If you had £350-400, what would you buy?

thatlemming

Hi, I need a little help. My bfs mum wants a laptop (never had one before, bout time she joined the rest of the world ) and asked me to find something because she thinks I know stuff, which I don't (I like gadgets yeah, and I've got an Asus zenbook which is lovely but isn't going to help)

But yeah, I've never really bought a budget laptop before so honestly don't know what to go for for her. Anyone have any recommendations?

Thank you!

ryanr

this one looks good :

Toshiba Satellite C660D-1C7 15.6 inch Laptop (AMD E300 1.3GHz, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD, Windows 7 Home Premium)

available on amazon for £279

special_farces

Don't sweat over your budget, you can get a lot for what you have to spend, esp. if it's just web surfing and social media she is interested in.

I picked up a Toshiba Satellite on offer from Argos last year for £350, has had zero problems and came loaded with Win7 but not too much unnecessary software (but also no copy of Office, but then again there are plenty of threads on here about alternatives and means to buy a copy).

Why not take her shopping if possible? She can have a look at various 'forms' (notebook size, laptop size, even tablets) to see which she would be comfortable using - as she will be spending some time with whatever you both choose. Then check out prices on high street and web retailers such as DABS and CPC.

To the meat! Here are several current excellent value PC laptops all under £400:
Asus X54H
Acer Aspire 5750
Fujitsu Lifebook AH531
Lenovo B570
Toshiba Satellite C660-2F7

List courtesy of tech radar.

Millionaire

Samsung Laptops currently have a £100 cashback offer. So you could a higher spec laptop for under £400. For example this intel 3rd Gen Ivy Bridge.

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/samsung-series-3-300e5c-15-6-laptop-black-15119696-pdt.html

or

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/samsung-series-3-3530ea-15-6-laptop-silver-17291830-pdt.html

thatlemming

special_farces wrote: »

Don't sweat over your budget, you can get a lot for what you have to spend, esp. if it's just web surfing and social media she is interested in.

I picked up a Toshiba Satellite on offer from Argos last year for £350, has had zero problems and came loaded with Win7 but not too much unnecessary software (but also no copy of Office, but then again there are plenty of threads on here about alternatives and means to buy a copy).

Why not take her shopping if possible? She can have a look at various 'forms' (notebook size, laptop size, even tablets) to see which she would be comfortable using - as she will be spending some time with whatever you both choose. Then check out prices on high street and web retailers such as DABS and CPC.

To the meat! Here are several current excellent value PC laptops all under £400:
Asus X54H
Acer Aspire 5750
Fujitsu Lifebook AH531
Lenovo B570
Toshiba Satellite C660-2F7

List courtesy of tech radar.

Thanks for this, much appreciated :j

ballyblack

up to £400=

http://www.tesco.com/direct/toshiba-c660-1zm-laptop-intel-core-i3-6gb-640gb-156-display/212-8551.prd?pageLevel=&skuId=212-8551

gonzo127

save her some money and go refurb, no need to spend £400 if only using it for basic internet and office bits

argos ebay is one of the favs around here as they come with a 12 month warrenty (same as new) and are usually pretty well priced, and tend to be in as new condition with usualy only the box showing any signs of use

to be honest http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TOSHIBA-C850-2GB-320GB-15-6-INCH-LAPTOP-/330789468169?pt=UK_Computing_Laptops_EH&hash=item4d0496b809 would be more than good enough and will handle the basics with ease and if you want a little bit more power and snazzy looks http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SAMSUNG-SERIES-3-LAPTOP-500GB-15-6-INCH-INTEL-DUAL-CORE-2-1GHZ-SILVER-REFURB-/330788486600?pt=UK_Computing_Laptops_EH&hash=item4d0487bdc8 is also very good

NiftyDigits

gonzo127 wrote: »

save her some money and go refurb, no need to spend £400 if only using it for basic internet and office bits

argos ebay is one of the favs around here as they come with a 12 month warrenty (same as new) and are usually pretty well priced, and tend to be in as new condition with usualy only the box showing any signs of use

to be honest http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TOSHIBA-C850-2GB-320GB-15-6-INCH-LAPTOP-/330789468169?pt=UK_Computing_Laptops_EH&hash=item4d0496b809 would be more than good enough and will handle the basics with ease and if you want a little bit more power and snazzy looks http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SAMSUNG-SERIES-3-LAPTOP-500GB-15-6-INCH-INTEL-DUAL-CORE-2-1GHZ-SILVER-REFURB-/330788486600?pt=UK_Computing_Laptops_EH&hash=item4d0487bdc8 is also very good

Whilst the Outlet does have some amazing bargains from time to time, whilst inexpensive, I don't think that those are two of them.

The first machine, the Toshiba Satellite Pro C850-10U is only £250 new.

As to the second, I think this Toshiba offers better value.

If bells and whistles are not needed, consider moving up to a larger screen if to be used mainly at home.

Cisco001

£380
This with i5 ivy bridge CPU
http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Fujitsu_AH532_I5-3210_4G_320_DVDRW_W7H_VFYAH532MR5A2GB/version.asp?refsource=LDfroogle

Or £250 Toshiba above. But I would probably spend £15 to get 4GB RAM upgrading it yourself

mickmg

For what it's worth Samsung are doing £100 cashback deals on selected laptops at the moment available in Pcworld & Currys. I bought this one last week http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/samsung-series-3-300e5c-15-6-laptop-black-15119696-pdt.html

Just waiting for the 30 days to elapse and will claim the 100 back.
I have no connection with samsung or those stores , just saying what i've done

Cheers

gonzo127

NiftyDigits wrote: »

Whilst the Outlet does have some amazing bargains from time to time, whilst inexpensive, I don't think that those are two of them.

The first machine, the Toshiba Satellite Pro C850-10U is only £250 new.

As to the second, I think this Toshiba offers better value.

If bells and whistles are not needed, consider moving up to a larger screen if to be used mainly at home.

although i understand what your saying with the first issue of the new to refurb, yes its only £20 difference but thats still £20 less to spend on something that still has a 12 month warrenty, but i can understand if someone wanted to pay the extra just to have new

as to your second i am unsure why its a better choice overall from what i can see in the specs they are pretty much the same, other than the samsung having the processor up (for a whole 100mhz increase :S ) otherwise same amount of ram, same size hard drive, same sized screen and same price. but its of course always good to show the other options