Laptop for cousin going to Uni - recommendations please around £350

Hi all - My cousin is off to Uni and i've offered to buy her a laptop as a pressie.

I've seen this and would welcome your thoughts - I know its refurbished but it comes with the same warranty etc so shouldnt be a problem:

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/hp-g62-...67183-pdt.html

I fancy it due to the i3 processor really and HP are a reputable manufacturer.

Any thoughts, or other recommendations before i purchase

Your invaluable help, as always, is really appreciated.

paul

HP are one of the worst manufacturers for laptops I have ever seen. They have had a few very serious hardware issues over the last few years, including bad screens (that they won't replace), bad wireless cards (that they won't replace) and several battery recalls.
Out of the last 5 laptops people have asked me to look at for them, 4 have been HP's with hardware issues. 3 were the "lines down screen" issue, 1 was a dead wireless card. Google them both - well known issues worldwide.

I would never, ever buy a HP, certainly not a referb.

What is your cousin doing at uni? In all honesty £350 is only just getting you out of netbook territory and into the very low end market of cheap laptops. No matter what you buy, it's going to be low end.
The best I could find for around that cost is : http://www.ebuyer.com/product/199170 Anything below that and you're looking at the Celeron range of chips.

Hi there and thanks for the response - good comment re the HP - I will leave well alone.

The Acer looks good - what about this one though?

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/ASUS_...fsource=ldawin



Advice appreciated

Paul

What size do you want?

Bear in mind that if it's being carried round a lot, 11.6" might be a good idea. If it's going to be used solely in her accommodation and the only time it's moved is christmas/easter/summer then maybe 15.4" is more sensible.

Size wise going to go for 15.6" as i think it will mostly be used in her room - she doesnt fancy a netbook.

Paul

Get a Lenovo G series

Do you really need core i3? What do your cousin use it for?

Hi all - right, today is purchase day and I've shortlisted the following - could anyone please steer me in the right direction?

Choices are:

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...7C16164797.htm

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/199170

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/ASUS_...fsource=ldawin

Help really appreciated

Thanks in advance

Paul

I like to Lenovo because of the keyboard but you should get other people's opinion but since your cousin is a girl, maybe you should see which one looks the best as well.

I must admit the Lenovo is probably my favourite but others opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Looks wise - I'll get some bling to stick on the laptop for her :)

Paul

As above, I think I'd probably pick the Lenovo out of those three, but can I throw in a wild card?

I know you said she doesn't fancy a netbook, but have a look at the Archos 13 - Dual core Atom D510, but in a 13.3" form factor, so bigger than a conventional netbook, You lose some of the power of the Lenovo, but it's small and light enough (only 1.6kg!) to cart around uni all day...

One side point, once you get a laptop for your cousin, make sure you tell her to auto update the OS and install a good free antivirus...some non Hexus people are really bad at that type of stuff...