Cheap Laptop

ruddy1987

Hi,

Was looking for a decent laptop for around €300

nice1franko

This is 349 in Tesco:

nice1franko

sorry about the ginormous size

Rowley Birkin QC

Has anyone any experience of that HP macnine?

nice1franko

I bought one but haven't used it yet. It does well enough in reviews though:

http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=prod1650419

http://reviews.walmart.com/1336/15063374/hp-biscotti-17-3-g72-b49wm-laptop-pc-with-intel-pentium-p6100-processor-windows-7-home-premium-reviews/reviews.htm

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/laptops/364555/hp-g72/2

The HP G72 has much to recommend it, though. It manages to offer what few budget desktop replacements can: decent performance and a good range of features, coupled with a stylish exterior, generous screen size and surprising battery life. At £447 exc VAT, it's good value too, so it's hard to let a few minor flaws put us off a recommendation. It's a good desktop replacement for anyone on a tight budget.

spec is decent for the price. you won't do much better. will not run current 3d games due to lack of good graphics card but you're talking min 550/600 euro for that in a laptop. probably is pretty heavy though - fine once you're not actually using it as a portable laptop on a day-to-day basis.

norbert64

Benchmark here, says the CPU is nearly up there with the 1st generation i3 :cool:
http://mobilityupdate.com/cpu-benchmark/intel-pentium-p6100/

hotdojumpin

Any idea which Tescos have this in stock? I've tried the ones in Galway and ringing some of the Dublin stores but no luck so far.

nice1franko

pm sent... for anyone else that might be interested they had them in Tesco, Balbriggan.

BTW, used it last night and very happy with it. used PCDecrapifier to get rid if the usual junk (HP utils, Norton trials, dvd software, etc) and used ninite.com to get the good stuff on (MS Security Essentials, Chrome, CDBurnerXP, Defraggler, etc). Very happy with it. Feels solid, nice build quality, the screen is excellent, it's not too heavy (for a 17" laptop... a lot lighter than our dell 17 Studio anyway), very fast to start up.

Excellent machine for 349 and coupled with the fact that the spec. is more than enough for most users (i.e. not gamers or movie producers) it hits a very sweet spot for said users.

califano

No HDMI port which is getting more neccessary nowadays.
Also it seems generally accepted in forums that the intel graphics card is just about the worst for gaming.

nice1franko

Yeah it has an hdmi port alright but no it wouldn't be a gaming laptop.

Most people don't use laptops for gaming though and the one's who do usually (i.e. should) know that the law of diminishing returns is in play by the time they've reached a spec high enough to handle the latest games.

As glasso mentioned though, you'd be talking about twice the price of one of these for such a machine.

ruddy1987

Anyone know anywhere where these are in stock?

hotdojumpin

ruddy1987 wrote: »

Anyone know anywhere where these are in stock?

I've tried every Tesco on the south side of Dublin and then some, I've also tried the Galway stores. Every time I ring customer services they either don't have any stock left or they think I'm talking about a different product. I had false hope with one store but it was quickly dashed with a second phone call:(.

If anybody could give a stock update of their local store it would be much appreciated. Or could somebody recommend other cheap laptops with similar specs, I know I'm unlikely to find a similar machine for that price this side of Christmas but it's worth a try.

Sorry for hijacking your tread for my own laptop hunt.

nice1franko

btw, I saw in one of the papers today Argos selling this for €479 (http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNu0mber/5084791/Trail/searchtext%3EHP+G72.htm), Amazon have it for £390 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004KPLJVU/ref=nosim/?tag=hukdie-21), laptopcomputers.ie for €531 (http://www.laptopcomputers.ie/HP-G72-b15SA-Pentium-P6100-2.0GHz-Windows.html)... although all these have it with small spec. changes:- larger harddrive (500gb vs. 320gb) but less ram (3gb vs. 4gb). Personally, I'd prefer the ram since I have all my media on NAS drive.

If you take the second exit for Balbriggan off the motor way Tesco is only about 3 mins away and signposted. Plenty of other bargains to be had there too (nothing wrong with 45 bottles of stella and 3 dvd's for 20 euro! - others listed in the main BA forum) so it might be worth the trip.

hotdojumpin

^ I'm onto you! You work for Tesco Balbriggan,don't you?!

€479 is a little over my budget (I'm a filthy student), and it's a lower spec too. Thanks for the suggestions at least your trying. Any more would be hugely appreciated. I found this: (http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00509MFC2/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A3JWKAKR8XB7XF) and this: (http://www.amazon.de/Lenovo-Notebook-Intel-Pentium-500GB/dp/B005I2BL1C/ref=sr_1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1317510858&sr=1-2). I might take the risk with the Lenovo if I can't make it out to Balbriggan or nothing else turns up in the mean time.

ruddy1987

hotdojumpin wrote: »

^ I'm onto you! You work for Tesco Balbriggan,don't you?!

€479 is a little over my budget (I'm a filthy student), and it's a lower spec too. Thanks for the suggestions at least your trying. Any more would be hugely appreciated. I found this: (http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00509MFC2/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A3JWKAKR8XB7XF) and this: (http://www.amazon.de/Lenovo-Notebook-Intel-Pentium-500GB/dp/B005I2BL1C/ref=sr_1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1317510858&sr=1-2). I might take the risk with the Lenovo if I can't make it out to Balbriggan or nothing else turns up in the mean time.

Yes any suggestions from anyone would be great. I called Balbriggan and they said they had none in stock