Recommend a laptop for under €400?

iDann · 13-11-2012 11:40pm #1

Just looking for a decent laptop that will be reliable for school?
Can only afford something up to €400 ATM unfortunately!

Any recommendations?

Thanks!

sligoface · 22-11-2012 10:52am

this one should be fine for your needs and it's a 14 inch screen instead of the usual 15.6 which means it's slightly more portable if you're bringing it in a backback http://bit.ly/UgysnI
if you're just using it for basic tasks there's no need to get a more expensive one with faster processors, etc.
is 400 excluding your software budget? in any case I would suggest availing of the half price norton 360 offer and you'll get a complete 1 year antivirus for 36.99, you'll still be under 400 there. no point in getting a new laptop without an antivirus to protect it.

you'll need microsoft office as well, check ebay for cheap versions.

freestyla · 22-11-2012 12:15pm

14 inch is more portable but Celeron... aahh it's just so hard to justify existence of that bloody ever slow nemesis!

usable yeah but maybe for a year or max two

I would go for one of these:

15.6" €420 Acer 5749 Core i3 Laptop

€360 14" Asus X401A white (or pink or blue)
http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/5088003/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7COffice%2C+PCs+and+phones%7C14418968/c_2/3%7C19780850%7CLaptops+and+netbooks%7C14419039/c_3/4%7Ccat_14419039%7CLaptops%7C14419040.htm

this one is with Pentium at least which is faster than Celeron by 700MHZ.
Celeron has one advantage tho -> virtualization technology. So if you need run Virtual Images (for example you run Windows XP inside Windows 7) then it's not possible to do with Pentium.

freestyla · 22-11-2012 12:19pm

There are few free anti-virus softwares and they all do the same thing as the paid ones. Except don't slow down your computer.

for example
http://free.avg.com/ie-en/homepage

BTW, remove all boatware (Asus comes with some 10-20 different little software and they load up sh*t and slow down the whole experience)

and use Disk cleanup and Defrag for a while.

Good luck.

sligoface · 25-11-2012 11:47am

ah, didn't see that second asus which is the same one i posted but with better specs for only 30 quid more, would definitely go for that one. might be a xmas present to meself!

the acer is 20 quid over the budget the OP has. even if he uses free antivirus, if he doesn't have a separate budget for software and needs something like MS office he'd want to stay well under budget to get that as well. you can get Office for 90 euro if you buy a laptop.

also, depends what you'll be studying. some laptops like that acer have a numeric keypad which people doing certain work will want, others like the asus don't. i prefer without the keypad because i like having the touchpad in the center and not off to the left like the laptops with keypads have.

deisedave · 25-11-2012 2:22pm

sligoface wrote: »

this one should be fine for your needs and it's a 14 inch screen instead of the usual 15.6 which means it's slightly more portable if you're bringing it in a backback http://bit.ly/UgysnI
if you're just using it for basic tasks there's no need to get a more expensive one with faster processors, etc.
is 400 excluding your software budget? in any case I would suggest availing of the half price norton 360 offer and you'll get a complete 1 year antivirus for 36.99, you'll still be under 400 there. no point in getting a new laptop without an antivirus to protect it.

you'll need microsoft office as well, check ebay for cheap versions.

For someone who is broke I would recommend Avg free or Avast free, also libre office rather than buying microsoft office if he wants to go the legal way.

iDann · 27-11-2012 9:55pm

Thanks everyone, got the ASUS X401A, now it has developed a fault

Dats me · 27-11-2012 11:13pm

Hi, a bit off topic but I am looking for a similar laptop, but I could stretch €500-€550.
Having done some research I think should be getting an i5 (2.5/3.1ghz) and a basic graphics card, ram and hdd are cheap so not a priority.

sligoface · 28-11-2012 7:43pm

iDann wrote: »

Thanks everyone, got the ASUS X401A, now it has developed a fault

already? that's terrible, what's wrong with it? i see that all the latops from argos are excluded from the 30 day money back guarantee. can they do anything for you or are you stuck with it now?

Jarren · 28-11-2012 8:55pm

iDann wrote: »

Thanks everyone, got the ASUS X401A, now it has developed a fault

What fault is it ?

iDann · 28-11-2012 10:51pm

Jarren wrote: »

What fault is it ?

Randomly turning off completely, even though it's fully charged, resulting in me losing all my project I was creating on Word

Do you know if Argos will give a replacement or refund, it's only been 2 weeks!

Recommend a laptop for under €400?

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