The question I get asked so often is how much is the cheapest laptop? Which isn’t as black and white as people seem to think (or maybe hope!). Using our favoured supplier Dell let’s look at a some prices and see what we get!
The Cheapest…
Going on Dell laptops for Home you can buy a laptop for £269 including VAT and Delivery. Not bad. But what will the laptop be any good for? Well this is an inspiron Mini 9 running Ubuntu (not Windows) and really is designed solely for internet, emails and maybe the odd word document. But you won’t get much more out of it than that. It is small with a 8.9″ screen so isn’t designed for people who use a PC/Laptop a lot and want an everyday machine. Something portable for checking emails etc whilst on holiday or travelling then this is great! Otherwise…read on.
The Cheapest we would recommend for the average user…
For the cheapest machines you need to look at the Inspiron laptops of the Dell range and they currently start at £329 inc VAT & Delivery. I personally would upgrade the processor to an Intel Core 2 Duo from the Celeron and also increase the memory to at least 2GB rather than 1GB so therefore giving a cost of £439. Not so much because the user would need the specification straight away but most people will look at this being a long term investment and not change it as often as some businesses would. So for the extra £110 I would say it is well worth it.
Sound advice? We believe so, but contact your local independant IT Supplier and see what they have to say too.
The Short Answer
£269 but I would say spend £439 if you want the machine for more than just emails and internet.