Where to buy a new laptop

darich

My current laptop may be about to die - the screen flickers and seems to shake occasionally. It's only started today.

Assuming it dies where is the best place to buy another?

I'm no averse to specifying a custom machine to match my budget and even loading my own OS - I have a copy of XP that I got with my desktop a while back so I could load that up.
In fact I would probably prefer to customise my own but if I can't ideally I'd like
-17inch screen but could go to 15inch
-blu ray player
-decent video card to operate photoshop reasonably well

Budget wise - I don't really have a limit but probably don't want to spend much more than around £500 - I appreciate that I'll not get a top of the line one for that but I'm cool with that choice.

Anyone have any ideas or have any recommendations?
I've had a negative experience with PCSpecialist - they don't operate within the law and I will not use them again so looking for ideas.

Cheers!

victor2

Not always the cheapest, but Dell have some pretty good machines.
I always ask the question do you really need a laptop? You get more desktop for the money than you do a laptop and many people don't use the portability of a laptop.
Maybe it's just the monitor that has failed on your laptop - could you connect it to an external monitor?
Any new computer will probably have Windows 7 on it. It's not a bad move from XP unless you have lots of software/hardware that is not Win 7 compatible.

darich

Thanks Victor

Currently looking at Dell's website but not quite as customisable as some other places - I'll continue to check their site.
I already have a desktop and appreciate that desktops are more powerful for the same money but I do use the portability so want to replace this one if it does die. Given that I want the portability, an external monitor isn't ideal - my desktop already connects to my LCD tv along with my sky box and ps3 - I don't even have a monitor.

I've not used Win 7 so don't know if it's good or not - but I grudge paying for another OS when I already have a genuine copy of XP on CD.

Any further suggestions are welcome.

Coopdivi

It's a bit difficult to find anything within your budget and with those features, but this Medion laptop from Aldi may do the trick. It costs £500, 17'' screen, blu-ray, the graphics capabilities I'm not sure about although the linked review seems to think it can handle photo and video editing. It's been on offer for a while so not all stores will have it.

http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/special_buys2_14476.htm

darich

Thanks Coop.

My current laptop is a refurb unit from Dixons and has the above spec and it cost me around £450 a couple of years ago. So I know the spec can be bought for reasonable price.
That Aldi unit looks a good price - would it be possible to remove a blu ray drive from one laptop and install it in another?