Good reliable laptop

[RevArkwright]

Neighbour wants one. Looked at a few, any recommendations under£300.

[VHG]

You are not going to get a "great" laptop for £300, but there are a few reasonable ones around for that price (or a bit lower). Try to go for a "name" brand like Toshiba, Sony, Lenovo, Acer etc.

Here is a Toshiba from Asda for £300 which is ok

http://direct.asda.co...41023,default,pd.html

[edwinmiller]

I would like to suggest you the following brands which are as listed below
1) Acer
2) Dell
3) HP
4) Sony

[gingejbee]

There isn't that much difference in reliability of big-brand laptops...Latest Which? says that Acer is tops and Dell is at the bottom.
It's more important to match the spec (and therefore the capabilities) of the machine to the intended use.
£300 isn't going to get much of a laptop, unless you consider a nearly-new (refurbished) machine, when you could get a real bargain. You could try somewhere like this:

http://www.acerdirect...ened_laptops/prod.asp

[RevArkwright]

Thanks for suggestions. Any comment on this one from Comet £250

http://www.comet.co.u..._Revenue|1&perPage=12

[daffy654]

That laptop has a poor processor speed, low RAM and a very poor battery life. I wouldn't buy it.

[RevArkwright]

Thought so, you get what you pay for I suppose.

[friedgreentomato]

I suppose it depends on what they are going to use it for - are they old and will be using it to do shopping or surf chatrooms?

[RevArkwright]

Elderley couple. Just general googling, maybe a skype chat with family abroad.

[friedgreentomato]

In that case would not spend a fortune on one.

[RevArkwright]

I thought that FGT. It looks reasonable for £250.

Their daughter gave them an old lappy. The OS was iffy. Could not reinstall as the BIOS was locked, so could not install new XP system. The admin password had long since been lost. Lots of advice on tinternet but it seems it is a lost cause, must have been 8 years old.