Laptop Under £400

[Al_G]

Hey!

The Mrs wants a laptop for when she starts her PGCE in September.

First thoughts were either a HP or Toshiba but after speaking to her she wants something that looks "funky" and finds Toshiba's a little aesthetically boring :S (HP's seem a little pricier for a similar spec)...

I've had a quick look and found this...

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Samsung_R510-FAAFUK_Laptop_NP-R510-FAAFUK/version.asp?PID=749

I don't know much about the Samsung range. Originally we looked at the Samsung NC10 but unfortunately it's not really fit for purpose (small screen, no CD-ROM drive, yada yada yada).

Any thoughts on the above or am I mad not to tell her to go for anything other than a Toshiba or HP?

Cheers

 

[Griff]

If she wants something funky I'd go and look at the Dell studio range.

 

[jesus]

http://www.comet.co.uk/shopcomet/product/526576/TOSHIBA-SATE-P300-1CN/tab/specification#spec

It's a Toshiba but it's got a pretty mint spec. for that pr ice.

 

[Vish]

I got this this week http://www.ebuyer.com/product/158887

Seemed good value to me and HP are suppose to be very good. Moving from a white laptop that everybody loved (got it before the ipod white fever), I was worried about the HP's looks from the site. The inside if the lid is a nice gloss black and the outside is matt black. Looks sleek and stylish and I like it. Wouldn't call it funky though.

Haven't played with it much yet but seems good so far. Off the top of my head, that vista score screen shows values of around 5 for everything except the graphics card which is 3.5 I think.

Hopefully will have time to sort it all out today and start using it so can give more info after if you like.

 

[Sam]

Id go with the dell studio range.

you got get some with a good spec and they come in lots of different colors!

 

[sideways danny]

Dell is a good option. I chose against it and went for one from Sainsburys for £70 less and 1Gb more ram, and i've not been diappointed.

 

[DamoWales]

There is one on www.hotukdeals.com that seemed pretty taste for £350

Have a flicker on that site, will be loads on there if you flick through the pages!

 

[jesus]

There is one on www.hotukdeals.com that seemed pretty taste for £350

Have a flicker on that site, will be loads on there if you flick through the pages!

That's the one I posted above mate... link is dead now though

 

[aspire5600]

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/158887

Go for that one mate if you can push to £400 ..it's a cracker

 

[Scottydog]

Have a look at Laptops Direct, they have some good deals!

 

[aspire5600]

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/159426

This one has just cropped up... looks better than my previous post

 

[Initiale]

Dell FTW

 

[Al_G]

Thanks for all the info/advice

Ended up going for the following:

Inspiron 15

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/p...piron-1545?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&ref=lthp&s=dhs

Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core Processor T4200 (2.0GHz, 800MHz, 1MB cache)
Memory3072MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [1x2048 + 1x1024]
Hard Drive160GB (5,400rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive

£349 bargain imo...

 

[Initiale]

What colour did you get?

Set one of these up for someone at the weekend, really nice machine. Very glossy and the screen is so wide! Should fly with that spec.

 

[Al_G]

What colour did you get?

Set one of these up for someone at the weekend, really nice machine. Very glossy and the screen is so wide! Should fly with that spec.

The Mrs wanted the matt black colour. 5 - 6 week waiting list for the black unfortunately but she doesnt need it urgently so not too much of a problem...

I would have gone for a glossy cover but the aim was to keep the price as low as possible

Is it a well built/solid machine?

 

[Posz]

Bought the same one for my girlfiend but red.

Dells are well built. I work in IT and our supplier is dell, it is very very rare we have one sent back because of a hardware failure etc...99.9% of the time the user's fault! and when it does occur the hardware is generally very old and should have been replaced years ago. :rasp:

Can't really complain at what you get for the price nowadays

 

[Initiale]

Yeah looks pretty good TBH, battery looks a bit lightweight, not sure how long you would get out of a charge, but the machine looks very slick for the price.

I have an XPS M1330 with the SSD hard drive, only had it a couple of months but so much better than the 18 month old HP it replaced!