Cheap laptop choice - advice please!

Hi Guys

Need to buy a cheap laptop - I mean cheap, budget of £500 ish. Having looked around, there only seem to be two worth looking at:

Toshiba A40 with celeron 2.8 / 256MB / 30GB / DVDROM
http://www.dabs.com/uk/channels/hard...quicklinx=3530

or

Acer Travelmate 292 EXC with CeleronM 1.3 / 256MB/ 30GB / 11g / CDRW-DVD combo
http://www.acernotebooks.co.uk/asp/p...rchFor=&PT_ID=

Now the acer is much better speced, lighter, faster, longer battery life. But from one the review I've read (couldn't exactly find many on either) - the screen on the A40 might be better.

Anyone used either and could give me some advice?

Can you go to £579 inc VAT and delivery?

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dells...=dhs&cs=ukdhs1

I'd buy Dell before Acer anyday. PC Pro just gave the 15" version 4 stars, but I'd guess you couldn't go to £679. That said, out of the two you've shown - I'd never trust Acer. I'm sorry, I just wouldn't, whereas even budget Toshes are usually OK construction-wise.

Actually, if your budget's really tight - I may have a REAL winner for you if you don't mind tatty packaging. Check your PMs.

What trouble have you had with Acer?

Thanks for the link nichomach - it's a university laptop for a friend, being paid for by parents, so I don't know wether I'll be able to get that one yet though.

Back to the Acer though - what problems have you found with them? (The main reason I didn't go straight for the Acer was my personnal experience with toshibas - which has always been very good - and I've never used an acer)

I've in general found Acer's build quality to be...lacking bordering on flimsy, both on the desktop and mobile fronts. Yes, they're cheap and boy, can you tell. If budget were my only consideration, I'd go for that Tosh or for the Inspiron 1000.

i have the tosh sat pro A10 and its really good. When i had a faulty power adaptor, about 2 weeks ago, they sent dhl round to pick it up, and i got it back 2 days later with a new adaptor (of £75 value).

Now THAT'S good; service counts for a lot.