Best Laptops for £500(ish) and under?HELP

[Liamando]

Hi, I'm a student and I need a new laptop.

This is my understanding of laptops at the moment:

Core 2 Duo Processors = better.
2ghz and above pocessors = fast.
2gb minimum RAM for Vista.
3gb RAM- is this good?
4gb RAM-is this excellent?

250gb Hard-Drive= good.


I basically want a laptop that runs extremely quickly, good hard-drive space, can multitask at high speeds, and can cope with lots of music. (Although I'm looking for good speakers), and a good screen for DVD watching.

Just as an example of a laptop I was interested in, could someone tell me if this is good or not: Please help and reccomment other laptops with good specs!

HP 6720s Business Laptop Intel Centrino Core 2 Duo T5870 4GB 250GB 15.4" WXGA Brightview Vista Home Premium Office 07 60 Day Trial 1 year warranty ........... £479. Here's the spec:

Drives
Hard disk drive Serial ATA hard drive 250GB (5400 rpm)
Optical DVD rewriter with LightScribe
Memory
DDR II, 667 MHz 4GB
Memory slots 2 x 2 GB SODIMM slot supporting dual channel memory
Portability
Display features 15.4" WXGA BrightView (1280 x 800 resolution)
Connectivity
Wireless technologies Wireless 802.11a/b/g/
Fax/modem 56K modem
Network interface Intel Fast Ethernet Integrated Controller (10/100 NIC)
Expandability
Expansion slot Slots available for additional devices: 1 ExpressCard/54 slot, Media Card reader slot (Secure Digital (SD)/MMC support)
I/O port 3 USB 2.0 ports, VGA, stereo microphone in, stereo headphone/line out, power connector, RJ-11, RJ-45
Software Operating System
Operating system installed Genuine Windows Vista Premium
Compatible operating systems Genuine Windows XP Professional Edition
Pre-installed software
HP Backup and Recovery Manager
Roxio Creator 9
Microsoft Office 2007 Ready (60 day free trial) Basic, Small Business or Professional edition

Software included
HP Backup and Recovery Manager,
HP ProtectTools Security Manager,
Device Access Manager for HP ProtectTools,
HP Wireless Assistant,
Microsoft Office Ready with 60-day Office Professional 2007 Trial Edition (select models),
Roxio Creator 9 (for optional DVD+/-RW and DVD/CDRW drives),
Synaptics Touchpad Driver
Symantec Norton Internet Security with complimentary 60-day live update, PDF Complete (Vary by country)
Graphic / audio
Graphic card 01 Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
Graphic subsystem video card memory 01 Up to 384 MB DDR2 shared system memory
Internal audio High Definition Audio, mono speakers, stereo headphone/line out, stereo microphone in
Input Devices
Keyboard Full-sized keyboard
Pointing device Touchpad with scroll zone
Warranty
1 year carry-in (pick-up and return in some countries (upgrades available, sold separately)) 1 year warranty on primary battery
Power
Features 6-cell (47 WHr) Lithium-Ion battery
Requirements External 65W HP AC adapter
Battery life Up to 4h30m
Security
Management Kensington Lock slot

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

You really don't need 4GB RAM, I have 3GB in my high-end dv9700t laptop and it runs great. Save on the RAM (get 2-3GB) and get a better CPU or graphics chip (The Intel ones are HORRIBLE, if at all possible at least get something nVidia or ATi). You can save money on HP computers by ditching the Norton subscription, MS Office package, and other unimportant software that companies pay HP to try to make you buy at a high price. You can use free virus scanners like AVG and free software like OpenOffice instead (also schools often have good discounts on MS Office so you can save buy buying at school). The T5870 is OK, but getting a T7xxx or higher would be better (I have a T9300, man it's fast!). As for speakers, good luck. I've never seen a laptop with "good" speakers. The tiny little speakers in laptops are loud, but lack bass and treble, blaring midrange distorted music if you crank it up. However, plug in a decent set of headphones on the go or plug into a 2.1 speaker setup at your desk and music will sound great.

Other than that, it's a great choice. I have an HP (dv9700t 17" model) and it's awesome, I've always used HP's and they're pretty good PC's. HP's have nice screens too, if you can, get the BrightView one (it's glossy and has great color), it will really make DVD watching a lot better.

 

[Liamando]

Cheers for the reply.

But would a laptop with that spec run pretty fast? and be able to load multiple things at a time with no hitches?

4gb RAM wont compromise anythin will it?

Do you know any laptops with faster processers but 3gb RAM then?

 

[harnar123]

yeah but 4gb would run in dual channel right? while 3gb cannot. But on a positive side I have 3gb and it runs just fine.

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

You can customize HP's on their site. You don't have to just buy a specific pre-configured model. When I got my dv9700t I picked out which CPU, which RAM, etc on HP's site.

 

[Liamando]

it mentions sumthin on the spec about dual channel.

but i dont understand that part.

would 4gb dual be better than 3gb single?

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

Do you plan on running a 64 bit OS? If so, then you may consider 4GB (it's not necessary by any means). If you're only going to use a 32 bit OS, you can't even use 4GB (only 3GB) so that extra 1GB of RAM wouldn't even get used.

 

[harnar123]

I don't know though my personal experiances is custom made laptop aren't always the best deal vs finding one on clearance in a bestbuy. I believe this is so because custom made ones aren't already bought, but the ones in store are inventory and no store likes to hang onto the same inventory for to long.