GF needs a small laptop for college

GarIT

Usually I'm farily compitent when it comes to buying laptops, I fix them all day so I suppose I should be. I've looked around at a lot of laptops and I'm more looking to see if anyone has any better suggestions. At the moment she has a dell mini 10v and she says its a bit small and too slow. She's starting college in October doing a teaching degree so she wont really need any extra software. All she really ever uses is IE9, Skype, Zune and Word. She says the main things she wants is it to be kinda small, not a full size laptop and not a netbook, light, and have a long battery as she makes 2.5 hr train journeys home and then back on the weekends. I've been told the budget is €350 but when I showed her a laptop I thought was best but it works out at about €410 and she said she could manage that. This is the laptop I told her I think she should get. We were looking at this one but we decided against it because she wants to be able to play the sims and the Acer should barely manage it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Jonny7

http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Lenovo_IdeaPad_S205_1091028.html

Its 11.6 inch screen which I find is an almost perfect size (I must own every screen size and I've found 12.1 is the right size for me, so very close)

review - http://www.netbooklive.com/lenovo-s205-reviewed-8941/

has the best graphics at that price range, should be able to handle the sims

Also you can prob just buy a better battery eventually on ebay if the batt life isn't good enough

should be in stock soon I'd expect - or check amazon etc

GarIT

I was looking at that one, she thinks its too small, she was saying a 14" HP we saw in PC world was perfect for her. She already has a 10.1" netbook and was looking for something bigger. It also only scores 731 on passmark for it's cpu when the pentium dual core gets 1519 over twice as powerful.

GarIT

Does anyone know if passmark is accurate on this? I find it hard to believe that an old pentium dual core would be better than a new AMD fusion?

Jonny7

GarIT wrote: »

Does anyone know if passmark is accurate on this? I find it hard to believe that an old pentium dual core would be better than a new AMD fusion?

Some older netbooks have slow processors.

Now any modern dual core should be fine for everyday tasks.

Unfortunately most netbooks and laptops don't like gaming. AMD fusion has a capable dual core processor AND a special integrated graphics APU - what that means is - you can actually play games on it, and play HD movies without a bother

Just read this and you'll get an idea (this is one of the best 11.6 inchers)

http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/17/hp-pavilion-dm1z-with-amd-fusion-review/

GarIT

I think she is going for the Acer, she decided the processing power and battery life was more important than graphics.

Bandana boy

got this mail yesterday

ITQuotes (www.itquotes.ie) together with HP Ireland are delighted to announce details of an excellent family / student laptop computer bundle with Hewlett Packard (HP) laptop, HP printer and carry case at €399 inc vat and delivery. This offer is open to all employees, their families and friends within your organisation until the promotion closing date of Friday July 22nd 2011. For any employee or family looking at purchasing a new machine for someone going to college, school or general household use this is the offer for them!

HP are offering one of their award winning CQ56 Laptops with a HP Colour Printer and a Carry Case at an incredible €399 INC VAT & delivery. This promotional laptop package offers a discount of over €300 on the laptop, printer and case if being bought individually in a retail outlet.

HP Compaq CQ56 Laptop Specification with HP Colour Printer and Carry Case - €399 INC VAT & Nationwide delivery for all.
Intel Celeron T3500 2.0GHz Processor,
3GB RAM,
Massive 250GB HDD,
DVD+/-RW,
Wireless Built in,
Built in Webcam,
GMA 4500M Graphics,
15.6" diagonal High-Definition LED HP BrightView Display,
6 Cell Battery,
Black in colour
includes a HP Colour - Ink-jet Printer printing up to 16 pages per minute and Stylish Laptop Carry Case

Customers can purchase these directly through ITQuotes with a credit / laser card by calling 01-8091500. If you need any more details with regard to the specification of the laptop, printer etc please do not hesitate in contacting ITQuotes on 01-8091500 and asking for one of the HP team.

GarIT

Thats a good deal and thanks for the help but unfortunately its too big.

ED E

Massive 250GB HDD

lol

GarIT

Lethal_Bullet wrote: »

lol

I know, you can't blame them for trying.