Metropol

Hiya,

Sorry to start another computer related thread...!

Am looking to buy a new laptop, under £500, pretty soonish. Needs to have wireless connection but other than that so long as it does the basics, that's all I need.

Would really appreciate your thoughts as to any particular models to get or where to get them from with speedy delivery (PC World? )

Thank you in advance.

Steve

you're looking at something very entry level for that price, pc world does do laptops cheaper than £500, but they are their own advent brand. i can't comment on their reliability as i've not ever hand first had experience of them.

however, i can recommend acer, toshiba, and hp as brands which are reliable (we have a 200 laptops at my work, a mixture of these brands and all of them are pretty reliable and they get knocked about quite a bit too):

technical support on all of the above has been good where i've needed it too.

this little number:

http://uk.insight.com/apps/productprese ... 3D%26P%3D2

which as 512mb ram, wireless, a cdrw-dvd-ro drive, 40gb disk isn't too bad for the money. it's screen is a bit on the small side at 14"

http://uk.insight.com/apps/productprese ... 3D%26P%3D2

this one has 256mb ram, but a bigger screen and a dvd writer.

it'd probably go for a bigger screen and upgrade the ram later if i was you. windows xp is perfectly usable with 256mb ram, especially if, as you say, you're only going to be doing basic stuff. however, it will make your computing experience a bit smoother, so i'd add the extra ram in when you can afford it.

Dr Lobster* wrote:pc world does do laptops cheaper than £500, but they are their own advent brand. i can't comment on their reliability as i've not ever hand first had experience of them.

From what people have told me: do not touch with a barge pole.
The same goes for "Patriot", which I believe is another Dixons own brand.

Dr Lobster* wrote:however, i can recommend acer, toshiba, and hp as brands which are reliable

I also wholeheartedly recommend HP laptops. However, if something does go wrong, their repairs dept is also very good.

Not sure what Dell are generally perceived to be like reliability-wise, but the past few computers I've had to get have been bought from this bloke.

http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQf ... Zthechef01

Very reliable seller, great value and delivers promptly - as you can see, many happy customers. The company is called ecomputers I think.

I'm after a sub £500 laptop but willing to go for sub £600 for more RAM and better battery life.

Any suggestions?

James Martin wrote:I'm after a sub £500 laptop but willing to go for sub £600 for more RAM and better battery life.

Any suggestions?

this one is a pretty decent all-rounder

http://uk.insight.com/apps/productprese ... 3D%26P%3D8

this claims to have an avarage 5 hours of battery life, but you only have 256mb ram.
http://uk.insight.com/apps/productprese ... et%26AM%3D

i'd probably go for the toshiba

Hmm - do you know if the Toshiba has wireless?

yes it has, it says so on the product information page.

3 bullets down (Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition & Wireless 802.11b/g LAN)

I've recently bought a tablet PC from eBay, from a company selling ex-rental stock.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 8758980708

I had to compromise on the power for the tablet functionality but it is really amazing, and fairly well specced for the price.