Which Laptop - Uber Strict £700

[Westyfield2]

[Info]Not for me but a mate who had a old dell 500mhz 256mb Laptop destroyed by lightening through modem, he has been told by insurance (after forcing) that he can by a laptop upto £700 from anywhere (proper companies ony) and they will reinburse him[/Info]

So, What Laptop for £700 (strict £700)?

I'm thinking Intel duo & 1gb Ram (easier to upgrade RAM in future than CPU).
Two main ones so far:



Acer Aspire 5622WLMi
Clicky to Acer site
£660
genuine Windows® XP Home EditionIntel® Core™ Duo processor T2300 (2 MB L2 cache, 1.66GHz, 667 MHz FSB), 15.4" WXGA Acer CrystalBrite™ TFT LCD, ATI Mobility™ Radeon® X1300 with up to 512 MB of HyperMemory™, 80GB 5,400rpm PATA hard disk drive, 1GB (2*512MB) of DDR2 533/667 MHz memory, DVD-SuperMulti Double-layer, Fast Ethernet & 802.11a/b/g WLAN, 6 Cell Battery, MS-Works


Dell Inspiron 640m Intel Core Duo T2250
clicky to it here on OCUK This Week Only and here normally
£705 or £670 on This Week Only
- Intel Centrino Mobile Technology with Intel CoreT Duo T2250 1.73Ghz
- 2MB L2 Cache
- 14.1" WXGA Widescreen Panel (1280x800)
- 1024MB DDR2 Memory (2x512)
- Intel GMA 900 Graphics Accelerator with upto 128MB shared memory
- 80GB IDE 5400rpm Hard Drive
- Internal 8x DVD+/-RW Drive
- Intel ProWireless 3945 802.11a/b/g Wireless LAN
- Internal 56k V.92 Modem
- Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition

Currently leaning towards the Dell, any others out their or reasons to get the Acer instead?

TY
Ed

 

[Westyfield2]

I've now told him to get the Dell.
I looked at the Dell site and to configure it to this spec was £821 - so £670 is a very good price from Overclockers.

 

[Cyber-Mav]

get the one with the best gfx card and biggest screen.

 

[Graeme43]

IMO the Acer looks better at the price by far

 

[Westyfield2]

Haven't ordered either yet.

I'm now thinking the Acer coz of the Screen size (person its for is 70+) and the graphics card.
CPU diff is 0.06GHZ *2 cores = 0.12GHZ - so not much

Acer you lot reckon then...

 

[Graeme43]

I doubt anyone would be able to tell the CPU difference

Funny that it looks like T2250 > T2300 weiiirrd

 

[Westyfield2]

I doubt anyone would be able to tell the CPU difference

Funny that it looks like T2250 > T2300 : weiiirrd

Intel are weird

 

[Graeme43]

Intel are weird

I thought they were supposed to be fixing their stupid number scheme!

 

[Westyfield2]

Acer: On the places I'm looking at it:
"ATI MOBILITY RADEON X1300 with up to 512MB HyperMemory - 128 MB"
Does that mean it can do 512mb dedicated graphics memory but only comes with 128mb ?

 

[Graeme43]

http://www.ati.com/technology/hypermemory.html

I think it may be 128mb dedicated memory with option of using more system ram

Its still hella lot better than "intel gma 900" crap

 

[Westyfield2]

YEY.

Now trying to find it in stock somewhere trustworthy (certain online stores have messed me around before...If only OCUK did this model...)

 

[Westyfield2]

Now I've found
Acer Aspire 5612WLMi - Core Duo T2300 1.66 GHz - 15.4" TFT
£660
Dimensions (WxDxH) 35.8 cm x 26.9 cm x 3.6 cm
Weight 2.9 kg
Localisation United Kingdom
Platform Technology Intel Centrino Duo
System Type Notebook
Built-in Devices Stereo speakers, wireless LAN aerial
Processor Intel Core Duo T2300 1.66 GHz ( Dual-Core )
Cache Memory 2 MB - L2 Cache
RAM 1 GB (installed) / 4 GB (max) - DDR II SDRAM ( 2 x 512 MB )
Hard Drive 100 GB - Serial ATA-150 - 5400 rpm
Optical Storage DVD±RW (+R double layer) / DVD-RAM - integrated
Display 15.4" TFT active matrix WXGA (1280 x 800) - 24-bit (16.7 million colours)
Graphics Controller NVIDIA GeForce Go 7300 TurboCache supporting 256MB - 64 MB
Audio Output Sound card
Telecom Fax / modem - 56 Kbps
Networking Network adapter - Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11g
Wireless NIC Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG
Input Device Keyboard, touchpad, 4-way scroll button
Power AC 120/230 V ( 50/60 Hz )
Battery Lithium Ion
Run Time (Up To) 2.5 hour(s)
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Manufacturer Warranty 1 year warranty

The difference between the 5612WMLi & the 5622WLMi is the 5612 is + £10 and has a 100 GB HDD - Serial ATA-150 - 5400 rpm compared with the 5622's 80 GB - 5400 rpm.
Also the 5612 has a IDIA GeForce Go 7300 TurboCache supporting 256MB - 64 MB compared with the 5622's ATI MOBILITY RADEON X1300 with up to 512MB HyperMemory - 128 MB. So which graphics chip is better, and then which overall machine is better?

TY
*A Rather Comfused* Ed

 

[Graeme43]

I love ATI but I would go with the 7300 with 100GB HD It wont matter to the owner if its ATI or nv

 

[Westyfield2]

So, the 3 Options are;
1.Dell Inspiron 640m Intel Core Duo T2250
£670 / £705 (This Week Only)
- Intel Centrino Mobile Technology with Intel CoreT Duo T2250 1.73Ghz
- 2MB L2 Cache
- 14.1" WXGA Widescreen Panel (1280x800)
- 1024MB DDR2 Memory (2x512)
- Intel GMA 900 Graphics Accelerator with upto 128MB shared memory
- 80GB IDE 5400rpm Hard Drive
- Internal 8x DVD+/-RW Drive
- Intel ProWireless 3945 802.11a/b/g Wireless LAN
- Internal 56k V.92 Modem
- Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition

2.Acer Aspire 5622WLMi
£650 / £660 (Different Suppliers)
- Intel Centrino Mobile Technology With Intel Core Duo T2300 1.66 GHz
- 2MB L2 Cache
- 15.4" WXGA Widescreen Panel (1280x800)
- 1024MB DDR2 Memory (2x512)
- ATI MOBILITY RADEON X1300 with up to 512MB HyperMemory - 128 MB
- 80 GB - 5400 rpm Hard Drive
- Internal 8x DVD+/-RW Drive
- Intel ProWireless 3945 802.11a/b/g Wireless LAN
- Internal 56k V.92 Modem
- Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
EDIT: This is what Laptop 2 says in Graphics detail;
"ATI MOBILITY RADEON X1300 with up to 512MB HyperMemory - PCI Express
Video Memory - 128 MB
Max Allocated RAM Size - 384 MB"


3.Acer Aspire 5612WLMi
£660 / £665 (Different Suppliers)
- Intel Centrino Mobile Technology With Intel Core Duo T2300 1.66 GHz
- 2MB L2 Cache
- 15.4" WXGA Widescreen Panel (1280x800)
- 1024MB DDR2 Memory (2x512)
- NVIDIA GeForce Go 7300 TurboCache supporting 256MB - 64 MB **Does this mean out of main RAM?**
- 100 GB - Serial ATA-150 - 5400 rpm Hard Dirve
- Internal 8x DVD+/-RW Drive
- Intel ProWireless 3945 802.11a/b/g Wireless LAN
- Internal 56k V.92 Modem
- Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
EDIT: This is what Laptop 3 says in Graphics detail;
"Graphics Processor / Vendor - NVIDIA GeForce Go 7300 TurboCache supporting 256MB PCI Express
Video Memory - 64 MB
Max Allocated RAM Size - 192 MB"

So, item 1, 2, or 3...

 

[Graeme43]

3 looks the best

 

[jas72]

my advice is to get the extended warranty with any lappy.

My gfx card on my acer 1322 broke after 13 months. it was a 5700go

cost me 250€ to get it fixed

 

[Westyfield2]

my advice is to get the extended warranty with any lappy.

My gfx card on my acer 1322 broke after 13 months. it was a 5700go

cost me 250€ to get it fixed

Really, I've always read it's a con - but that's usually spotty teenager High Street stores tho.

Type: Extended service agreement
Service: Included Parts and labour
Location: Carry-in
Full Contract Period: 2 years
Support Period: 2nd and 3rd year
Response Time: 5 business days

Service & Support Details Extended service agreement - parts and labour - 2 years - carry-in - response time: 5 business days
Technical support - phone consulting - 2 years
Extended service agreement - e-mail consulting - 2 years
Extended service agreement - fax-on-demand - 2 years

It comes with 1yr free then 2yrs for £70

 

[Westyfield2]

3 looks the best

That's my oppinion too. But #2. has double the dedicated graphics memory (128 over 64) but doesn't it really matter with 1gb system RAM and sticks of 1gb @ only £50 each?
For graphics details see my edit's.

 

[Westyfield2]

Acer Aspire 5612WLMi it's probably gonna be then.

 

[Westyfield2]

Right. I've told him to go with the Acer Aspire 5612WLMi
I've read a few bad things about Acer on OCUK but manygood things, so I'd hope that the newer machines are better than the older. - but of course you're not getting a mega-strong laptop for £700