Decent laptop ~ £500

[Derivative]

Now then, used to be pretty well versed in the latest technology, it's been a few years since then, things move on too fast. Always been a desktop man anyway, been on my Q6600 since release.

Need a laptop for Uni coming up in a few weeks.

I'm after something around 500 quid that can play 720p x264, 1080 would be preferable but not necessary. Hard drive space I don't care, in fact an SSD would be preferable if you can get them on low end laptops yet.

Screen size around 14-15", no bigger, I can hook up a screen if necessary.

Cheers for any help. I'm pretty much lost.

[el_oso]

asus ul30a is a very portable laptop with a good battery life. dual core ULV processor should be able to handle 1080 videos with a bit of configuring and the right software.
something like the dell inspiron is a bit of a more powerful machine but will suffer in short battery life (in comparison) and portability, you do however get a larger screen.
if you plan on taking the laptop the lectures and stuff personally i would go for the asus. if you want something more suitable to replace the desktop then i would suggest the dell.
go to whs smiths/tesco and get a magazine thats reviewing £500 laptops that week/month. there are always articles reviewing laptops at this price point
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[FURBAR]

asus ul30a is a very portable laptop with a good battery life. dual core ULV processor should be able to handle 1080 videos with a bit of configuring and the right software.

I have this ... paid 350 new .....

Seen new one on ebay for same price ... other places have it for nearer 500 quid ..
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Fuk um !!

[Flip]

Missus Flip has a Dell Inspiron 1545 or 1564 (I forget). Great little machine but battery life is around 1.5 hours wifi & film. My brother likes Acers.

There's a lot of choice for under £500.

[Derivative]

Asus UL30 does look very nice, a little too expensive for having an Intel GPU though I think.

Just found myself a Lenovo ThinkPad X100a for £380, looks like just what I'm after, 11.6" with a dual core turion and 4gb ram. I was after the smallest I could find with decent spec so this should do me well. It's going to piss me off no end 'downgrading' from a quad core beast though!

[FURBAR]

Have you bought it yet ...

I have to say, although i don't know your full intended usages of the lappy, if you get the asus .. you will be V happy with the extra screen size and batterry life ..

That is all ...
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Fuk um !!

[Derivative]

Yes I have it. Battery life is crap but I'm not too bothered about that, I will be using it hooked up to my LCD most of the time when I'm not in lectures and stuff. Drives my 24" perfectly, you'd hardly notice it wasn't my desktop until you opened a game

The keyboard is absolutely excellent, probably the best I've ever used on a laptop. And the nub is far better than trackpad. Out of the box video is shit but after a reinstall and updated catalyst drivers it runs 720/1080p videos well. Struggles on high bitrate videos (13mbit+) but then I don't get those anyway to save on bandwidth.

The processor is a bit worse than the CULV C2D but I do like to give AMD a bit of support, they had the upper hand in the Pentium 3/4 days and had their arses handed to them since then, rather not see Intel dominate them completely.

Cheers for the advice but I think the form factor on 11.6 suits me a bit better, I went down to the high street and played with a few, 13 was a little too big to fit in my backpack along with other stuff.

[FURBAR]

Good points ... the ANUS mouse/pad is crap ... and i use it for bed / garden and out .. sounds like you know what YOU need and thats the key ...
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Fuk um !!