Decent budget laptop?

stubie_doo · 19 Aug 2007 at 10:32

I have been tasked with finding my sister a budget laptop for around £400 for university but i don't know much about them as i've never owned one.

Anybody know of a good one as I have no idea which manufactures are best avoided?

It will only be used for word processing and browsing the internet so no need to be super powerful.

K.C. Leblanc · 19 Aug 2007 at 10:53

I personaly would avoid Acer, Packard Bell and most of the small bristish manufacturers.

I would recommend HP, Lenovo and Toshiba.

stubie_doo · 19 Aug 2007 at 11:26

Have heard the toshibas are good never heard of Lenovo are they a new manufacturer?

K.C. Leblanc · 20 Aug 2007 at 09:30

stubie_doo said:
Have heard the toshibas are good never heard of Lenovo are they a new manufacturer?

Lenovo are the company who bought out IBM's laptop and desktop division.

manic_man · 20 Aug 2007 at 09:43

Generally agree with whats been said other than the Acer comment.

With £400 to spend, if you went with Acer you could buy a decent C2D (T5500 for £440 if you look around for example) whereas I doubt very much the better manu's such as Lenovo, HP etc will offer much beyond a T2xxx or CM system.

Given its going to uni, its going to be flung into bags etc so isnt likely to be treated the very best.

The acer chassis is actually very good, if a little dull to look at, and their screens are excellent. Where they fall down is their warranty

Its only 1 year as standard and if you get unlucky (as my dad did) might not be worth the paper its printed on.

He needed a new HD in his, it took 5 months in total and they even sent him back the wrong laptop at one point... idiots.. it was srted in the end though, and this was around 3 years ago so things could have changed.

Its worth a thought given your budget imo.