Which laptop? under 600, either turion or centrino

jamesvtidohc

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which laptop can you guys recommend?

budget: £600 inc vat. also excludes the amount for insurance

mobile so either amd turion or intel centrino.

specs im looking for, 1.5ghz, at least 40gb hd, 512mb ram, 512 cache, dvd rw (dual layer), graphics card will most probably be shared memory at this price *humph*, centrino or turion.

so far, im really contemplating on getting the acer 5001 wlmi or MaxFire
MaxFire 15.4" 1.6GHz Turion64 from novatech.co.uk.

here are the specs of both laptops

acer 5001 wlmi: http://www.dealtime.co.uk/xPF-Acer_Acer_Aspire_5001WLMi
maxfire: http://www.novatech.co.uk./novatech/NBrange.html?MXF

so what do you reckon?

im also looking to buy from a company who has a good reputation for their after sales service.

thanks in advance people.
 
can't comment on Acer service / support but certainly looks like a nice machine..

Dell should have something similar at that price, and their support/repair is usually fantastic if you go for the 'proper' 3 year package....

but saying that, I've never seen a broken Dell laptop anyway, IBMs are more likely to fail than Dells in my experiences...
 
I got one of the widescreen Navigators from Novatech and can't fault it. I have used them a fair bit over the last few years and always found them good to deal with.
 
thanks, i already checked out dell but their price range is a little high for me, im a student so also really looking for companies who have a buy now pay later scheme and also offer an extended warrenty or additional insurance which will cover accidental damage
 
I have an Acer and the service and support is great. Luckily I took out their 3 year warranty (includes accidental damage for £99). I had an accident. Laptop needed a new mainboard and graphics card. They picke it up on the Friday, it was back with me 7 days later.
With Acer you can get the same peformance for 100-150 pound less.

I bought from http://www.acernotebooks.co.uk

I bought a 2 Aspire 1362wlmi both with 3 year warranty. Should have cost just under £1350, they did me a deal and I got them for £1280. If you got a machine with that spec and warranty from say Toshiba, you're talking £1800.
 
jamesvtidohc said:
thanks, i already checked out dell but their price range is a little high for me, im a student so also really looking for companies who have a buy now pay later scheme and also offer an extended warrenty or additional insurance which will cover accidental damage

the extended warranites are usally really expensive and not worth the money, have you got household insurance as this would cover it anyway, but i would be really sceptical about spending more than £100 on an extended warranty
 
hey mrtbag, thanks for your reply but after reading through this:
http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/thread-5667-1.php

ive ended up deciding not to go with them.

shahedz, the additional insurance is worth it as it covers you for accidental damage for example over a period of 3 years, although you do pay probably an extra £50 for fixing a screen, and also the insurance doesnt terminate once a claim has been made. another thing is that on household insurance, you may not be covered for portable or it equipment and if you did have to make claim, your household insurance premium would increase.
laptops would probably be the only thing i would get insurance on, other things, i wouldnt, i used to work in pc world part time a while ago and even the full time sales people said laptops are worth getting insurance for, although not from pc world! and these are guys who are top sales men for pc world in the country, i worked in pc world croydon which is the flagship store so for any of those who work in pc world, you would have heard of sales people called clive, tafiq and mike.
 
jamesvtidohc said:
hey mrtbag, thanks for your reply but after reading through this:
http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/thread-5667-1.php

ive ended up deciding not to go with them.

Hey no worries. Just remember though, whatever manufacturer you go for, there will be a forum somewhere giving their service a slagging. I'll try and find the source, but one of the things that made me choose acer (apart from the price) was their sales to failure ratio was one of the best in europe. If I can find the site that mentioned this i'll post it here.
 
very true mrtbag, please do post the site.

i have also seen another bad comment on acers after sales supposrt elsewhere but it was only one guy so he was just probably and unlucky one is it were.

ive added hp 6125 to my list of laptops now.

damn it, i was really keen on ordering a laptop before this week.
 
jamesvtidohc said:
very true mrtbag, please do post the site.

i have also seen another bad comment on acers after sales supposrt elsewhere but it was only one guy so he was just probably and unlucky one is it were.

ive added hp 6125 to my list of laptops now.

damn it, i was really keen on ordering a laptop before this week.

I remember trying to choose mine. I was given money for my birthday towards one. Took me about 5 weeks to take the plunge in the end.
 
OK. I can't find the original reveiw I read, but here's a group test review from What-Laptop, that tests 6 of the low cost notebooks.

http://www.whatlaptop.co.uk/YfMFmz9o-WckGQ.html

They say of the acer: "...the build quality being high."

As I said, I'm happy with my Acer and their service, but everybody is different. My main advice would be to take your time in making a decision. It's a lot of money to spend when you may rush into buying something that doesn't quite suit.
 
My advice don’t get involved with any buy now pay later deals especially from high street retailers like currys/comet the APR is appalling. :thumbsdow

As for Extended Guarantees I used to sell loads of them on laptops when working at comet. :)
I used to explain guarantees to customers in a way they would appreciate it.
If I said to you that if you pay £150 extra today then anytime over the next three years you can have a brand new laptop the same value as what you are buying now but very likely to be of a much higher spec due to technology advances. ;) ;) :D Does that sound like a good deal to you? (Nodding my head at the customer) That bit is crucial if you get them to nod there head at that point then most likely they will go for it.

P.S. By the way I wasn’t a pushy salesmen I just had my targets to meet on guarantees and with Laptops it just made so much sense
 
thanks again mrtbag, but still not fancying an acer anymore, as much as i would love to get one. :(

stealthier, yep, that is the general sales pitch! at least i got to see pc world stick to their promise, although it took over 3 months for a customer to get a a replacement laptop, even though they say if it cant be dealt with within 6 weeks you get a new one!

the buy now pay later schemes which i am opting for are the no interest ones where you agree to settle the bill within a certain period, for example, within 9 months, if even after 1 second over the months the bill isnt settled, then thats when you get hit with the interest, regardless if you pay a week or even 2 years after those 9 months.

ive also raised my budget to 650 now if that helps, need to fit a 800 budget which includes laptop plus 3 yr accidental damage.
 
right, after a few more hours of researching, ive come across these:

samsung p29se

fujitsu siemens amilo pro v2020

hp nx 6125

toshiba satellite pro L10, 1.73 ghz version

so, any more recommendations, the toshiba one is looking real good at the moment.
 
So ive narrowed it down to two laptops people, please help!

its the toshiba L10 or samsung p29se.

the tosh L10 is the pentium-m centrino 1.7 version (theres a few versions of the L10) @ 619.99

the sammy is £669


help!!!!!
 
i would get one with a AMD turion because they are 64bit and are a bit more future proofed than a centrino. I have one in my ACER aspire 5021
 
yep that was what i was thinking of too, so now ive though about getting either the tosh or the hp 6125 but the amd turion 64 1.7ghz, 60gb version, theres quite a few nx6125 versions. so just waiting for the week to be over, sort everything out, make up my decision, and then order on monday :thumbsup:
 
update, the choices are now between

hp 6125, the version which is about £650 price

and the asus A6U-B028H AMD Turion 64 Laptop which is also about the 650 price

arrrrggghhhh, this is so long!

anyone else care to chip in, as a reminder heres specs im requiring at the bare minimum.

at least 1.5ghz only using an amd turion processor, 40gb hd, 512 ram, 64 mb graphics card (im not running heavy graphics packages or play so many games on it!), cd-rw of course with dvd player (also writer if within budget of 650 inc vat), at least 512 L2 cache, 1mb would be lovely!
 

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