Laptop in the £600-£750 range?

[thepeoplespal]

I've to buy a laptop this week for a pretty ackward (but well paying) customer who wants to buy it himself (with my guidence) from a shop in the South London area.

So bearing in mind all of the above what should I buy and where should I buy it?

I will be using the laptop for databases & excel during the start of its life, but I'd like it to be as reliable as possible so that I won't have to spend my time having to fix it. I guess a copy of PCAnywhere might not go amiss.

[Jay-Aim]

In that price range with your criteria, I'd recommend a Toshiba.

Try the usual pc world/currys/dixons for end of range models to increase value for money

PC anywhere not that dear but will hit the budget.
Could you manage with openoffice to save on an office licence?

[Jay-Aim]

click here

>> Edited by Jay-Aim on Monday 3rd January 20:31

[Jay-Aim]

top of budget but ok too

click here

>> Edited by Jay-Aim on Monday 3rd January 20:26

[Bodo]

IBM ThinkPad R51, Pentium-M 715 1.50GHz, 512MB RAM, 1024x768
Best value for spec/case/service imho

[Frik]

I got one of these a couple of months ago.

Very happy with it.

[fatsteve]

Frik said:

I got one of these a couple of months ago. Very happy with it.

Would echo that. Mrs Fatsteve has one and it's a nice piece of kit. It's quite large (as laptops go), but thats the price for desktop performance and 15" screen at that budget.

Built in wifi is good to, although it sadly lacks bluetooth (a £25 dongle has sorted that one out).

Steve

[Frik]

fatsteve said:

Would echo that. Mrs Fatsteve has one and it's a nice piece of kit. It's quite large (as laptops go), but thats the price for desktop performance and 15" screen at that budget. Built in wifi is good to, although it sadly lacks bluetooth (a £25 dongle has sorted that one out). Steve

The build quality is very impressive.

The only problems I've had is that it struggles a bit with what I use it for (CAD/CAE) but I'm looking into a solution to that...

[thepeoplespal]

Jay-Aim said:

top of budget but ok too click here >> Edited by Jay-Aim on Monday 3rd January 20:26

Any idea what the models you were suggesting as your urls don't work, not very smart of PCWorld to do that.

[thepeoplespal]

Bodo said:

IBM ThinkPad R51, Pentium-M 715 1.50GHz, 512MB RAM, 1024x768 Best value for spec/case/service imho

Is that likely to be in budget?

[thepeoplespal]

fatsteve said:

Frik said: I got one of these a couple of months ago. Very happy with it. Would echo that. Mrs Fatsteve has one and it's a nice piece of kit. It's quite large (as laptops go), but thats the price for desktop performance and 15" screen at that budget. Built in wifi is good to, although it sadly lacks bluetooth (a £25 dongle has sorted that one out). Steve

Pretty good spec, but unless I can walk in and get it from a shop I'm pretty much snookered.

[Bodo]

thepeoplespal said:

Bodo said: IBM ThinkPad R51, Pentium-M 715 1.50GHz, 512MB RAM, 1024x768 Best value for spec/case/service imho Is that likely to be in budget?

€1.069 including VAT in Germany; should be around £654+VAT if market prices are roughly equal

>> don't know if that price is matched by local shops you can walk in to; but service would be carried out by IBM anyway, wouldn't it?

>> Edited by Bodo on Tuesday 4th January 00:01