The Great 'Cheapest Decent Laptop' Hunt

bushcaro

I am also loking to buy son a laptop..understand memory etc but can someone tell me in simple terms which type of processor are the better ones - prob be spending £350-£400. Are the INtel Pentium ones the best adn Celeron next?

plumpmouse

Hi all

Hoping someone can help a bit. Have read the last few pages but am none the wiser.

My Mum and Dad are looking to buy my little brother a new laptop.

He's at uni so would be used for surfing, studying etc.

He also likes playing games, so from what I have read he would need a graphics card?

Can anyone suggest a good laptop for less than £400

They have been looking at this one

Ta

Sarah

Karen2105

Hi,

I am looking for a laptop for xmas, max budget £400. It will be used for the usual surfing the web, microsoft office applications, running/downloading itunes software.

I have read through the forums and had a scout about myself, I am looking at a couple of laptops and would very much appreciate an expert opinion on whether these are good deals or I could do any better.

Fujitsu 3710 £350 - Argos

OR

Samsung R519 Comet £380

Sorry I can't post links I hope Ive given enough info to know what I'm talking about!

Is the £30 extra worth it for the extra RAM and hard drive? Or can I get similar spec for same price or do I really need all this for the uses I want to put it to?

Thanks in advance for any help!

JDPower

Karen2105 wrote: »

Hi,

I am looking for a laptop for xmas, max budget £400. It will be used for the usual surfing the web, microsoft office applications, running/downloading itunes software.

I have read through the forums and had a scout about myself, I am looking at a couple of laptops and would very much appreciate an expert opinion on whether these are good deals or I could do any better.

Fujitsu 3710 £350 - Argos

OR

Samsung R519 Comet £380

Sorry I can't post links I hope Ive given enough info to know what I'm talking about!

Is the £30 extra worth it for the extra RAM and hard drive? Or can I get similar spec for same price or do I really need all this for the uses I want to put it to?

The Samsung also has a better processor. Both will do for your purposes but just £30 extra for more RAM, bigger hard drive and (most importantly) better processor it's a no brainer to me

bushcaro

For all those others struggling..this guide from John Lewis may help..I'm leaning to getting one there as they offer 2 free year warranty..http://http://www.johnlewis.com/Magazine/Feature.aspx?Id=18

bushcaro

Will try link again..
http://www.johnlewis.com/Magazine/Feature.aspx?Id=18

braders1234_2

Hi all, i have been reading this thread for a couple of weeks and am very close to knowing what I want now, thanks for all your help.

Can I just ask, is it expected that laptops will come down in value after xmass?

Have been looking at a Toshiba L450D-11W at £357 from PIXMANIA

which does all I need it to but wonder if it best to wait until after xmass?

brianm729

Originally Posted by brianm729
Hi all,

I am looking for some help to choose a laptop for my daughter.

Budget is up to £400, and we would like Windows 7, and a webcam.

She will use it mainly for chatrooms, downloading music, streaming videos, and surfing the internet, but she would also like to be able to play Sims 3 on it (if possible). I assume it would need a dedicated graphics chip for this game?

I have seen this one in Argos; http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...&storeId=10001

Thanks to JDPower for reply to my post above, however I have now spotted this Compaq Presario from laptops direct, which is similar to the above, but with the AMD Turion processor. However I am not sure about the Graphics card again. It is a NVIDIA GeForce 8200M G. Any help would again be greatly appreciated. http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/HP_Compaq_Presario_CQ61-330SA_Laptop_VJ533EA/version.asp

JDPower

braders1234 wrote: »

Hi all, i have been reading this thread for a couple of weeks and am very close to knowing what I want now, thanks for all your help.

Can I just ask, is it expected that laptops will come down in value after xmass?

It's possible but hard to say for definite. I would have thought it's more likely than not as laptops are being pushed quite heavily at the moment, not only due to the run up to xmas but also Windows 7 being newly released. So, to me, common sense would suggest retailers will be expecting a drop in trade after xmas after this big sales push so will have to drop prices just to make sales. But there are a lot of offers around at the moment because of xmas and Windows 7 so it's difficult to give a more definite answer than - probably

JDPower

brianm729 wrote: »

Thanks to JDPower for reply to my post above, however I have now spotted this Compaq Presario from laptops direct, which is similar to the above, but with the AMD Turion processor. However I am not sure about the Graphics card again. It is a NVIDIA GeForce 8200M G. Any help would again be greatly appreciated. http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/HP_Compaq_Presario_CQ61-330SA_Laptop_VJ533EA/version.asp

According to Notebookcheck.net's benchmarks the GeForce 8200 performs slightly worse than the ATI card in your original choice (but obviously has a slightly better processor) so may have slightly worse gaming performance (but slightly better general performance).