My Toshiba Satellite has seen me through five years of uni, but it's now on its last legs. I've only got £500 to spend on a new one. Having had a Tosh I'm a bit wary of other brands. I only use it for basics like word processing, presentations and the internet, so durability is more important than flash specs. Carmen Eynon Soto
Notebook PC prices have come down dramatically in the past couple of years, and even high street stores now have machines from around £350. If you want to stick with Toshiba, which is one of the top brands, you can look for special discounts or buy an older design online. For example, Laptopshop.co.uk has Celeron-based Toshiba Satellite Pros at prices from £365 (laptopshop.co.uk/toshiba-laptops-n.htm), and you can even get a Toshiba A120 Intel Core Duo notebook with 15.4in screen and Windows XP Home for £589.
I've had three Toshiba Portege notebook PCs and they have all been reliable, so I would not discourage you from sticking with the brand, but Fujitsu Siemens is also worth a look. Whatever you decide, get at least 512MB of memory, and I'd strongly recommend 1GB. While I've never dealt with Laptopshop.co.uk, its web site has an excellent search feature at laptopshop.co.uk/laptops-n.htm. This lets you set a specification and price range and find out what's available, even if you plan to buy elsewhere.
