What spec laptop to get

[katekoala]

I mainly use laptop for;

1) storing music
2) storing photos
3) basic word/excel
4) web browsing and emails
5) downloading music

What memory/speed would be best for me to look for in a new laptop?

[VHG]

Nothing you do requires a fast processor or lots of memory.

Storing music/photos uses no processing power, word/excel uses only average processing power/memory, web and emails take little processing power/memory, and downloading music depends more on your broadband speed not your laptop

Your broadband speed will probably be your biggest inhibitor, not your computer speed.

As a general rule
- avoid Intel Celeron or AMD Sempron CPUs (they are the slowest)
- go for 3Gb of memory or more if you can (you probably dont need it but most laptops come with it nowadays anyway - 2Gb will probably be enough though)
- Minimum 250Gb hard drive, bigger if you can (but get an external hard drive of 500Gb or 1Tb to give yourself loads of storage space)

[VHG]

Bit more info

The most basic laptops cost around £300 nowadsys (give or take). These tend to be Celeron/Sempron laptops with 15" screen from supermarkets or discount web sites.

For £350 or so you get a bit more, maybe an Intel Pentium Dual Core 4300 or 4400 cpu with 3Gb memory and 250Gb hard drive.

Then we get the £400 laptops that are just a bit better all round, or maybe a better make, or with HDMI out that sort of thing.

If you dont lug it around a lot consider a 17" screen (good for looking at photos / movies, but they are heavier if you lug it around a lot).

For what you want to do I would say a £350 to £400 laptop would be fine, maybe a bit more for a 17".

[VHG]

This is a good web site where people post laptop deals (and other deals)

http://www.hotukdeals.com/computers/all/new

[katekoala]

brilliant - thank you for all that information, thats really helpful ! :)

[VHG]

Here is a starting point to see what you can get for the money, a Dell Inspiron 1545 at £379 (not saying this is the best, but it is a starting so you can compare with other laptop models.)

http://tinyurl.com/yfcl69d

This comes with a decent Intel Pentium Dual Core T4300, 4Gb of memory, a 320Gb hard drive and Windows 7 Home premium (64 bit).

I guess this is about standard spec for the money (or maybe just above spec for the money)

[VHG]

And here is a Samsung from Argos at £399 with almost the same spec (same CPU, same memory but slightly smaller hard disk)

http://tinyurl.com/yhr2g86

Also 3 years warranty which must be worth something.

Samsung are a decent make as well.