The Great 'Cheapest Decent Laptop' Hunt

tshabs

Hi there,

I own an IT company so am quite aware of the trade sector of the industry, and can say that your are in luck if looking for a good quality affordable laptop.
One of the large distributors is currently dishing out some ACER TRAVELMATE 2423WXMi 14.1" CM-370 256M XPHOME laptops for £322 + VAT to trade for a more than decent laptop.

A quick search on price runner brings up a fair few people selling this laptop cheaper than I can provide it, so I wont even bother trying to sell it to youi but comet seems to be your best bet.

http://www.comet.co.uk/comet/html/cache/572_316261.html?cm_ven=Pricerunner&cm_cat=Feed&cm_pla=Laptops&cm_ite=316261_ACER_TM_2423WXMI

If that link doest work just take a peek at comet.co.uk and search. If you use greasypalm.co.uk you can get 1.75% cashback on that.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Tom.

HeyBigSpender

tshabs wrote:

Hi there,
http://www.comet.co.uk/comet/html/cache/572_316261.html?cm_ven=Pricerunner&cm_cat=Feed&cm_pla=Laptops&cm_ite=316261_ACER_TM_2423WXMI

I have that one, although I bought it about a year ago for much more than that. It's good. My only complaint is that I could never get the DVD writer to work, but that could be me being technically stupid. (It's frustrating because I would love to record my DVD video camera disks onto normal size disks. The video camera disks are small, expensive and hard to come by.)

Otherwise, it's a decent reliable piece of kit. My last laptop was a Packard Bell. It was constantly overheating and had a fan like a helicopter. And it died when I couldn't charge it up any more for some reason. Avoid!

Hillfly

You may find the DVD is quite 'choosy' about which media it will accept. Have yout tried using a different brand of DVD's. Usually there are more problems with the cheaper ones.

ioscorpio

http://www.cheap-it.com/pages/specials.asp

What are Advent laptops like, there's a new Advent 7000 for £329 inc free case and free delivery

[FONT=Helvetica, sans-serif, Arial]ADVENT 7000 NEW MACHINE[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, sans-serif, Arial]THE BUDGET DVD-BURNER IS BACK!!!
Celeron M 350 Processor, 1mb cache, 256Mb DDR SDRAM, 40Gb Hard Disk Drive, DVD+/-RW (Dual Layer DVD Burner!!!), 14.1" XGA TFT Colour Screen,64mb Intergrated Graphics, AC97 Stereo Sound, 56K V.92 Modem, 10/100 LAN, 4x USB 2.0 Port, 8.0 Microsoft Works, Intervideo (WinDVD 5), Only 2.3kg in weight, Windows XP Home Operating System.
FREE Carry Case!!!
FREE NEXT DAY DELIVERY

1-Year RTB Warranty[/FONT]

Chippy_Minton

Acer TravelMate 4062LCi - Manufacturer code: LX.TAK05.293

* Intel Pentium-M Centrino 740 Processor 1.73GHz
* 256MB DDR SDRAM
* 40GB Hard Drive
* DVD/CDRW Combo Drive
* 15" XGA TFT Screen
* Intel GMA 900
* 3 USB 2.0 Sockets
* Integrated LAN and 56k v.90 data fax modem
* Integrated wireless 802.11 b/g LAN
* Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
* Weight 2.91kg

Order from http://uk.insight.com/apps/productpresentation/index.php?product_id=TOPACERNB4
Includes FREE Mouse & Carry Case
£319.99 + VAT = £375.99
Next business day delivery £10.99 + VAT
Total £388.90

Full spec - http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=605636 (don't buy from here).

As it uses an Intel processor, this laptop qualifies for the free Vodafone 3G Mobile Connect card. These are currently going on eBay for over £50.

bloodnok

Think4 wrote:

We have a couple of models in that are a promotion from NEC who are trying to raise business in the consumer market, also we have a Dell inspiron 1300 model ( which I see has been heavily discussed already ) it works out about £150 cheaper than the same spec from dell. To be honest the better buy is the NEC's they are Centrino with a great spec (DVD RW etc ) and look great. The dell looks a bit like a childs first computer. I'll pop the links below only got limited stock on the NEC's as they are a Loss leader for them. All of these models are below £400 inc vat and for example one of the NEC's spec is Centrino 1.7GHz 512Mb 60Gb 15" DVDRW XP Home

http://www.think4.com/notebooks_laptops/nec/iselect_nn962000101_wifi_dvd_writer_xp_home_15.html

http://www.think4.com/notebooks_laptops/nec/iselect_nn962000401_wifi_dvd_writer_xp_home_15.html

http://www.think4.com/notebooks_laptops/dell/dell_inspiron_1300_cel_m_16ghz_dvdrw_14_laptop.html

I've posted before on this laptop hunt board but I'm still looking for a good laptop for my daughter who's going to university in September.
The NEC shown above seems to be something like I'm looking for, but not being computer savvy, I'd appreciate any comments regarding the make NEC and the spec and the value for money.
I've also not heard of "Think4" and how customers rate them.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

Think4

NEC specialise in this market and most of their PC product goes into education. They are looking to move into the general consumer market and have given us great deals to use while stocks last. Think4 cannot continue to sell at these prices once the stock is sold. As for wether you have heard of us or not is a different matter, we have been around for 10 years under Eurosimm Ltd and for the last 5 years on the net for Eurosimm.com. Think4 is a trading name used this year on our new web site. Hope that helps

Plus any problems you can always call us we answer the phone not like some other sites !!!!

bloodnok

Hi Think4,
I sent you a private message.
Thanks

hex2

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_TravelMate_4062LCi_LX.TAK05.293/version-1.asp

Intel Pentium-M Centrino 740 Processor 1.7GHz
256MB DDR SDRAM - Double the memory to 512MB for only £20– call to place order!
40GB Hard Drive
DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive - To read DVDs and CDs and write CDs
15" XGA TFT Screen
Intel GMA 900
3x USB 2.0 Sockets
Integrated LAN and 56k v.90 data fax modem
Integrated wireless 802.11 b/g LAN - Call for advice on Wireless networking
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
2-hour Battery Life
Weight 2.9kg
Comes with the vodafone card thing as well

I know it is heavy, but I dont carry mine round much. Any advice gratefully received.

Chippy_Minton

hex2, see post #708 for the identical machine, £11 cheaper and with free Acer carry case (good quality) and optical mouse.

Edit: it appears the bundle deal is now discontinued on the Insight link in post 708! However, the computer can be ordered upon request at http://uk.insight.com/apps/productpresentation/index.php?product_id=ARRYA40621. £388.90 in total.