Buying a new laptop, but which one?

[winsrev]

Hello,

I'm looking to buy a new laptop but i've looked and looked and just havent found one that would suit me or fit my price range, so i thought the good people at PCMECH could help me.

The main laptop features that i would perfer to have:
Atleast: 60 GB HDD, 512 MB RAM, 15" Screen, 128 MB Graphics card and 3 hours batter life if possible.

My budget is £500, £600 max.

Thanks in advanced.

[glc]

Not going to happen with any quality brand. You can't even get a Dell with a Pentium-M and onboard shared graphics with those specs for 600 quid. You can squeak in with a Celeron-M and a 40gb hard drive, that's about it.

[mairving]

Yep, either increase your budget or lower your specs.

[trowand]

Originally Posted by glc Not going to happen with any quality brand. You can't even get a Dell with a Pentium-M and onboard shared graphics with those specs for 600 quid. You can squeak in with a Celeron-M and a 40gb hard drive, that's about it.

Ha ha, he said "quid"... and he's from Illinois... Funny

Don't keep your search to the big names. There are many, MANY deals to be had by the lesser known brands like Ibuypower, Sager, ABS, Systemax (TigerDirect), Acer, Winbook, etc.

[glc]

Trowand, I think you need to research some UK sites for notebooks. I looked all over Dell UK before I posted.

I said quid because I don't happen to have the ASCII code for the "pounds" sign memorized.

[winsrev]

Thanks for your replys, is there anychance of getting something similar for £600? i do perfer AMD proccessors aswell. I can live with Intel though.

[glc]

If you want good battery life, you want a Pentium-M on a Centrino platform, trust me.

[Stuey]

Originally Posted by glc Not going to happen with any quality brand. You can't even get a Dell with a Pentium-M and onboard shared graphics with those specs for 600 quid. You can squeak in with a Celeron-M and a 40gb hard drive, that's about it.

Depending on the discount, Dell systems can be quite affordable. I'm not sure how much more it would cost over in the UK, but for Pentium M and shared video, we bought a laptop for my sister for $820 after tax and handling. Granted the system was with a 14.1" screen, but certain 15.4" screens weren't too much costlier.

Recently I was browsing systems for my father and found a few Pentium M or Core Solo & Core Duo systems for less than $1000.

Very few models have dedicated video, and the ones that do cost several hundred dollars more for some reason. Dell confuses me. In one department they will have a certain product # with dedicated video and in another department they'd have the same product # but offered only with shared video.

Also, Dell doesn't offer any laptops with AMD processors.

[glc]

Stuey, just load up www.dell.co.uk and see for yourself instead of telling us what Dells cost over here. That's a different world altogether over on that side of the big pond.

[Stuey]

I've checked the site, and I've noticed about a 10% difference in undiscounted prices after I priced two systems). The individual component upgrades are more costly, but the overall price gap isn't astoundingly large. I assume that Dell.co.uk offers discounts on a regular basis similar to Dell.com.

I priced the Inspiron 630M (the Dell.co.uk small business offering against the one we purchased for my sister) and the prices are quite comparable (not including taxes or handling costs).

If the budget cannot be changed, and the screen size and dedicated video can be compromised, the 630M is quite an affordable model.

[glc]

Yep, that would do it - but I think VAT over there is something insane like 17%. The home site prices are VAT and shipping included - that's what I used.

[winsrev]

Here its 17.5% VAT so Dell's were kinda out of the question.

[glc]

Problem is - you have to pay VAT on any laptop you buy, correct? The Dell home and home office UK site prices included VAT and shipping when I looked the other day. That's where I concluded the only way to get a Dell for 600 or less is with a Celeron-M and a 40gb hard drive. It's possible you could squeak a bit better with a 14 inch screen, but no way with a dedicated video card.