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I Need Laptop Buying Advice Please

View Comments January 17, 2007 | Everton

I’ve just decided to buy my first laptop. I know next to nothing about laptop processors etc, so I need help speccing out a laptop.

I have a work laptop, but I rarely take it home as I commute by train to work now rather than drive, and if I do work at home, I tend to use my PC as it’s 100x better working on my dual screens. The problem with not taking the laptop home, is that although my Dell Axim is ok for casual browsing, it’s data input capabilities are obviously limited.

I don’t want to spend a lot of money as it’s not going to be my primary machine, but I don’t want something that is going to take an eternity to open files or firefox. I’ve set myself a max budget of £500 which I think should get me something decent.

Has anyone seen any deals recently (overseas is ok, as the same offer is probably running somewhere in the UK), or can anyone provide any advice as to what brand (I’m trying not to buy my 4th Dell machine in a row!), CPU, screen, battery etc to aim for? It doesn’t need to be light as I doubt I’ll be carrying it anywhere, and if I do I’ll be driving.

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About Everton: Everton is based in London and has worked in the internet and mobile space for over ten years now, and before that worked in corporate strategy and consulting. He has a degree in Economics from Cambridge University.He also writes for Windows 7 News, Windows 8 News and One Tip A Day. View posts.

  • got a cheaper model to this one (not listed anymore for some reason) - same spec, with 1GB of RAM+Free Vista Upgrade for £550. Bit over budget, but I've got a good spec I think.

    Shouldn't need to upgrade it for a long time - not before I break it anyway!
  • Extracted from this forum

    1. What type of laptop are you looking for? home machine (have desktop already)

    2. What will be your uses for the laptop? Net browsing, video playback, streaming off home network (wirelessly), no gaming, blogging, some VoIP

    3. What is your total budget? £500

    4. How portable does the laptop need to be? Moved around the flat, but rarely outside

    5. What type of screen do you want? Don't mind

    6. How much battery life is required? Decent, say 2-3 hours min

    7. What type of processor/ram/hard drive/optical drives do you want? Good processor, HDD not important (all files on desktop/network), optical not important (got x2 on desktop)

    8. If you want to play games, what type? (titles would be useful) N/A

    9. Are there any specific things needed (e.g. ports) 802.11g, bluetooth

    10. Which things are you willing to comprimise? (e.g. gaming laptops do not have long battery lives) soundcard/speakers
  • Well the first question that comes to my mind is why do you want to buy a laptop ? Do you want a desktop replacement or something to work with when you travel ? Do you want to play a game every now and then or only work with it ? Maybe watch movies as well ?

    You should write down what you want and what you do not need first and then ask again :P
  • Thanks guys. To be honest I don't need it to come with an OS, as I'll be able to use my old XP MCE disc (I think) once I upgrade my desktop to Vista.

    I've heard good things abotu Acer's elsewhere. I'm really trying to avoid buying a dell or compaq/HP as I've always had one of these.

    What do you guys think of this machine with an extra 512MB of ram?
  • I'll second the Acer recommendation. I've had a couple of Acer laptops and they feel very worthy of their price, as well as have proved to match the current competition well enough.

    1 GB RAM if you want to run Vista, you should have it for XP too but if you're low on cash and don't care about Vista then 512 will work.
  • C Hall
    I'd get a Toshiba, I've got a Equium A110. I had a Tosh before that and it was fine.
  • Everton: I had a look at Acer's laptops and these are priced between GBP 400-500.

    Here's HP UK's Laptop Chooser.

    Do you have any preference for a particular OS? Vista ready notebooks will undoubtedly cost more, but then laptops loaded with XP will probably decrease in their retail value/price so that might be a good idea too. Opt for at least 1 GB RAM. What screen size are you looking for?
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