Recommended lappy shopping (UK)

[too_much]

Weeeeeeeeell it's finally come to that point where I can justify buying myself a lappy (hurrah!) as I'ev got more reason to own one at the mo than my desktop (which will be used mainly for gaming once I've got my lappy).

Thing is, I'm not sure where to buy one. I've always built my own PCs so I'm a little thrown off as to what is a bargain and what isn't. If anyone could link me to some preferably UK based companies that are decent, then that would be much appreciated. I'm using "Froogle" too but all help is welcome!

Basically I want something fairly slimline if poss, good for DVDs, WiFi, 512mb ram, 40gb at least... As actual gfx cards seem to make them so much more expensive, I'll be happy with some decent onboard as the only gaming it'll be doing is genesis emulation (I have all the games of the roms etc), theme Hospital, online poker etc, nothing too severe.

Anyone know of any particular bargains on offer anywhere at the mo? Cheers!

too_much

[G]

I think your best option is Dell. They buy parts so cheap that the money they on each laptop etc is about 10%. They hope you will buy extras like memory for £142 when at Crucial the same memory costs £30+

If you need any advice I have just bought for a client the Dell Inspirion 9400 17" wide-screen and it is really nice and very feature rich. Reading all the reviews of every laptop will take ages. Go with the Dell; it's a sound choice.

I can even send you the invoice of choices I made if this makes your life easier and there are quite a few to choose from.

I deleted all the hidden partitions and wiped the HDD. Now I’m building it my way and all the drivers are available on the website too so no problems there either.

[Rocketmech]

Take a look at Toshiba and Acer , both have robust offers . Whatever you decide on, don't skimp on warranty .

[G]

I took the Dell standard 1 year warranty over the 3 years as it was another $170-190.

It’s a risk one has to way-up.

[too_much]

I'll most likely get a 3yr warranty - it's much better paying for a longer warranty in the long run, especially with something like a lappy that I can't mend myself! Would it be a better idea to aim for 256mb then upgrade myself after to save costs?

Gona chase up your recommendations now, thanks!

[G]

Well if you are careful you can save a lot of money going for the one year over the three years. In US we are talking about $250+ extra.

I advised my client against the extra as he was a careful use and if it is a reliable laptop, even better It's a judgment call.

[pandaz3]

I use a company Laptop (Dell) and it is reliable, only has 256 Ram which was okay with Win2K, but they recently switched over to XP Pro and things slowed noticably. They will replace all the laptops this fall with ones with a DVD Burner and 1 Gig of Ram. Anybodys guess as who will be the vendor. I have an older Gateway PIII 600/750 that is working fairly well, but won't accept the battery (even the expensive new one) plugged into the wall, it still runs fine with Win ME.

I also have used a Sony Viao and liked it as it was smaller and lighter, a important feature when you are on the go. Also important is the 'footprint' or space that it uses, and how usable is the keyboard (Smaller is generally worse here and the heavier widescreens begin to look lighter!

I had a Panasonic PI 133 too and it was it's own case, one of the ruggedized ones, I was reasonably impressed, but that was back in the Win 95 days. If you are going to use yours, out of doors, then by all means look at a Toughbook. I'm a fan!

Acer uses a lot of A64 based CPUs like the Turion which I believe is better than most Intel CPUs (I don't know anything about the new Duos though)

Really hard to make a bad choice with Leveno (IBM), Toshiba, Acer, Sony, Panasonic or Dell.

Dell is likely the easiest choice if it meets your needs

If I could choose one for my work it would be a Toughbook, but I expect a Dell, personal life probably a Acer