Samsung Galaxy S3 vs Galaxy S2 – how do they compare? [video]
Watch our video to find out how the Samsung Galaxy S3 compares with its older sibling the Galaxy S2.
6 Comments
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Gary
Note to The Editor: please review the first paragraph of the Sony Vaio section – there’s some text missing from the end. Perhaps a sloppy cut’n'paste?
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Thanks for spotting Gary!
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Catherine
Renae…….Z570 on sale for 399 at P C World at the mo…
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Danish
WaliThere are many advantages of buying a refurbished laptop for someone who requires more computing power or desires higher-end model for less money. Save not just money but your frustration by buying low-end cheap laptops that can easily handle emailing and web browsing … I was also looking for a Refurbished Laptop.. Bought HP NC6400 from “ElectroComputerWarehouse” and the product id is “hp_nc6400″
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Howard
Spelling error seperate should be separate in the first two reviews.
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Poetry
Hi, Neat post. There is a problem together with your web site in internet explorer, may check this? IE still is the market chief and a big portion of other folks will pass over your magnificent writing because of this problem.
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Best cheap laptops for under £500 from the Which? test lab [updated]
Our annual PC reliability survey showed the majority of people spend between £300 and £600 on laptops. In our latest laptops test we focused on laptops in that price bracket. To save you time we’ve rounded-up best cheap laptops for under £500.
How we test laptops
We run exactly the same tests on every laptop, no matter how cheap or expensive, so you know exactly what you are getting for your money. We rate each one for ease of use, screen quality, battery life and features and put every laptop through our strict performance testing. This includes a number of demanding benchmark tests to see how each model compares. We also time how long each laptop takes to complete a range of real-life tasks you’d do at home, and how long the battery lasts while performing them.
Find out more about how we test laptops
Samsung Series 3
A suprisingly decent specification for a budget model
Price: £429.99
Screen Size: 15.6-inches
Best cheap laptop for: Good looks on a budget
The Samsung Series 3 doesn’t look like a budget laptop and there’s a suprisingly decent sounding specification list for the price. It’s not as lightweight or slimline as Samsung’s more premium Series 7 or Series 9 machines but at 2.24kg is still managable.
Budget laptops can sometimes save money by using a cheaper processor but this laptop has a proper Intel Core i3 dual-core processor with 4GB of RAM.
It uses Intel’s built-in graphics but you’d be hard pushed to get a laptops with a seperate graphics card for under £500. You won’t be able to play the latest 3D games but it should be fine for the odd spot of film watching.
Samsung Series 3 review – see the full review for our expert verdict
HP Pavillion G7
A large screen and generous storage make this a good desktop replacement
Price: £439
Screen size: 17.3-inches
Best cheap laptop for: Plenty of storage space and a good size screen
A classic mid-range model in terms of looks a least, it’s a fairly chunky looking laptop with not a great amount to shout about in the style stakes.
It’s a fairly weighty 2.7kg but due to the size this is more likely to be a desktop replacement so you aren’t likely to be carrying it around all day.
It runs on a AMD Phenom II processor and 4GB of RAM, again you won’t find a seperate graphics card but there is a generous 750GB of hard disk storage.
HP Pavillion G7 review – read the full review to see how it performed in our battery life tests
Compaq Presario CQ57
Super cheap at under £300
Price: £289
Screen size: 15.6-inches
Best cheap laptop for: Bargain price
A no-nonsense 15.6-inch laptop, to keep the costs down Compaq has used one of Intel’s basic Celeron processors. If you are just looking for a model for basic tasks rather than high performance this shouldn’t be an issue.
It’s fairly big but the design is simple and and at 2.47kg is just about portable.
It runs on the Celeron T3500 with 3GB of RAM which is likely to impact on speeds if you try and do anything particularly demanding. There’s a fairly small 320GB hard drive, similar to the size you’d find on a netbook but the processor and RAM should mean it performs better.
Compaq Presario CQ57 review – find out how this budget model was rated by our experts
Acer Aspire 5733
At 2.29kg this is just light enough to carry around
Price: £360
Screen size: 15.6-inches
Best cheap laptop for: Slimline design
Although there are some signs of cost cutting in the limited connectivity this has a proper Intel Core i3 processor rather than a more basic Celeron or Pentium version.
It runs on the Intel Core i3 370M with 4GB of RAM and a good-size 500GB hard drive.
Connectivity is basic – there’s no HDMI port and it only has a 100MB Ethernet connection rather than the Gigabit version you find on better models. There are three USB 2.0 ports though and a VGA output.
It feels fairly robust and stable though has a nice textured surface on the palm rests and lid. Find out what happened when we put it to the test.
Acer Aspire 5733 review – see the full review for our lab test data on screen quality and performance
Lenovo Z570
Sound quality from the built-in speakers was above average but how did it fare elsewhere?
Price: £467
Screen size: 15.6-inches
Best cheap laptop for: Music, films and multimedia
This 15.6-inch model is no wallflower and, for a laptop from a brand known best for it’s black business models, it’s actually rather daring. It’s solid and the brushed aluminium lid gives a nice appearance as well as making it feel robust.
Specifications are good too, with an Intel Core i5 2410M processor and 500GB of hard drive storage and 4GB of RAM.
It’s not short of connections with three USB 2.0 ports, an eSATA/USB combination port for an external hard drive and an HDMI port. On paper it’s a good all-rounder, but read the full review to see how our lab rated it.
Lenovo Z570 review - see the full review for battery life, performance and screen quality ratings
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