http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.204-7131.aspx

£479.00, Buy Now, Pay in 6 Months

Audio Features: Yes
Battery Life: 3 hours
Bluetooth: No
Box Contents: Aspire 5520G Notebook, AC Power Adapter, Battery
Brand: Acer
Built-in Webcam: Yes
Card Reader: Yes
Features of Product: Sleek and Stlyish Gemstone A Design Powerful AMD Turion™ 64 X2 Dual-Core TL60 4096MB of RAM. 250Gb Hard Disk Drive storing all your multimedia for on the go entertainment. DVD Super Multi optical drive with NVIDIA® GeForce 9300 256MB VRAM for superiour multimedia viewing. Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium for seamless efficiency and superior multimedia experience
Finger Print Reader: No
Firewire: Yes
Graphics: NVIDIA© GeForce© 9300
Hard Drive Size: 250GB
Hard Drive Type: SATA
Laptop Colour: Gloss Black External Cover and White KB
Memory Features: DDR2
Memory Size: 4GB
Memory Type: DDR2
Number of USB Ports: 4x USB 2.0
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium
Optical Drive: DVD Dual Layer Rewriter
Optical Drive Bluray Compatible: No
Optical Drive HD Compatible: No
Optical Drive Lightscribe Compatible: No
Output: VGA, S-Video, Headphone/speaker/line-out jacks, RJ-45 port, RJ-11 port, ExpressCard™/54 slot, Consumer Infrared Port, DVI-D
Processor: AMD Turion™ 64 X2 Dual-Core
Processor Cache: 1Mb
Processor Model Number: TL60
Processor Speed: 2GHz
Product Depth: 27.4 cm
Product Height: 3.3/4.2 cm
Product Width: 36.6 cm
Range: User Model Performance
Remote Control Included: No
Screen Size: 15.4"
Screen Type: Widescreen WXGA
Software Load: Acer Empowering Technology, Adobe® Reader®, Microsoft® Works 8.5 with Office Home and Student 2007 Trial, NTI CD-Maker™, McAfee Internet Security Trial
TV Tuner: No
Wi-Fi: Yes
Wired Networking Port: Yes
Wireless Built in: Yes
Wireless Features: Acer InviLink™ 802.11b/g Wi-Fi

I'm going to require a lot more information on near enough each spec (e.g. "Vista Home Premium vs Basic/Ultimate" "AMD Turion", "Duel Core", "DDR2", "SATA hardrive", "Firewire", weather or not they're good on in their own right, and if it's better than others, why etc.)

We've also found this one:

£379.00, Buy Now, Pay in 6 Months

Audio Features: Yes
Battery Life: 3.5 hours
Bluetooth: No
Box Contents: Aspire 2920 Notebook, AC Power Adapter, Battery
Brand: Acer
Built-in Webcam: Yes
Card Reader: Yes
Features of Product: Portable and lightwieght design. Powerful Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5750 Processor. 2048MB of RAM. 250Gb Hard Disk Drive storing all your multimedia for on the go entertainment. DVD Super Multi optical drive with Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 for multimedia viewing ability. Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium for seamless efficiency and superior multimedia experience
Finger Print Reader: No
Firewire: No
Graphics: Intel© Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
Hard Drive Size: 250GB
Hard Drive Type: SATA
Laptop Colour: Gloss Black External Cover with Black and Grey keyboard
Memory Features: DDR2
Memory Size: 2GB
Memory Type: DDR2
Number of USB Ports: 3x USB 2.0
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium
Optical Drive: DVD Dual Layer Rewriter
Optical Drive Bluray Compatible: No
Optical Drive HD Compatible: No
Optical Drive Lightscribe Compatible: No
Output: VGA, S-Video, Headphone/speaker/line-out jacks, RJ-45 port, RJ-11 port, ExpressCard™/54 slot
Processor: Intel® Core™2 Duo
Processor Bus: 667MHz
Processor Cache: 2Mb
Processor Model Number: T5750
Processor Speed: 2GHz
Product Depth: 22.3 cm
Product Height: 3.2/4.2 cm
Product Width: 30.4 cm
Range: User Model Ultra Mobile
Remote Control Included: No
Screen Size: 12.1"
Screen Type: Widescreen WXGA
Software Load: Acer Empowering Technology, Adobe® Reader®, Microsoft® Works 8.5 with Office Home and Student 2007 Trial, NTI CD-Maker™, McAfee Internet Security Trial
TV Tuner: No
Wired Networking Port: Yes
Wireless Built in: Yes
Wireless Features: Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945ABG (dual-band tri-mode 802.11a/b/g)

This one seems to meet all of her requirements too. Basic computing stuff like watching videos, possibly image manipulation for her DeviantArt stuff.
The only real difference I can see is one less USB port, no FireWire (which we probably wouldn't use anyway because we don't understand what it is) and the memory size being only 2GB (which I believe would be perfectly fine for her uses. I'm thinking that the 4GB on the first machine would be more for like a gaming laptop to handle all the motion that's going on). But there again, I don't know which is better on a lot specs, like the first's AMD Turion Duel Core processor vs the second's Intel Core Duo 2.

Very much.

LOL. I've heard that Sony laptops are quite expensive.
My major concern is that whilst I'd want her to have a competent machine, I don't think she'd be able to take advantage of, or ever have a use for some of the features of the higher priced machines. Therefore it seems silly to spend lots of money for a suped-up machine. The only real differences that leap out at me (without any definitive knowledge) between the acer gemstone and acer aspire, is a nicer, cheaper price tag on the aspire, one less usb port (3 instead of 4). We wouldn't use firewire and although it has less memory, the aspire has has enough for what she needs the laptop to do, so they're essentially moot points.

What would be the difference between the Acer Gemstone's AMD Turion Duel Core processor vs the Acer Aspire's Intel Core Duo 2. Is one 'better' than the other, or are they just equal counterparts from different companies?

If it were me buying one of these two machines, I'd go with the double RAM and nVida graphics card, because I'd play games on it. But does having on-board graphics make a big negative difference to someone who isn't going to use the laptop to play games?

Think we're gonna go with the Acer Gemstone. Despite my wanting to save money I have to admit that I'd probably give in and go for the Gemstone extras if it was only costing me about £50 more and I was shopping for myself (we're paying half 'n half for her laptop), so I don't have a problem with her wanting the extras.

Just for my own piece of mind, is the AMD Turion better than the Intel Core Duo 2?

If I had a girl friend, I would give her an i7 core tower to show her my true love. :)

lilsting10, I seem to remember a rule about buying a laptop for the girlfriend -- isn't it two months salary to prove your love? Or maybe I'm thinking of something else. :)

go some notebook from hp