El Cheapo Laptops??

[Mk3 AAA]

Got a new job starting soon and want to buy a laptop before I leave, and I'm not great with computers.

Needs to be pretty budget as I've spent money on a desktop recently and the car needs some (alot of) love.

I'm horrid with specs, but decent screen size is important, not too fussed on space I barely have anything on the computer, speed should be solid, and ofcourse price, but also quality and all that too.

Shortlist (but very open to sugguestions)

Harvey Norman:
-'Compaq Presario CQ41-209AU Laptop'
Processor Type: Sempron
Processor Speed (Ghz): 2.10
Installed RAM (GB): 2
Hard Drive Size: 320GB
Screen Size: 14.1"

$549...and 15% discount this weekend.

-'Acer eMachine E525-302G25M1 Laptop'
Processor Type: Celeron
Processor Speed (Ghz): 1.80
Installed RAM (GB): 2
Hard Drive Size: 250GB
Screen Size: 15.6"

$569


-'Toshiba Satellite L500D/00V Laptop'
Processor Type: Sempron
Processor Speed (Ghz): 2.10
Installed RAM (GB): 2
Hard Drive Size: 320
Screen Size: 15.6

$599

The at JB is

-'Compaq Presario 15" Laptop'

1.9ghz
15 Inch Screen
2 GB Ram
320 GB HDD

$564

-'Toshiba Satellite 15" Notebook'
2.1ghz
15 Inch Screen
2 GB Ram
320 GB HDD

$547


Any thoughts, advice? experience? opinions on brands (within reason)?

Cheers guys.

[evorobin]

The wife has that first one you mentioned the presario and it's faultless although not quick.

[Gravey]

have used many toshibas and they have always been pretty indestructible...the cpu aint mind blowing so avoid Vista. avoid the acer IMHO.

Greys Online often have good deals - I picked up a lappy for the GF for $900 and it had blueray, hdmi, good cpu, etc so that might be an option if you werent in a hurry

[The_Hawk]

I wouldn't go past Windows 7, it's that much better than Vista and XP for that matter.
In reality you will be hard pressed to get anything other than Windows 7 from any major retailers anyway.

My choice, I would go the Compaq or the Toshiba, if at all possible you want a Intel Core2Duo CPU (or Core i3/i5/i7) rather than the Intel Sempron, but then your at the bottom end of the market so you wont get much choice.

I know you want to go to a big dealer, but check out this mob:

http://www.onlinecomputer.com.au

They are actually in a building near my work and I have got a few things from them.

[mikepologti]

if your going to go a net book , go with something with windows 7 like hawk said. and try to get it with either a intel atom processor ( there not to bad and make battery life last quite along time) or a intel i3 , i5 , i7 , all very good processors use less power then there earlyer counter parts and run cooler meaning you wont have to scream over the sound of the cooling vents when trying to talk to some sitting right next to you. another thing to remember for longevity is that most laptops these days make it pretty easy for you to change the ram , and give it a lil more oomph later on down the track should you need it. changing processors on these is a whole differant kettle of fish, so if you want it to last a while make sure it has a good processor from the beginning. whats a good processor? google , cpu benchmarks theyll give you all the graphs and what not to show you fast it is compared to others of its breed. hope this helps.

[Greg Roles]

I'd go the Toshiba, having had a bottom end model for the last few years personally, and it was a dream. I now have a low end IBM Lenovo via work, and it's a piece of poo in comparison despite being much newer and supposedly having better specs, RAM etc. The Toshiba ran the terrible Vista too, and even this Lenovo on XP is slower!

[Treza360]

I'm still using my 4.5 year old Asus and even though the case is starting to show some quite bad wear, the battery is gone and I have replaced the hard drive, it's still crazy that it's going strong after this period of time.

Wow Site and Sound have a decent range of laptops too.

Cheers,
Trent

[The_Hawk]

There isn't anything wrong with the Sempron, much like buying a shiny new Hyundai Accent, it will serve it's purpose, it's just no GTI

[The_Hawk]

Well I'm not 100% sure I'd buy the VR6 of laptops with how unreliable their windows are

Nothing wrong with VR6 windows... it's just that you need to consider the regulators a consumable

[badgerboards]

i would also check out umartonline.com or msy.com.au
umart are pretty good. i built my gaming pc for 600$, i would stay away from harvey norman, they over price big time.

[badgerboards]

My current computer was built from umart parts and I'm pretty happy with it, but I bought a digital camera from there once which was a total overpriced POS and a dud, and they weren't easy to deal with for warranty, on the otherhand years ago I took something back to Harvey Norman with little questioning and they let me roam the store for a replacement, also they're an Aussie business... all that's not crucial it just means umart would have to have that much of a better deal for me to use them.

yea i know what u mean about service, but if you know exactly what you want and have some knowledge on brands and performance you get a sweet deal. digi cams Wow has awesome ones for under 100$