sub-£800 laptop

londonbairn · 21 Oct 2006 at 17:49

I am about to buy another laptop (thanks to a nice lump sum from the uni in the form of a scholarship) purely for being compact and able to carry around. I am considering either the basic Macbook (with 1gb) which I can get for less than £700, or I saw a Philips X53 with a 12.1" screen (for £750).

It seems for the price the Macbook is the best spec I will get. I will install Windows for my Statistical Software (as new licences for Mac OS will cost at least £600!), and use the Mac side of things for entertainment and browsing. Graphics do not matter, I have a gaming laptop for that, I just need a relatively fast CPU and 1gb RAM. I do not want a large laptop and I would prefer 13" or below to be honest.

It's main usage will be for complimenting lectures, being able to do work around campus and for using when I teach 1st year students.

What would you get?

A5H · 21 Oct 2006 at 17:53

I'd get the macbook. But how are you getting it for that price?

londonbairn · 21 Oct 2006 at 17:54

HE discount, basic spec of a Macbook goes down to £644.

A5H · 21 Oct 2006 at 17:56

What ?
On mine it only goes down to 704

Might be worth waiting til next month when the macbooks are going to be upgraded to core2 duo?

londonbairn · 21 Oct 2006 at 17:58

£643.90
(£548.00 ex VAT)

depends on the institute and the purchasing agreement. We do buy a shed load of Apple computers though, perhaps why we get such a good discount (15%).

A5H · 21 Oct 2006 at 18:00

Oh, are you accessing it from your uni network?
I'm just on the normal HE store.
What do macbook pros go down to on that???

londonbairn · 21 Oct 2006 at 18:06

yeah.
Prices are:
15.4", 2Ghz - £1,189.10

15.4", 2.16ghz - £1,444.08

17",2.16GHZ -£1,614.45

A5H · 21 Oct 2006 at 18:07

Thanks very much mate

londonbairn · 21 Oct 2006 at 18:08

no probs, kinda tempted by the macbook pro looking at the prices again! But then, the extra firepower is not needed!

Al Vallario · 21 Oct 2006 at 18:33

Get the MacBook — you will not be disappointed.

For general web browsing, entertainment, office work and portability there is simply no better laptop for the price. The MacBook Pro is equally good, but not worth the price hike for your needs

A5H · 24 Oct 2006 at 22:54

Core2 duo just launched on the macbook pro. Consider it now?

Got the new prices under educational too?