Laptop For Uni - Any Good Custom Builder Sites?

[Shaun H]

As in the title really, getting a laptop for my 18th for University (as long as I get in...) and want something averagely nice. Would like it to be able to run games but I understand with my budget it could be hard. Was thinking of a minimum spec around:

Screen size: 15"+

Processor: Don't really know much about laptop ones but not below 1.5ghz

RAM: At least 1GB

Graphics Card: Again don't know much but needs to be average

Hard Drive: 80GB+

Interwebs: WiFi (Aston has it eeeeeeeverywhere) and ethernet

Speakers: Would be nice but not neccesary

Also if anyone knows of a good custom building site that I can play about with specifications on to see prices that'd be tres cool.

[mcajh]

Dont know of anyone that will custom build a laptop. Give ebuyer a try for a non custom build though. Should be able to get a decent spec laptop for less than £700. Probably won't have 1gb of ram but you can use the money you save from the £700 to get it up to 1gb. Ram is easily upgraded on a laptop. EBuyer

Edited November 3, 2006 by mcajh

[nmt_oli]

After buying a mid spec "do everything" laptop to go to uni last year, and then 6 months down the line buy a desktop because my laptop couldnt hack it, give the advise that if your getting a lappy, make it a nice portable one, and save up for a desktop for you games ect.

Lieghtweight and battery life are key- especially the batt life if you want to actually use it properly, my poor battery life makes my laptop pretty much useless.

I saw one in our uni computer shop the other day which i loved, and sounds perfect for you- i will try and find a link. Its got a 12" widescreen, but runs at a high res (stuffs quite small on the screen), 80gb hdd, wireless stuff, 1.8 (i think) processor, and 1gb ram, and only £800.

Edit: link. http://www.averatec.com/notebooks/2200series.htm

Edited November 3, 2006 by nmt_oli

[craigjames]

After buying a mid spec "do everything" laptop to go to uni last year, and then 6 months down the line buy a desktop because my laptop couldnt hack it, give the advise that if your getting a lappy, make it a nice portable one, and save up for a desktop for you games ect.

Lieghtweight and battery life are key- especially the batt life if you want to actually use it properly, my poor battery life makes my laptop pretty much useless.

I saw one in our uni computer shop the other day which i loved, and sounds perfect for you- i will try and find a link. Its got a 12" widescreen, but runs at a high res (stuffs quite small on the screen), 80gb hdd, wireless stuff, 1.8 (i think) processor, and 1gb ram, and only £800.

Edit: link. http://www.averatec.com/notebooks/2200series.htm

averateca are a good spec but seriously, when i worked for pc world the quality of those laptops were pretty poor, its cheap and its good spec because your not paying for the quality of a toshiba/sony/hp/compaq

its very true with pc's you get what you pay for

as a trade off in quality and value have a look at acer, i had a 14" screen, 4hours battery life (proper usage too) with a 1.6ghz pentium m, 512mb ram, 60gb hd and a ati 9700 which cost me £900 3 and a half years ago. i know theyre a lot cheaper now. check em out. their £115 3 years accidental damage worldwide warranty is well worth it too. the casing was cracked where i' dropped it a couple of times, well the last time i dropped it on the power plug on the back, the bit you plugged in pushed thepower module off of the mobo. put it this way one week later it ws back home, with a new case (complete new casing, whole laptop) and new mobo. all done free......

have a gander

craig

Edited November 4, 2006 by curly_freak

[Shaun H]

I should be keeping my (shit) desktop anyway, was gunna give it to my dad but he's just ordered a new one instead. How about these I found on Mesh (where me and my brother got our desktops from years ago).

AMD Turion 64 Mobile MT-32

AMD Mobile Technology

1024MB DDR Memory

100GB Hard Drive

256MB nVidia Geforce GO 7300 Graphics

15.4" WXGA (1280x800)

Crystal Bright "X-Glass" WideScreen

8 x Dual Layer DVD-Writer

4 in 1 Memory Card Reader

Wireless LAN card

Built in Camera (1.3Mpix)

Audio DJ(play cd, MP3 from power off)

Free Carrying case & Free USB Mouse

Weight ~2.85Kg, Battery Life ~ 3 hrs

2Years Worldwide Warranty

For £679inc VAT

OR

Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition

AMD Mobile Turion™64-MT30

AMD Mobile Technology

1024MB DDR Memory

80GB Hard Drive

128MB ATI Xpress X200

17.1"WXGA+(1440 x 900)

Crystal Bright "X-Glass" WideScreen

8x Dual Layer DVD Writer

5 in 1 Media Card Reader

Built inWireless LAN

Built in Bluetooth

3D Stereo Sound with internal speakers

Free Carrying case & Free USB Mouse

Weight ~3.2Kg ,Battery Life ~ 4.5 hrs

2Years Collection & Return Warranty

For £699inc VAT

First one has better spec (although I'm not 100% on the video cards could someone explain which is better?) but the second one has a 17" screen and a longer battery life. I'm not too fussed on screen size, smaller screen means easier to carry in my books. Are these gunna be good enough to do "light gaming"

[TomN]

I Got THIS Laptop for Uni at the moment and is doing me fine.

Not bad I think for £640. Duo Core and that...

[Haz]

The Graphics cards n thouse two are about the same, but the nVidia is slightly better than the Ati, but it's so marginal, your better of with a 17" screen, for light gaming, they will be OK, but don't expect much at all.

[Danny]

What brand are those 2 laptops?

[Haz]

Both are Mesh, by the looks of things.

[br3n]

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