Guest richard Posted September 23, 2007 Posted September 23, 2007 My girlfriend currently uses an aging Sony Vaio Laptop which is on its last legs and is going to coast a small fortune to repair as it needs a new screen and keyboard and battery. So I'm thinking of getting her a new one in the near future. She only uses it for surfing the net, irc chat, email, msn, and playing online java games so I was looking at spending around £300-£350 on an entry level laptop for her. I was thinking of something like this: Toshiba L30-10Y or this Advent 7301 So any comments or suggestions would be appreciated
contink Posted September 23, 2007 Posted September 23, 2007 We just got a Lenovo C200 from Dabs for one of the new teachers and it's rather a nice piece of kit. It has XP Pro, 1gb ram and is a duo IIRC... Compared to the Sony Vaio N31M that I bought with Vista (and no XP drivers) I have to say I was seriously considering asking the school if they'd consider a swap. Just had a look for any of the XP models left though and can't see any at Ebuyer or Dabs... worth looking nonetheless
MkII Posted September 23, 2007 Posted September 23, 2007 HotUKDeals is a good place to look. There have been few cheap one's lately, just a glut of Core2Duos around the £500 mark.
Guest richard Posted September 23, 2007 Posted September 23, 2007 £500 is out of budget I'm afraid. I don't care if it comes with Vista as I will rebuild it so it runs XP as she doesn't like Vista and neither do I. I'll have a look at Dabs and see what they have available as well.
contink Posted September 23, 2007 Posted September 23, 2007 I don't care if it comes with Vista as I will rebuild it so it runs XP Just be sure and check that the one you want to get has drivers for XP... I found out to my cost that my chosen Vaio was Vista only and still have a slightly hamstrung setup as a result.
timbo343 Posted September 23, 2007 Posted September 23, 2007 have a look at dells, the new vostros seem have good deals at the mo.
TekkyMatt Posted September 23, 2007 Posted September 23, 2007 Im also buying a new laptop for my g/f so I thought I would jump in and get some more good ideas. My budget is £500 and I am currently looking at the Lenovo 3000 N200 Notebook from equanet (Dual-Core T2330, 1GB RAM, 120GB HD, DVD±RW DL) which is £422.33 inc VAT and delivery. Being a girl (no offence) she is more interested in style than substance so I was wondering if anyone knows a better looking model similar specs but still in budget Cheers, Matt
Guest richard Posted September 23, 2007 Posted September 23, 2007 have a look at dells, the new vostros seem have good deals at the mo. I'm buying it for home use not business so these are no good to me.
timbo343 Posted September 23, 2007 Posted September 23, 2007 have a look at dells, the new vostros seem have good deals at the mo. I'm buying it for home use not business so these are no good to me. Hey i bought a vostro from home use. No problems with delivery or anything, shipped straight to my house on my card too. I dont think they are fussed about home or business. I know a colleague bought a vostro for his mum. Best laptop he has ever bought and was really cheap with a fairly good spec.
tech_guy Posted September 23, 2007 Posted September 23, 2007 she doesn't like Vista and neither do I. Vista sucks. Unlike my gf 8O
MkII Posted September 23, 2007 Posted September 23, 2007 have a look at dells, the new vostros seem have good deals at the mo. I'm buying it for home use not business so these are no good to me. Hey i bought a vostro from home use. No problems with delivery or anything, shipped straight to my house on my card too. I dont think they are fussed about home or business. I know a colleague bought a vostro for his mum. Best laptop he has ever bought and was really cheap with a fairly good spec. Confirmed - Dell sell the Vostro business laptops to private individuals for home use.
FN-GM Posted September 23, 2007 Posted September 23, 2007 If you have a Costco near you they usually do pretty good laptops, i was in today they have a cracking Toshiba one.
Joedetic Posted September 23, 2007 Posted September 23, 2007 ThinkPad....Thinkpad thinkpad thinkpad. Solid machines! I've got a refurbed one i got from ebay. It's bloody awesome! By far and away my favourite machine to date!
Guest richard Posted September 24, 2007 Posted September 24, 2007 Sony Vaio all the way If I had the money then I would but with a limited budget then I'm stuck.
CyberNerd Posted September 24, 2007 Posted September 24, 2007 ThinkPad....Thinkpad thinkpad thinkpad. Solid machines! I've got a refurbed one i got from ebay. It's bloody awesome! By far and away my favourite machine to date! Agreed !
mrforgetful Posted September 24, 2007 Posted September 24, 2007 Sony Vaio? I wouldn't have one of them if it was given to me.
Domino Posted September 24, 2007 Posted September 24, 2007 the toshiba l30-10y seems like a good buy - recently taken a load of toshibas and they're great. Personally i wouldn't go for a vaio either - you always need to reinstall the os cause they're bundled with so much cack software, and the location of hardware buttons and ports always seems a little haphazard IMHO
contink Posted September 24, 2007 Posted September 24, 2007 Sony Vaio? I wouldn't have one of them if it was given to me. After my recent experience I'd have to say that I'd seriously think twice. Certainly I'd consider one of the top end models (if I had the money) but when it comes to the lower end I've found myself sorely disappointed. That said, what really hacks me off at present is the "Vista or nothing" myopic idiocy that laptop manufacturers have gone down. Without going into an anti-vista mass rant, it simply is not suited for a limited size screen or low-spec graphics system which invariable laptops are!
Joedetic Posted September 24, 2007 Posted September 24, 2007 I've got a mate with a vaio...he loves it except for the vista part. You cant get certain devices to work under XP becuase there just arent drivers available for them. AKA the manufacturers are only producing for vista. So he got a bit irritated at that.
Guest aliv25 Posted September 24, 2007 Posted September 24, 2007 go on http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk for cheap lappys
torledo Posted October 1, 2007 Posted October 1, 2007 whenever someone asks for advice on choosing a sub £500 notebook i immediately think of the Acer Eee pc - a product that was inspired by the $100 laptop for every child project - although i'm not sure if it's available thru retail channels yet...it looks like a fantastic little ultraportable for those with basic requirements - which sounds like your girlfriend to me. It runs a specific linux based OS but you can i believe install xp and if you don't mind the paltry storage (although being flash based you should get solid reliability and reasonably fast R/W access from the storage) and lack of CD/DVD then it'd be my recommendation. The market is awash with dull, heavy sub £500 notebooks why not get her something distinctive and an original concept to boot. And it's damn cheap and lightweight.
Guest richard Posted October 1, 2007 Posted October 1, 2007 It has to be a a standard laptop as it will be her only pc.
torledo Posted October 1, 2007 Posted October 1, 2007 It has to be a a standard laptop as it will be her only pc. Does that mean she needs to accomplish more tasks than those you've listed ?...beyond the basic. I'm pretty confident the eee pc can accomplish 95% of the tasks a 'standard latop' can do - as i've mentioned it can run xp and no doubt you'd have usb ports for external dvd drives and so on. Anyway, i don't work for asus so i'll not labour too hard in trying to sell the virtues of the eeepc to you. But to be honest the sub £500 new-notebook market is pretty grim - and i've about as much interest in the lower bowel movements of the welk as i have in 'cheap laptops' from the likes of packard bell and advent. So it's not an area i monitor religiously. Sorry.
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