recommend me a laptop please? £400 only

[promising]

could anyboday recommend me a laptop?

Within £400, VAT exclusive, coz I am leaving the country and wish to claim VAT back.

very ignorant on computers. and so many brands and types to choose.

Acer? Dell? or Toshiba? or others?

will need the laptop for work, basically no games, some music, some times may watch vedio, that's all.

expect I need to bring it from here to there; while first thing is to bring it from home to train station, then to airport... so my brother suggests me to buy a smaller screen, not heavy one. Never used laptops before, so no idea about the screen size. Isn't widescreen a 'selling point'?

Advice, recommendations and experiences, please!

[joshwa]

Dell Inspiron 1300 - with 15.4" Widescreen. Normally on offer from www.Dell.co.uk for around £349 inc vat and delivery. They have the option of a 14.1" widescreen, but the laptops still the same size so you may as well go for the bigger screen. The laptop seems pretty solid, I've got one with a 1.5ghz Celeron M with 768mb ram and DVDRW and it's very quick in use. I also opted for the 6-cell battery that gives me about 3 hours + battery life. For the money I don't think you can get a better laptop...

[promising]

Some thing wrong of the website. Actually I did search for Dell last night, every time when you clicked 'Notebook', you were diverted to a webpage, for just a second, then it turns to ' Loading', and nothing else on the page.

But anyway, I've seen this on Metro, the newspapaer on the bus

these are I've found in those online shops so far:

Dell Inspiron 1300
Acer Aspire 3003LC
ACER ASPIRE 3004LC ACER TRAVELMATE 2403WXCI
ACER TM 2413LCi
ACER TravelMate 4062LCi
ACER Aspire 3633WLMi
ACER Aspire 3613WLMI
TOSHIBA EQUIUM M70-364
TOSHIBA SATELLITE PRO M50
TOSHIBA SATELLITE PRO L20
TOSHIBA L20-267
Advent 7095


....

and haven't exhausted my searching yet..

so any more advice? I've heard you cannot claim VAT on DELL laptops, but not really sure. Will ring their sales line checking it out.

[Koolpc]

I would say Dell too. They produce really nice ones.

[TheVoice]

Have a look on www.dmxdimension.com, under the UK deals section - usually lists the best deals for Dell notebooks on there (and it directs you straight to the Dell site, so it's legit).

I got my Inspiron 630m as a result of finding a deal on there. Hope it helps.

[fredered]

I have no personal experience but judging from posts on notebookforums.com the cheaper toshibas have rubbish build quality. Dell laptops dont tend to be pretty but certainly seem solid.

[promising]

now I've basically got three choices:

Toshiba Satellite Pro M50
Acer Travel Mate 2403WXCi
Dell Inspiron 1300

The disadvantage of Dell is, it's >=3kg, which is a bit heavy for me.. (i'm a girl only 1.5m, or 4'11''tall, not strong..,) and short battery life, according to some reviews and opinions.

Before tonight, i preferred Toshiba, a reliable brand, not advanced features but enough for me, quite light! no idea about the screen size but somebody recommended 14'' screen. But after reading some threads and reviews, I'm somehow hesitant... seems a low quality.

or the Acer Travel Mate 2403WXCi? good features, but don't know whehter it's durable and sturdy -- about which I am most concerned.

[Shmee150]

Please never never never never got an Acer, they simply break...

I have in my time had 2 Acers, 4 Sonys, 2 Toshibas. I look after them immacualtely, so basically the others I've all sold a year later as good as new, but both acers died on me. On one the backlight went, the disc laser simply stopped burning, lots of keys came off, on the other, the screen hinge cracked, the hard drive died, I think you get the point...

I also know many other people who's acers have died prematurely on them (friends and family).

At that price, I would recommend Dell, as much as I hate them, you can't really beat them for that.

ShMeE

[fredered]

Dell seem solid, especially for the price quite chunky but at a low price if its thin it probably means it isn't that well put together, if you want build quality then you will strugle to get much better than think pads, expensive for the specs but if you can find one in your budget they are built like tanks, splashproof keyboards, magicery to stop you killing the hard drive if you drop the pc .etc.

As for the dell ebuyer seem to have a good deal http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/110298/rb/19552017608

[lost eden]

I wouldn't recommend the Satellite. From experience Satellites are rather grotty & flimsy in comparison with the Tecras (more expensive range from Tosh) - my old Tecra 8000 is built like a bunker & my dad's 9000 was one of the only fully metal case lappies around at the time.

Not having heard about that particular Acer model, I would also have to recommend the Dell.

[promising]

en.. thank u guys!

will buy an Dell, but have to wait after going back to China, as they need 7-10 days delivery, whereas I am heading back on 7th!
but now it's obvious Dell is better than others around this price.

Thank you for all your warm-hearted advice!