Laptops, buying which one?

Okay so my desktop died about a month ago, now seems th best time to be buying a new computer.

I had a look around, it looks like that what you pay for a desktop, you can get a laptop for the same spec or better. Its been a while since I bought a computer, my old one was more than 6 years old!

I intend to use it for, email, web, music, photos, word ect...I don't play PC games, if I did it wouldn't be much.

After a bit of research I found this;

http://www1.euro.dell.com/uk/en/home...kdhs1&ref=lthp

Dell studio 15.6" laptop, is it worth paying £599 to have the quicker processor? Or is there any better modles/makes out there that will offer better vaule for money than that? Thanks.

with what youre doing a £300 jobbie would do the job january sales should get you a good un too.

[maviczap]

Yer there loads out there in the £300 region which will do what you want to do.

Maybe even sub £300

Currently looking for a laptop for my mum. Good time this year with sales and what not.

Basicallly, laptops these days are plenty powerful for standard tasks such as web, photos, word, etc. As long as you aint a gamer or a programmer of some sort, a £300 laptop will be plenty adequate.

Yeah true there are cheap ones out there, however how long will they last? My last PC was top spec at its time, and lasted well. I don't want vista either, must be Windows 7.

How long would a £300 one last? I do see being cheap sometimes, pays twice...

I did a bit more bit more digging found out I can get it a bit cheaper, well £40 difference.

Any suggestions on what a £300 one is, what kind of spec it has?

just have a look on the pc world site or currys or the like they have sales on already i think.

[JamesMio]

I got a dell studio 17 a few days ago, and it's great!

Originally Posted by metalmonkey

Yeah true there are cheap ones out there, however how long will they last? My last PC was top spec at its time, and lasted well. I don't want vista either, must be Windows 7.

How long would a £300 one last? I do see being cheap sometimes, pays twice...

I did a bit more bit more digging found out I can get it a bit cheaper, well £40 difference.

Any suggestions on what a £300 one is, what kind of spec it has?

I think that you are right to ask those questions.

FWIW, family and friends insist on buying the bargains and everyone of them has packed it in after a year or so. I keep buying ex-corp Dell E-Series Latitudes that are a year or two old and still under warranty of eBay (there are a few good sellers around) to replace them for little more than the bargains. None of them have been top spec, but they have all been decent spec.
I've just bought myself a couple of new E-Series Latitudes and by todays standards they are fairly average but will be good for another 5 years - Dell locks the spec so that corp customers have a uniform fleet.
I have no great loyalty for Dell having had both good and a couple of very bad experiences with them. I use them because I live remotely and their online purchasing and delivery is easy. I spit on the names Inspiron and Studio; they are as cheap and nasty products that are as bad as the bargains. They probably come off the same assembly line.

It is fairly hard to go wrong with a mid-range IBM or Asus.
I'd have a good look at what is being doled out to the corporate customers if you want something that will last a few years.

[Dave20046]

Originally Posted by metalmonkey

Yeah true there are cheap ones out there, however how long will they last? My last PC was top spec at its time, and lasted well. I don't want vista either, must be Windows 7.

How long would a £300 one last? I do see being cheap sometimes, pays twice...

I did a bit more bit more digging found out I can get it a bit cheaper, well £40 difference.

Any suggestions on what a £300 one is, what kind of spec it has?

If you're gonna get a cheapo get a good cheapo (their will be varying opinions here) but hp or toshiba would be my choice. Or even get a cheapo and buy a 5 year warranty (not from a rip off vendor though! pcworld cough, currys ahem ,dsg splutter) Dell lappys ain't bad but I hear if you ring them up as apposed to buying online you can often get the price knocked down. For what you want it for, as said a cheapo would do but if you fancy what you're currently lookin at - the answer is no I wouldn't pay more for the processor. Also consider what operating system you want, I'd strongly recommend either XP or 7 if you're buying a windows machine - skip vista it's obsolete and crap to boot.

[appollo1]

is Acer a decent brand? seen a few of them advertised but wasn't sure.

Thanks