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[TheBoy]

Does under £230 for a new lappy, mainstream brand sound like a decent deal? Mrs TheBoy's Tosh has had it, and her Dell has a knackered system board.

Its a 1G Ram, 120G HDD, dvd writer, 17" screen, 965 chipset (so likely a X3100 integrated, though may have discreet ATI 1300 series), bluetooth, Celeron 550 (so 2Ghz). Wireless? Who knows.

Full spec is sketchy, as exact variation doesn't appear on manufacturers website.

Given the spec, may downgrade from the included Vista Home Premium (as won't work on our domain properly) to XP Pro, if I have a spare licence (which means removing it from her desktop she hasn't used in years!)


Is £230 a good price, or can I do better.  Of Core2 Duo, would happily spend another £50...

[cem_devecioglu]

Does under £230 for a new lappy, mainstream brand sound like a decent deal? Mrs TheBoy's Tosh has had it, and her Dell has a knackered system board.

Its a 1G Ram, 120G HDD, dvd writer, 17" screen, 965 chipset (so likely a X3100 integrated, though may have discreet ATI 1300 series), bluetooth, Celeron 550 (so 2Ghz). Wireless? Who knows.

Full spec is sketchy, as exact variation doesn't appear on manufacturers website.

Given the spec, may downgrade from the included Vista Home Premium (as won't work on our domain properly) to XP Pro, if I have a spare licence (which means removing it from her desktop she hasn't used in years!)


Is £230 a good price, or can I do better.  Of Core2 Duo, would happily spend another £50...

would prefer core2 duo .. £50 is not an important amount if you divide into the period you use

[Bandit127]

It sounds like a great deal.

But in practice, cheap laptops have a b*ggeration factor that makes them slow and ponderous no matter what you do to get rid of the bloatware, optimising the system etc.

At the end of the day/week/month you end up with what is still a cheap laptop.

If Mrs TB just wants to surf and write letters it will probably be great. If you are going to use it then the shine may wear off quickly.

My M90 and my Mrs Best Mate's Advent are very similar specs. But worlds different to use.

[TheBoy]

It sounds like a great deal.

But in practice, cheap laptops have a b*ggeration factor that makes them slow and ponderous no matter what you do to get rid of the bloatware, optimising the system etc.

At the end of the day/week/month you end up with what is still a cheap laptop.

If Mrs TB just wants to surf and write letters it will probably be great. If you are going to use it then the shine may wear off quickly.

My M90 and my Mrs Best Mate's Advent are very similar specs. But worlds different to use.

Exactly, which is why I've check it has a full blown 965 chipset.

My own lappy looks very similar, but is Core2 Duo, so I wouldn't use it...

[TheBoy]

Both are HP/Compaq Business Laptops, not the overprice consumer Presario junk.

[zirk]

Seems a good price to me, how much more for Centrino rather than Celeron?.

Ripping out Vista and installing XP Pro is the sort of thing I would think about as well, but you need to convince yourself that your going to get all the Laptop drivers working again properly.

Im not a fan of Vista but hear that SP 1 on vista works well now, think if you put Vista in Windows Classic mode seems to get rid of all those security pop ups?

[TheBoy]

Seems a good price to me, how much more for Centrino rather than Celeron?.

Ripping out Vista and installing XP Pro is the sort of thing I would think about as well, but you need to convince yourself that your going to get all the Laptop drivers working again properly.

Im not a fan of Vista but hear that SP 1 on vista works well now, think if you put Vista in Windows Classic mode seems to get rid of all those security pop ups?

Cannot get Core2 chipped ones cheap

As to Vista, and annoying pop-ups, they can, BUT ABSOLUTELY SHOULD NOT, be turned off.

XP has a bad security image.  The OS itself is pretty secure.  The problem comes because users think its a slur on their character to run as a normal user, and have to run as an Administrator to confirm the size of their manhood.  This is bad. Very bad.

To overcome this, knowing users would always insist on running as an Administrator, MS implemented a solution whereby anything potentially reducing OS security would pop up a prompt before continuing.  OK, it won't stop dimwits from being dimwits, but it at least allows users to know that an app/download/activex is trying to do something that probably it shouldn't.  These pop ups are good.


Linux, the haven of no security flaws (if you believe the fanboys) is starting to see similar breaches as its getting popular, as users think they need to run as root to prove themselves.  They do this, and BANG!, all Unix security is dropped, same as Windows.

[Phil]

Are these  available to 'the public' or a special deal only you can get?

Just i'm after a cheap laptop to surf 'the net' and use for photos and MP3's.

This seems to fit the bill

[TheBoy]

Are these  available to 'the public' or a special deal only you can get?

Just i'm after a cheap laptop to surf 'the net' and use for photos and MP3's.

This seems to fit the bill

No, me and a few thousand others only.  Deal from ex-employer.

[Welung666]

Can we put in our orders with you then TB

[TheBoy]

Can we put in our orders with you then TB

Sadly, no.  Deal for employees, from ex-employer.  Don't want to draw attention to fact I don't work for them any more  

[Mr Skrunts]

Can we put in our orders with you then TB

Sadly, no.  Deal for employees, from ex-employer.  Don't want to draw attention to fact I don't work for them any more  

Surely a few hundred laptops wouldnt be drawing attention would it.    

[TheBoy]

I've order 1 now anyway.  It will make a good present for her birthday, and means I don't have to go out shopping

[zirk]

I've order 1 now anyway.  It will make a good present for her birthday, and means I don't have to go out shopping

Dont forget to get it in Pink.

[TheBoy]

I've order 1 now anyway.  It will make a good present for her birthday, and means I don't have to go out shopping

Dont forget to get it in Pink.

Boring HP silver