Good afternoon, anybody got any recommendations as per title. Need something lighter than current lump. Have discounted netbooks as don’t fancy doing loads of work on tiny screen/ keypad- or having to link to monitor and keyboard to use.
Budget up to £500, cheaper ideally, just for basic browsing and word/ excel/ powerpoint use. Main thing want is lightweight so can cart to uni/ work without throwing out a disc. Not too bothered about optical drive either.
Cheers in advance,
Niall

For £500 you’re basically looking at a small screen (ie, 12 to 13″) and light weight, or a big screen and heavy.

There are a couple of laptops about 12″ to 14″ for £500 at present – Samsung have the 535 that looks OK, decent battery life, light weight, but not a blistering processor.

There’s also the Dell Vostro 3360 which looks good for the money, and is just outside of the ultrabook spec.

Ultrabooks are supposed to be coming down in price though, so I’m waiting at the moment.

Cheers, That’s what I thought, small or heavy for my money. Might hang on a bit and see about ultrabook prices, or see if can stretch budget a bit. Thought about MacBook air with student discount but don’t really need that level/ specialism/ cost.

A few months ago I was considering the Lenovo x121e. Looks a solid machine albeit slightly let down by the CPU. I’m going to hold off and see if Lenovo refresh it with an Ivy Bridge.

Its an ideal size/weight for me though.

EDIT. Have just discovered he x131e which appears to be the latest in this line. Still a disappointing CPU although its supposed to be low power so what can you do…

I just bought a Asus x501a and am really pleased with it. I mainly bought it because it was light and fast.

The i3 15.6″ version weighs 2.07kg. The non i3 version, amd c60 processor (cheaper version) weighs 1.97kg. You can get a 14″ version I think which will be even lighter.

i3 15.6″ one cost £349.99, it is down to £329.99 now 🙁

Link

Look at a Thinkpad X201 second hand – you will have a bit of cash left over for an SSD as well if you get a good deal.

Cheers again, bit wary of 2nd laptops after I had one sold by shop few years ago and hadn’t restored properly so got random call from new owner looking for power supply!
Like look of that Asus – think will have a look at one tomorrow.

A few months ago I was considering the Lenovo x121e. Looks a solid machine albeit slightly let down by the CPU. I’m going to hold off and see if Lenovo refresh it with an Ivy Bridge.

I’m typing this on an x100e – the processor performance isn’t that spectacular, but far better than on a netbook and otherwise it’s a really nice machine – superb keyboard, matt screen which works better outside than most and a nice size and weight. Would happily buy an updated version if buying now.

What people reckon of this?

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/hp-envy-6-sleekbook-1006sa-15-6-laptop-14893789-pdt.html

Current lump is a HP, approx 2.7kg! Hence lightweight requirement.

I have just ordered an Intel Lenovo X131e and am awaiting delivery. There was a 10% discount running on Quidco plus 4% cashback – think this has expired now.

I was tempted by PC World’s £150 trade-in offer on Ultrabooks but decided I needed something with a proper 10/100/1000 Ethernet port.

Current lump is a HP, approx 2.7kg! Hence lightweight requirement.

So you’d be saving a whopping 550g with that – I’m sure you’ll really notice the difference.

I have just ordered an Intel Lenovo X131e and am awaiting delivery. There was a 10% discount running on Quidco plus 4% cashback – think this has expired now.

I’d be interested in hearing your impressions when it arrives – I might finally get round to buying one of these…

I’m also sure I will notice the weight saving especially on my hour commute. Weight is not only reason I need new laptop but thought I would see if anyone here could recommend any lighter alternatives too while I’m updating my computer. Thanks for your constructive advice anyway, and help with the difficult subtraction.

Sorry too late to edit – never mind me, grumpy pre-coffee. Weight not primary concern but want/ need new laptop for degree start next week and thought would explore lighter too for carrying about. Also means can pass old one to inlaws and let them loose on interweb.

Well that wasn’t exactly what you said in your OP – hence people giving you recommendations for things which weren’t at all what you wanted. You will notice the difference if you get something really light like the Lenovo people are talking about (and I have a similar older model of I’m typing on), but it seems that “Main thing want is lightweight” isn’t actually the case.