Wanting a good Cheap Laptop

[unwashed potato!]

Wanting to get myself a Latop either first or second hand, that will be able to run photoshop and that sort of programs. I am wanting it as my gf will be taking saturday acting classes all day and i will be sitting in the car for 10 hours so i need something to do.

Im stuck as i have no clue what is a good laptop that will run photoshop, lightwave etc ok enough to use them and what sort of price im am looking at.

I have at most £200 limit for this as i have a very nice pc here so the laptop wont be used for gaming.

Can someone recommend me what sort of laptop i should be looking at.

Im thinking of going to MembersMarket and seeing if anyone has anything good there but like i said i dont know what is good.

thanks all

 

[unwashed potato!]

anyone?

 

[fobose]

If you can find a cheap Intel Centrino laptop then go for that

Acer Aspire 1642ZWLMi Pentium M 735A 1.7GHz 512MB 60GB DVD±RW XPHome

Display Size 15.4in
Hard Disk Capacity 60GB
Installed Memory 512MB
Native Resolution 1280 x 800
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Optical Storage DVD±RW (+R double layer)
Processor Model 735A
Processor Type Pentium M
Type Notebooks
Weight 2.9kg
Brand Acer
Stock Status In Stock
Price Range Inc VAT 300 - 500

Brand new for £445.99 inc vat, I'm sure you could find a second hand one for half that price

 

[deadeyedic30]

My sister hit me with the 'I want a laptop for surfing the net and downloading music'. Max price £400 and that is a max. I have found a few options. She keeps asking and i see how it will end, my hands and her throat. Either virus infected emails, no virus scanner or firewall used and umpteen requests to fix it !!!

 

[GuruJockStrap]

Don't think you'll be able to get a decent laptop new for £200. Maybe at £300-350 but I think you'll have to look at the second hand market.

For £200, you could easily get something like:

Intel PIII Mobile 1-1.2GHz
256MB RAM
20-40GB HD
14-15" Display
DVD Drive

If you're lucky, you could even get a low end Pentium M based laptop (1.4-1.6GHz, first generation not the newer ones with more cache and higher FSB) with Centrino (Pentium M + Intel WiFi).

Whether the spec is good enough to run those applications you want I'm not 100% sure on. I'd imagine those programs are pretty RAM hungry so more can easily be added later.

Planning on going mobile with the laptop? Make sure you find out the condition of the battery. The laptop may have seen plenty of use and the battery might not hold its charge anymore or have the battery operating time slashed considerably. Li-ion batteries life begins to go as soon as they leave the factory. This process is increased by charging cycles and heat.

Make sure you find out the condition otherwise you'll recieve the laptop and it won't last long away from a plug. Of course you can always buy a replacement battery but depending on the manufacturer, this can cost a lot of money (£80+).

 

[unwashed potato!]

thanks for that great advice guruJockStrap. So how epxensive is RAM and what RAM is it that is used in Laptops so i know for my own searching. What should i look for in Laptops RAM and HD wise, e.g. size, how many spaces for them?

Would it be better to get the best of un-upgradable (stuff i can't upgrade) stuff now e.g. CPU, and then get not as good stuff like RAM, HD and then upgrade them at a latter date? if so what should i look more towards, i dont really understnad intel rubbish, AMD fanboy here, so whats good, whats not, what the differnce between p3/4, this 1.7ghz business?

how easy is it to pretty much build my own laptop? im thinking that this would be better if possible as buying online would give me stuff i don't want and would waste money that i could spend on buying better parts that i do want. for instance i wont need a dvd drive, wireless ability, graphic card (i think i dont need this for photoshop etc, am i right?) , not even a decent sized Hd 10/15 GB will do fine. and instead i could get lots of RAM, good CPU.

i dont understand how you would bukld one though, would you buy a old crepaone with a good mobo or something, i have never heard of a laptop case on its own