Please come and choose one of these new laptops for me. I'm a bit lost.

[Muppeeeto]

I'm really struggling to choose a new laptop, as essentially I know nothing about geeky stuff.

These are the ones I have seen in PC World today that look ok, to me. Please tell me which you would choose.

1. Lenovo G580 6gb ram 1tb hard drive 5hr battery life amd e2 processor £329

2. Toshiba L850 6gb 750gb 6hrs amd e2 processor £339

3. Toshiba c850d-11Q 6gb 320gb 6hrs amd e1-1200 processor £299

4. HP G6-2240SA 6gb 750gb 6.5hrs amd e2-1800 £329

All have a 15 inch screen.

Needs to be able to watch dvds, have a decent amount of battery.

I have external memory for storing photos and videos on.

It will only get used for web browsing ebay/amazon and mn, and according to dd, researching polar bears information.

If you got to the end of this, thanks!

Well, the HP seems to have the marginally better reviews. Plus it has the longest battery life (allegedly!).

They would all probably suit your needs fine, but of those four, I'd personally pick the HP (and it looks nice too!).

Ok, so there isn't really that much difference between them? The guy in the shop was heavily in favour of the Lenovo, and suggested the AMD processor was much better.

We obviously want to spend as little as possible, but would prefer to spend an extra £30 now and get a decent machine that we keep for 6 years or so than get a cheap computer and have to replace it in 3.

I wouldn't say that any of those have any components that are 'much' better than any of the others. As I said, I'd lean towards the HP, partly because my experience with HP computers has been excellent.

Equally, I'd lean towards the Toshiba (I have three or four Tosh laptops here) as my experience has been good with those. Don't think the 30 quid is here or there, but admit I've not searched for comparisons about the processor or any magazine reviews.

Based on how modern laptops have gone, however, I'd want to see what connections each of them has - HDMI or VGA output (in case DD wants to play a DVD on a TV during a sleepover perhaps), how many USB ports (can never have too many), can it read SD cards or would you need to plug in a USB reader, and so on. What other interfaces are built in (ethernet port, etc) ?

I'd also look for one having a separate numeric pad (because they're closer to desktop keyboard layout, and it's less messy than laptop trebling up the keyboard use depending on different function keys).

Also worth remembering that overheating if plonked on a bed (and obscuring air ventilation) can be a problem, so I'd be more concerned about teenager's laptop having some insurance cover (hence John Lewis might be a better source, odds are insurance would be included or cheaper and they will usually price match, I think). PC World is perhaps the last place I'd buy from, but worth a visit to see the goods, try out the feel of the keyboard, etc. (and of course some alternative stores such as Comet no longer exist :( )

If you buy HP direct via top cash back you get 6.06% cashback and this code 8OFFHPALL gives you 8% off your order. Computers brought from HP direct also come with a 2 year collect and return warranty.

Thanks for the replies. Really helpful advice. I'm going to research some other shops now and see what deals are around. Thanks also for reminding me about price matching - lots of potential to use that to my advantage.