The Great 'Cheapest Decent Laptop' Hunt

bad-head-day

Thinkpad r50 laptops were on sale at staples about 6 months back for £399.

dc2447

bad-head-day wrote:

Thinkpad r50 laptops were on sale at staples about 6 months back for £399.

It was the best buy I ever made. It kicks the !!!!!! off my £1800 dell.

Bob_Terveuren

MickKnipfler wrote:

Where do you get a thinkpad for £399?

I've just setup a Thinkpad for an Icelandic guy that he bought (in Iceland) for a cost price of £200 (give or take £10 on the exchange rate).


So even at £399 - somebody is making a profit???

Bob_Terveuren

belfastgal wrote:

HAS ANYONE HAD APROBLEM WITH EBUYER WAS THINKING OF THE ACER ASPIRE 1641WLMI AT £539.95

I've had mixed blessings with Ebuyer - about two years ago I had a great deal of hassle with them over a faulty LCD screen, however - last month, they were great in replacing a dead ADSL modem/router that I bought nearly a year ago. Other folks I know also think that their support has improved recently.

However I would say that you should not buy anything that is not shown as being in stock - I've placed orders with them before and, after a month or so, been told that the item is not, ever, ever, ever going to be in stock!

Compare their prices closely with dabs.com and other online sales sites. Having said that I order from them several times a month and I always try to 'beat their price' - usually I fail.

BritishBeef

How about this? Seems a really good deal. I'm looking to buy a laptop for web surfing wirelessly, office type work and also the odd photo work in Photoshop. I will mainly use my desktop PC for photoshop work etc. but I would like to be able to process the odd RAW file and run it through Photoshop if needs be. It wouldn't be heavy Photoshop use (no batch processing) just individual files one at a time.

I particularly want a good screen (15.4" widescreen) and good resolution too. I've been impressed with the glossy screens (Sony X-Black etc.)

Anyone know if these screens are better suited to photography.

Anyway, heres one I'm interested in as you get a lot of bang for your buck:



Acer Aspire 1694WLMi
Cost: £784.95
Intel Pentium-M 760 Processor 2.0GHz
1GB DDRII SDRAM
100GB Hard Drive
DVD Dual Layer Drive - To read DVDs and CDs and write CDs, DVD+, DVD- and large Dual Layer DVD
15.4" XGA Widescreen CrystalBrite TFT Screen
ATI Mobility X700 256MB dedicated graphics
Integrated gigabit LAN and 56k v.90 data fax modem
Integrated wireless 802.11b/g
Integrated Bluetooth
Integrated 4-in-1 card reader
3 USB 2.0 Sockets
4-pin Firewire (IEEE 1394) Port
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Pre Loaded
Includes Cyberlink Power-DVD and NTI CD-Maker
FREE Microsoft Works
3.5-hour Battery Life
Weight 3kg
1 year warranty

FREE Vodafone 3G Data card

What do you think? Any others I should be looking at?

Hillfly

I think that's pretty good. I can't find a better deal for that graphics card and speed of processor.

What make/model is it? Might help the search a bit.

BritishBeef

Oops forgot the make and model! I've updated the original post.

Hillfly

Can't beat that price no matter how hard i try. Go get it!

Some useful reviews and links here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/search.php?searchid=84528

monkeyspanner

I know Dell isn't the best and its clunky and all that but in case anyone is interested here are the latest offers which came up this morning, and I think are valid until 22/3/2006.

1-N03136 £339 (90day on site £60 off from last night)
Includes:
WIFI
DVD R/W
512 RAM
15.4 Screen
add £11.75 for 6 cell battery


N03136a £439
as N03136
Plus upgrade to 1024 RAM and 60GB HD

N03135 £288
includes:
WIFI
DVD R/W

N03135a £239
No WIFI
Combo CD R/W DVD R drive

N03135b £289
as N03135

If you are looking for 630M try 1-N03635d £419 (£80 cheaper than last night but no longer has 512 RAM as this free upgrade offer ended yesturday. Add it back in for £76.38 total £495.38. Anyone seen any other codes for 630M?

monkeyspanner

Scrub that last post they have just put all back up £60. DOOH!!