The best netbook sized laptop for under £400

DELETED_83755 · 11 Aug 2011 at 11:45

I have been looking at a few laptops for a friend and I'm wondering which one is the best in overall performance and portability:

1. Acer Aspire One 753
Specs: Intel Celeron U3600, 4GB, 500GB, Wifi, Webcam, 6hrs battery life, Windows 7 Home Premium

2. Lenovo IdeaPad S205
Specs: AMD E350 1.6GHz, RAM 2GB, HDD 320GB, WLAN, BT, Webcam, Windows 7 Home Premium

3. Lenovo X121e
Specs: Which one is better, there are AMD and Intel variants of this?? :confused:

Which has the best performance overall? Would like more suggestions on laptops with a max screen size of 11.6'' and a price less than £400.

Raikiri · 11 Aug 2011 at 12:14

The Intel version of the Lenovo x121e.

DELETED_83755 · 11 Aug 2011 at 13:11

Thank You for your suggestion. Any reason to choose the Intel one over the AMD? I'm wondering if HD video playback will be similar with both?

There doesn't seem to be places selling the above laptop, guess we will have to wait till general release!

Raikiri · 11 Aug 2011 at 14:07

Lenovo sell it directly, there's a big thread about it in this section. Can get the top spec Intel one (minus the SSD) for £370 at the moment.

The core i3 is considerably faster than the e350 and uses less power, the HD3000 should be similar as well if not faster.

Nephand · 11 Aug 2011 at 14:17

I've got an HP dm1-3201sa on order, a 12" subnotebook of the same ilk as those you listed. It's called the dm1z in the US, so you can check reviews of that. I'd normally turn my nose up at HP, but the reviews seem good. Aesthetically it's still a bit shoddy looking in pictures.

It came down to the dm1 or the x121e really. I'm still in two minds about this as well. The HP dm1-3xxx series is hard to get hold of (on back order until at least the 23rd Aug, HP's site is telling me) and only has the AMD E350 CPU. The 'top end' dm1-3201SA is £379 with 4GB / 500GB 7200rpm HDD. I'm just not sure about the battery life of the x121e given the surprising lack of reviews or anything out there so far.

Raikiri · 11 Aug 2011 at 14:32

It got nearly 8 hours max (min brightness, not really doing anything), 5h 9m under moderate use (web browsing, video, 50% brightness etc.) and 3h 23m under full load with the screen at 100%. That's with the i3, I would expect the e-350 version to be about 10-15% less.

Source: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-X121e-204562U-Laptop-Review.58880.0.html

DELETED_83755 · 11 Aug 2011 at 16:24

Thanks guys, I have looked at getting it direct from Lenovo. Seems like its more than £370 for the top spec with 4gb of RAM. Will wait to see if anyone else has it available.

Raikiri · 11 Aug 2011 at 16:41

Select the cheaper model, upgrade to 4gb ram and the 6 cell battery, then use this code: XAUG10.

Should come to £369.