Laptop Brands

Gilbretto · 12 Jan 2010 at 17:21

Hello all.

We are in search of a cheap laptop for every day use. Such as Internet, word, music etc...

I have read a few posts on here saying that you should probably stay away from the cheapo stuff and pay a little more for a decent brand.

Now, the question is, what are the decent brands these days?

Amp34 · 12 Jan 2010 at 17:26

Sony, Dell etc..

I'd stay away from the likes of Acer and most of the stuff sold at the purple shirt place (yes I know they sell Dell and Sony!).

TBH any cheap laptop will be just that, cheap, you pay for build quality as well as spec and name.

Scottland · 12 Jan 2010 at 17:35

Amp34 said:
Sony, Dell etc..

I'd stay away from the likes of Acer and most of the stuff sold at the purple shirt place (yes I know they sell Dell and Sony!).

TBH any cheap laptop will be just that, cheap, you pay for build quality as well as spec and name.

IMO Acer are much better on the whole than they were a few years ago, it's just there are a couple of laptops at the cheaper end of the scale that are still not great quality. I wouldn't recommend people against them, just make sure you read some reviews and user opinions on the model you're looking at - but then again that goes without saying!

Toshiba and Dell offer the best VFM at the lower end of the spectrum, in my experience.

Nymins · 12 Jan 2010 at 17:37

Dell have been great for me for many years.

Bought an Acer 6935G (granted a refurb) and the sound crapped out after a week use. The screen brightness was also rubbish as well. Could be just cause it was a refurb, but having bought from the Dell Outlet on various occasions, i haven't had a problem with refurbished laptops until i bought the Acer.

POB · 12 Jan 2010 at 19:42

Had loads of Dell laptops all been great.

But Dell Latitude E6500 currently main machine.

Currently have a Acer Netbook, and I hate it its junk, poorly designed and noisy fans.

coxmattycox · 12 Jan 2010 at 20:20

For cheap usage, can't say there is anything wrong with Acer. £500 laptop, dropped it a few times still rock solid, good keys (some of the cheap Dell's I have use are nasty), not auditable at all.

The highstreet names arn't badly priced for laptops, just do some barginning and see what extra's you can get.

Shane5578 · 12 Jan 2010 at 21:34

acer is prob one of the better brands. afterall acer is the second largest supplier of laptops in the world. HP is on the top.

i dont think sony is on the top 5, prob cos they are more pricey but they do make good designed laptops from what i've gathered. i have my bro's 17inch sony vaio core duo which has taken a beating and been sat on! screen permanant white lines on one side, battery dead, 2x usb ports knackered, tvcard, webcam dead. but everything else works.

my bro has an apple pro now, and i like the lightweight design.

i used to have an pentium 3 advent laptop, battery dead, creaky, cheap plastic, crappy driver support.

i have another laptop from zenith, with 33Hz, yea its a 486 lol. which i bought for £20 some years ago. everything still works on it.

you can tell how good laptops are from their support in their forums.

beermonster · 12 Jan 2010 at 22:42

Cheaper can either mean crap spec, crap build or both. Cheap HP's and Toshibas tend to be both, cheap dells tend to be a bit rubbish on build but ok spec, cheap sonys tend to be well made but crap spec.

I would personally go for an Acer as they seem to have hit a sweet spot between price build and spec, the new Packard Bells are built buy Acer also and are fairly decent.

If you buy cheap but look after it, it should serve you well. Theres nothing wrong with buying Advent or any of the own brand stuff if treated properly as they can be less sturdy. But perfectly adequate.