Advice on buying new laptop please...

[AdamSP12]

... on a budget of around £350.

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/521910#productInformationSection

PC World have one laptop, advice please if it's any good, and if there's anything better out there for the money.

I'm after a laptop for portability, as I'm teaching guitar and require a laptop for music software to take along as a teaching aid; most of the preparation work will be done on a desktop.

After reading a similar thread I have made a list of pointers to help you guys help me find the right laptop, so here goes

It will be used for
- online forums (guitar mainly)
- some youtube vids
- music software (Audacity and PowerTabEditor)
- mp3s
- word processing

15 inch screen

battery life 2 to 3 hours

enough hard drive capacity for mp3s, and storage of text, audacity, power tab files

good sound card (advice, and suggestions on good external speakers)

weight - not too heavy

All advice is welcome, as are additional questions (I'm not too tech aware, so I've probably missed something)

Thanks in advance!

 

[Anon_F]

You could try your local staples who do a few laptops in your price range.
The Ei Laptop is a very basic laptop & for a few £££ more you could buy better!

 

[Quadophile]

I have recently advised some friends to get Toshiba laptops as they had some very good deals and had excellent specs to boast. I am in the US so the specs and prices in UK may differ but I am pretty sure that Toshiba has some good offerings in UK as well.

I mention Toshiba as they are in the field for a very long time and is a very reputable company. The laptops that I had recommended had very good sound card as well as speakers. You cannot expect great sound from budget laptops but it was better than the competition.

Any laptop that you buy will not give you a full sound so you will need external speakers or headphones.

If you come across any good deal on a Toshiba do come back and post the details and I will be happy to help you out in your selection.

As for storage of MP3 is concerned it is something which is depending on how many you wish to store, a budget laptop is not something which has unlimited storage capacity so eventually you will have to look for portable storage like mobile drives to carry with you. You can always add it later on.

 

[Quadophile]

Here is a decent model for you to consider which I just checked at the same site you provided a link of. Better deals can always be searched for to either save money or buy a slightly better model at same price.

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/220749

 

[captain zed]

That ad you linked to says the laptop is free if you buy a broadband contract. the laptop itself isn't too bad.

 

[AdamSP12]

Quadophile, thanks for the tip about toshiba, sounds like it's worth looking their way.

As regards mp3s, I don't mind only storing those songs I'm teaching on the laptop.

As for the speakers, are there any suggestions of something around £20?

captain zed, thanks for spotting the broadband deals. Missed that one myself, trying to concentrate on getting a good laptop so I'm perhaps a bit slow at spotting offers (not normally like me).

Also any suggestions on better laptops, up to £400?

 

[Quadophile]

Quadophile, thanks for the tip about toshiba, sounds like it's worth looking their way.

As regards mp3s, I don't mind only storing those songs I'm teaching on the laptop.

As for the speakers, are there any suggestions of something around £20?

Also any suggestions on better laptops, up to £400?

For speakers I would say stick to two brands in your budget, Logitech or Altec Lansing, I have on numerous occasions recommended them to friends and families and they are excellent in terms of value for money as well as sound quality. I personally also bought from these two brands. You can get very good two channel speakers for the budget you have.

If you are interested in portable headphones do give Sennheisers a serious consideration as they are a steal at the price and will far outweigh the benefits in terms of sound quality compared to speakers.

As for suggestions on better laptops around 400, I would still look into Toshiba as they do have better spec machines at that price bracket too. In my opinion the current offering has the best finish of all the laptops I personally saw in the store, albeit Apple which is way more expensive to be even considered for comparison. Most of the other Laptops were looking flimsy in comparison as well as cheap looking with flashy lights and colours. Only when you move up in the price bracket to high end laptops things start to look different.