In the market for a laptop.....so many options!!

[Gerschwin]

Decided to buy a laptop for general use on a ~£400 budget
Have looked ata good few sites and there are so many options it's unbelievable....
I like the look of some Acer models (like the 5710 Gemstone) but would love to hear what everyone else thinks is the best buy for this price range....
Don't need to use for gaming and a 15.4" screen would be fine.....
Any suggestions what's the best out there at the mo??

Cheers!

[staffsMike]

The dell vostro's are quite nice on a budget..here's a dual core AMD one
http://configure.euro.dell.com/dells...N0910002&s=bsd

I'f you configure that one with the better screen and a 6 cell battery it comes in around £340inc VAT but i'd it over the phone as they will try and charge you quite a bit for delivery I imagine and they are normall quite willing to knock a little off the price.

if you want 2GB of ram there is an upgrade kit here for £56
http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/mpar...BF8E58A5CA7304

[Gerschwin]

Had looked at the Vostros - didn't notice knocking off the 3 year warranty to drop 80 quid

This a decent spec? Seems ok to me - is the onboard graphics ok?

OK for £339.58?

Components
BASE AMD® Athlon™ 64 X2 Mobile Technology TK53 edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Business - English edit
HARDWARE SUPPORT Base Warranty - 1 Year Business Hardware Support edit
LCD 15.4" Wide Screen WXGA (1280 x 800) Display with TrueLife™ edit
MEMORY 1024MB 533MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x512] edit
HARD DRIVE 120GB (5400rpm) SATA Hard Drive edit
GRAPHICS CARD ATI Radeon® Xpress 1150 HyperMemory (integrated) edit
OPTICAL DRIVE Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including Software edit
PRIMARY BATTERY 6 cell Lithium-Ion Battery (53 Whr) edit
Services & Software
ACCIDENTAL DAMAGE SUPPORT No Accidental Damage Support edit
WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY Dell™ Wireless 1390 802.11b/g Mini-Card - Europe edit

Gedis Bundle Reference List N0910002 - Vostro 1000
Order Information Vostro Notebook Order - UK
Shipping Documents English Documentation with English/Irish Power Cord
Dell System Media Kit Resource DVD - (Diagnostics & Drivers)
Power Supply 65W AC Adapter
Modem 56.6k V.92 Capable Internal Modem & Adapter - UK
Keyboard Internal Keyboard - UK/Irish (QWERTY)
Standard Warranty Base Warranty - 1 Year Business Hardware Support
Online Promotion Option for GEDIS Configs Dell Internet Order.

[staffsMike]

Yeah thats the spec i was looking at. The amd/ati integrated is suposed to be quite good for integrated.

I can't find a laptop thats better for the money tbh.. Just watch out for the delivery cost..bound to be quite steep.

[mycarsavw]

With a laptop I'd always add the extra warranty on. Parts get harder to find over time.

I have an HP with a three year care pack just coming to an end, and in the last year alone I've used the care pack four times and in my opinion HP > Dell.

You takes yer chances.....

[staffsMike]

imo dell > HP

at my company over 50% of HP's (20 odd laptops) failed within the first 2 years.

Dell, 3 failed in their 4th and 5th years.

[Gerschwin]

Is this a good buy for £399 all in?

Acer Aspire 7520 Gemstone 17"

Audio Features Yes
Battery Life 2.5-hour
Bluetooth No
Box Contents Warranty, User Guides & Software CD
Brand Acer
Card Reader 5-in-1 card reader, supporting Secure Digital™ (SD), MultiMediaCard (MMC), Memory Stick® (MS), Memory Stick PRO™ (MS PRO), xD-Picture Card™ (xD)
Features of Product
17" widescreen display
AMD® turionTM 64x2 TK53 1.7 GHz processor Acer empowering technnology
Firewire Yes
Graphics NVIDIA® GeForce® 7000M with up to 384Mb NVIDIA® GeForce® Turbocache™
Hard Drive 80Gb
Memory 1024Mb DDR2 667 MHz memory
Number of USB Ports 4
Operating System Windows Vista™ Home Premium
Optical Drive DVD Rewriter
Output VGA, S-video
Processor AMD Athlon TM 64x2 Dual Core
Processor Cache 2 x 256Kb
Processor Model Number TK53
Processor Speed 1.7GHz
Product Depth 29.8 cm
Product Height 4.3 cm
Product Weight 3.36Kg
Product Width 40.4 cm
Remote Control Included No
Screen Features WXGA+ high-brightness (200-nit) Acer CrystalBrite™ TFT LCD
Screen Size 17"
Software Load Acer Empowering Technology (Acer eNet, ePower, eAudio, ePresentation, eDataSecurity, eLock, eRecovery, eSettings, Management) Acer Arcade™ featuring Cinema, Video, Album, Music, Acer HomeMedia Acer GridVista™ Acer Launch Manager Adobe® Reader® CyberLink® PowerProducer® Norton Internet Security™ NTI CD-Maker™ Microsoft® Works 8.5 with Office Home and Student 2007 Trial1
TV Tuner None
Wi-Fi Acer InviLink™ 802.11b/g Wi-Fi CERTIFIED® network connection, supporting Acer SignalUp™ wireless technology
Wired Networking Port Yes

[staffsMike]

Decent price for a 17" laptop if thats what you are looking for..No idea what a geforce 7000 is..never heard of it.. sounds intergrated though.

I''ve always been warned off acer by suppliers but its a decent enough spec..about the same as the dell really.

[Gerschwin]

I've heard good and bad about Acer - they do give decent bang for your buck though - anyone got first hand good/bad experiences with them though?
Tempted to go for the Vostro - if I can swing free delivery (is it possible to negotiate this with them?) then it's a great price.....

[staffsMike]

They are always willing to make a deal. I got over 40% off mine but i was spending a lot more..

People from hexus have got 10 - 20% off the vostro 1500's so i imagine they can sweeten the deal for you.

I personally wanted to get an acer last year for someone at work but my supplier was very adament that he wouldn't sell me one as i was a good customer lol he said the laptops actually aren't bad but the CS is appauling ..this is why i'm nervous about them

[TheVoice]

I'd go for the Vostro, personally. They seem like solid machines, whereas Acer get a lot of criticism for their build quality.