Best laptop for £400

[carlazai]

The laptop the wife and I share decided to die this morning (screen crack). We are looking for a replacement laptop with a budget of £400 maximum.

The previous laptop was a sony and it was full of rubbish programs. Ideally it would be a laptop without too much junk preinstalled or one where there is a guide to removing all the junk.

The needs are that the screen is a maximum of 15" and there is plenty of ram. Its not used for much more than a little lightroom, word and net so doesn't need to be ultra powerful. Any suggestions appreciated as i don't know much about laptops.

 

[Its_Me]

dell outlet, look for 'previously oredered new or Cert refurb' and get a nice studio15 with an Intel I3 or I5 cpu.
something like http://outlet.euro.dell.com/topics/global.aspx/arb/online/en/InventoryDetails?systemId=04M3DW8A&~lt
would be ideal.
the price is +vat though, but there are others even higher spec if you wish to get closer to your max.
You could buy the extended warranty etc with the saving, but they come with a rtb 12months anyway.

 

[I get around]

You had experience with the certified refurb, I'm looking for a £400 chuckabout laptop for uni and I'm seriously considering refurbished now.
Pretty much like new are they or?

(sorry to threadjack a little)

 

[Its_Me]

yes, got 2 laptops from them in last couple of weeks.
my studio17 is actually a scratched/dent unit - but is completely perfect.
The studio15 was refurbish and also perfect.
Both shipped sealed without a mark on them.

Saved about £350 on the studio17 but only about £150 on the 15. But another plus is they are built already, so only a few days for delivery.
Personally i would take another chance ordering scratch/dent units, but you have to understand they can come with some pretty horrific marks - you can usually tell by how they are priced.

 

[neoboy]

Just got my refurb, have the slightest mark on lid that's only visible if you really look for it under some light condition, other than that came sealed with all the accessories. Looking at outlet now, there seem to be some amazing bargains on there now, with i7 Studio laptops for around £600 with Blu Ray and 1GB 5470.

 

[a1ex2001]

Whats the battery life like on the Studio 15 under normal usage ie a bit of web and editing some documents?

 

[Its_Me]

Whats the battery life like on the Studio 15 under normal usage ie a bit of web and editing some documents?

Can';t say exactly, but with the small battery and iplayer/web use its around 2.5hours, so prob a little more if you don't run video.
Alternative is spec the larger battery as upgrade cost is very little initially imo.