laptop upgrade time, suggestions please?

OK suggestions please.

Win 7, 4Gb, 500GB, i3 processor. Cheap but from a "name" with 4+ hour battery life please. Available in the UK now. pref less than £500

Got my eye on this http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/HP_ProBook_5320m_997565.html with a query in to HP if I can get their tradeup cash back on the old lappy. If not may compromise on some specs.

i.e. http://www.ebuyer.com/product/238517

Any deals I should know about?

Ta

Big with fast graphics or ultra portable?

Yes, both. More specifically.

Portable and kneeable. So more 13" and 14".

Longer battery rather than performance. But a decent processor for video.
Dedicated graphics not a necessity.

Currently have a portly 13.3" Vaio doing a sterling job but showing its age even after memory and HDD upgrade.

What you should look for is a laptop with dual graphics cards. That way, on mains power you can use the main graphics cards but revert to the lower-power graphics card when on battery to preserve the life.

Any of the newer i3/i5/i7 will play up to 1080p effortlessly. I do second the HP promo. I think that on top of getting a cash for the trade in process, you can also get some cash back from Quidco, at 10% if I remember correctly.

Although I will recommend that you get extended warranty. Have had a few HP's fail me over the past few years.

Bright spark.
dv6-3122sa from HP £449, %10 quidco cash back = £45, trade in old £150 = £254 !!!!! Not quite what I'm after but right track.

Doug,

You might wish to look at the new Asus U31 and U36 models as well. 8-cell batteries, good power mgmt, etc. And they're i-5, and have the specs you were after in terms of RAM and HDD size.

Thanks i-Berg, just heading out of the price band with that, a little too new. The U35 i3 4GB 320Gb is £665 with £100 trade in, so £565 (I'd like a little left in the camera trade up fund). I think U31 translates to U33 here and they are about £750

So I guess my budget after trade up/in is £500. I just can't be bothered to sell on ebay with all the numpties and fees.

Word of caution, high powered laptops run on the hotter side of warm. I thought I`d stuffed my new one whilst extolling the virtues of Photoshop.

Extra cooling is a wild idea and works. I bought from that famous south American river site a Belkin laptop cooler with a USB powered fan. No more spectacular shutdowns and a much cooler lap.

Thanks Cedric, I've had my finger on the trigger today but a luke warm review limped-out my spending finger.

I've got terminal indecisiveness at the moment and keep seeing better and better deals. Each £ spent on the laptop is a £ less for a new body.

I've gone back to considering ULV light weights as I don't think I'll be putting CS5 on it. No heat problem there to damage "the lads".

Or there again .....I might just get the £339 job from ebuyer.

Try this, this is what I have,

Jack. link you can get it cheaper from the USA,

Jack,

I did read your thread, I was only trying to be helpful, I am now sorry I did, It will never happen again and Mike I didn't ask for you comment,

Jack.

I didn't ask you to keep coming back to the forum but we cant have everything we wish for

If you guys have an issue please deal with it elsewhere.

I don't have an issue John I was only trying to help, seems they have an issue,

Jack.