Here’s a great gift idea that won’t fit into your Christmas stocking but nevertheless will certainly ensure that the giver receives plenty of attention underneath the mistletoe this Christmas! Customised notebooks, such as pink laptops, are becoming increasingly popular with the young in-crowd who like to use their accessories to make a statement. Therefore you can now get laptops not just in shocking pink, but electric blue, lime green, vibrant yellow – the choice is yours!
Now just what is the difference between a laptop and a netbook? Well netbooks remain very popular because they are smaller and more lightweight than their heavier laptop counterparts and cheaper! Why? Well because what they gain by being lighter and more portable they lose a little in power, yet with speedier connectivity and more powerful netbooks being brought onto the market, this difference is hardly noticeable in some models. Most will have around 1GB of RAM and 250GB of storage and as they are marketed to be portable it is worth checking battery life as this can vary hugely on models from a mere 2 hours to 8 hours of life.
Acer Aspire One Happy 2 Netbook
The latest Acer Netbook comes in a cute pink shade called ‘strawberry yoghurt’ and is muscling up to its larger laptop cousins with a powerful, energy efficient Intel Atom N455 processor and up to 8 hours of battery life. Will the Aspire Netbook knock the Samsung Netbooks off the Christmas bestsellers list?
Currently available from eBuyer for £234.41
Elsewhere there seems to be a dire shortage of suitable models on the market and many retailers have been scrabbling together whatever pink laptops they can get get hold of in the knowledge that they will be bound to sell at Christmas time. This means that often the laptops you’ll see in the stores are older models and each store may only have the odd one or two available. PC World, Currys and Dixons also have quite a few refurbished models on offer at the moment too.
For laptops, well the bestsellers last year were Sony Vaio laptops and I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t remain so this year. Not only can you choose your own colour and design but you can also customise your laptop to your own requirements! Perfect for kids who use their laptops to watch Blu-Ray DVDs and also need high storage capacity for all those homework assignments!
Laptops Currently on Offer
Stocks are low on all models at the moment so don’t be surprised if the laptop you have your eye on suddenly becomes unavailable. In an effort to keep you informed of what’s available where we’ll update this list each day and give a brief overview of what’s available and where.
Advent Monza E1 A15RV03 15.6″ Laptop – Pink
On the face of it the Advent ticks all the right boxes – it’s a standard sized 15 inch laptop, it’s pink and the 6GB of memory and 640GB hard drive are more than adequate for the average home user. You also get all the usual stuff like a built-in web cam, wi-fi, DVD drive an dplenty of connections including 3 USB ports and HDMI. The battery life at 3.6 hours isn’t bad either – it isn’t great, but compares well with other options in this price band. The processor is a dual core AMD E-450 which isn’t one of the greatest but about what you’d expect and should perform OK.
Now Advent is a budget brand owned by DSG so is only avialble via Dixon’s, Curry’s and PC World. On the plus side this means there is likely to be plenty of stock and will to be replacement available if there is a problem. However, in terms of quality and value for money you’ll get more or less what you pay for – adequate performance and average reliability. If they try to sell you an extended warranty then ask why they think their own brand of computers might break down – we’d be interested to hear the answers you get to that one?
The Advent Monza Laptop is currently available to order on-line at PC World at £350.38
HP Pavilion G6 1234sa Laptop
This is a budget version of the HP G6 which was released earlier in the year but is a good value laptop nonetheless. You get 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive as well as a dedicated 1GB graphics card. Again the processor is an AMD, the Dual-Core E2-3000M, which is about the best you can expect at this price. The battery life is claimed to be up to 5 hours which is very good for a full size laptop also.
The LED Brightview display is renowned for being particulalrly good and with a built-in DVD drive should get the thumbs up from your average teenager. There are 3 uSB ports, built-in wi-fi and web cam and built-in stereo speakers too.
The HP Pavilion g6-1234sa is available at PC World for £370.40
Sony Vaio VPCYB3V1E 11.6″ Laptop – Pink
The Sony Y Series is a notebook which, at 11.6″, is between a netbook and a laptop. These compact laptops have become quite popular of late and for aobvious reasons – you get the portability of a lightweight netbbok with the power and parformance comparable to a full sized laptop.
This 11.6 inch Vaio has been around for a while now in although it was only avaible initially direct from Sony. This latest version is at the budget end of the range with an AMD E-450 processor. You do, however, get 4GB of RAM, a 500GB Hard drive and a dedicated AMD Radeon HD graphics card. Please note however that because of it’s compact size this laptop does not have a built-in disc drive. You do get the usual range of connection options though and with up to 6 hours battery lif and a total weight of less than 1.5Kg this really is a great value piece of kit.
Available from PC World for £380.40 or direct from Sony UK for £429 with 2 years warranty
Sony Vaio CA2Z0E/P Laptop (Intel Core i5, 4GB, 320GB, 14″ Display)
This pink C Series Vaio from Sony is not only a great looking laptop, it’s a serious performer too. You get a super-fast and advanced Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB of memory and a 320GB hard drive. At 14″ it’s a little smaller and lighter than a full sized laptop but nothing has been compromised in terms of quality and spec.
The high coontrast widescreen display offers pin-sharp video playback and with up to 5 hours battery life – so they won’t be fighting over the available power sockets too often. You also get 4 USB ports, an SD Card Reader, built-in web cam, wi-fi and a DVD drive.
As a Christmas gift the Sony may be on the expensive side – at just over £600 – but if you are more concerned with quality and performance it’s well worth considering.
Currently on sale at Tesco Direct for £612
Lenovo IdeaPad Z370 – Pink
Lenovo may be a computer brand you’ve not heard of before but don’t be discouraged by this because they are primarily a producer of business laptops of some renown. This isn’t the company’s first venture into the consumer market but it’s the first time a pink Lenavo has been readily available in the UK (some previous models were very popular in the US but they were thin on the ground over here).
So now we’ve established Lenovo is a reputable brand let’s look at what’s on offer. The colour is what I would describe as strong and may not be to everyone’s liking but it contrasts well with the sharp black keyboard and screen and will certainly not go unnoticed.
In terms of size the Lenovo is a compact 13.3″ which is just short of a regular sized laptop. The processor is Intel’s Core i3 and you get 4GB of RAM – so it’s a performance machine that will hold its own against most premium comparisons. You also get a dedicated Intel Graphics card which will be appreciated by gamers and movie fans and the on-board stereo speakers will be a big hit with music fans too. Battery life isn’t too great at about 3 and a half hours but it isn’t bad either.
Overall, if you’re in the market for a premium quality laptop and want reliable performance the Lenovo Z370 may be the laptop for you.
Currently on sale at amazon for £429.57
Recommended Retailers
Now if you do want to get your hands on a pink laptop (or blue or green etc!), be warned that they are very popular just before Christmas. Last year we found the retailers with the most stock were Amazon, John Lewis and Tesco. These companies also passed our Golden Halo test in receiving no complaints from customers going through us, which is worth considering when ordering Christmas gifts you want delivered before Christmas.
So this Christmas think differently and give them a laptop that reflects their vibrant personality, one that is as unique as they are. After all, aren’t they worth it?
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