jabbahutt
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 posted on 28/10/08 at 03:48 PM |
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laptop advice
Afternoon all
Looking to buy a laptop for the good lady wife.
I have a budget of approx £450 and the laptop will be used for internet, email/word and some low processor hungry software.
I have no clue about what to look for/brands etc but would like to get the best I can for the money.
Can anyone on here suggest makes/models etc to either look at orr avoid?
Cheers
Nigel
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Dangle_kt
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| posted on 28/10/08 at 04:08 PM |
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Dell make a decent laptop, and have good offers on at times.
Tends to be business spec, which is spot on if your not going to be playing games on it - so not requiring a fancy graphics card etc.
Think you might get one a bit cheaper than £450 if you shop round.
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liam.mccaffrey
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| posted on 28/10/08 at 04:08 PM |
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li
nky
I've heard good things about these, I want one in fact.
Build Blog
Build Photo Album
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vinny1275
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| posted on 28/10/08 at 04:13 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by liam.mccaffrey
li
nky
I've heard good things about these, I want one in fact.
We use those at work, but I wouldn't want to use one on the tiny screen for too long. Nice if you have to carry them about, but if you mostly
use it at home, plugged in, get a laptop with a decent sized screen. I got an HP with 15.4" screen, AMD dual-core processor, 3GB RAM, 250GB hard
drive and DVD re-writer for just over 450 - that was from comet as I couldn't wait to get one delivered as my old one was knackered....
HTH
vince
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madmandegge
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| posted on 28/10/08 at 04:17 PM |
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I had the EEE 901, was a nice laptop, but I've since then returned the 901 to be replaced with an Advent 4211 (aka the MSI Wind)
Keyboard is a much nicer size, speed is pretty much the same, as the processor is exactly the same unit. Saving a bit of cash on that, the Acer Aspire
One (varying models/hard drive sizes, etc) is very good value. Keyboard is a nice size when compared to the 901, and the screen is nice and shiny
too!
Or, if Dell seems like a good idea and you don't want a teeny tiny netbook, Dell's EBay outlet (yes, icky eBay!) have some really great
deals. They sell "seconds" but having seen a friend order one, the 'scratch' that was supposed to be on the unit was nowhere
to be seen!
Username is "dellfactoryoutlet", linky at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Dell-Outlet
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dhutch
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| posted on 28/10/08 at 04:20 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Dangle_kt
Dell make a decent laptop, and have good offers on at times.
Tends to be business spec, which is spot on if your not going to be playing games on it - so not requiring a fancy graphics card etc.
Think you might get one a bit cheaper than £450 if you shop round.
I would second that, ring them too, barter!
Ive always been a ibm thinkpad fan too, although i dont know much about them since the laptop sector has been taken over by lenova.
I would also be after a bussiness type setup. As long as its go enough to run windows i would rather have the money go on a decent
chassis/screen/battery/buildqualty than a gee-wiz graphics card and a coloured glowy bit on the side. And im practically still a teenager!!
The Eee PC's are very nice units, ive had a play on two now (one linux one winxp) however they are what they are, and i wouldnt want to type
more than a line or two on them or spend long looking at a 10inch screen.
Also dont rule out second hand, although you need to know what your looking for a little more.
Daniel
[Edited on 28/10/08 by dhutch]
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twybrow
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| posted on 28/10/08 at 04:21 PM |
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Ring Dell, and spec up a laptop to the coswt you want. Take delivery of said laptop, wait for few days, and then ring them up and tell them you have
changed your mind. They will send you loads of goodies to persuade you to keep it, as they can't resell returns for anywhere near full price.
Hey presto - you keep the laptop and all the freebies. My friend got a free colour printer and digital camera when he rang up!
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hicost blade
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| posted on 28/10/08 at 04:57 PM |
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www.mcscom.co.uk is the place Dell send their returned laptops to be re-sold.
http://www.mcscom.co.uk/product.php?xProd=5707&xSec=70
Bought one of these for a mate the other day and it is fantastic.
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zilspeed
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| posted on 28/10/08 at 05:58 PM |
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We got an HP6720B from Carphone Warehouse as a freebie.
paid £15 delivery for it, and £20 a month for broadband.
They also gave us a free upgrade to 2GB of memory and a 160GB hard drive.
Works for me.
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tomprescott
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| posted on 28/10/08 at 06:50 PM |
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There are loads of deals around, if you're in the market for a phone contract you'll easily find a free one with that. I'd avoid
dell, there are hidden costs, like suddenly a delivery thats qouted at £20 hops up to £80, plus I've found their customer service to be awful!
For £450 you can get something pretty decent but to be honest the only major difference between a 350 and 450 quid laptop is brand and styling. Acer,
Asus and e-systems are all budget makes that include quality internals, the same that you'll get in a more expensive laptop. Go for something
with a min. of 100GB HDD, 1GB Ram (although you should easily manage 2GB with your budget) and get a 17" screen if its mostly staying at home!
For anyone interested I can (hopefully still) get the full version of office for around £40, let me find the link for it and ill post it soon. Tom
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joneh
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| posted on 28/10/08 at 07:30 PM |
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From an IT companies point of view, we wouldn't recommend anything else other than an HP, purely down to the support.
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tomblyth
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| posted on 28/10/08 at 07:38 PM |
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buy a toshiba ! my Equium M40x is brilliant and it runs on the battery for about 6hrs!
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madmandegge
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| posted on 28/10/08 at 10:36 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by joneh
From an IT companies point of view, we wouldn't recommend anything else other than an HP, purely down to the support.
Not to tilt the scales on purpose, but from a company point of view I'd say the exact opposite!
I've spent many an hour talking to hoardes of indian people with HP, but notably about printers rather than laptops. Still I've had to
explain the same thing numerous times, and can't really understand what's being said, nor can they really understand me.
Whereas Dell for example I get to talk to friendly people from the UK who have yet to fail us!
imho 
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