New Laptop Conundrum

beurling

Hey there.

I'm looking for some advice....WHich is silly when you bear in mind my brother works professionally as a laptop repairer...

I have a 5 yr old Dell Latitude D610 and quite frankly..it's dieing on its rubber feet. I do alot of web browsing and use alot of graphics software like Photoshop. I play the odd game but nothing hardcore.

I am looking to change it for something a little newer ( second hand or refurbished is fine ) that can poissibly last me another 3 to 4 years... my max budget though is 300 to 400 pounds which probably means no quad core processor :-(

I still want something that can run my programs and multiple browser windows with a decent amount of speed with a nice chunk of ram and a hdd bigger than 250GB.

My brother says never ever buy an Athlon and that HP, Toshiba, Compaq atc etc arent even worth looking at..he prefers Dell laptops but also likes Samsung and MSi or Asus...I'll be honest it's been a long time since I have paid any attention and I have no idea what I am doing anymore...I want a machine that will run Windows 7 comfortably and a decent processor..but what do i look for???

I like decent battery power say 2hrs and really want a 15" screen to boot....

ANy suggestions greatly appreciated.

Buzz

closed

Follow your brothers advice, anything in the £300-400 range will do

in the meantime:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2436849

gonzo127

closed wrote: »

Follow your brothers advice, anything in the £300-400 range will do

in the meantime:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2436849

i dont know closed, toshiba are usually reasonable and something like this would probably suite the bill http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TOSHIBA-A660-LAPTOP-640GB-15-6-INTEL-CORE-I3-380M-4GB-RAM-BLACK-REFURB-/330636781156?pt=UK_Computing_Laptops_EH&hash=item4cfb7ce664

and personally i have always found dell laptops are not that great

NeverAgain_2

I reckon Asus and Lenovo are slightly better made than some of the others.

I've had good service from this company, who have several which would do the job:

http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/products/ids/attributeselection

grumpycrab

gonzo127 wrote: »

i dont know closed, toshiba are usually reasonable and something like this would probably suite the bill http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TOSHIBA-A660-LAPTOP-640GB-15-6-INTEL-CORE-I3-380M-4GB-RAM-BLACK-REFURB-/330636781156?pt=UK_Computing_Laptops_EH&hash=item4cfb7ce664

and personally i have always found dell laptops are not that great

Or a new Toshiba C660-220 i3-370M/4GB/500GB £309 Delivered @ Tesco (Use Code TD-RPHX for £20 off).
http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.212-3150.aspx

EDIT: now price-matched by the (also) Evil Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005LG4EP0/ref=nosim/?!!!!!hotukdeals-21

EDIT2: Note does not have an HDMI connector and only two usb ports.

free4440273

imo nothing wrong with hp or toshiba or dell ; like i always say: forget the nomenclature -- concentrate on the particular model instead. depending on purchasing power go for an i3 /i5 or i7 processor .

gonzo127

grumpycrab wrote: »

Or a new Toshiba C660-220 i3-370M/4GB/500GB £309 Delivered @ Tesco (Use Code TD-RPHX for £20 off).
http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.212-3150.aspx

EDIT: now price-matched by the (also) Evil Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005LG4EP0/ref=nosim/?!!!!!hotukdeals-21

EDIT2: Note does not have an HDMI connector and only two usb ports.

not bad finds and very good for the price, the biggie (for me at least) with the one i linked is the dedicated graphics chipset, nvidia gt310, which is a hell of a lot better than the intergrated intel hd chipset found on the others and also supports CUDA (it also has HDMI and 4 usb ports)

beurling

thanokk you guys..some good suggestions...

hee's repaired a fair few laptops over the years but says the build quality of hp is like throw together and hope for the best...

i always say the same about french cars...ie. never own one out of the warranty...but you will always find people that have been perfectly happy with them..

i speak from the perspective of a car mechanic and mot tester byt he way....

cheers

Buzz

boatman

http://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/SecondaryInventorySearch.aspx?rn=6424&SC=lowToHigh&c=uk&l=en&s=dfh&cs=ukdfh1&PLikeId=1_542186_1_442188_1_144178_1_148200_1_358_1_291202_1_542200_1_653198_1_762185_1_631197_1_565196_1_422_&Flag=1

http://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/SecondaryInventorySearch.aspx?rn=3201&SC=highToLow&c=uk&l=en&s=dfb&cs=ukdfb1&PLikeId=1_649195_1_621185_1_452182_1_141318_1_296312_1_649191_1_236154_1_650193_1_631197_1_762186_1_651190_1_10840_1_641187_&Flag=1