Must be a good all rounder, as well as no slouch when doing bit more intense things like photoshop etc.
Preferably 8GB Ram, and HDD is no issue as i have 2 external drives for data/photos.
or even a 13" Laptop/Notebook with sandybridge i3 or i5, and maybe a base spec with the option to upgrade RAM manually.
Popping to my local sunny store tomorrow to have a look at some, hopefully buying at beginning of october
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hi there,
you have a lot of options in this price bracket but the deciding factor will be whether you want to do gaming or not.... oh and the brand.
if you want to game at high detail in modern (<2 years old) games then you need to look at dedicated graphics card and at this budget the laptop should have nothing less than a Nvidia GT540/550/555 or ati equivalent.
if you don't want to game or are happy with older games and strategy (rts & turn based) games then the ati 5470/6470/6490 are found in quite a few machines and ample.
there are two common middle ground cards to choose from as well which are the nvidia GT525m or ati 6630 which will handle all gaming genres including latest releases but at lower detail.
www.notebookcheck.net is your resource for the graphics cards
if gaming isn't on your list then £588.97 is all you need.
my overwhelming recommendation, and this will come as no surprise to many, will be the hp probook 4530s (you can get a bonus £150 trade-in on this through hp). it has the following specs
System Code LH282EA#ABU : Intel® Core™ i5-2410M Dual Core Processor, 15.6" HD Screen, Windows 7 Professional Edition 64-bit, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 320GB HDD, DVD Rewriter, 5-6 Hours (up to 6 hours with power management), Dedicated (AMD Radeon HD 6470M with 512MB Dedicated RAM), brushed metal lid, palm rest etc, spill resistant keyboard + usual HDMI and connectivity features.
you can upgrade ram so cheap now yourself, 4gb is no longer a worry on base configuration. depending on configuration it may only cost you £15-£20 to get to 8GB. i suspect it has 1x4gb stick in.
hp business machines are a far cry from their home machines and imo represent the best value on the market at the moment when you consider build quality, features and reliability.
want to go cheaper and for a 13" then the hp probook 4320s with i3 and is £399 - £100 cashback so £299 is where it is at.
XX826EA#ABU, Intel® Core™ i3-380M Dual Core Processor, 13.3" HD Screen, Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64-bit, 3GB DDR3 RAM, 320GB HDD, DVD Rewriter, 512MB ATI 5470 Graphics, Webcam Bluetooth & HDMI, Includes Free HP Carry Case. this is only as cheap as it is due to it being replaced by the 4330s and lots of stock to shift so hp seem to be distributing their hardware at rock bottom prices.
if you want to game, i would look at the dell XPS systems as £ for £ these will come in at best value when using offer codes and discounts just upgrade the ram yourself.
