Sub-£300 laptop bargains.

andy.poulton_2

Watch out for this £100 job from Elonex

http://www.elonexone.co.uk/

andy.poulton_2

Morgan Computers are always worth a look. THis laptop runs XP and is ideal for simple stuff

http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/shop/detail.asp?ProductID=4535&CategoryID=11&SubCategoryID=

geo555

You can get a Toshiba laptop For £339.97 and get £50 cashback making it £290

http://www.shop.bt.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=4YJW&CategorySelectedId=11105&PageMode=1&NavigationKey=11105,50540,15

Dead_Eye_Jones

philiggy wrote: »

How come the price is going to tumble, and how long do you think I should wait

Phil

PC prices tend to stay steady but you get more for your money as technology improves! However the £200-£300 ultra portable sectro is hotting up thanks to Intels new Atom chips. Smaller, cheaper, and more efficient.

Many manufacturers have seen the success of the eee pc and are bringing out their own versions. I think this will really shake things up. Asus have the eee pc 900 on the way which should have a 10" screen and more power. There should be an XP version which will allow much greater compatability with the rest of the world (life is too short for linux )!

I think once these little beauties come with the 3G modems as standard we'll start to see a real explosion in popularity. £200 for a note pad that you can stick in your bag when you head of on hols or on your commute, or just down to the beach. With a PayG mobile data sim you'll be able to cheaply surf anywhere in the UK. Go abroad? Just buy a SIM in that country to keep on surfin!

This site seems to be the best for news in this area:
http://www.umpcportal.com/modules/news/

I think this one looks quite cool:
http://www.umpcportal.com/products/product.php?id=185

Definitely an exciting time for mobile computing - but as always, waiting will always get you something better. What you need to do is write down all the things you actually want to use the computer for. If any device ticks all the boxes then buy it. Else you will just wait for ever as your money will always go waaaay further in 6months time!!

So my dream machine must have:

4-5hrs battery
10" or so screen
<1kg weight
Run Windows
3G modem
USB port(s)
Network port
1-2gb RAM
around 10gb SSD

That's about it really. It would mostly be used for web apps. eg googledocs or photoshop's online version, etc

Almost there I think, should be breaking out my wallet this year !
GL!

purplegrape

Does this sound like it'll run Vista OK for a couple years?

Advent 7204

• Intel Pentium Dual Core T2080
• 1.73GHz, 533MHz FSB, 1MB Cache
• Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium
• 1GB Memory
• 100GB Hard Drive

Edit: forgot the link!! (£289.99 with 17" widescreen)
http://www.currys.co.uk/martprd/store/cur_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1861122154.1207232537@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccfkadedkellddjcflgceggdhhmdgmk.0&page=Accessory&sku=742042

mlbarrett

I bought a 4gb Asus EEE PC last week (currently sat on my bed typing this on it!), and for basic usage, it's fantastic.

Main reasons for buying it:

• lightweight - carry loads of stuff to uni so didn't want to add to the weight and shoulder ache!
• size - doesn't look like I'm carrying a laptop, so hopefully less likely to be mugged
• has OpenOffice - like Microsoft Office, opens Word, Excel, PowerPoint and .pdf files (all required for me at uni), and as it's not Microsoft, makes the laptop cheaper (even managed to open the thesis I wrote for my Masters!!)
• wireless - can log onto the uni wireless network or local network at home
• battery power life - if not surfing the 'net, can last approx. 3 hrs on battery alone
• plug - has UK and European sockets built in as one! Just need to remove/add the socket pins you require.
• silent in use - no noisy fan
• can upgrade ram if want to put Windows XP or Vista on it
• built in webcam, microphone and speakers
• can increase memory size with SD cards

My supervisor is rather impressed with it and she may buy one too!

Well worth the money, I love it!! :j

boatman

geo555 wrote: »

You can get a Toshiba laptop For £339.97 and get £50 cashback making it £290

http://www.shop.bt.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=4YJW&CategorySelectedId=11105&PageMode=1&NavigationKey=11105,50540,15

The same laptop is posted in post 6, I chose Micro warehouse because it works out slightly cheaper because the postage is only £5+VAT and a higher Quidco amount, apx £280.

NatNataly

thank you all, there were really good bargains here, i wanted to buy my parents laptop for a long time
cheers all

siliconbits

The Vostro range is Dell's Entry level Business laptop range. Normally based around AMD's processor.

spv4u

For those of you that can afford the £400 price tag (reduced from £550 rrp) I have just purchased the Acer Aspire 5720 from laptopsdirect (link below). It has the latest Core 2 Duo Centrino chipset which means it will be good for a few years for processing power.

Specs are:
Core 2 Duo T7300
2 Gb memory
80Gig HDD
Windows Vista Home Premium
plus the useual WiFi, dvd drive etc etc

Beware of the Intel slight renaming of their chipsets, they renmaed the Pentium 4 HT (hyperthreading) chipset to Core Duo, to make it sound as if it is a dual core (two processor) when in fact it is a single processor with a virtual loopback, hope that is a simple explanation everyone can understand.


If you can afford it go for a "Core 2 Duo" as they are currently regarded as a very fast and good perfoming processor.

Link to the laptop is http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5720-302G08Mi_Laptop_LX.AVG0X.176/version.asp

Mark