Alright, laptop for about the most basic user in the world needed

[Jondot]

... IE my mum.

She's decided to start looking at getting a new laptop, seeing how using her Acer has become a bit like shouting across a football field in terms of efficiency. Plus the screen is fading, the battery life is now next to nothing and there's barely room for even a small futon of data in the 20GB living room (40GB hard drive partitioned in half for god only knows why).

So, she wants something under/around £399 with all the usual bits and bobs. 15 inch, as big-a hard drive as possible (160GB min, really), 2GB of RAM (enough to comfortably run Vista) and a shiny dual core processor please. Also, a memory card reader and webcam would be nice. We couldn't care less about graphics cards, as the most it'll be doing is storing photos and browsing amazon really. Oh, and a scroll bit on the track pad is required, apparently...

Currently, she seems to have her heart set on one of these:

A Toshiba Satellite A300. Because, and I quote, 'It's shiny' and has a set of Harman Kardon speakers stuffed into it. I have tried to explain that glossy = fingerprints EVERYWHERE, that speakers aren't EVERYTHING and that the last Toshiba we had overheated, and then overheated some more, but apparently the shiny argument beats all of that. Oh well, it's her money...


I have suggested this Vaio which I can knock down to a delightful £384 with my UCAS card discount, but that didn't go down particularly well because of the lack of webcam. Again, I explained that one can be bought for £15, but apparently sitting a webcam on top of it would ruin the aesthetics. We can't have that, now, can we?

I've also suggested this Asus, but that wasn't favoured due to its relatively small hard drive and relatively big price. Even though I have explained that it'll probably outlive the house in terms of build quality.

I did take a look at the Dell Studios, too, but colourful as they were, they couldn't match any of the above for value for money.

So, any suggestions are appreciated. But it is worth bearing in mind that she's the kind of person that won't buy anything unless she's seen and felt it first, so if it's on sale in PCWorld, Comet etc that's a big advantage (even if we then buy online).

Thanks

Jon

 

[TB]

Dell Vostro 1510 clocks in at £429 plus VAT and shipping with the following specs:

Base: Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T5670 (1.8 GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 800 MHz FSB)

Microsoft Operating System: Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1 - English

LCD: 15.4" Wide Screen WXGA+ (1440 x 900) Display with Anti-Glare Coating

Colour Choice: Glossy Black with 1.3 MP Camera

Memory: 2048MB (1x2048) 667MHz DDR2 Single Channel

Hard Drive: 160GB (5400rpm) SATA Hard Drive

Video Card: IntelJ Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100

Optical Devices: Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Slot Load Drive including Software

Primary Battery: Primary 6-cell 56 WHr Lithium Ion battery

 

[Jondot]

A Vostro would probably suit her quite well. I did a bit of fiddling around and managed to get a decent spec for a bit lower than that, actually - £410 including VAT. I'm not sure whether they'd let me order one though, as I'm not a small or medium business.

 

[TB]

I don't think it matters if you're a business or not. If I'm not mistaken, it just the specs are a bit different between comparable business class versus home use - home usually has a bunch of crap you won't use anyway.

Edit: Holy crap. The Home version (Inspiron 1525) actually came out cheaper, at least for the things your mom wants:
(changes in bold and red)

BASE Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T5750 (2.00 GHz, 667 MHz FSB, 2 MB L2 cache)

OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1 - English

HARDWARE SUPPORT 1 Year Base Warranty
[B]
WEBCAM 2.0 Mega pixel web camera[/B]
[COLOR="Red"]Vostro had 1.3Mp[/COLOR]

COLOUR CHOICE	Jet Black Colour with Matte Finish

[B]LCD 15.4" Wide Screen WXGA (1280 x 800) Display with TrueLife™[/B]
[COLOR="Red"]Vostro had 15.4" Wide Screen WXGA+ (1440 x 900) Display
with Anti-Glare Coating[/COLOR]

MEMORY 2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024]

[B]HARD DRIVE 250GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive[/B]
[COLOR="Red"]Vostro had 160GB (5400rpm) SATA Hard Drive[/COLOR]

GRAPHICS CARD Integrated Intel® Graphic Media Accelerator X3100

OPTICAL DRIVE 8x DVD+/-RW Optical drive, including SW

PRIMARY BATTERY 6-cell battery

[B]BLUETOOTH Dell™ Wireless 355 Bluetooth + Bluetooth Mouse[/B] 
[COLOR="Red"]Vostro had BT, but not mouse[/COLOR]

WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY Dell™ Wireless 1490 802.11a/b/g Mini-Card - Europe - Core 2 Duo Processors

£468.00 Includes VAT and shipping

Personal note: I have a 17" Inspiron with TrueLife and while it does look awesome, with a window or light behind you, there is one hell of a glare. I've not seen a screen with the anti-glare coating to have an opinion on it.

 

[ExigeEvan]

I think this hits all of the above...
http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.204-4693.aspx

Accessories Included HP Mini Remote Control
Bluetooth No
Box Contents HP Pavilion dv6907em Entertainment Notebook PC, HP Mini Remote Control
Brand HP
Built-in Webcam Yes
Card Reader Yes
Finger Print Reader No
Firewire Yes
Graphics NVidea 8400 256MB graphics
Graphics Dedicated Yes
Hard Drive Size 160GB
Hard Drive Type SATA
Memory Features DDR2
Memory Size 2GB
Number of USB Ports 3x USB 2.0
Operating System Windows Vista™ Home Premium
Optical Drive DVD Dual Layer Rewriter
Optical Drive Bluray Compatible No
Optical Drive HD Compatible No
Optical Drive Lightscribe Compatible Yes
Output 1 HDMI connector, 1 VGA port
Processor Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Bus 667MHz
Processor Cache Level 2 Cache 2MB
Processor Model Number T5750
Processor Speed 2GHz
Product Depth 35.7 cm
Product Height 3.96 cm
Product Width 25.7 cm
Remote Control Included Yes
Screen Size 15.4"
Screen Type WXGA High Definition BrightView Widescreen
Software Load Microsoft® Works and Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007 60-Day Trial Version Microsoft® Internet Explorer Windows Mail Adobe® Reader Windows Media Player Windows Photo Gallery DVD Play Windows Movie Maker, Windows DVD Maker Cyberlink DVD Suite Windows Media center, QuickPlay for Windows HP Total Care Advisor
TV Tuner No
User Model Entertainment Yes
Wired Networking Port Yes
Wireless Features Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection

 

[Jondot]

I don't think it matters if you're a business or not. If I'm not mistaken, it just the specs are a bit different between comparable business class versus home use - home usually has a bunch of crap you won't use anyway.

Edit: Holy crap. The Home version (Inspiron 1525) actually came out cheaper, at least for the things your mom wants:
(changes in bold and red)

BASE Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T5750 (2.00 GHz, 667 MHz FSB, 2 MB L2 cache)

OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1 - English

HARDWARE SUPPORT 1 Year Base Warranty
[B]
WEBCAM 2.0 Mega pixel web camera[/B]
[COLOR=Red]Vostro had 1.3Mp[/COLOR]

COLOUR CHOICE    Jet Black Colour with Matte Finish

[B]LCD 15.4" Wide Screen WXGA (1280 x 800) Display with TrueLife™[/B]
[COLOR=Red]Vostro had 15.4" Wide Screen WXGA+ (1440 x 900) Display
with Anti-Glare Coating[/COLOR]

MEMORY 2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024]

[B]HARD DRIVE 250GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive[/B]
[COLOR=Red]Vostro had 160GB (5400rpm) SATA Hard Drive[/COLOR]

GRAPHICS CARD Integrated Intel® Graphic Media Accelerator X3100

OPTICAL DRIVE 8x DVD+/-RW Optical drive, including SW

PRIMARY BATTERY 6-cell battery

[B]BLUETOOTH Dell™ Wireless 355 Bluetooth + Bluetooth Mouse[/B] 
[COLOR=Red]Vostro had BT, but not mouse[/COLOR]

WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY Dell™ Wireless 1490 802.11a/b/g Mini-Card - Europe - Core 2 Duo Processors

£468.00 Includes VAT and shipping

Personal note: I have a 17" Inspiron with TrueLife and while it does look awesome, with a window or light behind you, there is one hell of a glare. I've not seen a screen with the anti-glare coating to have an opinion on it.

Indeed, although it's more than she wanted to pay really. I mean the £420 Toshiba has near-as everything that the Dell does plus an extra gig of RAM, and is a fair bit cheaper. http://www.staples.co.uk/ENG/Catalo...21797,35750,90634&webid=396275&affixedcode=WW

I think this hits all of the above...
http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.204-4693.aspx

Accessories Included HP Mini Remote Control
Bluetooth No
Box Contents HP Pavilion dv6907em Entertainment Notebook PC, HP Mini Remote Control
Brand HP
Built-in Webcam Yes
Card Reader Yes
Finger Print Reader No
Firewire Yes
Graphics NVidea 8400 256MB graphics
Graphics Dedicated Yes
Hard Drive Size 160GB
Hard Drive Type SATA
Memory Features DDR2
Memory Size 2GB
Number of USB Ports 3x USB 2.0
Operating System Windows Vista™ Home Premium
Optical Drive DVD Dual Layer Rewriter
Optical Drive Bluray Compatible No
Optical Drive HD Compatible No
Optical Drive Lightscribe Compatible Yes
Output 1 HDMI connector, 1 VGA port
Processor Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Bus 667MHz
Processor Cache Level 2 Cache 2MB
Processor Model Number T5750
Processor Speed 2GHz
Product Depth 35.7 cm
Product Height 3.96 cm
Product Width 25.7 cm
Remote Control Included Yes
Screen Size 15.4"
Screen Type WXGA High Definition BrightView Widescreen
Software Load Microsoft® Works and Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007 60-Day Trial Version Microsoft® Internet Explorer Windows Mail Adobe® Reader Windows Media Player Windows Photo Gallery DVD Play Windows Movie Maker, Windows DVD Maker Cyberlink DVD Suite Windows Media center, QuickPlay for Windows HP Total Care Advisor
TV Tuner No
User Model Entertainment Yes
Wired Networking Port Yes
Wireless Features Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection

That seems to be pretty good 👍 I looked at a few HPs but they were all a bit too expensive - that would be perfect. Plus I think the Pavillions look hot, and the media remote is nice (as is HDMI).

 

[ExigeEvan]

That seems to be pretty good 👍 I looked at a few HPs but they were all a bit too expensive - that would be perfect. Plus I think the Pavillions look hot, and the media remote is nice (as is HDMI).

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