Need help finding a laptop (4-€500 budget)

Tea_Bag

i told my friend id help find a laptop for his mom.

its going to be used for just internet and documents etc, no gaming or video editing or the like, only requirements is a good battery and a good warranty.

with the budget being upto €500, i was thinking going for lower end components (i3 and onboard graphics with maybe 3-4gb ram) and then splashing out on a nicer 9 cell or something battery. im pretty sure i need MS windows AND Office fitted into the price, but waiting on a reply. i should be able to get a student copy of (both?) fwiw.

any advice? am i looking at this the wrong way?

any laptops fit the mark? buying online is ok too.

i believe a toshiba is the make to go for at the moment? (and personally i hate dells, but maybe they've improved recently?)

thanks for reading!

Tea_Bag

after a bit of searching, i think prices of i3's are still too steep to concider. god how long does it take for laptop prices to fall???

anyway i found this, which seems a reasonable deal?
doesnt appear to be able to spec a better battery though?

waterboy15

cheap and cheerful, my parents have an acer similar specs lower processor for 12 months now no problems as such.:)

Tea_Bag

waterboy15 wrote: »

cheap and cheerful, my parents have an acer similar specs lower processor for 12 months now no problems as such.:)

yea it looks ok, but i really need a better battery.

Up to 3.5 hours battery life

sounds horendous. the "up to" part scares me.

i really dont want to have to get her to fork out for a second battery. one good battery should be enough.

PSKdesign

http://www.apple.com/ie/macbook/
10 hours battery...

Alanstrainor

PSKdesign wrote: »

http://www.apple.com/ie/macbook/
10 hours battery...

What a great contribution to the thread. Reading the title usually helps...

PSKdesign

Thanks Alanstrainor, I only now realised the price tag for macbook,sorry for my mistake. I just wanted to help offering a reliable variant for batery life.
My apologies again.

dazzday

Did a very quick browse, these are the type of models that would suit... all with 3gb+ Ram, Dual Core ULV cpus, nice size HDD, excellenct connectivity, 13-15inch screens and 8hrs battery (will be closer to 6 under normal usage)

http://www.acerdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5810T-944G32Mn_Timeline_Laptop_LX.PBB0X.121/version.asp

http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_Timeline_3810TZG_687712.html

http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_Timeline_4810T_638750.html

http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_Timeline_4810TZG_667576.html

http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_Timeline_5810TG_645523.html

Amirani

This is one of the cheapest laptops about atm with an i3 and decent specs: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acer-15-6inch-Notebook-i3-350M-Processor/dp/B003S3R7S4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1288741107&sr=8-2

Tea_Bag

niallsparky wrote: »

This is one of the cheapest laptops about atm with an i3 and decent specs: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acer-15-6inch-Notebook-i3-350M-Processor/dp/B003S3R7S4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1288741107&sr=8-2

that looks like a really good one.

also, being from Amazon, there should be no hassel with after sales stuff.

do you think the 6 cell battery will be good enough?

Amirani

Tea_Bag wrote: »

that looks like a really good one.

also, being from Amazon, there should be no hassel with after sales stuff.

do you think the 6 cell battery will be good enough?

I'm not too sure, you should get 4 hours out of it if you're running fairly light stuff.

This one might be a bit more suitable? http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Toshiba_Satellite_Pro_C650-196_Laptop_PSC13E-00H008EN/version.asp

Infamous E

Emachines are beautiful . I just got mine last week.The E600 is a monster ,it was 499 in Harvey Normans. It comes with dual core processor ,AMD chip ,4GB hard drive and 250 GB's of space.

Enjoy

Tea_Bag

niallsparky wrote: »

I'm not too sure, you should get 4 hours out of it if you're running fairly light stuff.

This one might be a bit more suitable? http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Toshiba_Satellite_Pro_C650-196_Laptop_PSC13E-00H008EN/version.asp

ah a toshiba and for less! great! but i hear laptopsdirect is horrible to deal with as far as customer care goes?

Infamous E wrote: »

I just got mine last week.The E600 is a monster ,it was 499 in Harvey Normans.

ive a friend with an "emachines" and its a dog. have they gotten any better over the year?
what is the actual processor? AMD dual core doesnt say much.

Alanstrainor

Tbh, i'd stay clear of emachines. Have never heard a good story about them, best of luck with yours Infamous E...

Infamous E

Tea_Bag wrote: »

ive a friend with an "emachines" and its a dog. have they gotten any better over the year?
what is the actual processor? AMD dual core doesnt say much.

Well.. In my opinion Acer are the cheapie brand of laptops (if there is one) but the E600 is the expensive cheapie. Sorry don't know the actual processor ,I took the sticker off beside the mouse pad . Now,I've no frame of reference to answer your question but I agree with what people say here that through word of mouth Acer have got a bad rep as poor quality. I took a gamble listening to that smooth talking guy on the phone at Harvey Normans but the specs were worth it,sure does run fast but I've probably jinxed myself now and it's going to turn into a pile of crap now.

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Tbh, i'd stay clear of emachines. Have never heard a good story about them, best of luck with yours Infamous E...

Thanks dude. I dunno, it's going great so far so this might be the first good story you hear. Would definetly recommend it anyhow. Although the batterylife is poor,you should consider it a portable desktop rather than a laptop.

lolie

Tea_Bag wrote: »

after a bit of searching, i think prices of i3's are still too steep to concider. god how long does it take for laptop prices to fall???

anyway i found this, which seems a reasonable deal?
doesnt appear to be able to spec a better battery though?

seen this on argos.ie, has the i3. nearly tempted to buy, no word on battery though but ya could google it. http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/5083383/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7COffice%2C+PCs+and+phones%7C14418968/c_2/2%7Ccat_14418968%7CLaptops+and+Netbooks%7C16164797/c_3/3%7Ccat_16164797%7CLaptops%7C16164800.htm

dunworth1

lolie wrote: »

seen this on argos.ie, has the i3. nearly tempted to buy, no word on battery though but ya could google it. http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/5083383/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7COffice%2C+PCs+and+phones%7C14418968/c_2/2%7Ccat_14418968%7CLaptops+and+Netbooks%7C16164797/c_3/3%7Ccat_16164797%7CLaptops%7C16164800.htm

only thing that lets it down is the intel graphics

Tea_Bag

lolie wrote: »

seen this on argos.ie, has the i3. nearly tempted to buy, no word on battery though but ya could google it. http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/5083383/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7COffice%2C+PCs+and+phones%7C14418968/c_2/2%7Ccat_14418968%7CLaptops+and+Netbooks%7C16164797/c_3/3%7Ccat_16164797%7CLaptops%7C16164800.htm

thats the same as this one, posted earlier. Argos is €25 cheaper, but id be tempted to pay the difference to get it from amazon..


the i3's onboard graphics is apparently quite good (as far as onboard goes!)
it can handle some light gaming with low settings.

LFD2 on the i3's intel HD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUriNpCsSIo

not too shabby.

Crysis!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkBMoMobZgg

Alanstrainor

Tea_Bag wrote: »

Argos is €25 cheaper, but id be tempted to pay the difference to get it from amazon..

Why is that?

Tea_Bag

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Why is that?

its nothing againsed Argos really, im just a very happy amazon customer. had to deal with their customer care before, and it was second to none.

however, seeing as this isnt for me, ill just show her the best laptops for the price, and she can decide what to do with her money.

thanks everyone for the contributions.