Choosing a budget (sub £500) laptop

Gambler

My Dad has asked me to try and find him a laptop. He'll mainly be using it for wireless surfing, emails and keeping Mum's 80GB ipod up to date.

Initially he didn't want to pay more than £300 and after having a quick shop around I advised he could get a much higher spec eg. 2MB memory 120Gb+ hard drive. I'm guessing he needs a larger drive due to the IPOD capacity?

He has seen a sony laptop advertised on tv and I'm wondering if this is a good deal, reduced from £650.

http://www.dixons.co.uk/martprd/store/dix_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0238223758.1206299340@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccegadedimlfdehcflgceggdhhmdgmh.0&page=Product&fm=undefined&sm=undefined&tm=undefined&sku=685078&category_oid=-34420

The main difficulty I have is understanding these new types of processors in use these days. Which is the best in terms of speed etc to go for?

Any help much appreciated.

Mobeer

It looks reasonable. The page below gives details of a Dell Inspiron 720 (see 3rd row down), which has a 17" screen and slightly larger hard disk for £20 less. You would probably have to wait longer to get it though. I've seen a friend's Sony laptop, and own a Dell Inspiron 1720, and both seem good quality.

http://www.dmxdimension.com/blogcategory/dell_uk_inspiron_1720.html

hustle90

To be honest, if all he is doing is what you have listed, and not going anything intense like photo/video editing or gaming, then that laptop is overkill.

Any Core Duo or Core 2 Duo would be fine for that.
Here is laptops that would suit your fathers needs.
Laptop 1
Laptop 2
Laptop 3
Laptop 4

BillScarab

The latest Dell offers can be found here. Pretty much any laptop should do for what he wants, however my first question would be does he actually need a laptop? Desktops are easier to fix if they break and generally you can get a slightly better spec for your money. They're also easier to use. The only issue is they take up a little more room but with modern LCD monitors they're not so bad now