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Which £300 laptop for potential future Mrs Spoons niece?
She's doing accounting so it needs to have a proper sized screen, not a netbook.
Plays the sims and similarly un graphicaly demanding games, but still need a graphics card of some sort not 'intel integrated graphics card'.
Moon on a stick, a blu-ray-player?
Last time I bought a computer they were all numerical and geeky, now I've got to decide between a load of CPU's with names so I'm stumped. But the usual wooly definitions more/faster/better cpu/ram/HDD.
Point me in the right direction?
You're on the right lines, I'd say. A non-integrated graphics card (any) will make a big difference.
Generic advice, go for a 'known' brand rather than something you've never heard of; HP, Dell, Toshiba etc etc. Plenty of RAM.
Our Acer has been fine.
I'd be amazed if yuo can find a lappy with a discrete graphics card for £300.
Integrated graphics these days are in a different league to what they used to be. Why do you say it must have a graphics card of some sort rather than integrated?
Every early afternoon, between 1-3, Dell seem to update their outlet pages.
http://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/InventorySearch.aspx?brandid=7&c=uk&cs=ukdfh1&l=en&s=dfh
Go here, and select 'consumer laptop' from the drop down part way down the left hand side. Then top right sort by price low->high and you'll get some great deals. You need to add VAT onto the prices, but delivery is free at the moment.
Integrated graphics cards can be surprisingly powerful.
I'd be amazed if yuo can find a lappy with a discrete graphics card for £300.Integrated graphics these days are in a different league to what they used to be. Why do you say it must have a graphics card of some sort rather than integrated?
Integrated graphics cards can be surprisingly powerful.
So they keep saying, and I presume mine get's some workout running edious (or maybe it doesn't, i dont know) but it can't even run the title sequence to Civ3 (whcih perumably means it's a 3d rendering that has to run each time rather than a movie clip, which seems stupid)! So rather than make the same mistake again I'm assuming any dedicated graphics card should be able to run stuff like the Sims whereas integrated probably wont.
Good luck in finding a laptop with a dedicated card for £300!
Usually the type of thing in gaming laptops (Alienware) or mobile workstations (for digital media production) - complete with a high price tag...
Integrated graphics has come a long way. So have JLS.
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You need to be spending £350-450 for the spec you're after really, unless you can find a refurb one somewhere. Screen quality can vary a lot as well even if they look similar spec on paper so I'd advise looking at it in the shop rather than buying blind if you can. The HP G6 range usually comes out well in reviews, maybe one like http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/hp-pavilion-g6-1325ea-15-6-laptop-red-11884755-pdt.html?srcid=867&cmpid=comp~Google~Computing~11884755&istCompanyId=bec25c7e-cbcd-460d-81d5-a25372d2e3d7&istItemId=rtpatllq&istBid=t although personally I'd spend the extra on an i3 or i5 CPU