Well,after much arguement with the insurance company,i can go where the hell i like to get a new pc.So am now definately looking at a dual core Sony Vaio.Any commnets(NOT you Felix) still welcome.
Sony Vaio's did have an awful reputation for customer service, - they had (not 100% sure if that has changed) no UK service centres, - everything went back to some black hole somewhere.
I would not look at a laptop unless it had an onsite warranty for 3 years, - forget RTB, - as they can be away for months, - Acer have that reputation.
Only look at Duo Core, - see you are looking at Centrino, to be truthful you do not have to have Centrino, - it is an Intel marketing word to prove that you have an Intel procesor and an Intel wireless card, - I would go with the Intel processor but you might save by going for a 3rd party wireless card, although a lot of manufacturers list them at a higher price to please Intel, - they cost is lower, - so if you can get to speak to somebody you could do a better deal.
Duo Core (Duo on laptops Dual on desktops) is a lot better than the Pentium M or 4, - at least 30% performance increase. As an aside Pentium 4 is about to replace the old Celeron family for desktops Pentium D is about to go end of life )lasted about 6 months a be replaced with something even better. Intel are at last about to announce quite a step forward in processor technology.
DDR2 is al ot better as are SATA hard drives.
Deals are hard to find right now, - few of the big boys have seriously over estimated the market in their forecasts, - and the company that normally drives down prices is in serious do-do (share price halved in July) so on margin recovery right now, hence no super deals on their website at the moment.
Hi Jasper, i have a Toshiba Satellite M60-167 and im so far impressed with it and the after care service. the main board packed up last month, but it was picked up from my home and returned in 5 days good as new