Dirt cheap laptop for Student
Hi,
I have been looking for a laptop for over a year now without being able to take a decision. I have been the proud owner of several mid-range desktop machine for the last 5 years, and because of the recent event in my life (moving to Edinburgh to study in Computing) I am for the first time without a place to keep a full tower.
Tam
- What is your budget?
Somewhere between £400 and £500 (just double to have a fair idea of the price in US dollars) - What size notebook would you prefer?
Honestly, I couldn't care less. But let just say I am looking for a 15" one. - What tasks will you be performing with the notebook?
Mainly, it would be to be able to perfome some programmation, wordprocessing, but not only as I would certainly use it to play music and video. Being able to actually game on it would be a bonus (then we are considering games such as Call of Duty 2 and Dawn of War), but It would be a bonus, not so much of a requirment. - Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places or leaving it on your desk?
I don't travel that much, so I take it as a desktop replacement, mainly. - Will you be playing games on it; if so, which games?
See question 3 for that (CoD2 and DoW).
- Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
I hate apple, just for fun. And dell is not far from macbook in my opinion. On the otherhand, I really like the feel of the thinkpad. Apart from that, anything will do.
- How many hours of battery life do you need?
Definitely over 2 hours. But I have not experience of laptop usage. So the bigger, the better. - Do you mind buying online without seeing the notebook in person?
Not really, as long as it is cheaper. And goes with the same waranties. - Please select your country's flag as a post icon and tell us what country are you buying this in?
I am a UK resident and I am willing to consider any web offers as long as the keyboard is a UK one, or a least a US one. Could care less about the extra caracters the other languages offers. - Would you prefer standard or widescreen?
Standart. But I have no prior experience with widescreen. - From the choices below, what screen resolutions would you prefer?
Definitely the screen resolution has to be at least 1024 by 800. - Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen?
Does it really matter? It is all new to me. - Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?
Yes just have a look at the thinkpad!!! they look really neat. ^_^ - When are you buying this laptop and how long do you want this laptop to last?
At least for the rest of my studies: 3 to 4 years. - How much hard drive space do you want; 40GB to 160GB?
The more the better. But I can manage with 40GB. - Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a DVD-ROM, DVD-CD/RW or DVD-RW drive?
It would be nice. In that case I want to be able to read DVDs and burn CDs (at least). - Misc: personal comment:
I won't consider a machine with less than 512 RAM, it is none sense. As well I will probably reinstall totally my OS (Windows and Linux/debian). So I really don't want a machine that is locked. And I really feel the need for more than 3 USB (I know I can get a USB hub, but it is really an annoyance to have lying around so many wire).
Answer:
Re: Dirt cheap laptop for Student
ok, first, no machine is "locked" you can always wipe the hard drive and put linux on it as well as dual boot...
hmm, Dell makes great notebooks... but i don't know what you guys have across the pond...
Answer:
Re: Dirt cheap laptop for Student
£500 is a fairly tight budget if you want something that can play the latest games and such; you will need a dedicated video card to do so. The minimum I would recommend is a GeForce Go7400 or Radeon X1400, although a Go7300/X1300 would not be that bad.
Hmm, I have to say that I'm not all that sure of what is available for your budget; what machines have you found so we can get an idea of what to recommend?
If you had a £500 ($985) budget in the states, the Dell E1505/6400 would make a good choice, but that starts at over what you are willing to spend in the U.K.
Answer:
Re: Dirt cheap laptop for Student
Hum, as for the Dell it is a matter of very bad memories (crash and BIOS machine being locked, vendors being unhelpful, recovery disc being corrupted - thing may changes though), but I am just asking to be convinced.
So far I found some Acer like the Acer Aspire 1642WLMi on offers (but they usually don't last being online offers) and some IBM/Lenovo like the Thinkpad 60 or the previous generation R50 and R51 at prices from £400.
I haven't found any offers online at the moment for those.
And as for gaming, I would have had look for myself at teh GPUs if it was as "crystal clear" as it is for the desktop market. I mean I have no idea what so ever what the hell is the classification of the different one, apart from the intel one being "bottom" of the range as for the 3D gaming.
Regards.
Tam