Hey guys,

I've decided to buy a new laptop in the UK, but am finding it a bit difficult deciding which one to purchase. I want - at least 3gb of ram to run windows 7, 320 hard drive, but I know nothing about processors. I want 13.3 - 14.1 inch screen.

I use it for work and business but quite basic usage, no gaming, and I want it to be fast and efficient. Around 500 is my budget, but I can pay a touch more if I'm getting great value.

Acers have appeared to come down on sale here so I've narrowed it down to these. If anyone has the time to have a quick look through and let me know their opinion on the value of these models, I'd hugely appreciate it.

It's between an ASUS model, at 534 GBP:

http://www.laptopsdi...31V/version.asp

An ACER one which has just been reduced from 499 to 399:

http://www.acerdirec...021/version.asp

And here are a few other ACER models which have been reduced in the last few days:

https://www.simplyac...m/timeline-sale

Cheers guys. Really appreciate your time on this.

Jack

i see from previous posts 8 months ago you were considering buying a laptop surerly in 8 months you could have done a bit off research for your self instead of asking people in a completely different country.................

why dont you search on google for reviews off mentioned laptops im sure this will make it easier for you.......................

I suggest you go to John Lewis, they will give you impartial advice, a laptop that suits your needs, a 2 year guarantee and promise you wont find it cheaper, Thats what I did, got a Toshiba 300 a couple of years ago. If you have problems you can go back and seek help and the staff know their stuff.

I have the UL-30's big brother, the UL80vt. Really really nice machine; the real life all day battery life (9 hours) even with WiFi enabled is a life save since you can forget to pack the charger and it will make it through the day. The brushed aluminium lid looks professional and the palm rest just won't get hot. Wireless capability is good and the hdd's speed is decent for the machine. The various power modes supplied by Asus really tickles my fancy as well as their overclocking button.

A couple of small niggles though. The screen kinda sucks (viewing angles are pretty limited), it's not evenly balanced (heavier in the back due to the enormous battery), sound (while good overall) is fairly soft no doubt penalised by the downward firing speakers, and the charger's cable is ridiculously long (either a plus if you can take it into the toliet or a minus if you trip over it and pull the laptop off a ledge) and the charger itself gets super hot (it's really small).

Add in the fact that it's Linux ready (your model at least--there's problems with the graphics switching model in Linux) just cinched the choice for me.

The HP Pavilion range are excellent computers wiht better specs than you require.