Group test: what's the best budget laptop?

Comments

Omendata said: Yes Vaios arent bad machines but the parts costs when they go wrong are horrendous and I mean probably the worst of the lot for price I mean a new screen for 290 before labour costs is just crazyApple parts arent that much better for cost either

Roy said: Thanks for your honest opinion I am looking to buy a laptop or notebook Reliability is more important to me than looks

AdrianF said: Concur with others on reliability issues My top of the range Vaio is always breaking even though it is a desktop replacement and barely moves - no way I will buy another Vaio Sony even prevent legitimate use eg disabling some audio features to prevent copyright theft and Driver support is rubbish tooToshiba and Dell in recent yearshave always been faultless in my experience and I would trust them

James said: I agree I have had both IBM and Toshiba laptops and both have superior service AT least the IBM did until a glass of wine was spilled into the keyboard dont ask Even then IBM went out of their way with free shipping both ways They also saved the hard drive and had removed it with the advice to install it into a case to make an external drive That saved 100 of my data that ironically I was in the process of doing a complete back up when the wine disaster happenedThe Toshiba lasted for about 6 or 7 years before the display diedNow I have an Apple laptop that I bought used Its even older and still works perfectly There is something to be said for quality Price vs value is a good concept

Anonuserlaptop said: By far the most useless reviews I have ever seen - good to know if I need a laptop from the time when sticks and stones were considered weaponry

Nick said: On the whole Id agree with your opinion However I would like to add that I have a VAIO that has had a LOT of use for over 3 years and is only just starting to show signs of exhaustion I only bought it because of a pricing mistake on a website which they honoured and would probably not have got it at full price as I dont believe in paying for a badge But I would buy again if I saw a similar bargain

Adia said: So true its like these laptops are made to last a year After one year it loses half its value anyway its not worth repairing at all

Aly said: When looking around for a budget laptop I was specific that it should have an Intel core of i3 2nd generation with the maximum RAM possible at the CHEAPEST price I found that in HP g6 Its been two weeks so far and Im happy that I went for it Ive written a complete review on my blog with photos httpgooglY1lsv

Vnesbett said: Rubbish I have a Zoostorm core i3 500 Gb hard disc and 8 Gb of Ram with 17 Gb graphics card for 399 It plays my 18 year olds fastest shoot-em-ups

Allanbrunner said: In the last 3 years Ive had 3 laptops fail all due to graphics - 2 Toshibas and 1 HP In the case of the HP my repair shop who are pretty good said it wasnt worth repairing because in their experience there would be a 90 chance the graphics would fail again within a year At 120 pounds a shot its not as much as a new laptop but still an outlay Now back to a trusty desktop If only someone would invent a graphics card that could be run through a usb

Mature Mike said: That was very interesting Gary is apparently a professional repairer and should know what goes wrong However users can shorten the life of any elctromechanical device yes I have used cheap HP printers and three in ones for more than 20 years All have performed well and reliably and the 2nd eldest still is with a needier family I still have my old Mesh matrix now 12 years old that I need for operating my trusty old HP S20 photoslidenegative scanner for ongoingdigital archivingI have had a Compaq Pressario Laptop which is now beginning to show its age and play up possibly due to the many Microsoft updates and 3 service packs bloating it- but that is 7 years and after being used in many different locations and being forced to accept and do more than it was designed for I think that is pretty good going I also have right now an HP Pavilion quad PC which dare I say has proved very reliable - again despite me working it very hard at times on only a couple of gigs of memoryBut I have friends who frequently ring me for advice with other make PCs because they have done silly things and messed up their computers Sometimes I cannot help and they will end up in a workshop where experts like Gary can help them resolve their problems When some of them drive me they are all throttle and brakes or they sit at lights on a slope holding the car on the clutch alone Naturally their cars need far more repairs than mine which has been Protons since they were first sold I find them very reliable So the users have an effect on computers and I tend to dispute that HP manufacture products not intended to last - although I do wish they could afford to re-issue drivers for new MS Windows versions - to save us all ditching useful equipment and wasting Earth resources Finally remember our human machines are not guaranteed for any particular lifespan either - it all depends on our genes and how we use them

ibm laptops said: I really liked your blog quite informative and interesting facts and figures you have discussed on your blog even the comments are very fruitful and helpful in enhancing the knowledge regarding the topic

Matt Egan - Editor said: The model we received to test had that memory configuration which is an option to purchase We can only review products as we find them

Farkas said: Your review of lenovo ideapad z560 m37afuk specifies 4GB DDR3 memory All adverts for this model has spec of 2GB Why the difference

Stan said: Why are these comments from March 2010 included - its misleading The oldest laptop review is November 2010 It would be better to write a new page and leave the old pages in history forever so we can go back and see what was good and when

Mattster said: The mesh is brilliant for a budget laptop but how on earth do you get your mitts on one There is no point of a good laptop that is virtually gone from everywhere The acer pc advisor reveiwed is much easier to live with but not nearly as fast

Gary Gemmell said: Yes but the real question comes of reliability and longevity - without doubt Ibm and Toshiba always came top in my list although Lenovo has tarnished the old reliable IBM laptop reputation in some areas - I repair laptops for a living and hardly ever see these two Manufacturers in my workshop but Acer Sony HP are a nightmare particularly the parts for the Vaios I would never buy an HP or Sony bloatware laptop If you want a laptop dont go for features go for reliability People forget the exorbitant costs for repairing a laptop - in many cases I always advise my customers to buy a new laptop At 40-60 per hour 250 for a new screen 190 for a new motherboard - The manufacturers are making a killing on selling laptops that last a year or two and then need repaired

Matt Egan - Editor said: Hi Neil Unlike other magazines who simply test the latest products here at PC Advisor we appraise the whole market to advise on what products represent the best combination of value and performance As it happens our current Budget Laptops chart contains only recently released PCs but we keep the previous months charts live because an older product - when you can find it - may offer better value for money for a more cost conscious customer

Neil said: As ss points out and the review dates show this rehash of reviews features laptops from 2008 What use is that for most people now please

SirMetal said: I bought a HP laptop about a year and a half ago for 480 it had an Intel Core 2 Duo processor 200Ghz 3Gb ram 250Gb HDD and an nVidia GeForce 9200m graphics card It was a bargain and still would be today