Geek required-Advice new PC laptop

[andypandy]

I have been charged with purchasing a laptop for my niece. I only ever buy Mac and know nothing about PCs other than they are cheaper and there is shed loads more choice. So here's my brief: I need to find ...

A PC laptop 13-15" screen

Durable but not too heavy

?400 or under

New

Intel core 2 duo or later

Optical drive included

Windows

Street-cred for a 13 year old girl (but not pink plastic cr@p)

Can anyone out there recommend something suitable recommend a deal etc. My first port of call was the Dell website but I get lost in what's what and what's best.

[binary_star]

Hi Andypandy,

I've got a Dell Inspiron laptop at work and, as far as PCs go, it's not too bad (I'm a Mac user myself). It might be a good place to start.

[Siduhe]

I recently picked up a Samsung R530 on offer at ?350 - nothing fancy, graphics card isn't up to gaming, but has everything you list and more than fine for general use. Even at full price it would just under your budget. The red one has more cred than the standard silver and it runs Windows 7 Home Premium (which is a huge improvement on Vista).

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Martin Lewis does a rundown on cheap laptops:

laptop deals

[.......]

My suggestion is to drive to Lakeside (i know it's a bit far), and visit Best Buy. They will be able to recommend a laptop suitable to your niece's needs. All the computing guys there know what they're talking about, and should make the best recommendations.

I have a 13" Acer which is really light, but it has no optical drive. The drive will add a fair bit of weight unfortunately. But you could always buy a cheap external drive, depends what she will use it for (eg just for watching DVDs at home, back up, or using it out and about where an inbuilt one is more practical).

[jaybee82]

I'd avoid Netbooks unless getting a top-end one...they're made cheaply and don't last more than about 18 months to a couple of years. I'd second binary_star and stick with a Dell or HP - decent support and reasonable build quality and spec (on the whole)...