Laptop Recommendations?

[Beechwoods]

All the computers I've bought in the last 6 or 7 years have been Apple machines. My laptop (used for surfing/email) has pretty much had it. The lid hinge is hanging off following umpteen drops, and now the backlight has got intermittent. It's an iBook G4 750 something Mhz machine.

I can't afford a new Apple machine. The only Apple machines you find secondhand are damaged in some way. People hold on to the good machines.

So I'm looking for a new laptop to replace my iBook. Price should be £350 or cheaper, new. It should have a 12"-15" screen. I'm not bothered about OS because I'm planning on sticking Ubuntu Linux on there.

Ideally I'd like something that has a bit of style about it. But not loads of horrible lights and buttons that look like they're from the dashboard of a MkII Fiesta on a Friday night carcruise...

Any thoughts? Thanks for your help :)

[John]

Hi Nick
Plenty of good laptops in that price range and a good time to purchase
I use a Packard Bell that I had for about a year and half with no issues. If I get 3 years out of it I will be very happy.
Hope you find a decent one but can hear Rob saying "don't do it" in the background

[Beechwoods]

I can hear him too, but pragmatism must. If I could get a 100% reliable second-hand Apple I'd do it. I was lusting over a MacBook Air in P* World today, fantastic machines, but I cannot justify the spends for the use I put a laptop to...

[Filterlab]

DON'T DO IT! :)

£350, a tricky budget for an Apple laptop. I believe the cheapest Macbook is the 13" white one for £704, in fact I know it is as I'm getting my girly one for her birthday. Is there any way you could buy one through your employer and save the VAT? That gets the price down to £612. I know that's a little way from £350 but maybe you could eBay off a couple of bits of superfluous hi-fi to make up the shortfall? I'm looking for a decent pair of cans so I'd be happy to buy from you if you had anything, maybe a nice DAT machine? :)

[Beechwoods]

I know that's a little way from £350 but maybe you could eBay off a couple of bits of superfluous hi-fi to make up the shortfall? I'm looking for a decent pair of cans so I'd be happy to buy from you if you had anything, maybe a nice DAT machine? :)

:lol: a good idea and a very nice thought! Unfortunately, for me, 'superfluous' and 'hi-fi' just don't compute :) But I have thought further and looked at some more machines, and none of them are a patch on a Mac. So I'm upping my budget and looking at the entry level iBook, at £704, as you say. My only thought at the moment is how long do I have to wait before the aluminium body iBook comes down to that price? I can wait until this machine really does bite the dust...

You really are generous, Rob. Bet your GF is verry happy when she gets to play with her new Mac. Mrs B has the middle one from a year ago and it's really nice, esp. with the Apple remote and Front Row.

Cheers!

PS. PC World have got the 1.6Ghz Macbook Air from last year at £799. Very very tempted, but too many sacrifices for an extra £90 on top. But what a lovely piece of engineering.

[Ali Tait]

Perhaps not what you are looking for,but I got my other half an Acer Aspire One netbook for xmas.Smallish screen,but does everything a laptop will do,except it doesn't have a cd rom drive.120 gig HD though,and you can get it with Linux.I find it ideal for surfing the net.It looks good and is small and light.Was 199 quid before xmas,probably a bit cheaper now if you hunt around.I like it so much I'm getting one for myself!

[Beechwoods]

I've seen those and they look nice for a 'netbook' form factor; 10.5" screen, very portable. If I was in the market for a real portable; for using on the train or out and about it would be in my top 3. The HP 2133 is also a strong contender, and the Asus EEE PC 900e. I have decided that I need a bigger screen and keyboard though, for more rigourous home use.

[Filterlab]

Well Nick, apparently there is a new range of iMacs due out in 2009 (allegedly) so there may be some discounts on the Macbook to be had as it'll probably have a facelift to match, although as is normal with Apple don't hold your breath, demand is always high so why drop the prices? A 1.6Ghz Air for £799 is a bargain but the Macbook for £704 has a quicker processor and a CD drive (which is handy).

I'm sure Miss Filterlab will love her Macbook, but it's actually a thinly veiled excuse for me to buy an Apple laptop - even though it will be for her, I will no doubt have a go on it occasionally. ;)

Alternatively, could you not simply re-case your existing laptop? There are loads of parts available on eBay and I'm sure a dab hand like you would have the job done in moments.

[Filterlab]

Also, to tide you over for a while you could grab an Apple cinema display, there's loads of the ADC versions on eBay for around a £100. :)

[Primalsea]

Once you have gone to the dark side it is difficult to turn into the light but if you have the will and strength to do it I can recommend a Fujitsu Siemens laptop. I have a Amilo Pro with Vista Home and it runs very well. The only minor gripe is the screen doesn't have a great viewing angle. Apart from that though its a great machine and Vista is far better than what people say. Windows 98 was good but the 2nd edition was hopeless, ME was junk, 2K was pretty good but needed rock solid security software, XP I never took to, its fairly bad but Vista is very good. Only problem is that you have to switch of all the flashy animations and other cpu hogging things.