Budget Laptop Specs Recommendation, please
Magister
Posts: 254
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Could someone recommend the specs needed for a budget laptop for studying.
It's needed for the internet for research, not playing games or facebook.
It would primarily run MS Office Word, Excel and Publisher. *
I've done a little research, which I'd like to check with you guys.
Processor: Is Intel Core i3 or i5 or Celeron 867 enough?
Speed: Is 2.3GHz enough?
Memory: is 4gb enough?
Graphics adapter: Intel HD Graphics 3000 enough?
Graphics memory: 384MB shared enough?
Can you recommend anything else I should think about?
*I was hoping for a student package that included Word, Excel and Publisher, but offers seem to exclude Publisher. Any advice on getting publisher too.
Thanks for any help...
It's needed for the internet for research, not playing games or facebook.
It would primarily run MS Office Word, Excel and Publisher. *
I've done a little research, which I'd like to check with you guys.
Processor: Is Intel Core i3 or i5 or Celeron 867 enough?
Speed: Is 2.3GHz enough?
Memory: is 4gb enough?
Graphics adapter: Intel HD Graphics 3000 enough?
Graphics memory: 384MB shared enough?
Can you recommend anything else I should think about?
*I was hoping for a student package that included Word, Excel and Publisher, but offers seem to exclude Publisher. Any advice on getting publisher too.
Thanks for any help...
0
Comments
what's the budget?
as for publisher .. you could try Scribus ... open source so zero cost option
LibreOffice can do the lot .... office apps inc publisher features
I seen Argos advertising one for £299 recently, looked great for the price.
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5087585/Trail/searchtext%3ETOSHIBA+C660+WITH+NORTON.htm
Can't see that would harm it.
For £300 will you get anything better?
Can you find a better one?
stick to A1 grade and all should be well ... might even be totally unused!
I really like the look of the Argos one recommended here.
I have been doing some research, and came across two options:
This one.
and this one.
I was going to post these to see what people thought tonight. But I read the posts here and now I like the Argos one!
Help, what shall I do!!
You say it like the laptop from Argos is old and outdated.
My laptop is getting on for 2.5 years old, I paid £375 for it, the specs (dual core celeron 1.6mhz i think, 250gb HD, 3gb ram) are no where near on a par with the Argos laptop. It still runs very well and will do all what the OP states.
Therefore can't see any problems with the Argos laptop the specs are still more than good enough and £300 brand new is a steal,
Budget is as cheap as you can get it, no point worrying too much about specs these days as even the lowest priced machines are powerful enough for what most people use the machine for (internet, office, watch films, music, etc)
Really who does "demanding tasks" on a laptop? It's always going to be merely WP etc, internet and the occasional 2d game.
Modern machines are ridiculous in their computing power, way over the top for most people.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/COMPAQ-PRESARIO-CELERON-2-2GHZ-2GB-250GB-15-6-WINDOWS-7-HDMI-CQ62-220SA-LAPTOP-/280979124362?pt=UK_Computing_Laptops_EH&hash=item416ba9308a
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DELL-INSPIRON-AMD-ATHLON-1-83GHz-3GB-250GB-15-6-WIN-7-WEBCAM-5030-9020-LAPTOP-/290754684862?pt=UK_Computing_Laptops_EH&hash=item43b25467be
I didn't move quick enough. That laptop is now out of stock. :mad:
Obviously student deals can bring down software prices. But are such deals also cheap on the hardware?
MS Office Pro 2010 can be got for around £80 I think for students.
The cheapest new laptop with a reasonable spec would be around £280.
To go below £300 in total would therefore need a refurb machine, i.e. the Tesco models.
This thread has been really helpful, and given me some good ideas.
So, yes, I'm looking for a laptop around £300. Maybe with Word / Excel bundled for a little more, or maybe not. Then I can get Publisher separately.
Although... Thanks for the tip about "MS Office Pro 2010 can be got for around £80 I think for students" -that may be a better option as it includes Word, Excel & Publisher. I bet bundling Word and Excel with the laptop doesn't save me any money by the time I go and buy Publisher separately.
I'm not interested in a refurb. (I may be passing up a great deal by not liking the idea of refurb but that's my problem!)
So, yeah, I think I'm looking for a £300 laptop. Any thoughts on these?:
This one.
and this one.
Or this Fujitsu which has the same processor as one of the HPs (from SaveOnLaptops) but less memory and smaller HDD, but it's not purple and is £260inc
http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Fujitsu_LifeBook_AH531_1258205.html
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Actually if you are using Publisher a 4GB memory is probably best. I think both of those HPs have 4GB
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/hp-pavilion-g6-1394ea-laptop-14272577-pdt.html
(but I only paid £329.99 for it; looks like price has gone up since August when I purchased it)
I eventually went with "this one".
You guys are great, here. Thank you so much.
What the?! - the price has gone down from £349.99 yesterday to £329.91 today??
Let's hope no-one bought it 24 hours ago.