[Dedom]

I am looking to buy a new laptop for no more than £400. I have browsed online and local computer shops but all the laptops I have found seem to have one or two major drawbacks such as, terrible battery life or horrible sound quality. I am just looking for a descent all round laptop that will run numerous applications smoothly, descent hard drive size, descent graphics and sound cards and also one that will run windows 7. I would be very grateful if someone could point me in the right direction. Thanks for your help.

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Welcome to G2G, Dedom

You could ask 5 different people for their recommendations here and get 5 completely different answers. All I can give you is my own personal recommendations based on my own experiences.

I'm not going to recommend specific models of laptop but rather manufacturers & retailers that you might be useful to you given your budget.

Dell Inspirons are worth checking out.

I assume you are in the UK, in which case, you may want to check out laptopsdirect.co.uk for cheap laptops. Here's my thoughts on manufacturers:

Recommended:
Acer
Samsung
Sony (probably out of your price range though. Ditto with Samsung)
IBM - definitely out of your price range!

Normally OK:
HP/Compaq
Toshiba (can be a bit hit & miss). In my experience, you either get a really good one or a bit of a duffer!)

Lenovo - used to be great. (Boyfriend's got one that's been excellent until a month ago when the motherboard died completely. It was only 18 months old)

Would not recommend at all:
eMachines
eisystems (PC Worlds own brand)
Packard Bell

[Samm]

Welcome to G2G, Dedom

You could ask 5 different people for their recommendations here and get 5 completely different answers. All I can give you is my own personal recommendations based on my own experiences.

I'm not going to recommend specific models of laptop but rather manufacturers & retailers that you might be useful to you given your budget.

Dell Inspirons are worth checking out.

I assume you are in the UK, in which case, you may want to check out laptopsdirect.co.uk for cheap laptops. Here's my thoughts on manufacturers:

Recommended:
Acer
Samsung
Sony (probably out of your price range though. Ditto with Samsung)
IBM - definitely out of your price range!

Normally OK:
HP/Compaq
Toshiba (can be a bit hit & miss). In my experience, you either get a really good one or a bit of a duffer!)

Lenovo - used to be great. (Boyfriend's got one that's been excellent until a month ago when the motherboard died completely. It was only 18 months old)

Would not recommend at all:
eMachines
eisystems (PC Worlds own brand)
Packard Bell

[Mary Poppins]

I have used three different brands of laptops and while the big name brands are nice, it is my opinion that for the money Acer is a great laptop. Hope this helps!