[buchanan]

hi guys, after a new laptop for a buddy

what's the best value these days for a nice fast machine

no budget really , he just asked me to find something good but i'd feel bad if i couldn't get something sweet for around £600 or so (no problem to go below or above this, just want good bang for his £), he's switching from a mac and i want to show him that you can get much better performance for far less money.

he'll be using it mainly for internet work/word processing/dvd's etc
but as he is an architect i would like to get him something vectorworks capable (i don't know if he need a dedicated graphics card for that, other wise i would get onboard graphics for extended battery life, as he will primarily be using a mac for design work)

the laptop will mainly be used at his home so it doesn't need to be super tiny, it does need to be fast and reliable (he gets super tetchy when he has to wait

i'm guessing it will come with vista even though he would prefer xp

thanks in advance for any help

[buchanan]

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/-/654/861...archtype=genre

is this a good overall machine, would it run vectorworks ok?

[ricepudding9]

Looks like a good recommendation, though it's a bit costly, maybe because it's in Pounds for me :O.

Check this list, it has a list of the best value laptops. http://compreviews.about.com/od/budg...etNotebook.htm

[spire8989]

The newer Compaq persario's are actually pretty nice. I got one for around $500 US and it's a dual 2.0, 3gb ram, etc etc. Only problem is the vid card.

[ShadyLady]

DELL are very good laptops. Also check Sony and Toshiba brands. They are also good with good memory for excellent prices :)