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[Millicent Bystander]

So, after being lent a laptop which after investigation turns out to have been washed in liquor and/or dropped (by my mum in law's alcoholic bro) and hence is pretty knackered we find our household really, really needs a laptop.

I have a budget of £500 tops (preferably on credit).  It has to be able to play the latest games (no Intel graphics), battery life is not an issue is it will probably be plugged in for 99% of the time.

Any recommendations?

[Chaos]

your gonna struggle on that budget
youd be better off going for an GMA chipset for price, otherwise, your looking at spending at least 650 for something playable

Ebay should be your first port of call with that budget

[r007]

Dell Vostro 1520
£519 +VAT&Shipping
Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor P8600 (2.4GHz, 1066MHz FSB,3MB L2 cache)
4096MB 800 MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM (2x2GB)
256 MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 9300M GS Graphic Card

That will not get you the very latest games, but still more than a GMA for that budget.
The Vostros are not as good as the Latitudes, but in order to get a Latitude with NV graphics you need to shell out at least £750.
That then earns you a Quadro NVS160M 256MB. Not sure if that's any gain then...

[Vitalis]

From what I've seen recently I'm gunna agree with r007, haven't personally seen a better deal.

Dell Vostro 1520
That will not get you the very latest games

Not sure about that, that'll at least make most new games playable. (on lower settings ofc.)

I can't think of any 'very latest' games that are that demanding- Crysis and FC2 being benchmarks more than anything tbh!

If you happen to find another £100 your doors open a fair bit wider.

[Junta]

battery life is not an issue is it will probably be plugged in for 99% of the time.

Do this and you'll have no battery life at all

Batteries are meant to run down before a recharge - you'll shorten the life if you use the power constantly with the battery being charged.

[Zarf]

I picked up a Dell xps m1330 refurb (1 year Waranty) for around £500, loving it. It has an awesome LED backlit screen and at 13.3" is still portable enough to take into uni.
The built in nvidia 8400m plays TF2 decently without compromising settings too much.

got it from these guys, this looks like a decent deal for your needs :
http://www.ndc.co.uk/Dell_Vostro_1710_Big_Display_Laptop__3_Year_Onsite_Warranty-6635.html

17" screen, nVidia 8600m (256MB dedicated ram)

£560 delivered with THREE years warranty.

[Junta]

Lots of money for a refurbished model though? Even despite the warranty?

I usually start with a list of what I want the computer to do, then I map components + spec to that. It keeps me more honest.

I then look at the typical price for that spec, and maximise what I can get. This also identifies if there is an upgrade within close reach of the original cost (i.e. more RAM or bigger HD).

Nothing wrong with a refurb, but I tend to want to get something new at that price!

[Nineblade]

I picked up a Dell xps m1330 refurb (1 year Waranty) for around £500, loving it.

I got one of these new for about 800 quid. It's the fucking bollox although if I was going to play TF2 on a lappy I'd use my Inspiron 9100 coz it's got 1920 X 1200 res. The power supply is a beast though and on it's own weighs more than my 1330 with me lying on top bench pressing my mrs! ( although you can fry an egg on it so in a survival situation it wins   )

[Mr Chug]

I like the idea of gaming frantically to make it heat up enough so I can eat. That's my sort of lifestyle.

[Zarf]

Lots of money for a refurbished model though? Even despite the warranty?

I usually start with a list of what I want the computer to do, then I map components + spec to that. It keeps me more honest.

I then look at the typical price for that spec, and maximise what I can get. This also identifies if there is an upgrade within close reach of the original cost (i.e. more RAM or bigger HD).

Nothing wrong with a refurb, but I tend to want to get something new at that price!

Can't fault the condition of mine, and would have had to shell out a few hundred quid more to get the same spec new. (T7500, 3gb Ram, LED backlit, 9 cell battery, Crimson Red skin, Biometric reader - which i'm loving, getting so lazy now).
It came with the latest BIOS flashed and in as-new condition with the original box and a driver cd.

I did a fair bit of searching before deciding on this one and couldn't beat it. There was a 12" version at the same price, but the LED backlit screen clinched it.

[Chaos]

From what I have experienced, Refurbs usually use mostly new components anyway.. from what you will see/touch/hear it will be all new parts most likely.. some of the insides might be older (maybe the RAM/MOBO/CPU setup) but those are usually the things that never go wrong in lappies
I saw a second hand MacBook Pro with the 9400gm chip on it for around 500 quid (ish) once.. was extremely tempted