The 10 Best budget laptops

 

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1. Packard Bell Dot S

Very.co.uk, £229.00

This netbook stands out, with a purple swish pattern on its lid. It has a very sturdy base and good battery life. It's very well connected, too, with three USB ports and an SD card reader.

2. Grade A2 Acer Aspire One 722

Acerdirect.co.uk, £239.98

This netbook punches above its weight. Just 1in thin, it has a Qwerty keypad and a screen with a backlight and HD resolution – perfect for watching films.

3. Samsung N145 Plus

Amazon.co.uk, £209.99

Durable and with a six-cell battery lasting for 10 hours, this chic model with a matt cover finish is very usable and its Intel processor offers 1.6GHz of speed and a 320GB hard drive.

4. Toshiba NB500

Debenhamsplus.com, £296

Mobile without compromising on performance, this netbook is crammed with decent kit and has a 250GB hard drive and a stylish finish. Its screen brightness has been commended.

5. Dell Inspiron Duo

Tesco.com, £399

Dell's hybrid design includes a flip hinge, which allows you to switch between a touchscreen tablet with docking system or laptop. As such, it's brilliant for those on the go.

6. Asus Eee PC X101CH

Currys.co.uk, £209.99

This petite and light notebook makes others look like giants. It also boasts instant-on technology, which allows the machine to resume from "sleep" mode in seconds.

7. Samsung NF110

Currys.co.uk, £209.99

This mini-machine is a stunner, with a chiclet-design keypad and a long battery life. It's good for music, too, with speakers that can compete with those of full-sized laptops.

8. Acer Aspire One Happy 2

Gogodigital.co.uk, £196.99

If you're after a burst of colour in your machine, tropical-themed lids such as banana cream and strawberry yoghurt may tempt you – especially combined with up to eight hours' battery juice.

9. HP Mini 210 3002sa

Play.com, £304.99

With impressive stereo speakers made by Beats Audio, decent speed (a 1.6GHz processor) and in a luminous-rose colour, this netbook packs a bigger punch than its screen would suggest.

10. Acer Aspire One 522

Amazon.co.uk, £239

This netbook is ahead of the pack with a 1,280 x 720 high-resolution screen and a powerful integrated Radeon HD graphics chip, while being exceedingly thin and light too.

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