Hi, i've been trying to help my little bro purchase a laptop for his uni work and have come across what appears to be the best deal I can find so far -

Acer Travelmate 4150LMI

intel centrino mobile technology, intel pentium M processor 715 (1.5ghz, 400mhz FSB, 2MB L2 Cache)

512MB Memory

60GB Hard drive

Plays and records CD's and DVD's, Dual layer, Dual format (+/-R, +/-RW)

Integrated Pro/Wireless LAN 802.11 b/g

15" TFT display

6 in 1 card reader

Microsoft XP Home Edition

1 year warranty

Sounds like a cracking deal to me, i'd buy it. Acer is more of a budget brand but i've never heard any negative comments.

I've just bought an Acer laptop. Spec sounds similar to mine - which I am very pleased with !

You could have a look at dabs - thats where I got mine from and IIRC the price was similar

I just bought 2 Acer laptops , here http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_3000_Laptops/prod.asp

I bought the Aspire 3002 LMi.

As you will see, thats 80gig h/d, built in wireless (works too) dvd burner 512 meg ram.

Both are cracking little laptops, that being honest make me wonder why I dont ditch this desktop I have and replace it.

I also got them from these people, and apart from the courier not bothering initially and causing mega grief, all is/was well.

My Dad has just bought this very one from Staples, nice to look at, average dimensions for a 15" screen laptop. Good spec for the price.

How about the Ispiron 6000 from Dell, Same ish spec but a 15.4 widescreen. Beware though as it is a bit heavy compared to my other Dell Inspiron 510m Laptop.

Centrino for me is a must. This laptop is an HP model. It runs very cool and quiet. I can work away for about 3 hours before having to connect the power adapter. You'd be daft not to go for Centrino or another equal technology!

Ok, thanks very much for the advice guys, really appreciate it.

I think were gonna get this one, the only thing that was putting me off was that everyone kept telling me that Staples were really expensive, I guess the numbers do the talking tho!!

One other thing, I may get myself one at the same time, and was wondering what i need to buy in order to surf the net wirelessly, the laptop has that 802.11 thingumy in it and my normal pc is connected to broadband via a BT Voyager 105 USB/ADSL modem.

Is it easy to do and will I be needing to buy loads of software as well or will the thing that makes it all wireless come with it?

Will I just be able to plug it all in and let it set itself up?