Laptop

Need a hand choosing a laptop. The budget is around £400. Any ideas?

I'm going to be saving up for a laptop shortly too. I'd be looking for something compact and speedy but with large storage space, media capabilities (can run some fairly new game and play films, blu ray built in would be a huge plus) and the nearer to a full sized keyboard the better.

I'm using my birthday cash to nab a Netbook. Sort of what all the money was for I guess.

Looking at these two. Don't need media capabilities because I've got them all right here.

£600 Toshiba I bought this January. Dual core, 256Mb standalone grahics, 3GB RAM, 320GB HDD. Love it.

gdf, out of those 2 go for the Samsung, trust me on this one

Yeah, pretty much set on it already. Going to try and grab one at Comet today, but they're often out of stock so I might have to order one. My mum for some reason has prohibited me from buying one from Amazon, which I find ludicrous, but I have mostly cash and if I can get one in my hands sooner I'll easily go the physical shop route.

Yer good choice mate, and they're quite popular, which you can probably see why

I might get a cheap and cheerful but functional laptop to tide me over until google release their operating system because I think that's gonna be big.
Edit: Please review the Samsung for me and Gears, I'm interested now.

OK, so got the little fucker today, and it's pretty awesome. Imagine a fully functioning Windows computer, but really small. Pretty much.

Had a problem connecting it to the internet, but that was just the Orange Livebox being a pedantic shit about security keys. Posting from it now, the keyboard is fantastic, hitting all the right buttons unlike with other netbooks that I've tried. Plenty space on the HDD for what I'm going to use it for and the 1GB of RAM means it's pretty nippy. Even the touchpad mouse is surprisingly responsive and useable for its size, though I'm using a proper little wired mouse that I picked up for a tenner when I got it. Three hundred pounds at Comet, and they try to hawk you some shitty package for forty pound with Norton "I'm more heavyweight than Mike Tyson crossed with an elephant and about as useful to your computer" Antivirus, an ugly wireless mouse, a carry case and a USB flash drive, but you get 90 days of McAfee free and there's a nice soft cover that comes in the box.

Only slightly disappointing feature is the screen, it's one of those cheapo laptop ones and for someone used to a vibrant, ultra hi-res, crystal clear monitor it's a little off putting. Not a massive deal though, don't need to do anything beyond internet and typing. Oh, and there's a load of bullshit software from the manufacturer and the usual Microsoft stuff, but Windows is Windows, right?

Oh, and if you get one of these I'd suggest using Chrome as your browser, gives a prime bit of real-estate to what's on the wee screen.

<3 Chrome
Thanks for that review, that's one I'll keep my eye out for when I've got the £300 in my pocket to go laptop shopping.

Yer I may look into one at some point. Although I wouldn't really be looking into a laptop until I go to University, so that means a years time.

Oh man, Chrome has the best pop-up blocker in the world.

Tru dat

I have forgotten what a Pop-up looks like after using Chrome

Was it you I was jizzing about chrome to over msn? If so, no need to thank me broseph.

I was going to thank you in the post, but thought 'Hey Seany is a humble bloke, he wouldn't want such praise'.

YOU THOUGHT WRONG! :dan:

Still prefer Firefox when I have the faster computer and huge screen, nothing can beat its functionality.

I just want to browse the net without an intrusive interface and have my pages load as fast as possible.

Talking of the internet, my tip got reported on Kotaku earlier.

http://kotaku.com/5322813/uk-mags-exclusive-review-fits-alleged-eidos-conditions

Google Chrome is fabulous, been using it since the beta. So smooth and unobtrusive.

Same I just find google chrome a lot better than anything else, interesting to see what Google can do with an OS

Also Google Chrome has a mode for watching porn.

It does? TELL ME EVERYTHING YOU KNOW!