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£300-£400 laptop fo...
 

[Closed] £300-£400 laptop for daughter, what to buy

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[#1560559]

Pretty much as the title says

need something for her to revise on and last her till uni

seen the DEll advertised at pc world, looks good.

Any info would be great as I'm a mac guy and know naff all about pc specs

cheers


 
Posted : 30/04/2010 9:56 am
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a pink one.

it's what guided my wife choice and the Dell she ended up with seems fine.


 
Posted : 30/04/2010 9:57 am
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she'd go for the blue


 
Posted : 30/04/2010 10:01 am
 tron
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If she's at uni, a 12" Netbook. Easier to move and cheaper to replace when it is inevitably stolen.


 
Posted : 30/04/2010 10:02 am
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Dell direct, not from PC world (they're all old kit!) or from the Dell refurb centre as mentioned on another thread lately.

Mrs z1ppy got a purple one [and a laptop... boom BOOM]


 
Posted : 30/04/2010 10:11 am
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She's just doing her GCSE's at mo

just trying to think long term or is that just a fantasy with pc's, as I said, know next to nowt about pc's


 
Posted : 30/04/2010 10:13 am
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Battery life on the purple one must be short 😉


 
Posted : 30/04/2010 10:14 am
 Olly
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personally, i would go to tescos!
they often have excess stock at a more than reasonable price!
some nice looking netbooks and notebooks in there yesterday for 200 quid.

spec wise, is she going to run games on it? if not, it will hack it, they come with more than enough storage now (250gb is pretty standard) and the processors will be fine with most stuff...


 
Posted : 30/04/2010 10:16 am
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Usage would be:

Office
Itunes
Internet
Movies

in that order hopefully, more likely itunes first


 
Posted : 30/04/2010 10:19 am
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[i]Olly - Member
personally, i would go to tescos!
they often have excess stock at a more than reasonable price![/i]

I checked out the £500 range from tescos vs Dell for a m8, whose missus worked @ Tesco's (and so has discount), I'd still buy (recommended) a Dell inspiron.


 
Posted : 30/04/2010 10:26 am
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Carphone warehouse were recently doing major discounts on Samsung notebooks. I got one for £230 and am very happy with it, it travels well too!


 
Posted : 30/04/2010 11:58 am
 br
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I bought an Acer Aspire 4810TZ recently, very impressed especially with the 8 hour battery life - and it is a real 8 hours. A previous work Acer managed 4 years of (travel) abuse before dying, far longer than colleagues laptops. But £500.

Wouldn't go netbook, thats a surf machine.


 
Posted : 30/04/2010 12:01 pm
 tron
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Laptops do well to last 3 years, 2 if you're unlucky. I'd personally go for the one that's smallest with a decent screen.


 
Posted : 30/04/2010 12:03 pm
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Tesco were selling Acers on Wednesday with £100 off


 
Posted : 30/04/2010 12:09 pm
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my daughter & partner manage to destroy laptops in around 18mths, both students till recently and they do work the laptops and printers v-hard. Currently on a Samsung which replaced an Acer(2) which replaced a dell


 
Posted : 30/04/2010 12:10 pm
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So what is the best Chip to go for ? I am horribly confused, I just want something pretty fast..... 🙂


 
Posted : 30/04/2010 12:23 pm
 ps44
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Get a refurbished Dell off Ebay.
And if you need software go to Software for Students.


 
Posted : 30/04/2010 12:37 pm
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Check out [url= http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/Clearance-Bargains ]Argos Clearance Bargains on eBay[/url] sometimes they have some very very good value for money laptops. Some refurbished, some new, but full manufacturer warranty. Go through the specs and compare prices but some are very well priced to what You get. Netbooks with 11.6" screens for under £200. Good laptops not with Celeron processor for under £400.


 
Posted : 30/04/2010 12:52 pm
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we bought a tosh satellite 500 or something from currys for 400 ish but i'm sure i saw them on offer at 339 in our local sainsburys!


 
Posted : 30/04/2010 4:42 pm
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Tough choice, if she is like my 16 year old daughter. Needs to be made of rubber so it bounces, up and running a nano-second after the power button is pushed, able to run Facebook, Twitter, MSN, YouTube and about 20 other applications at the same time, weigh less than a "Teen-Magazine", have a battery life measured in months, have a keyboard that is able to counter all types of foodstuffs and drinks, have a screen that is impervious to all handprints etc, in total it is an impossible quest! Although I have been fairly impressed with the Acer ones, they have lasted a couple of years.

Good luck 😀


 
Posted : 30/04/2010 5:24 pm
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We just got an [url= http://www.ebuyer.com/product/179792 ]Acer Aspire from Ebuyer[/url] - I thought it was great spec for £400 - dual core processor, decent RAM and memory (we bought ours to store pictures and music on so the bigger HD was a must). It also came with a reasonable bag too.

I am pretty pleased with it apart from the fact the USB ports are on the left so if using a wired mouse, the cable has to reach right the way around for a right handed person. I ended up getting a wireless one.


 
Posted : 30/04/2010 5:36 pm
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Acer Ferrari One if its just work...


 
Posted : 30/04/2010 6:11 pm
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just buy here a second hand macbook of ebay theres 2 on there at the mo with b i n of £425 and £450
i presume the extra £50 will be money well spent..if youve got a mac.


 
Posted : 30/04/2010 6:52 pm
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May be worth considering a Lenovo (R61i), they are the same a ibm thinkpads. You can pour coffee on them and stand on it. We've one and it is solid, no signs of wear after about a couple of years. Vista died in under a year mind, put xp on - died, now gone with Kubuntu - no install probs whatsoever and is FAF.

Only downside is it might be a bit on the heavy side unles you get the higher end ones.


 
Posted : 30/04/2010 7:06 pm
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+1 for Acer Aspire from ebuyer. My daughter is very pleased with hers.


 
Posted : 30/04/2010 10:24 pm