Help me find a laptop for my girlfriend...

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homeforsummer

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GTPlanet computer wizards, I call on your aid...

My girlfriend is looking for a laptop. Her current one is about four years old and definitely on it's last legs. It's slow, things break all the time and it overheats really easily, and the battery barely lasts a few minutes when it's not plugged in.

Recently she got pretty close to buying a new one - one of those laptops halfway between a normal laptop and a netbook (13" screen, 9 hour battery life etc) before realising today that none of them seem to have optical media drives, which seems utterly ridiculous to me. I'm aware netbooks don't have them but I didn't realise even some laptops don't now (save for MacBook Airs and stuff).

So, I'd like help finding her something. The criteria:

- Must have an optical media drive!
- Long battery life (6hrs plus, preferably)
- Small-ish (in the 13/14" screen territory is great)
- Not an HP/Compaq (we both have them, don't like them)
- Preferably 3GB or more of RAM.
- Must be able to handle internet browsing easily, and the Sims 3 with no problems :P
- Reasonable processor.
- No more than approx £500

Any recommendations along the lines of the specs above are welcome. It's difficult to search sites like Comet, Currys, PC World etc as they don't let you narrow down by things like "Optical media drive" which you think would be something you'd take for granted, but apparently not.

...GO :D
 
Hopefully this link works.

It appears that might be a decent contender - C2D T6670, Win 7 Premium, 13.3" anti-glare display, 2Gb RAM (upgradeable to 8), stock battery is pretty weak but that can be upgraded like mad, etc. for £399.00 plus VAT and shipping.
 
TB
Hopefully this link works.

It appears that might be a decent contender - C2D T6670, Win 7 Premium, 13.3" anti-glare display, 2Gb RAM (upgradeable to 8), stock battery is pretty weak but that can be upgraded like mad, etc. for £399.00 plus VAT and shipping.
Click to expand...

Wow... nice one 👍 I'd forgotten about Dell. And it has a rather handy list of absolutely everything you get. Thanks :)
 
Computer boffins I just so happen to be in contact with me say that Toshiba is a pretty strong brand right now. But yes, TB posted something ideal, really.

I'd get the 64bit 7 over the 32bit initially being offered.
 
Well this laptop does not fit in your screen size requirements but it is powerful enough to run the sims 3 with power to spare.


This laptop here is the same as the other laptop I have posted but it does not have the 2 year labor and parts warranty.

I find ASUS to be a good laptop brand. I have the desktop replacement type and yet it is surprisingly light in it's weight and can last 3 hours just browsing the internet even though it has a very powerful quad and high end gpu.
 
80Y 2C2
Computer boffins I just so happen to be in contact with me say that Toshiba is a pretty strong brand right now. But yes, TB posted something ideal, really.

I'd get the 64bit 7 over the 32bit initially being offered.
Click to expand...
What I have noticed with 7 is that at the moment quite alot of games dont support 64bit, even some programs I run can only run on 32bit (luckily I have that).
 
I'm typing this on a Dell XPS M1330 right now. It was more than your budget, but they're doing great work in the laptop space.
 
Legendary724
What I have noticed with 7 is that at the moment quite alot of games dont support 64bit, even some programs I run can only run on 32bit (luckily I have that).
Click to expand...

Well it is not a problem because there is a folder for 32-bit programs and another for 64-bit programs in the 64-bit version of Windows 7. The only problem that you will run into is that you can't play dos games. Though you can download programs like dosbox to emulate the dos games and programs.
 
Thanks for all the advice guys 👍

I think she's narrowed it down now to either the Dell that Giles mentioned (thanks Giles), one of the 13" notebooks without an optical drive and buying a satellite one, or, saving up for a bit longer and getting a MacBook...
 
(Psst... I just said she was thinking of that ;))

But yeah, she's looking at that option. Truth be told it is a bit of a faff though so I can see why she'd like one with a built-in drive.
 
I don't know if Newegg has a UK website or not, but this Acer laptop is currently on sale here in the U.S. for $349 + $14.30 shipping http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115674
If you could find it for a similar price online in the U.K. it would be a great deal.

15.6" screen, 3GB DDR2/667, 160GB HD, Windows 7 Home Premium, dual core Athlon processor (weakest link). But otherwise, it seems like a great deal.
Should be pretty quick with Windows 7 and the 3GB of RAM. You can also take out one of the RAM sticks and add a 2GB stick to make 4GB total, I think it would cost about $42 here in the States for one of those sticks, although I think it should be quick enough without it.
 
I just use newegg as a reference site. Sadly they don't have a UK site.

You know it's a bit so-so having a external drive. I would not mind if the drive was a blu-ray drive though.
 

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