Is this laptop any good?

Jigglypuff

Hi there,
I need a new laptop for college, around 500 budget, but I've no idea what's good or not!
Saw this on argos, seems good, does it look ok?

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/5085556.htm

I want to be able to use it in lectures without the charger (my current one turns off within 5 mins without one), so a decent battery life. Other than that, general college stuff, like essays, also watching online tv and what not!

Any help appreciated, I'm a technology noob

Alanstrainor

If battery life is a priority then I would steer clear of that one. Id personally be looking for something small and with a long battery life. You should be able to pick up a laptop/netbook with a 6 hour plus battery life for your budget.

danger_mouse_tm

Have a look at this one. http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/5086012/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7COffice%2C+PCs+and+phones%7C14418968/c_2/3%7Ccat_19780850%7CLaptops+and+netbooks%7C14419039.htm
I think the screen size is right for bringing to college. a 15.6 full size laptop gets very big and awkward when you put it into a backpack with books and other stuff. I just have a messenger bag for my netbook and it's great.

Jigglypuff

Thanks, I do commerce so it needs to have enough space for microsoft office as well, apparently some net books wouldn't have the required specs. I'll have a look at net books though, they'd certainly be easier to carry around, that being said, most of my year have the laptop the college recommended, and it's a big yoke!

Jigglypuff

I think I'd also prefer the bigger screen of a laptop, as long as the battery lasts around 3 hrs that'll cover me for the length of a lecture so maybe 4.5 would be ok.

danger_mouse_tm

There are a lot of cheaper 10.1 size netbooks and they are a disaster. The 11.5 inch screen is the sweet spot in my opinion. The dual core processor will get you out of the atom processors that are another let down. Altough my hp mini 311c has an atom I have a fresh clean install of windows 7 (without all the crapware) and I have it maxed out with 3gb of ram. I threw a 300gb disk in there too and it flies along nicely. Also with the HDMI output I can have it hooked up to the 32"lcd at home and watch movies while working on the netbook screen at the same time!
Get rid of any norton or mcafee anti virus stuff that's on it and download microsoft sercurity essentials. I find that Norton is far too bloated and gets into everything. Try to always have something under the laptop so that it doesn't overheat or suck up clothes fibres through the fan. you also don't want to wear off that windows 7 key underneath. I get a huge amount of computers in for repair that don't have the keys on them anymore. They are €100 to replace!
Do all your updates and stuff as soon as you get your laptop and create your backup discs then.
Use software4students.ie to get your office 2010 or you could use open office (which is free) but MS office will have direct integration with your 25gb of free space on your microsoft sky drive (Live ID required).