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What is the best laptop in a £500 budget? ASUS? Toshiba? Lenovo? HP? Which one? NO unreliable ACERs?

I have been(for 2months) and still am looking for a laptop on the internet but there are sooooo many and its soooo confusing that I have the 'embarras de choix' as it is said in french! I am in the UK, so I would buy online from dabs.com, ebuyer.com, laptopsdirect.com, dell.com/uk or any other place which you can recommmend me where there are better and cheaper deals. Buying online (from a reliable and well-known source/seller) is better than buying in shops/PC World. The other day I went to Tottenham Court Road to check out the laptops on sale and the prices are crazy! £100 to £150 diferrence in price compared to online shops. So I dont mind buying online. As far as i know, ebuyer has better and cheaper deals upto now. I HOPE I GET AS MANY HELPFUL ANSWERS ASAP..THANK YOU VERY MUCH Processor preferred: INTEL Core 2 Duo Specs preferred: Good sound quality from speakers, Webcam, inbuilt microfone,bluetooth if available, ergonomic design. Please have a look atsome of the laptops I have been smitten by but I want to have some advice from you if its a good investment and which one is best to buy or do you have a better alternative to offer me? thanks The asus: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/144181 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/139123/ -----siemens http://www.ebuyer.com/product/144182...roduct_reviews ---asus lenovo: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148295 Are asus. lenovo, siemens RELIABLE laptop brands? what about each one's range(link above)? I cant find any cheap Toshiba with about the same specs as the ones above, Dell Studio 15 is good but there is no webcam(and is dell reliable enough?) I have answered the questions below to narrow my search: General Questions 1) What is your budget? Under £500 2) What size notebook would you prefer? c. Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen 4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like? Acer--I have heard too many negatives Toshiba--- Nice laptop Sony--I would love to have one but I would not buy one as far as my budget is concerned since buying a Vaio is much paying for the brand. Its one of the best laptops though. Lenovo, Asus--dunno..i NEED some crucial reviews 5) What tasks will you be performing with the notebook? I will use it mainly for uni purposes..doing projects,whilst in class, using simulation softwares..particularly the resource demanding MATLAB + watching movies and HD movies + saving my movies(something like a second backup) and if available..play games 6) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places or leaving it on your desk? Yes it will be on the move with me at university(within 3weeks now!) 7) Will you be playing games on it; if so, which games? It would be great to be able to play games but its not obligatory. upcoming games such as Crysis Warhead, NFS UNDERCOVER and so on. 8) How many hours of battery life do you need? AS MANY AS POSSIBLE PLEASE(NO LESS THAN 1-2HOURS THOUGH!) 9) Do you mind buying online without seeing the notebook in person? NO problemo 10) What OS do you prefer? Windows (XP or Vista), Mac OS, Linux, etc. XP or Vista..I dont mind(if the laptop can be provided without OS at a cheaper price, better enough..I have my own copy of vista and xp. 11) From the choices below, what screen resolutions would you prefer? I dont mind thescreen resolution. d. WXGA or WXGA+ - 1280x768/800 or 1440x900; Wider viewing version of XGA, good for movie viewing or spreadsheets. e. WSXGA+ - 1680x1050; Wider viewing version of SXGA, good for movie viewing or spreadsheets. f. WUXGA - 1920x1200; Wider viewing version of UXGA, good for movie viewing or spreadsheets. 12) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen? Build Quality and Design 13) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you? YES OF COURSE 14) When are you buying this laptop and how long do you want this laptop to last? ASAP...life span depends on how much I will like the laptop Notebook Components 15) How much hard drive space do you want; 40GB to 500GB? for £400, 250GB or more 16) Do you need an optical drive? yes, a DVD-RW rewriter..no bluray please

Public Comments

1. TOBISHA IS VERY VERY GOOD AND HP IS VERY VERY GOOD. dont think 2wise. go for the better looking one there both good
2. I'd say buy a Dell. o: You can get a decent one for around $700, which is about 400 euros, I think. if you want more than 100 GB you might need to buy an external HD though.
3. ok am not up on laptops but have just bought 3 of them for my teenagers ... they have said they are great ..... and very cheap ... got them from woolworths !! .. hope it helps ... medion is the make
4. Hi, a month ago I purchased a Toshiba with lots of the spec you require & it has a 17" screen - fab laptop so far (I had acer before & had trouble with it after few months) I managed to get this one from Littlewoods.com for £450. If you're interested I will let you know model number
5. okay Toshiba (hooray - applause!!!) Toshiba gets a BIG thumbs up from me i have one and they are quite probably the best laptops you can buy ACER (Boo!!!!) you are right about ACER they're nothing but a big headache and you will have nothing but problems from them (unless you're lucky) Lenovo (silence - the sound of crickets chirping) Lenovo aka IBM are not too bad but they're laptops are boring looking and dont offer much for the money Dell (hmmmm) Dell are ok and theyre budget to mid-range laptops are good, on the whole theyre reliable but god help you if you get one thats faulty their customer service is shocking Fujitsu-siemens (RUN!!!!) Fujitsu-siemens are as bad as ACER they're laptops are utter rubbish they're fimsy faulty and theyre customer service makes ACERs and Dells look like saints in comparison AVOID AVOID AVOID ASUS (ACE) Stylish, well built and good value enough said you wanted a £500, dual core (intel core 2), 15-16" WXGA or WXGA+. WSXGA+ or WUXGA resolution screen, 250GB or higher hard drive, DVD-RW, good quality speakers, good battery life, stylish and sleek (i guess), the following laptop (link provided) is: a. A Toshiba A300 (one the most stylish laptops ive seen for a long time) b. Has a 2Ghz Intel Core2Duo processor (one of the many things you specified) c. Has a 250GB hard drive (extra brownie points for me) d. Has a 1.3 Mega pixel webcam (not the best but still adequate and is built in) e. Has harmon kardon speakers (harmon kardon make speakers for the top ranged BMW and mercedes cars so expect excellant sound quality from these) i should know my satelilite pro P100 has harmon kardon speakers and they sound awesome f. Has a 15.4" inch tru-brite screen (glossy finish enhances colours etc..) and is a good quality build and design g. has a DVD-RW super multi drive (supports multiple formats and also dual layer burning) h. Has WI-FI enabled built in (not something you've specified but is very useful) g. Is designed for portability (is 2.78 Kg - not the lightest laptop in the world but is still practical) its £499 inc VAT It comes pre loaded with Vista Home premium http://uk.computers.toshiba-europe.com/cgi-bin/ToshibaCSG/jsp/productPage.do?PRODUCT_ID=1056110
6. I am an IT engineer and never had a dead toshiba and the ones I had all were easly put back to life so realy any Toshiba will do. the higer the ram and processor the faster there's nothing else.
7. i just bought a new laptop from johnlewis last week and its a HP and its great"!! its £499 and u get intel core 2 duo, 2gb ram 1.67ghz and 250gb storage and its all glossy and hp are the best. hope u check johnlewis out and see the one i bough 499. oh and their customer services is excellent, u get 2 year warranty aswell!! good luck.