Laptop - now or January?

rubuhoeikanaika

Hi guys,

I'm in the market for a laptop, and I have about £400 to spend. At the moment I'm using an old beast of a desktop running linux - it's slow but it works for the web, so no rush. My question is: is there any advantage to waiting until January before buying - are there really any 'january sales' in the computing market? I'm not really feeling the lack of a new comp at the moment, but I will get one sooner or later.

My ideal specs list is:
dual core processor (preferably intel)
1GB ram
60GB+ HDD
real video card
15.4in monitor
windows XP MCE or vista home premium
fair battery life (ie not Acer!)
below 3kg

At the moment it seems for £400 you can almost-but-not-quite get all this (the dual core processor and graphics seems to be the main sticking point). Should I take the plunge now or wait it out?

(One advantage to waiting is that if I buy now it's going on my 0% till June credit card, but if I wait awhile I'll be able to pay cash, so to speak. I know the money is coming, though, so I'm not sure this is very important. Still, a bird in the hand and all that.)

Cheers,
rubuhoeikanaika

Hillfly

I think you'll have a job to crack that spec for £400 even in the sales. The graphics card and processor requirement will almost certainly keep the price of such a machine above your budget at the moment.

I would say that an Acer might allow you to get what you want nearer your budget but of course there is the battery life compromise. But at this price range you will have to compromise on something to get close to this spec.

s-j-cooper_2

Laptop prices change almost daily, so you will get a better spec laptop for the money if you wait until January.

MissBehaving

Boxing day sales???? ... Worth a go!!

rubuhoeikanaika

This beast is close, but misses out on the processor.

http://www.currys.co.uk/martprd/store/cur_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1776073269.1163945470@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccfkaddjgkgfheicflgceggdhhmdgmh.0&page=Product&sku=876045

(I get a 10% discount at currys, which helps me - I could get this for £360)

# Intel Celeron M 410 Processor 1.46GHz
# 533 MHz FSB
# 1 MB Cache
# 1024 MB RAM
# 60 GB Hard Drive
# DVD ReWriter MultiDrive
# 15.4" Widescreen Diamondview Display
# Microsoft Windows XP Home
# 128mb ATI Xpress 200 shared graphics
# 1 Year FREE warranty

photome

rubuhoeikanaika wrote:

This beast is close, but misses out on the processor.

http://www.currys.co.uk/martprd/store/cur_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1776073269.1163945470@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccfkaddjgkgfheicflgceggdhhmdgmh.0&page=Product&sku=876045

(I get a 10% discount at currys, which helps me - I could get this for £360)

# Intel Celeron M 410 Processor 1.46GHz
# 533 MHz FSB
# 1 MB Cache
# 1024 MB RAM
# 60 GB Hard Drive
# DVD ReWriter MultiDrive
# 15.4" Widescreen Diamondview Display
# Microsoft Windows XP Home
# 128mb ATI Xpress 200 shared graphics
# 1 Year FREE warranty

I have posted about this one in a previous thread and if you go through quidco and use discount code, can be had for £349

bikebarbie

I am looking for a laptop for studying too I started my post in "i want to buy it.." again Acer is not getting very good reviews and there are so many brands out there (Advent, Packard Bell, HP, Toshiba...) I have been advised on a Dell one but I think that I am going to wait until I am 100% sure I am getting a good PC for good ££ there are always many offers/deals here or on UK hot deals