BOFH, I cannot find the Gericom in the usual places, only the Acer ones which appear to be getting quite popular, therefore they are out of the picture, Aldi did do a special on them but that's it from what I can see?

Any info as to where in the UK they sell them is welcome..

Cheers
YYZ

Yes, Aldi is the only outlet I know of on this side of the Channel. Many more to be seen in the Fatherland, places like Saturn.

If you do not wish to speculate, I suggest you go Acer - it seems there are a few of us who are really happy with them.

BTW IBM is rebranding its laptop range as Levono or something like that. Sounds like a contrceptive pill!!

BOFH

Have a look at ASUS.

They used to sub contract the manufacture of Sony VAIO.

I have a 1.5kg carbon fibre framed notebook, which is brill - more than your budget, but you will find they offer a selection in that price range.

Worth considering.

BTW IBM is rebranding its laptop range as Levono or something like that. Sounds like a contrceptive pill!!

Not rebranding, they sold the laptop business - still fine computers and worth a look.

I'm using an Acer Aspire 3003LCi and it feels very light but sturdy. I'm not surprised these things are top sellers. It cost about £330 from a store in the USA. I've seen them at Tesco for about £400. Before that I had two Toshiba laptops. Give Toshiba a miss. Reliability was hopeless on both machines and the customer service was real "spit in your face" stuff.

Final 3 Greens,

I did not wish to disparage their machines - they might well prosper, as Hitachi did getting rid of the DeathStar image. However, IBM led the way in corporate security and sturdiness, and with their pricing towards the end, were extremely competitve (unlike the 486s we were buying ten years ago at 8,000 quid a pop when a Compaq was about 3,000).

I just rue the passing of an icon. Distinctive black cases, unlike the cream Compaq upstarts, and their nipples - a great innovation. I used to have one of those IBM luggables with the CRT. I believe they even made an S/370 luggable! :uhoh:

BOFH
(we had it toof)

12" iBooks are tough.
Mine was in a protective cover and in my nav bag. My nav bag was on top of my carry on case. The whole lot toppled over and crashed into the ground.
iBook was fine. :D