Advice on buying a student laptop?

Question

I'm going to university in September and I want a laptop to take with me. I'm on a student budget and am looking to spend around £400, but definitely less than £500.

I want something decent but nothing special. It's gotta have at least 1GB memory because my computer now is ridiculously slow and I hate it. I also need at least 80 GB hard drive space. Preferably more, although I gather that I can buy more.

Whilst searching for cheap laptops, I've come across Acer ones a lot. e.g. Acer Aspire 5720 but they look really cheap and plasticky and bulky, are they actually good quality? It would be useful if the laptop were fairly light and transportable, but not essential.

Can anyone give me any help? Would be much appreciated, as I know very little about computers.

Answer 1

Gateway 6842 (6836 USA) Best bang for the buck. Some features are:

4GB of RAM

240GB Hard drive

Vista Premium (64-bit edition)

Longest battery life in it's class

14.1" screen

Webcam

Dvd burner/plater w/LabelFlash

Currently $699 @ bestbuy.ca (might wanna wait for a sale)

Intel Centrino

It is currently the most popular back to school laptop according to Cnet.com. I highly suggest visiting their site. they can find a laptop for you.

Answer 2

buy a dell inspiron they not that expensive as the macs and they really nice  

Answer 3

MACBOOK

Answer 4

No, Acer laptops are at the bottom of the market price-wise for a reason. They tend to have a cheaper build than others. Since you want something real light AND cheap, would you be open to a tiny 2LB laptop like the MSI Wind? That one features:

REALLY slow CPU, but still fine for Web browsing and Flash. Not a Vista model, so that's not an issue.

80 GB hard disk

Webcam

Full GB of RAM for Windows XP version

Good five hours of battery life

10" screen

weighs about a kilogram

They're fine for classwork, and you can have a desktop too, of course. Costs US 399$ new, and also sold under UK brands like Advent. It's made by Microstar International, a respected company with at least twenty-five years of history as a computer OEM.

Answer 5

Dude get a mac!

Answer 6

I think HPs should be readily available in Europe. They're good affordable laptops. Depending on the price, most laptops have about 200GB+ of hard drive space. And most laptops these days should come with 2GB of ram.

Acers look very cheap. For what you pay, they're not worth the price. If you want some durability, try Lenovo Thinkpad R-series. It seems to average about £400-500 for a fair laptop. Not sure where you're from, so it would vary from place to place.  

Answer 7

Tosiba satellte

Answer 8

D. Heads....she said SHE DIDN'T WANT A MAC.

Anyway, I don't know of a NEW laptop with less than 120GB hard disk space. So you're gonna be ok there.

Try to spend the 500, rather than the 400 - you really get what you pay for.

You will have difficultity avoiding Vista, but if you do go for it, get a full 4GB of RAM, and it will serve you very well. Vista runs terribly with less than 2GB, BELIEVE ME. I fix computers for a living.

HP seem to have some nice deals now. Make sure you go for an Intel Core 2 Duo for the processor, and all else will likely fall nicely into place.

Good luck with your studies, and avoid the student bar (unlike me).