Laptop configuration?

Apart from PSU (in another thread) I'm also in the market for a laptop for my son, so he can take it to his girlfriend's and has no excuse for failing to do his homework. :-D

It should also last through his university (starting next year) and to be able to run some decent games - but not the latest, especially not in high resolution! I should think a DVD player (for watching movies) will be enough as mostly files would be carried on usb drive and copies stored in both laptop and college HDD, and possibly external HDD (or even text files as an attachment in email sent to self.)

What would be the the requirements for CPU or any other hardware - including the few years of "future proofing". If I went for a second hand laptop, what should I look out for - or is simply it too risky?

 

What is your budget?

 

I have no real idea how much mid-rande laptops cost these days, maybe £350 - 450. A little more at a squeeze.I guess Core 2 Duo would be OK for most tasks but I understnad there might be more efficient & cooler option providing the same oomph? I'm also guessing Intel is more common in laptops, AMD being reserved only for entry level machines?

 

How does this sound, could you live with this in university? http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169936

At least it would have bluetooth so transfering photos & music between mobile phone should be easy? And internal Wifi means no dongles and no worry about breaking them. HDD is a bit on the small side but USBs and external HDDs are not too expensive and safer in case the laptop gets stolen or breaks (provided you don't lose them)... Of course there is no way of telling how it feels so type of it.

 

Looks pretty good, I LOVE the full sized keyboard my laptop has.

 

Thanks for that, maybe I should order it before it's out of stock. I trust Compaq is a reasonably good make? I had an old P2 laptop that worked fine for a long time. I think it finally gave up the ghost afer overheating, because I slept with it every night. I don't like technology, honest!