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Affordable laptop recommendations: budget £350-£450

Global_Stoner said:
All that research gone to waste. :facepalm:

Well Jan sales are now on and there are some good deals to be had. :D
Click to expand...


The tiling was my priority. My Christmas present can wait. :D

Not much longer though. I'm amazed my modem's held out this long. Bit difficult doing research when your modem keeps switching off :mad:
 
As a counterbalance we've got some of those Dells at work. I really don't like the keyboards or build quailty. The XPS range are sturdier, but they're not grand either - you should hear the moans from around the building as they replace the Thinkpads with the Dells.
 
tarannau said:
As a counterbalance we've got some of those Dells at work. I really don't like the keyboards or build quailty. The XPS range are sturdier, but they're not grand either - you should hear the moans from around the building as they replace the Thinkpads with the Dells.
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I can't afford a Thinkpad, but an Ideapad is within my budget.
 
I can't say I've used an Ideapad to be fair. With the Dells it's the flex on the keyboard and fragility of the screen which compare very badly to the more aged Thinkpads in use. Reliability gossip hasn't been grand either.
 
tarannau said:
I can't say I've used an Ideapad to be fair. With the Dells it's the flex on the keyboard and fragility of the screen which compare very badly to the more aged Thinkpads in use. Reliability gossip hasn't been grand either.
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I went into Currys before Christmas to look at laptops. There was an Acer there and one of the keys had become dislodged. I figured someone very heavy-handed had been bashing at it or it was a very flimsy keyboard.

Despite all the problems with this Dell, I've never had anything go wrong with the keyboard (although my a key isn't working properly). Must need a clean or something.
 
To be fair, i think even you're more forgiving than the punters and highly informed staff on a display model in Currys.

FWIW Dell seems to have done alright on recent reliability surveys, with Lenovo just behind them then Acer. HP came last effectively

squaretradenov2009-lg3.jpg


Source Electronista/MacNN
 
tarannau said:
To be fair, i think even you're more forgiving than the punters and highly informed staff on a display model in Currys.


squaretradenov2009-lg3.jpg


Source Electronista/MacNN
Click to expand...

Not sure what you mean by me being forgiving :confused:

I quite liked the look of a few Toshibas but there were some that had really small keyboards which I didn't like or they had separate numeric keyboards which made main keyboard smaller. Not too bothered about a numeric keyboard but really didn't like the small keyboards on some of them
 
nick h recommended tier1 to me, they sell on refurbished corporate machines.

I got an IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad 60 for £300, it was graded '4' which meant it was is good condition but obviously used - the keys were a bit shiny with wear, and there were a few scuffs around the case, but that was about it. Windows XP installed, no recovery disks, but all IBM software (DVD, Anti-virus etc) was pre-installed.

All seems good, a very well built machine and a very decent spec for the money - only 2Gb of RAM, but a Core 2 Duo processor.

This links to a cheaper grade 5 machine, which will have more sign of wear but is correspondingly cheaper.
http://www.tier1online.com/Product/4335-GRADE4_1951-CTO-WY6/Lenovo_ThinkPad_T60_1951_Core_2_Duo_T7200_2_GHz_Centrino_Duo_RAM_2_GB_HDD_60_GB_CD_RW_DVD_ROM_combo_GMA_950_Gigabit_Ethernet_WLAN_80211a_b_g_Win_XP_Pro_141_TFT_1024_x_768_XGA_IBM_.htm

eta: correction, I think that machine is a grade 4, which from memory is the same as mine - they're a little cheaper now as well.
 
So, I got 500 quid roughly to spend on a laptop, what shall I get?

I'm a laptop newb, don't need anything too fancy, but I want something pretty fast and reliable. Mainly for internet use, and sometimes running music software. Advise me, what shall I spend my money on? :)
 
What do people think of this: http://www.johnlewis.com/230825426/Product.aspx ?

I was in JL yesterday so popped into computers and had a chat with the sales person, who said this one was new in and was easily the best they have in that price range. Alternatively I've been looking at Dells - but not sure if an Inspiron would do me or should go for a Studio, what spec etc.

I'm going to use it for general surfing but need something I can record music with (will be getting an external audio interface so don't need to worry about soundcard too much). I don't really play games or anything - also am not too worried about hard drive space as I can back up elsewhere.

One of the advantages of buying from JL is that they give you an extra year's guarantee free. The Toshiba only has 2 USB ports though, I don't know if I'd find that enough.
 
You might want to consider a second hand ThinkPad too: they're awesomely reliable and tough as nails.

If you don't mind a few scuffs you can pick up great specced machines for next to nothing.

# Lenovo ThinkPad T60 1951
# Core 2 Duo T7200 / 2 GHz
# Centrino Duo
# RAM 2 GB
# HDD 60 GB
# 4 x USB
# CD-RW / DVD-ROM combo
# GMA 950
# Gigabit Ethernet
# WLAN : 802.11a/b/g
# Win XP Pro
# 14.1" TFT 1024 x 768 ( XGA )
# IBM T60

http://tier1online.com/Product/4335..._g_Win_XP_Pro_141_TFT_1024_x_768_XGA_IBM_.htm

http://www.tier1online.com/Product/4335-GRADE5_1951-CTO-WY6?CAWELAID=441577051
 
editor said:
You might want to consider a second hand ThinkPad too: they're awesomely reliable and tough as nails.

If you don't mind a few scuffs you can pick up great specced machines for next to nothing.

# Lenovo ThinkPad T60 1951
# Core 2 Duo T7200 / 2 GHz
# Centrino Duo
# RAM 2 GB
# HDD 60 GB
# 4 x USB
# CD-RW / DVD-ROM combo
# GMA 950
# Gigabit Ethernet
# WLAN : 802.11a/b/g
# Win XP Pro
# 14.1" TFT 1024 x 768 ( XGA )
# IBM T60

http://tier1online.com/Product/4335..._g_Win_XP_Pro_141_TFT_1024_x_768_XGA_IBM_.htm

http://www.tier1online.com/Product/4335-GRADE5_1951-CTO-WY6?CAWELAID=441577051
Click to expand...
That's half the ram and a quarter of the hard drive space though.
 
Taa, I shall look into it :) I could go to 600, but I want to get some speakers too, so I was saving that extra bit.
 
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