I am looking for an entry-level laptop for under £250 for basic tasks such as surfing the internet and sending and checking mail and talking to my friends on MSN. Any suggestions? David Stansby
Getting under £250 is a bit of a challenge for a new laptop, but you can buy decent machines online for around £300. A current example is the Compaq HP 530 with Windows Vista Home Basic, DVD and 15.4 inch screen (laptopshop.co.uk but also available elsewhere). At that sort of price you'll usually have to compromise on processor speed, memory and hard drive size. The HP 530, for example, only has 512MB of memory. You can upgrade it, but then it comes out much the same as buying a standard 1.6GHz Dell Inspiron with a gigabyte - £319 including delivery and VAT, or £329 with DVD+/-RW. Otherwise you could chance your luck on eBay. Thousands of machines go for £150 or less.
