I'm after a laptop for uni.
Ideally, fairly small (approx A4) and with a battery life of at least 2hrs.
Only needs to be able to cope with basic word processing, spreadsheet number crunching and the occasional web browsing and ftp transfer while playing Mp3s.
Storage space doesn't need to be huge.

OS not important...

Wanting as cheap as possible, ideally around £300, and with a warranty.

Used to have an LG phenom that would do that admirably. Considering that was six or seven years ago i'd assume there's something fairly cheap like that now? Can't find any, though...

I'd recommend these people:

http://www.computerbargains.co.uk

Some nice Dell refurbs - I recently got a Latitude 610 for my sister-in-law, and it came with a decent battery, all accessories and a six-month warranty. Lovely little machine, just a damned shame she wanted to keep Windows XP!

That's absolutely fantastic! Practically exactly the kind of site i was looking for. Cheers!

And they even have a 'no OS' option!

Every time I see someone say "I need a cheap laptop" I read it as "I want a cheap POS that will cost more in the long run because it's going to break the day after the warranty runs out, and it'll be one of those proprietary pieces of crap (Dell, Sony) where the motherboard costs $723, the backlight inverter is integrated into the motherboard, and (Dell, Sony)'s supplier discontinued the part anyhow because it was proprietary and manufactured only for that model's three-month lifespan"

Well, KimVette's probably right to inject a note of caution, but I don't think you'll go far wrong with a Dell or IBM.

Don't forget to check compatibility on www.linux-laptop.net and/or this site's HCL before you jump in!

Good luck, hope you get fixed up soon,

Dave

go a google search on walmart laptop you will find a rather good low price laptop running Linux so you should be able to drop out the linux that comes with it so you can put what ever distro you wish.

usually if you stay with the business lines you get less propriatry crap. The consumer grade (Inspiron, Presario, pavilion for example) will give the most trouble, but your latitude, evo, omnibook for example will be decnt. Plus being a business laptop there are hundreds of parts out on places like ebay. I've bought a spare keyboard for mine and a second hard disk sled/tray.

I have no problems with my cheap-ass ready to break apart HP Pavilion. In fact from what I read most people are fine with it.

Other than it being ready to break apart right

Dell? Failure rate is around 17% unless you go with the higher-end Inspirons, which are around 4%.

Thinkpad failure rates? HAHAHAHAHA!

You have the Dells backwards. The Latitude (and cheaper Inspirons) are the consumer crap, averaging 17% failure rates. The highest-end Inspirons are around 4%, which is still high, especially for the price.

Um, no the Lattitude are the business line. The High end Inspirons are the gamer machines, they have the best video, big screen, etc. The latitudes are all the business line, the C/D400/410, C/D600/610 etc.

exactly

Actually I know a lot of people with the newer HP and Compaq models (which are identical) and they rarely have issues.