Best I can get for £650~

paradigm · 16 Mar 2010 at 14:44

Let me start by saying I've never actually bought myself a laptop. I either get bought them by the companies I work for, or (like my macbook) I inherit them.

But given the partners we use at work, and subsequently the types of laptops we get provided/can purchase, they are all aimed at business users and come with useless intel GMA video cards and suchlike.

I'm looking for something I can take away and game (lightly to moderately) on. So I guess a decent screen and decent video is a must (video moreso than screen, I'll happily "put up" with the screen for a week or so). But other than that I'm not hugely fussed on spec. Brand however I'm more concerned with, having seen the utterly appalling quality of lower branded laptops, and their projected lifespan because of this.

Really not even sure where to start looking, I'd prefer something 13-15" screen wise (my macbook is pretty much the perfect size), and something that doesn't look like it would be at home with a 90's dell lattitude and/or a factory. So relatively sleek and small would be a bonus!

Any hints on what to be looking for model number wise? Or am I asking for too much from the budget?

Cheers.

mp260767 · 16 Mar 2010 at 15:17

light to moderate gaming have a look at the studio 15, tried mine (i3 and 4670 gfx iirc) with battlefield2 and left for dead 2 and it was fine for me.

Snubber · 16 Mar 2010 at 17:03

What about an Acer Aspire 5740G...i5-430 and 1Gb 5650

Slightly over your budget at £699 but cracking value

paradigm · 16 Mar 2010 at 18:34

Acer = Thanks, but no thanks.

darkcooleo · 16 Mar 2010 at 21:15

Samsung R580 all the way ! I made the same decision this week. Not received yet though, writing this on my timeline.

deaglecat · 16 Mar 2010 at 21:35

paradigm said:
Acer = Thanks, but no thanks.

I think I agree. My aspire one was fixed once under warranty. The DC jack recently failed and acer wanted £50 odd quid just to diagnose and estimate the costs for fixing... let alone fixing it.

Apparently failed DC jacks on Acers are quite common. You can find a lot of ads for them on E-bay. Soldering them onto the mainboard is a little tricky for the DIYer though....

dimo · 17 Mar 2010 at 00:47

I too would suggest the Dell Studio. If you wait till thursday and hope for a price drop you might grab the Studio 15 with the i7 720 for cheap. Dell update their offered every week, and they vary in price a lot every week, they go up ow down. 2 weeks ago I was asked to pay £1470 for an i7 720, 4GB ram 1333mhz, ATi 5470 1GB GPU, 500GB @ 7200rpm, 1080p screen, backlit keyboard. A week later I paid £690 for the same spec machine with 320GB @ 7200rpm instead of thee 500GB. So, it's worth waiting a week or two for their price to change. It's £749 at the mo I think, without the 1080p screen or backlit keyboard, those are upgrades @ £70 and £30 respectively.

dimo · 17 Mar 2010 at 00:47

Thats the Studio 15 btw. Has a 15.6" widescreen

paradigm · 17 Mar 2010 at 09:16

darkcooleo said:
Samsung R580 all the way ! I made the same decision this week. Not received yet though, writing this on my timeline.

I've looked at these, but the graphics seem incredibly weak.

paradigm · 17 Mar 2010 at 09:55

dimo said:
I too would suggest the Dell Studio. If you wait till thursday and hope for a price drop you might grab the Studio 15 with the i7 720 for cheap. Dell update their offered every week, and they vary in price a lot every week, they go up ow down. 2 weeks ago I was asked to pay £1470 for an i7 720, 4GB ram 1333mhz, ATi 5470 1GB GPU, 500GB @ 7200rpm, 1080p screen, backlit keyboard. A week later I paid £690 for the same spec machine with 320GB @ 7200rpm instead of thee 500GB. So, it's worth waiting a week or two for their price to change. It's £749 at the mo I think, without the 1080p screen or backlit keyboard, those are upgrades @ £70 and £30 respectively.

This sounds incredible for the price! Is Thursday random deal day at dell?

IceWind · 17 Mar 2010 at 11:17

dimo said:
I too would suggest the Dell Studio. If you wait till thursday and hope for a price drop you might grab the Studio 15 with the i7 720 for cheap. Dell update their offered every week, and they vary in price a lot every week, they go up ow down. 2 weeks ago I was asked to pay £1470 for an i7 720, 4GB ram 1333mhz, ATi 5470 1GB GPU, 500GB @ 7200rpm, 1080p screen, backlit keyboard. A week later I paid £690 for the same spec machine with 320GB @ 7200rpm instead of thee 500GB. So, it's worth waiting a week or two for their price to change. It's £749 at the mo I think, without the 1080p screen or backlit keyboard, those are upgrades @ £70 and £30 respectively.

Um i know prices change, but 60% downward is a but unbelivable.

Totality · 17 Mar 2010 at 13:47

I bought a Sony CW. i3 with a Nvidia 330gt. I can play Mass Effect 2 just fine and it's in a smallish 14" package.

I have a problem with battery drain though and it seems a common problem with Vaios which I'm going to make a new thread about! Basically I turn it on, use it for an hour then turn it off at about 67% battery. I go into work an hour later turn it back on and it's down to 48%!

This happens when it is fully shut down and not just hibernated or put into sleep mode.

Totality · 17 Mar 2010 at 13:59

Laptop battery drain when turned off? (Vaio CW)

Double post

dimo · 18 Mar 2010 at 18:23

paradigm said:
This sounds incredible for the price! Is Thursday random deal day at dell?

They just update thei rsite on Thursday. Just checked and the Studio 15's with the i7 hasn't gone down in price this week, it has with the i5 430 though.

IceWind said:
Um i know prices change, but 60% downward is a but unbelivable.

Well thats Dell for you. I bascially reserved a laptop for £740 the day before the price shot up to £1470. It shot up to £1470 as I wanted the i7-720QM (which they said would cost £700 as an upgrade from an i7-520 which I laughed at). When I asked the Dell guy why he said it varies every day based on stock, and the only way you can secure the price you pay is with an invoice, which I didnt have as all I had done was reserved it. It subsequently got deleted from my basket which is why I called up and complained. Anyways, I waited a week and it came back.

Dell delivery's take a while though, up to 30 days, and the date can evey get pushed back. My ETA is April 9th... and I placed my first order on 3rd March, which I cancelled and replaced on 10th... Gna be a long wait still :rolleyes:

Raikiri · 18 Mar 2010 at 19:05

You can currently get the Studio 17 with:

Base Intel® Core i5-430M (2.26Ghz, 4Threads, turbo boost up to 2.53 GHz, 3MB cache)
Memory 4096MB 1067MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x2048]
Video Card 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 Graphics Card
Hard Drive 500GB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive
Primary Battery Primary 6-cell 56 WHr Lithium Ion battery
Camera 2.0 Mega pixel Integrated Web Camera
LCD 17.3 High Definition+ (1600x900) LED with TL

For £692 using code G$96FX2B7H8HCM, £644 after 7% Quidco too.

There's also the Studio 15:

Base Intel® Core i5-430M (2.26Ghz, 4Threads, turbo boost up to 2.53 GHz, 3MB cache)
Memory 4096MB 1067MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x2048]
Video Card 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 Graphics Card
Hard Drive 500GB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive
Primary Battery Primary 6-cell 56 WHr Lithium Ion battery
Camera 2.0 Mega pixel Integrated Web Camera
LCD 15.4 High Definition (1366x768)

For £599 after the code and quidco.

I am tempted at the 15 myself, waiting for the new Macbooks though (if they ever appear).

dimo · 18 Mar 2010 at 21:10

Raikiri said:
You can currently get the Studio 17 with:

Base Intel® Core i5-430M (2.26Ghz, 4Threads, turbo boost up to 2.53 GHz, 3MB cache)
Memory 4096MB 1067MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x2048]
Video Card 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 Graphics Card
Hard Drive 500GB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive
Primary Battery Primary 6-cell 56 WHr Lithium Ion battery
Camera 2.0 Mega pixel Integrated Web Camera
LCD 17.3 High Definition+ (1600x900) LED with TL

For £692 using code G$96FX2B7H8HCM, £644 after 7% Quidco too.

There's also the Studio 15:

Base Intel® Core i5-430M (2.26Ghz, 4Threads, turbo boost up to 2.53 GHz, 3MB cache)
Memory 4096MB 1067MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x2048]
Video Card 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 Graphics Card
Hard Drive 500GB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive
Primary Battery Primary 6-cell 56 WHr Lithium Ion battery
Camera 2.0 Mega pixel Integrated Web Camera
LCD 15.4 High Definition (1366x768)

For £599 after the code and quidco.

I am tempted at the 15 myself, waiting for the new Macbooks though (if they ever appear).

Annoying thing about these is the 1333Mhz memory modules are being restricted to 1066

dimo · 18 Mar 2010 at 22:21

dimo said:
Dell delivery's take a while though, up to 30 days, and the date can evey get pushed back. My ETA is April 9th... and I placed my first order on 3rd March, which I cancelled and replaced on 10th... Gna be a long wait still

I guess it can also go forward. Just checked my status and it was shipped earlier this afternoon. Not bad for Dell tbh, 8 days fram day of purchase for order processing, build and onto shipping company, not to mention is a customised machine.

wopee.