Laptop for 12 year old son under £350?

blackswan2

tempted for my daughter by the Toshiba laptop Donnie links to - are refurbs reliable?

Also is it likely to come packaged like new? (birthday present)

Donnie

blackswan2 wrote: »

tempted for my daughter by the Toshiba laptop Donnie links to - are refurbs reliable?

Also is it likely to come packaged like new? (birthday present)

The Toshiba has already sold and the MSI listed has ended. More will come online soon.
Reliability? In my experience, yes. Also backed by a full warranty.

The laptop box may not be suitable for a birthday present, as the condition of the box will vary.
The machines within generally look and function as new.

blackswan2

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Clearance-Bargains_Laptops-netbooks_W0QQrtZncQQ_fsubZ1683056016QQ_sasiZ1QQ_sidZ66512606?LH_TitleDesc=1

This lists the current Argos clearance laptops - I am looking for around the £350 mark, or a bit more if comes with Office. Here are some of the ones listed:

£416 HEWLETT PACKARD G SERIES 15.6IN LAPTOP REFURB
Memory (RAM): 4 GB, Primary Drive: DVD+/-RW
Screen Size: 15.6 Inch Features: Operating System, USB, WiFi Enabled
PENTIUM Processor Speed: 2.1 GHz Hard Drive Capacity: 500 GB

£359 HEWLETT PACKARD G SERIES 15.6IN LAPTOP V1 REFURB
2.68kgMemory (RAM): 4 GB ,Primary Drive: DVD+/-RW
Screen Size: 16 Inch Features: Operating System, USB, WiFi Enabled
CELERON Processor Speed: 1.9 GHz Hard Drive Capacity: 320

£359 SAMSUNG R519 15.6IN LAPTOP REFURB 2.6kg
Pentium dual core T4300 processor, 2.1GHz processor speed.
4GB DDR2 RAM, 250GB SATA hard drive.
15.6in screen size, Resolution 1366 x 768 pixels.
Multi format dual layer drive, Intel GMA X4500M graphics.
3 USB ports, 0.3MP webcam.
802.11 b/g/n wireless enabled.
Windows 7 Premium operating system installed.


£349 ACER ASPIRE 5732Z 15.6IN LAPTOP REFURB 2.7kg
2.2GHz PENTIUM processor speed, 1MB cache, 3GB DDR2 RAM.
Primary Drive: DVD+/-RW
Screen Size: 15.6 Inch Features: Operating System, USB, WiFi Enabled
PENTIUM Processor Speed: 2.2 GHz Hard Drive Capacity: 250 GB

£344 ACER ASPIRE 5810T 15.6IN TIMELINE LAPTOP V1 REFURB 2.4kg
4GB DDR2 RAM, Hard Drive Capacity: 320.0
CORE-2-SOLO Processor Speed: 1400
Screen Size: 15.6 Primary Drive: DVD+/-RW


General thoughts on these or any of the ones for sale appreciated :-)

blackswan2

Thanks Donnie, so I know can you tell me "what is wrong" with these laptops in general? Poor spec for the money, unreliable brands?

Cheers .... Simon.

Donnie

None of the above. Not great value for money. One ACER has Vista and I'm not sure about their reliability. The Samsung has risen steadily in price and has old components. HP similarly overpriced for what they offer. Hang on for a while. Hopefully they'll get new stock. Not sure why they have put another £25 or so on to the price of the laptops.
Perhaps there are encouraged by the good sales figures. I'm not loving the prices rises. The ASUS was nice at £264. Don't like it quite as much at £289, as more RAM would be nice.

Knarf44

Check out https://www.dabs.com they have some good prices on Refurbished laptops/netbooks mostly with XP or Vista but there are one or two with Windows 7 eg:

http://www.dabs.com/products/acer-refurb-easynote-tj67-au-505-15-6--pentium-t4400-4gb-ddr-320gb-hdd-win7-home-premium-71T7.html

GRM

I bought this for my 14yo son's birthday last week. It's since gone down by £20 to £370...

ebuyer.com/product/195966

AMD Athlon II Dual Core M320 2.1GHz (has an excellent cpu benchmark score)
4GB RAM
160GB HDD (7200rpm)
15.6" HD BrightView
DVD Writer, Wireless Internet
Webcam, HDMI
Windows 7 Home Premium


I've been very impressed with it so far.

Donnie

MSI CR500 A bargain at £264

Plain design but good value for money.

Intel Celeron dual core T3100.
1.9GHz processor speed.
3GB DDR2 RAM memory.
500GB hard drive.
15.6in display.
Resolution 1366 x 768 pixels.
Dual layer optical drive
Dedicated nVIDIA GeForce 8200M graphics card with 256MB memory.
4-in-1 media card reader.
Secure Digital (SD), Memory Stick (MS), xD, Multi-Media Card (MMC) compatible.
3 USB ports.
1 Ethernet port.
1 HDMI port.
B/g/n wireless/WiFi enabled.
1.3MP built-in webcam.
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium.
Software included:
Microsoft Works.
Adobe Reader.
General features:
Up to 3.5 hours battery life.
Size H3, W37.4, D24.7cm.
Weight 2.5kg.

Donnie

This Toshiba is also good value at £252, though I can't identify the model.

Stated specs:

Intel Celeron T3100 .
1.9GHz processor speed.
4GB DDR2 RAM.
320GB SATA hard drive.
Display features:
15.6in screen
Resolution 1366 x 768 pixels.
DVD optical drives:
DVD Super Multi drive
Graphics:
Dedicated ATI Radeon HD with 3200 graphics card.
Interfaces and connectivity:
3 USB ports.
1 Ethernet port.
B/g/n wireless/WiFi enabled.
Multi-media features:
Operating system & software:
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium.
Preloaded with a suite of applications
Microsoft Home Office and Student (trial).
Anti-virus and security (trial).
Microsoft Works.
General features:
Up to 2hrs.15 mins battery life.
Weight 2.6kg

blackswan2

I don't know much about them, but going on Ram/hard drive/processor speed that seems a bargain - about £100 less than one might expect - any ideas why?


http://laptops.toshiba.com/laptops/satellite/L450