Hi, Im looking for a laptop and the most i would want to spend is £350 tops. Would prefer in the £200 - £300 range. Ive seen a couple which seem to be the sort of thing I'm after, if anyone has any advice on either of these or something similiar within my budget. Thanks alot

Dell D610
Dell D510

I would of thought the D610 would of been a newer model but the D510 actually seems to have a larger screen?

You could try this (http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=second+hand+laptops&btnG=Google+Search&meta=) google - there's even a site called 'student laptops' (http://www.student-laptops.co.uk/Default.asp?cookiecheck=yes&gclid=CIbcqZqjmosCFSYSQgodUlXtDg)

dont get 1 with vista on its total crap got my lad this 1
http://www.comet.co.uk/cometbrowse/product.do?sku=373222
got vista on it but im having x.p put on it :thumbsup:

Another place you could look at is www.novatech.co.uk

im actually just looking for people's opinions and personal experiences for an actual laptop as ive already found lots of website where i can buy them.

In the end all the basic laptops are pretty much the same - it's a question of what feature you want that might make the difference.

well if anyone knows about laptops could they check out the two i mentioned and see what they think.

If it helps, every single personal laptop I support for our company is either a Dell D610 or a Dell D410 if they are always mobile - they are generally pretty damn good, although the specs can vary wildly. I would have one that's for sure. Just make sure the screen is 1440x1080 (SXGA) / 1440x900 (WXGA) as 1280x1024 can sometimes feel a little small on them, though that might just be me.

If you want to surf the internet / word+office process and play the odd middle of the road game then either will be fine for you. But again... depends on what you want to do with it.

if you only want a 3 month warranty, pis-poor tech support and dubious longevity then get that dell.

where laptops are concerned, you definately get what you pay for.

good luck!

I've got a few Dells and not had a problem with any of them. One of them is 3-4 years old. It's decent enough kit for the price and I'd be happy to buy another.

Aren't the D510/D610 discontinued?

i'd go with the dells. I have a C640 that i fully hardware upgraded without issues. The CPU can be removed like a desktop and swapped. I upgraded my 1600htz to a 2200htz for ?19 :hihi:

My brother and sister both have unbranded models of lappys and you can't do anything with. If they want it faster they buy another lappy if you know what i mean. there lappys are new models bought 4 months ago from club books for ?700

You realy goto go with Dell mate :thumbsup:
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Would prefer in the £200 - £300 range.

That'd be the worringly-cheap or second-hand/refurbished range then?

I think you need to be looking to spend at least £350-450 for a decent (brand new) budget machine.


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Again - I've got a Dell Inspiron 1300 that was under £300. I use it everyday and at the moment it's my main machine - not had a problem with it.

whats wrong with refurbished? Can we get back to the main point, Can anyone take a look at the two i mentioned and see what they think.

Already did.. D610 is a fine laptop for daily use.

thanks alkatraz. everyone else seems to have contrasting views re. dell. and also going off original question.

also, does anyone know which is the newer model out of the Dells D610 and D510 as you would of thought it would be the D610 but actually the D510 has a larger screen

anyone? .............................................

Not Dell - Acer instead.

The least assuming of Dell's business notebooks, the Latitude D510 lacks the flashier features of its siblings--the D610's smart card reader and the D810's wide screen, for instance. What it does have is a handsome charcoal-colored case, a good keyboard, a handy multipurpose bay, and a long-lasting battery, all for a good price.

The $1509 D510 packs a 1.6-GHz Pentium M 730 processor, a 15-inch XGA screen, a DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive (a $59 upgrade from the standard CD-ROM drive), and a 40GB hard drive. You can bump up the configuration to include a DVD burner for an extra $90, an 80GB hard drive for $99, and a 1.86-GHz processor for $190; or you can shave a bit off the price and the weight by ordering a 14.1-inch screen and a hollow travel module instead of an optical drive. Bluetooth and software cost extra ($49 for Bluetooth and $125 for Microsoft Office Basic Edition).

Connections offer a good balance of old and new, including parallel and serial ports for legacy peripherals and four USB ports, two on the right side for quick access and two on the back, plus a FireWire port for digital video downloads.

I liked the quietness of the keyboard and its pleasantly mushy feel. The layout is fine except for the location of the <Delete> key, which is buried in the second row from the top--not the most convenient place for a frequently used key. (It's more commonly placed in the top right corner.) The touchpad's mouse buttons have a flared box shape I found easy to use. The D510 has no dedicated shortcut buttons for applications, volume control, or anything else. On the plus side, the power status lights are in a quick-to-spot location on the right screen hinge. The front-mounted stereo speakers are loud enough for making presentations to a small group.

The D510's battery life and modular design really shine. It lasted 4 hours, 41 minutes on one charge in our tests--more than an hour longer than the average portable. You can check how much power is left without turning on the notebook by pressing the battery's handy external gauge, and you can work even longer untethered to an electrical outlet by using two batteries at once: The $119 media cell battery fits into the modular bay in place of the optical drive. All of the interchangeable bay devices, including a secondary 80GB hard drive ($150), have built-in spring-loaded releases, a small luxury that saves me from having to fumble around the bottom of the laptop for a release every time I want to swap devices. The D510 does not work with the highest-end docking station Dell sells for the Latitude line (the D/Dock Expansion Station, which includes an internal media bay), but a 240-pin bottom connector accepts the $179 D/Port Advanced Port Replicator, which adds a DVI digital monitor port and a S/PDIF port.

The D510 performed well in our speed tests, earning a WorldBench score of 76--slightly slower than the other all-purpose notebooks that we've seen, but not significantly so. The D510 comes with good documentation, although mostly in the form of an unindexed, unlinked electronic user manual inconveniently buried in the Windows Help and Support Center. However, the manual is comprehensive and well-organized enough for finding information fairly easily, so the lack of an index is no great problem.

Upshot: A standout in battery life and modular expansion, the Dell Latitude D510 is a fine mainstream business laptop.

The new Latitude D620 has a lot to live up to. Both of its predecessors, the D600 and the D610, resided for long spells on the A List. Dell has risen to the challenge by making some sweeping changes to the design. It's gone widescreen and dual-core for a start, and there's also a snazzier colour scheme replacing the sober charcoal of old.

Our system (E-Value code MAG-620PCP) utilises a 2GHz T2500 Core Duo inside and scored 1.02 in our application benchmarks, thanks in part to a sensible 1GB of RAM. There are several SKUs of the D620 with differing CPUs, amounts of RAM and various screen resolutions, but some features, as well as accessories such as docking stations, are consistent throughout the range.

All the new models have widescreens, with our D620 having a resolution of 1,440 x 900. The screen itself is bright and clear and offers a very practical size of Desktop, as well as good colour performance. The 16:9 aspect ratio is a definite plus for working on spreadsheets or email, as well as a spot of after-hours DVD watching.

The weight has remained roughly the same, and at 2.64kg the D620 is just 14g heavier than the D610. That's 350g lighter than the previous A-List business notebook, the Lenovo ThinkPad R52, making it far better for carrying to and from meetings. The nine-cell battery, which protrudes from the front of the machine by 25mm, accounts for 520g of that weight. There are smaller batteries available, but this option provided a spectacular 3hrs 11 mins under heavy use, and 6hrs 24mins under light use, making the D620 a laptop you could potentially use on the road all day. There's also an ambient light sensor beneath the screen, adjusting the brightness according to how well-lit your surroundings are, helping to eke out more battery life.

Although Dell doesn't make any cast-iron guarantees about the durability of the D620, it's been through a series of factory tests to ensure it can handle all manner of spills and knocks. It certainly feels solid and should survive the treatment all but the clumsiest can dish out. The base and LCD back are made from magnesium alloy, and the strike zone on the bottom of the unit means that, if the unit is dropped flat on the floor, shock waves are dissipated laterally away from the hard disk, posing less of a threat to the components.

The hard disk itself is an 80GB model, although it's possible to specify a disk size of up to 100GB. Removable storage options are more limited: there's no memory card reader and the standard optical drive is a CD-RW/DVD-ROM model, and it will cost an extra £30 for a DVD writer.

This minor failing is more than compensated for elsewhere, though. The keyboard is exemplary in both layout and feel, and while it doesn't quite match up to the best that Lenovo's ThinkPads can offer, we had no complaints working at it for extended periods.

Elsewhere, Dell has caught up with Lenovo in terms of security, and the embedded TPM chip offers hardware encryption all the way from turning on the Latitude in the morning to accessing files in encrypted vaults. The fingerprint reader between the mouse buttons is a useful addition, and you can use it to unlock the Latitude before it even begins to boot. Setting up all the security options is a fiddly process, but it only needs doing once and offers a serious level of security for your data. It's also possible to add a Computrace subscription to your order, enabling the laptop to be found if it's stolen and consequently connected to the internet, for £32 per year.

Dell has even managed to improve on the humble WLAN card. It's a standard Intel 802.11a/b/g card, but push the switch on the left-hand side of the chassis and a window pops up telling you which networks are in range. It even works when the laptop is switched off - an LED blinks either orange or green depending on how strong the signal is, although it doesn't give you an indication of whether the networks are secure. Dell will also be releasing an HSDPA (or 3.5G) mini-PCI card in the near future for around £150. We're assured the internal upgrade will be relatively easy to fit, and this will allow you to connect to the internet in places where a wireless hotspot can't be found. And as you'd hope for in a laptop that can expect to be stuffed into bags over the course of its life, Dell is backing the D620 itself with a three-year international on-site warranty.

The D620 costs £239 more than the Lenovo R52 it replaces on the A List, but just look at the extra components: the dual-core processor is a major plus, the screen is higher resolution and you get an 80GB hard disk instead of a 60GB unit, as well as twice the RAM.

Importantly, the warranty is three times as long and is on-site rather than return-to-base. All in all, this D620 is a superbly designed and well-specified notebook, backed by a solid after-sales offering. For both businesses and individuals, that's worth the extra investment.

The D510 is the lesser-distributed little-brother.

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