£500ish Laptop Please Help!

[meths]

A woman in my work wants to buy a laptop for her son and has around £500 to spend. It would be used for general stuff i.e. internet, office, etc. but the boy will probably like to put a few games on it.

I've told her she'd be lucky to get a laptop for that money that could run modern games but I really don't have a clue about the things.

My questions for you guys are:
1. What kind of spec would she be looking at for the money?

2. Would a Macbook be a better buy?

3. Can anybody recommmend a decent laptop in that price range?

 

[RTB]

A woman in my work wants to buy a laptop for her son and has around £500 to spend. It would be used for general stuff i.e. internet, office, etc. but the boy will probably like to put a few games on it.

I've told her she'd be lucky to get a laptop for that money that could run modern games but I really don't have a clue about the things.

My questions for you guys are:
1. What kind of spec would she be looking at for the money?

2. Would a Macbook be a better buy?

3. Can anybody recommmend a decent laptop in that price range?

Hi,

Hold fire, we'll have a custom built mid range laptop that should fit your bill! Within 2-3 weeks.

Cheers

Rupert
MD - OcUK

 

[Caged]

HP 6510b, £529 (so unfortunately a touch over budget), but I think it's worth it. No gaming unfortunately (be lucky to get a non-Intel video card for that money).

 

[YoungBlood]

Hi,

Hold fire, we'll have a custom built mid range laptop that should fit your bill! Within 2-3 weeks.

Cheers

Rupert
MD - OcUK

Can you list some specs please, to stop me and potentialy other people buying elsewhere if you have a decent spec'd sytem on the way.

 

[taz488]

1. What kind of spec would she be looking at for the money?

acer aspire do some good laptops, at the large rainforest shop, check out the 5920g i think it is.

c2d t7300 2.0ghz
15.4" tft
2gb ram
nvidia 8600m
160gb hd
vista
wifi etc.

2. Would a Macbook be a better buy?

no.

3. Can anybody recommmend a decent laptop in that price range?

acer aspire 5920g for £450, bargain

 

[meths]

acer aspire 5920g looks to be a winner and at that price I'm tempted to get one myself.

RTB, do you think OcUK will be able to rival that spec for the money?

 

[Caged]

The two Acer's I had (one was a warranty replacement, I didn't make the same mistake twice) were complete crap and fell apart.

Maybe they aren't all like that, but Acer can give up the idea of me ever buying one of their product again.

With that in mind, I think the only reason to buy an Acer laptop is if you don't value your life.

 

[Gilbretto]

You could try and pick up a second hand Vostro 1500 / Inspiron 1520 with a 8600m GT.

I have owned both, a bit bulky but as they sat on my desk 90% of the time, they served me well.