphics card would significantly improve performance (I was busy answering from my own XP point of view )

superstar_2

Is this a good deal:

Asus X5DIJ Laptop, Intel Core 2 Duo T5870, 3GB RAM, 320GB HDD, 15.6 TFT, DVD-SM, GMA X4500M, WLAN, BGN, Webcam, Vista Home Premium
£390

or
Dell
Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo Processor T6600 (2.20GHz/ 800 FSB/ 2MB Cache)
Genuine Windows(R) 7 Home Premium 64bit (English)
3GB (1x2GB/1x1GB) NECC Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM Memory
320GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
at £480

rev_henry

JDPower wrote: »

Was about to half disagree then realised I'd hastily left out the OS considerations and I agree with Vista and Win7 a dedicated graphics card would significantly improve performance (I was busy answering from my own XP point of view )

Is it different with XP then?

JDPower

rev_henry wrote: »

Is it different with XP then?

Windows Vista and 7 are a little more graphics intensive than XP so should run noticeably smoother with a dedicated graphics card IMO

RS-Eleven

Myself and a few family members are thinking of clubbing together and getting a laptop for my sister for christmas. Doesn't have to be top spec, but want a new one and not a reconditioned one and want a proper laptop and not a notebook.
Anyone know what the cheapest deal around is at the moment to match these criteria?

Oggyoi

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/172314


Acer Aspire 5732 Laptop, Intel Pentium Dual Core T4300 2.1GHz, 4GB RAM, 250GB HDD, 15.6" WXGA, DVD±RW, Webcam,WLAN G/N Windows 7 Home Premium Preinstalled


Processor

• Intel Pentium Dual Core T4300 2.1GHz,
• 1MB L2 Cache
• 800MHz FSB

Memory

• 4GB DDR RAM
• Configuration: 2 x 2GB

Hard Drive

• 250GB

Optical Drive

• 8 x DVD±RW

Software

• Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit -Preinstalled
• Acer Arcade™ Deluxe, featuring Cinema, Album, Music, Acer HomeMedia
• Acer Crystal Eye
• Acer eRecovery Management
• Acer GameZone
• Acer GridVista™
• Acer Launch Manager
• Adobe® Reader®
• McAfee® Internet Security Suite Trial
• Microsoft® Works 8.5 / 9 / SE 9 with Office Home and Student 2007 Trial
• NTI Media Maker™

Display

• 15.6" WXGA

Graphics

• Shared Graphics

Audio

• Integrated Speakers

Input Devices

• Keyboard and Touchpad

Networking

• Acer Nplify™ 802.11b/g/Draft-N

Power Supply

• 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
• Battery Life up to 2.5 Hours

Dimensions

• Width 372.3mm
• Depth 246.5mm
• Height 26.8 – 39.6mm
• Weight 2.7kg

Interfaces

• 2 x USB 2.0 ports
• 1 x External display (VGA) port
• 1 x Headphone/speaker/line-out
• 1 x Microphone-in jack
• 1 x Ethernet (RJ-45) port
• 1 x DC-in jack for AC adapter

Expansion

• 5-in-1 card reader

Warranty/Miscellaneous

• 1 Year Manufacturer Warranty
• 0.3mp Webcam

samba

mccristo wrote: »

Don't make the mistake of thinking the graphics card is only for gaming....

Expect your laptop to run to as slow as 70% the speed of a similar spec machine with a dedicated graphics card.

This has been debated muchly however, its a trade off between a longer battery life and cooler running temperatures VS the smoother and quicker running of your laptop.

If you're going to quote statistics, please remember to provide a link to some empirical evidence overwise it is meaningless. Yes dedicated graphics will likely be faster than integrated, but is that with synthestic benchmarks or real-world tests, running what task exactly? And will this 70% better performance actually make any difference to day-to-day use of the laptop?

I used to be a gamer, but don't have time these days, nor the inclination to spend 1000's of pounds trying to squeeze after every last little fps out of my kit. I have an el cheapo laptop these days and it runs fast enough for what I need, the biggest bottlenecks being the hard drive and net connections. I could've paid substantially more for decent graphics on it, but it would've been a waste of money.

Back on topic, I just got my wife an Acer Aspire AS5732Z from Comet for around £303 using code 4250AW and 4% topcashback - it has an integrated Intel chipset but runs the pre-installed Windows 7 Home Premium absolutely fine and is so much faster than the 5 year old P4 3GHz laptop with ATI graphics it is replacing.

RS-Eleven

RS-Eleven wrote: »

Myself and a few family members are thinking of clubbing together and getting a laptop for my sister for christmas. Doesn't have to be top spec, but want a new one and not a reconditioned one and want a proper laptop and not a notebook.
Anyone know what the cheapest deal around is at the moment to match these criteria?

To reply to my own post, is there anything I'm missing that is wrong with this one?:

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5070475/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7COffice%2C+PCs+and+phones%7C14418968/c_2/2%7Ccat_14418968%7CLaptops+and+mini+laptops%7C14419039/c_3/3%7Ccat_14419039%7CLaptops%7C14419040.htm#tabrev

Seems to fulfil my criteria...