That time of year -Laptop Halp!

[The Author]

I wish I could afford another one of my previous laptop; HP Pavillion TX1000. When I got it, almost 5 years ago, it was about £800. Since then, it has only dropped £50-£100. Still to expensive for me, unless I dont spend on anything other than rent for a couple of months. It was such a useful laptop.

[Jokesound]

Since I got it nearly 2 years ago, this Dell has had three fatal errors (two hard drive related, the third being the fan expiring and the heating system failing) which have necessitated it being sent off. One was two days before christmas, and one was literally the day of the warranty expiring. It's given me so much stress that I can't in good faith claim I'd ever get a Dell again if I was in control of the situation.

[FC360]

Your going to struggle finding a laptop with a high battery life at your budget, the only 1 I found that has 7.5 hours of battery life under £300 is the COMPAQ Presario CQ56-206SA. I've had Dell computers and find them to be a right pain so wouldn't recommend them, nor would I recommend Acer's especially after every single Acer product I've had either breaking, developing a fault or them breaking it within the first year.

Netbooks tend to be slightly cheaper then Laptops and cost more depending on the battery life, a 7.5 hour netbook could cost as low as £180 where as a laptop with 7.5 could cost as low as £300, so there is a £120 difference. Sure you get more power with a laptop however if your after portability over power then a netbook is usually the best option as their light and small.

Why do you need a lot of ram? a lot of ram isn't required unless you doing quite a lot of multitasking or gaming. Netbooks don't require much ram as their OS is a smaller OS with features removed so it doesn't need much ram to run.

[Ste]

I cant recommend an Acer, my Dad has had a couple of them now and they are rubbish.