Laptop buying advice

[Kerr]

The girlfriend is looking to buy a cheap laptop to replace her old desktop. She does not really use it for much other than the internet and typing the odd letter.

Her budget is a maximum of £400 so how far can you really go for that kind of money?

Advice much appreciated.

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

Her budget is a maximum of £400 so how far can you really go for that kind of money?

A long way, especially if it's only going to be used for office type tasks. Personally I've had a succession of netbooks and netbook-alike laptops, as I don't mind the small screen and I love the light weight and long battery life. Something like the Acer Aspire One 522 can be had for under 300 quid and is more than capable of running Word and Firefox. My current machine is an Acer Ferrari One - great machine despite the stomach-churning Ferrari branding, pity they don't seem to make anything quite like it any more.

If she needs or wants a bigger screen and doesn't mind sacrificing portability and battery life, there are loads of 15" laptops (e.g. Fujitsu AH350) starting at about £300.

[mr_oily]

Might also be worth thinking along the lines of a tablet - the g/f bought a lovely little Samsung Netbook recently and while it's a great bit of kit, she never stops pestering me for the iPad as it's just so much more convenient. The battery life is awesome, pllus although it's a touchscreen, the keyboard's perfectly adequate for typing emails and letters etc.

[spanner]

I was looking for something quite low powered and light just for mainly email and internet but found the netbooks have quite a small screen so looked around for those with a 13" screen and even considered the macbook air and pro but the price is rediculous and i dont think i could cope with the OS, plus the Dell Inspiron 13.
But went with a Asus UL30A, yes the processor isnt that quick but i also wanted to have it on my lap and not start getting uncomfortable, plus i decided to stick a 120gig SSD in it which makes up for it and makes it extremely light.


http://www.trustedreviews.com/Asus-UL30A_Laptop_review

[Mark J]

this is a handy well timed thread. My uncle is looking for a decent laptop too. He wants it for travelling but also needs it for bit more than just internet and emails and needs a big enough screen for his ageing eye-sight. He also wants it to be able to connect with his smart TV/BT vision gubbins (but assume any wi-fi pc will do that?)

Any suggestions?
Thanks.

[Brendan]

I've had success connecting the desktop PC to the TV via the HomeHub (not sure where the BT Vision comes into things however as it's just a standalone device  ), but I've been unable to do the same with the wife's laptop (despite running the same version of Windows and all settings being the same).  Laptop can see the TV but can't use the 'Play To' feature in Windows Media Player.

Anyway, the Toshiba satellite we have is a great bit of kit, ideal for surfing and Office tasks.  Cost £300 12 months ago and still going strong.

[spanner]

Most laptops now have a hdmi out or at least a vga out to connect it up the old fashioned way! I have a 5m hdmi cable and can just extend my desktop across to it so can still browse the net while watching iplayer/4od/ itv player etc.

The same with pc's now, the basic/ cheap ones out there are more than powerful enough to do everyday tasks now.

[Wiltshire Tony]

If I were buying a new laptop I would browse the Dell site. I like the way that you can start with a basic model and then choose which parts of it to spec up.

IMO it saves paying more for another brand which carries the feature you want but you have to pay for other stuff that your probably not ever going to need.

[Kerr]

Thanks guys. I had noticed the Fujitsu laptops as ebuyer seems to promote them a fair amount.

What about Dell, more specifically deals on refinished models. Are they faulty on arrival laptops or old heavily used items too?

I'm lost on computer specs but is an [email protected] not much faster than the i3 processors?

This Dell has a 1GB graphics card too.

Good value or not?

 http://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/SecondaryInventorySearch.aspx?rn=9897&c=uk&l=en&s=dfh&cs=ukdfh1&PLikeId=1_290181_1_565198_1_144178_1_551187_1_63154_1_291202_1_130194_1_633188_1_762185_1_631197_1_559195_1_534196_1_356183_&Flag=1

[Legzy]

1) What about Dell

2) is an [email protected] not much faster than the i3 processors?

3) This Dell has a 1GB graphics card too. Good value or not?
 http://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/SecondaryInventorySearch.aspx?rn=9897&c=uk&l=en&s=dfh&cs=ukdfh1&PLikeId=1_290181_1_565198_1_144178_1_551187_1_63154_1_291202_1_130194_1_633188_1_762185_1_631197_1_559195_1_534196_1_356183_&Flag=1

1) With Dell, you tend to pay a bit more for the product than you would for the equivalent performance from others, because you're paying for better support from them if the PC goes wrong (that certainly used to be the case, don't know if it's still true).

2) As I understand it , an [email protected] (4 processors) it is basically double the speed of an [email protected] (2 processors) if you're really going to be really working the PC over multiple processors, but for a bit of office & browsing, it'll likely make little difference. I now have an i7 laptop (with 8 processors ) for my driving (currently a bit of a waste, as even iR only uses up to 3).

3) You're link doesn't work for me, though I'm not sure why you'll need a 1Gb graphics card with you're intended use? Fine if you're not paying extra for it.

p.s. When picking your processor, get an i3/i5 that is followed by 4 number not 3, they are the new improved second generation i3/i5's. (i.e. get a i5-2435M rather than a i5-480M)

[Kerr]

Strange the link is fine with me.

Here is a copy and paste of spec.

 Inspiron15R- N5010 Inteli5-480M(2.66GHz)Mobile CPU GenuineWindows 7 Home Premium 4 GB Dual ChannelDDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz (2 DIMMs) 500 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM) Optical Drive : 8X DVD+/-RW Drive Display15.6in HD (1366X768)WLEDwithTrueLife ATI Mobility Radeon HD5650, 128-Bit, 1GB, DDR3 64Mx16x8pcs English Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64 Bit) Back Up Media Not Included Wireless: Intel Wireless-N 1000 Card Wireless : Europe Dell Bluetooth 365 Card LCDBack Cover : Lotus Pink

Price is £382.

[Prof]

I agree with Legzy you would do better to get the second gen processors. You should be looking at the Dell 5110 series to achieve this. Try to find an i5-2410 or even better the i5-2430 for the sort of money you mention. There are some on Dell outlet as I write. Picnic has some experience of Dell Outlet and may wish to comment as I consider him my expert when I am searching out a new machine. (Are you watching Picnic?)

[spanner]

Are you really going to see any benefit from spending more money on a newer cpu if all your doing is web browsing and email?

[Prof]

Are you really going to see any benefit from spending more money on a newer cpu if all your doing is web browsing and email?

Not advocating more money here, just better machine for similar or less money to machine quoted.

[Paul968]

I now have an i7 laptop (with 8 processors ) for my driving (currently a bit of a waste, as even iR only uses up to 3).

I could be wrong, but I think you mean 8 threads but 4 cores (which are the processors).