Which laptop to buy?

[GothAnneGeddes]

I'm starting a masters in the autumn so I'm getting a laptop. I'd like something comfortable to type on, well built, reliable and under £400.

All advice gratefully received.

Toshiba is fantastic. About £299 in PCWorld, plus Word etc brings it up to £400. They do some student package as well in there, so you may get discount. I love love love mine. Really comfortable to spend hours on. Big screen, long battery power. Not the coolest looking machine on the planet - it looks a bit middle management but it is great to use.

If you're a student, you can buy the full Office 2010 package with an education licence for about £80 from software4students.

Don't buy the one from PC World, or their warranty or aftercare or crappy antivirus.

We have one of these Samsung laptops and it is very good - nice screen, reliable.

Please do not spend £80 on word processors/spreadsheets etc. These days all of that is free - just download LibreOffice and use that. It can save documents in Office format.

JeffTracy

Please do not spend £80 on word processors/spreadsheets etc. These days all of that is free - just download LibreOffice and use that. It can save documents in Office format.

That's all very well, but doesn't have Publisher. It doesn't have Outlook, which, if you're going to get a job in an Office, is probably what you'll be using, so it doesn't hurt to familiarise yourself with it. It's very different to Office 2010 in layout, so when you head in to an office, where they're running Office 2010, you're not going to be able to find anything. If you're doing a masters degree, as OP is, then the review functions and comment functions on Office 2010 are superb.

I'm a fan of OpenOffice, but there's a time and a place and simply being able to read the docs and spreadsheet Office makes doesn't always cut the mustard.