Well, I just bought a new laptop.

[soop]

I ended up getting a Sony Vaio P.  I've long wanted one, and they've dropped to a reasonable price.  Doing some research beforehand, I noted that some of them were quite slow at things like video, so I stuck together list of stuff I wanted and what I would pay for it.  I didn't want to exceed much more than £200:

Vaio P £120 - Just for the basic unit, I figured if I was patient, I'd get one for this price.  I was checking one out at the weekend that went for this price, but with a cracked screen.
Win 7 £40 - A lot of the older models come with Vista, and it was reported that Windows 7 made a large difference to speed, battery, and processing
SSD £40 - An upgrade to an SSD should make a significant difference to battery life, even though the capacity isn't much different.  I've seen the very latest ones going for £400+ with a 128gb SSD and the fastest CPU (1.8ghz atom), but that's too much for me.  The newer ones do look slightly better too.
CPU £40 - I figured that if I could find one, an extra bump up to a 1.6 (from 1.3 basic)ghz CPU would be worth the money, as it would be very difficult to upgrade.  I know what I'm using the laptop for, and a 1.6+ will do exactly what I need.
Extended Battery £40 - TBH, the one I bought, I didn't check that it was an official battery, which is more expensive and doesn't require a BIOS upgrade to function correctly (indicator etc).  But seeing as the  regular supplied battery only gives 2.5 ghours battery, the 5-6 hour extended battery is pretty mcuh essential.

Well, after all that, I found one with everything except an SSD within that range, so I bought it up.  It also comes with a case and an extra (2 pin) charger (if it works), which will be useful for work, and the original battery.  It also came with a 1.8ghz CPU, which is as good as it gets.

I'm a bit wary of spending all that cash considering my looming living conditions, but I don't think that's too bad, not only for a laptop, but one I've wanted a while and researched properly beforehand.  (it was £255 inc shipping)

[spenoza]

Uh-oh... What are your looming living conditions?

[soop]

Uh-oh... What are your looming living conditions?

It's not as bad as all that; Donna is looking to move out, and when she does, that doubles my rent and bills, which would pretty much mean no disposable income - until I find a flatmate.  But I'm quite introverted, and I don't really like opening up my space to others if you know what I mean.  This is my home.

It was still enough to keep me awake last night.

[SignOfZeta]

Hm...I paid $1300 for my Macbook so that seems incredible cheap. I didn't realize you could buy name brand machines for so little money. I did buy my girlfriend a Toshiba Netbook for $300 for Xmas 2010, but that thing turned out to be the biggest piece of shit computer ever, so I don't really count it.

[spenoza]

Uh-oh... What are your looming living conditions?

It's not as bad as all that; Donna is looking to move out, and when she does, that doubles my rent and bills, which would pretty much mean no disposable income - until I find a flatmate.  But I'm quite introverted, and I don't really like opening up my space to others if you know what I mean.  This is my home.

It was still enough to keep me awake last night.

Yeah, I completely understand that sentiment and I probably would have the same reaction.

[soop]

Hm...I paid $1300 for my Macbook so that seems incredible cheap. I didn't realize you could buy name brand machines for so little money. I did buy my girlfriend a Toshiba Netbook for $300 for Xmas 2010, but that thing turned out to be the biggest piece of shit computer ever, so I don't really count it.

I was fairly suprised too, but I think that those particular machines are in the same market as Apple originally was - people who have so much money to throw around they can afford to pay extra for pretty, and will snap up the latest and greatest, letting the old one go for peanuts.  Lets be honest, the original Vaio P was an underpowered but well built netbook, and was worth nowhere near $800, but if I can get one for that price that does what I want, I'm happy.  Your Macbook will shit all over it for any serious power though.

Yeah, I completely understand that sentiment and I probably would have the same reaction.

Thanks man, that's a nice thing to say.  I've never actually lived on my own before thinking about it.  But I'm sure I'll think of something.

[Nando]

$403 USD for those specs ins't bad at all.

[storino03]

I don't know about you all, but I don't see any specs in the original post. Is this "Vaio P" a netbook or is it more like a regular laptop? if it is of the netbook variety, I would skip it. HD videos would most likely struggle on it, like it was with my netbook I had before. MSI Wind.

[soop]

I don't know about you all, but I don't see any specs in the original post. Is this "Vaio P" a netbook or is it more like a regular laptop? if it is of the netbook variety, I would skip it. HD videos would most likely struggle on it, like it was with my netbook I had before. MSI Wind.

It is a netbook, but that one has the most powrful CPU in the range.  Should be more than capable for what I want