The Great 'Cheapest Decent Laptop' Hunt

Browntoa

Gateway UK today unveiled its latest notebook and desktop PCs, pitching the products at consumers and small businesses needing performance on a budget price. The roll-out also takes in Intel's latest dual-core desktop processor technology.

That said, the notebooks feature previous-generation CPUs: the new MX6640b, MX6638b and GT3220b laptops are based on Pentium M 750, Pentium M 725 and Celeron M 360 chips, clocked at 1.83GHz, 1.6GHz and 1.4GHz, respectively. All three are based on Windows XP Home Edition, contain a four-in-one memory card reader, DVD±R/RW dual-layer optical drive and 802.11g Wi-Fi. Hard drive capacities come in at 80, 60 and 60GB, respectively.

The MX6640b ships with 1GB of DDR 2 SDRAM in dual-channel configuration, while the two other machines contain 512MB. The top-end notebook's 15.4in widescreen display is powered by an ATI Mobility Radeon X600SE GPU with 64MB of video RAM. The other machines have chipset graphics: in Intel GMA 900 on the MX6638b and an S3 Unichrome Pro on the GT3220b. They have 15.4in and 14.1in widescreen displays, respectively.

Gateway's GT5012b desktop has a 2.8GHz dual-core Pentium D 920 processor, 1GB of dual-channel DDR 2 SDRAM, Nvidia GeForce 6200 graphics with 256MB of memory taken from the main RAM bank, a 250GB 7,200rpm Serial ATA hard drive, DVD±R/RW dual-layer optical unit, eight-in-one memory card reader and 7.1-channel audio.

Gateway said the four machines are all available now through Staples stores. The MX6640b costs around £799, the MX6638b £649 and the GT3220b £499. The GT5012b costs around £599. ®

http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2006/03/13/gateway_uk_machines/

http://uk.gateway.com/corporate/about.html

Founded in 1985 in a U.S. Midwestern farmhouse, Gateway has grown into one of the world's best known technology brands with millions of satisfied customers. Starting with a $10,000 loan guaranteed by his grandmother, a rented computer and a three-page business plan, founder Ted Waitt turned Gateway into a revolutionary company whose innovations helped shape the technology industry

pigeonpie

Any idea anyone if the keyboard is any good, ditto the screen and is the creature quiet?!
Great spec at that price - what's the catch? Do they use cheaper components?
I'm wary of buying instore as no 7 day return for refund is possible.

alositha

pigeonpie wrote:

Any idea anyone if the keyboard is any good, ditto the screen and is the creature quiet?!
Great spec at that price - what's the catch? Do they use cheaper components?
I'm wary of buying instore as no 7 day return for refund is possible.

I THINK STPLES OFFER 28 DAYS MONEYBACK GUARANTEE WITH LAPTOPS. I AM PRETTY SURE THEY DID FEW MONTHS AGO.

chr1s_2

John_M_Business wrote:

Cheers Chris. I was informed that Dual Core was going to be a near-requirement for Vista when it is launched and I'd like to keep that option available - it would be a shame to buy a laptop and then within a year have a new OS available for it which I wouldn't be able to get hold of.

Additionally, I was also informed that the Core Duo / Dual Core give improved battery life performance as they are more efficient.

Of course, these statements may not be true...

I take your point though, that either the budget has to give a little, or I need to assess what is a definite requirement as opposed to what is a 'nice to have'...

No problem. Again, I suppose it will be a case of do you really need Vista as soon as it's released? It won't even be released until the end of this year (Microsoft Press Release ), and that's if you're one of the first people to get it. Broad consumer availability won't be until Jan 2007. That'll make whatever you buy now nearly a year old by the time it's released, and it'll cost you another hundred quid + (guesstimate) to upgrade to it. Unless you really need Vista, I'd recommend buying something that will meet your requirements now, and for the next few years. Then, the next time you come to buy a laptop, Vista will have matured (service packs etc), and will come as standard on your next laptop.

As for battery life, the CORE processors are supposed to help in this area. However, the CPU isn't neccessarily the main drain on power. If you were to have a laptop with a high powered graphics card (for example), you may find this sucks a lot of power itself. The best thing to do is look at the specs of each individual laptop as they should all give the battery life information. Also, it's worth noting that you can buy bigger battery packs for some laptops to give you that extra running time.

Chris.

dc2447

Good advice from Chris

John_M_Business

Thanks for all of this. Have managed to get a Rock XCTX with all the trimmings and software needed for just over £1.5k ex VAT. With a second battery thrown in. Given I will be travelling by car most of the time, the need for an ultra-long battery life is not there. The need to impress is! Anyway, I also agree that this laptop will not remain top-spec, but I still think it will be pretty impressive a couple of years down the line...

pin

John_M_Business wrote:

Thanks for all of this. Have managed to get a Rock XCTX with all the trimmings and software needed for just over £1.5k ex VAT. With a second battery thrown in. Given I will be travelling by car most of the time, the need for an ultra-long battery life is not there. The need to impress is! Anyway, I also agree that this laptop will not remain top-spec, but I still think it will be pretty impressive a couple of years down the line...

FYI, Rock have an excellent user forum: www.rockforum.co.uk, if you have any queries / issues about your new Rock.

barky_2

Whats the realistic difference between a Celeron 1.5 processor and a Centrino 1.8? I'm looking at the different Dells on their website, and for a hundred quids difference you get the better processor and 512 ram instead of 256, for either 439 or 339. I'm looking to buy soon-ish, and just want a cheapy lappy to do web surfing, music and vids etc, I never do any gaming or hardcore photoshopping. Any suggestions?
Cheers
Barky

Hillfly

The difference is performance & battery life.

Take a look on the Grabbit's Board - there are lots of threads discussing the Dell laptop deals on there:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=36

anley1

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the Staples deal (not on their website though)

It's a NEC I-Selection with a P4 Chip and 512Ram

I think it's the best value Laptop on the market right now at £499.