Wanted - entry level laptop

C

cj10jeeper

Lifer
 Lichfield, England
I need an entry level laptop to be used for no more than MS Office primarily email, web surfing and storing documents. Light enough to carry and with rbg for a remote monitor.

Quick walk around Currys threw up several windows 8 4gb, 500mb 11" some with touchscreen all for around £270 to £300

Any suggestions in that ballpark and spec I should look at and yep I know I could spend a £1k but don't want to?


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does it have to be MS office or just a suite that would work with office?

If not, have you considered a chromebook?
 
Def want ms office as that's my main programme across multiple pc's and I have enough compatibility issue with that and Apple without more being added.

Thought Chromebook had no internal storage and was just a web surfing tool? Probably got that wrong??
 
cj10jeeper said:
Def want ms office as that's my main programme across multiple pc's and I have enough compatibility issue with that and Apple without more being added.

Thought Chromebook had no internal storage and was just a web surfing tool? Probably got that wrong??
Click to expand...

Some of the chromebooks have fully fledged hard drives inside (though it makes little sense given that the whole os is built around the idea of cloud computing).

Chrome os is constantly developing to have more features so early adopters are generally rewarded through updates.

Your best bet would be to just compare specs given a certain price point, then compare them online after.

Personally I'd say you'd be better off waiting till post xmas to get a seriously good deal if you can hold of for now.
 
I think I'll rule out cloud computing for this one as I travel a bit and could use it on trains and so on. I have 4g and Virgin has internet, etc. but I'm going to be old fashioned for this.

Agree post Xmas reveals bargains, but I know there are experts here who know the market well so looking at what's around and if anyone has suggestions.
 
Id go for an Intel i3 based machine for that sort of price. The memory can be upgraded to 8gb for a relatively small cost if required (most come with 4gb). It will easily be able to handle what you are proposing.

I would personally steer clear of the AMD mobile processors.

Something like this (slightly over budget) - http://www.ebuyer.com/523540-hp-250-g1-laptop-h6e24ea-abu

Personally I find you could get a good deal at any time of the year, you can get a deal but the unit will most likely have been superseded. Although in this price range it probably isn't too much of an issue having the latest release. Although yes I would wait until after xmas as I am sure a few companies will hold back any proposed discounts until after 25th December.
 
Thanks bakes100 Nice machine to throw into the mix for the money :)

Happy to stick with intel, but no real preferences there.
 
Have you considered perusing the dell factory outlet?
You can often get a good little bargain from them
 
So to update I took a walk end to end of Tottenham Court road and emerged with a nice Toshiba with 700gb hd 4gb memory and a latest colour and style. Win 8 and warranty all for my £300 budget.

Very happy, just have the endless switchover and updating process to do :(

Thanks to everyone for their help :)


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Thanks for the update cj10jeeper, it's interesting to know what you can get for the money at the moment.

Hope you're enjoying the shiny new gadget (shiftover, though, urgh).
 
What would be the cost for 8 Gb? I need to rent 8 machines and for £1600 rental for a couple of weeks I could almost buy them for £2400 if they had 8 Gb available ....
 
pvr said:
What would be the cost for 8 Gb? I need to rent 8 machines and for £1600 rental for a couple of weeks I could almost buy them for £2400 if they had 8 Gb available ....
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Not at the one I went to but another with similar kit was something like £16 to upgrade to 6gb and £35 to 8gb. Pretty cheap really but I just don't need it for this machine.
 
Is that £300 ex VAT? Got a link by any chance as i might just buy 8 of those for throw away money.
 
sk93 said:
Have you considered perusing the dell factory outlet?
You can often get a good little bargain from them
Click to expand...

Yep. I got my desktop from them for £210 and it works a treat. I do have a few other machines, but you can get a great bargain from there.
 
Yes, that will be the case.

I am loading a VM image on the machines and will drop that afterwards so the machine will be in an "out of the box" state.

I will offer it to the staff first, as it will have about 10 months warranty left by the time the training has been completed.
 
pvr said:
Is that £300 ex VAT? Got a link by any chance as i might just buy 8 of those for throw away money.
Click to expand...

Sorry Paul - I thought I posted this reply earleir, but obviously not properly.

Price was inc. VAT.

Here's the model I got:
http://www.toshiba.co.uk/laptops/satellite/c855/satellite-c855-1w3/

and here's the supplier, although they don't seem to have anything showing online. (guess walking towards the door with wad of virtual cash is still a strong strategy :))

http://www.laptopoutlet.co.uk/

In reality there were several retailers in the street with similar models that I could have done a £300 deal with, but I fancied this colour, not plain black.
 
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