Help me find a good all purpose laptop

Hi guys, my friend has just asked me to help him pick a laptop, he's looking to spend £500 max, can a core 2 duo laptop be had for this? If not, would a x2 turion be better than one of the dual core pentium cpus? It needs to have at least a gig of memory and plenty of storage space for music etc.

edit: forgot to say that he would like it to have vista and this must be included in the price.

Thanks guys

ADVENT ERT2250

# Intel Core Duo T2250 Processor 1.73GHz
# 533MHz FSB
# 2MB Cache
# 1024MB RAM
# 80GB Hard Drive
# DVD ReWriter Drive
# 15.4" Widescreen Display
# Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
# 128MB Intel UMA 950 Shared Graphics
# 1 Year Free Warranty

Reconditioned with 12 months warranty, can be had for £300.

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Dell Vostro 1400

Vostro⢠1400 NB(N0814002)

Intel Core 2 Duo T5470 Processor (1.6GHz,800MHz,2MB L2 cache)

Genuine Windows Vista Business - English

2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM (2x1024)

120GB (5400rpm) SATA Hard Drive

Integrated Intel® Graphic Media Accelerator X3100 with 65 watt AC adapter

Microsoft Works 8.0 - English

14.1" Wide Screen WXGA (1280x800) TFT Display

Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including Software

Primary 6-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (56 WHr)

56.6k V.92 Capable Internal Modem & Adapter - UK

Intel Pro Wireless 3945 802.11a/b/g Mini-Card - Europe

£445

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Dell Vostro 1500

Vostro 1500 NB(N0815003)

Intel Core 2 Duo T7100 Processor (1.8GHz,800MHz,2MB L2 cache)

Genuine Windows Vista Business - English

2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM (2x1024)

160GB (5400rpm) SATA Hard Drive

256 MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT

Microsoft Works 8.0 - English

15.4" Wide Screen WXGA (1280 x 800) Display

Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive

Primary 6-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (56 WHr)

56.6k V.92 Capable Internal Modem & Adapter - UK

Intel Pro Wireless 3945 802.11a/b/g Mini-Card - Europe

£527... Get this one, decent graphics as well as a very good spec

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Hope that helps

wow thanks raikiri, i think he would prefer it to be brand new, were those dells new??

Yep, just reduce it to a 1 year warranty rather than the standard 3 and the price drops by over £100.

kl thanks for the help raikiri.

I prefer the 9-cell battery myself

Although i take very long trips ....

MattJones2k6 said:

I prefer the 9-cell battery myself

Although i take very long trips ....

Click to expand...

It's a cheap, worthwhile upgrade Mine had a 3 as standard but I upgraded to the 6 (Dell 1501,Turion dual core etc.). Battery life is up to 4.5 hours if I am only doing word processing and other simple tasks.

At the moment nothing comes close to the Dell Vostro range.

I'm looking at getting a new 15.4" laptop and nothing comes close to the Dell Vostro 1500 that Raikiri posted. I had my eye on a Sony Vaio VGN-FZ11L but thats £692 and with an inferior spec. You get a smaller HD and the NVidia G8400 graphics.

Makes sense saving £150 and getting a superior spec with the Dell.

Only problem is you'll be waiting a month until its finally delivered.

I had a friend round earlyer looking for a laptop. Said he had around 700 to throw at a laptop. I upgraded the spec on the dell and it came to 760 and hes gona get it. 2.2Ghz processor. 2gb ram, umm upgraded the graphics card to the 256mb 8600m GT i think. It came out to be a pritty nice spec. Took the warrenty down to the 1 year thing, though i dont think thats a good idea tbh if your taking it to colage.