Best budget laptop??

[jafo33]

I've finally decided to splash out on a laptop, due to the amount of time spent stuck in hotels down route with nothing to do after the aircraft has gone tech or we have run out of hours! (The joys of nightfreight!)

However the budget is fairly low and I'm considering a cheap new one or taking a punt with something from Ebay. I have a good PC at home so the portable would not have to be too fancy.

Any suggestions folks?

Would only have to be for surfing the net (to fill out all those job applications!) and watching DVD's really.

Was looking at a basic Dell, 1000 or 1150, as they are all about £500ish but have been warned off by a few people.

Does anyone have a favourite brand/model for around this price, new or used? Anything essential you would include in the spec?

Oh, and I'm open to suggestions regarding iBooks too. There seem to be a few around on Ebay for about my budget but is the G4 any good or am I better getting a Windows laptop which will be compatible with my home PC?

Thanks for any advice!

:ok:

[reynoldsno1]

I bought an Advent (made in Austria...) from PC World in the UK about 4 years ago - 'twas cheap then, and probably even cheaper now. It's still going fine, though the batteries are now showing signs of distress.
The finish inside is badly worn due to my sweaty palms, but the TFT screen has held up well.

[mikedurward]

Ebay is great for 2nd hand laptops. There are some nice IBM thinkpads around at the moment. Just be careful that the one you are going to bid on does not have VAT slapped on it after the auction has ended.



Mike

[joe2812]

I just got a brand new Dell Inspiron 9100 with a few extras added. Granted it is a high spec lappie, but brand-wise they seem to be excellent.

Screen is extremely sharp and clear, i have 1 years insurance against everything, and Dell do a pick-up and deliver if it needs fixing.

Best of all they do (or were doing?) a 'buy it now and we'll do double the RAM for free' deal on all laptops. Got 1026MB now which is nice :)

Id rate Dell, definately... saying that, Ebay can be just as nice!

[Toxteth O'Grady]

@jafo

See here. (http://forum.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=Tech;action=display;num=1091614007)

[Front_Seat_Dreamer]

Pay a visit to ebuyer.co.uk (http://www.ebuyer.co.uk) and check out the Laptops available there. You can generally pick up something for £500 or so.

I would avoid Dell unless you are quite good technically as when you have a problem then you will discover Dell's BIG problem - tech support. They will try endlessly to fix it over the phone and only when they have exhausted all avenues will they consider a visit from a tech, timing to suit them of course. The kit is generally OK and I would buy it myself but be warned.

When looking for brands I would look for the one with the best warranty as laptop repairs can prove very costly. I was recently parted with £300 quid for a mobo which I worked on myself.

HP/Compaq, Tosh, Sony and Samsung are all models I have used recently and are all favourable.

Good luck and let us know what you get.

Quick Edit: - If you are feeling flush try here (http://uk.aldi.com/) that is an extraordinarily well priced / specced machine for the money (bit sad looking here but they sometimes sell some damn good kit)

[BRL]

Don't buy now, wait untill the January sales, get a few quid knocked off then :ok:

[jafo33]

Great, thats given me a few starting points. The Medion stuff looks good value for money. I've bought some of their computer stuff from Aldi in the past and been very happy with it - Cheap, sensible and functional.

Have to have a good browse now...

[Binoculars]

Once again in defence of Dell, I have an Inspiron 1100 and an Inspiron 1150. Only had one problem in two years, and it was sorted out completely on phone support.

Yes, she was Indian, but I was amazed that I got an instant response, she knew what she was talking about and got the problem solved. Even rang me back when she said she would to check that everything was right.

I couldn't be happier with them and I'll be buying another Dell next year.

[mikedurward]

Hiya Jaffo,

Try this one.


http://www.europc.co.uk/europc/Home.aspx?CategoryID=40&CategoryName=Laptops

[goates]

iBooks are great if you want something small and with good battery life. They do just fine with email, web surfing, playing music, looking at photos and MS Office. Besides games, you can do pretty much everything you can on a PC.

If you want to run your Windows apps on it you can get VirtualPC, but is very slow.

Go try one in a computer store somewhere to get an idea. If you do go for one, make sure you get as much RAM as you can afford.

There are plenty of cheap PCs too and for basic use they will all be about the same.

goates

[redsnail]

I got a 12" iBook. It does every thing I want it to do while I'm away. Plays DVDs (all regions too), got a WiFi card in it too. I've got some games on it and I can tap out a few word docs too.
It weighs 2.1kg and it is quite strong too. It's quite up to taking a few bumps.

The iBook's had a spec upgrade since I bought this one so if you can, look for a 800Mhz chip if you want a bargain but do check out the 1Ghz chip specs so you know what you're getting.

[Keef]

Ebay is the place to go. I got a brand-new IBM Thinkpad R31, with XP Pro, for £499 delivered. I've been delighted with it.

Of course, I then had to buy a little optical mouse, a USB hublet, a case to keep it in, a USB keyboard, an IR-link portable printer, a bluetooth dongle to talk to my cellphone, a WiFi card ...

I've compared what I got with my local PC-World and others, and I reckon I would have paid about £300 more there for the same spec.

[seacue]

Bought an HP laptop about 6 months ago for $800 after rebates. I suppose that might be UKP500. AMD processor, nice 15" screen, 40 Gby HD, CD-RW/DVD read, Ethernet, 802.11b/g, FireWire, two USB 1.1 (probably 2.0 in current versions), PS2 mouse/keyboard port, phone modem,serial and parallel ports, & 512 Mby RAM. IMO one should get 512 Mby Ram these days, especially since this model shares RAM with screen refresh, as cheap machines do.

The thing is fairly heavy, but the battery lasts 3 or 4 hours.

After I had bought a $30 USB floppy drive I discovered a chit in the computer documentation which would have paid for an HP USB floppy drive. sigh

I've bought a Microsoft optical mouse $10, keyboard $8, and case.

HP machines are also sold as Compaq. Cheap machines economize on screen refresh speed, so they aren't well suited for fast action games ... but I've played a computer game only once in my life.

After getting over the hump of XP & networking, I'm happy with it. I have no idea concerning its playing DVDs from various regions.


sc

[jafo33]

Thanks for all your help folks!

Have ended up with a Sony VAIO 2 year old, looking fresh and ready to be bounced around Europe in a scruffy old freighter!

Hopefully will allow me to get online as it has WIFI installed as well as dialup. Enough hard drive space for a few movies and games too as well as a built in DVD player.