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Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: Markie on 20 November 2006, 16:33:54

Title: Cheap new laptop - Recomendations ?
Post by: Markie on 20 November 2006, 16:33:54
For some reason my mother thinks me an IT expert  :-/ shes just left me £400 to get a laptop for my Dad for christmas.

I know the basics and spec but does anyone have any thoughts about actual deals out there that are the 'dangle berries'?

If not i will probably play safe and go for a Dell one she has shown me....

He will only do basics on it - so as for games - he may play that card game that comes installed  ;D - he will never ever buy a pc game.

Will probably do letters, internet ( no heavy downloading) and store his pictures on it......

To be honest he doesnt need one but its her money  :-/
Title: Re: Cheap new laptop - Recomendations ?
Post by: TheBoy on 20 November 2006, 16:38:18
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For some reason my mother thinks me an IT expert  :-/ shes just left me £400 to get a laptop for my Dad for christmas.

I know the basics and spec but does anyone have any thoughts about actual deals out there that are the 'dangle berries'?

If not i will probably play same and go for a Dell one she has sown me....

He will only do basics on it - so as for games - he may play that card game that comes installed - he will never ever buy a pc game.

Will probably do letters, internet ( no heavy downloading) and store his pictures on it......
The Dell ones are strong (unlike HP ones  :-[) and tend to be reliable.  The Dell build has a lot of bloat on there.  Trouble is, with a laptop, I would consider some kind of extended warranty, as failures tend to be terminal.  Dell have offshored their tech support, which can be annoying.

Toshiba make some decent laptops (check Misco for prices) as well.

Not a fan of Parckard Bell and similar from PC World.  Acer are gaining a bad reputation for reliability.
Title: Re: Cheap new laptop - Recomendations ?
Post by: Del Boy on 20 November 2006, 16:38:20
I got an acer 1 m8 and i love it never let me down good spec cheap prices lovely thing it is
http://www.comet.co.uk/cometbrowse/product.do?sku=362972
DVD RW 60GB hard rive 1 GB of ram really nice just in your price range aswell
Title: Re: Cheap new laptop - Recomendations ?
Post by: Del Boy on 20 November 2006, 16:39:50
BTW my bother has one of the above 1n's and that is reliable really nice laptop m8
Title: Re: Cheap new laptop - Recomendations ?
Post by: TheBoy on 20 November 2006, 16:39:55
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I got an acer 1 m8 and i love it never let me down good spec cheap prices lovely thing it is
http://www.comet.co.uk/cometbrowse/product.do?sku=362972
DVD RW 60GB hard rive 1 GB of ram really nice just in your price range aswell
Opps, we must have replied together. Never meant to dis your laptop - hope it lasts you well. Though they are getting a bad reputation in the industry - though as a big player, they are likely to get a lot of returns...
Title: Re: Cheap new laptop - Recomendations ?
Post by: bob.dent on 20 November 2006, 16:41:10
Check the Acer laptop out on here Mark, £389.96 incl. VAT

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/store/45/cat/Notebooks/Laptops
Title: Re: Cheap new laptop - Recomendations ?
Post by: TheBoy on 20 November 2006, 16:41:22
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I got an acer 1 m8 and i love it never let me down good spec cheap prices lovely thing it is
http://www.comet.co.uk/cometbrowse/product.do?sku=362972
DVD RW 60GB hard rive 1 GB of ram really nice just in your price range aswell
Shame they do not state which chipset it uses :(
Title: Re: Cheap new laptop - Recomendations ?
Post by: Elite Pete on 20 November 2006, 16:41:25
Jamie has got one with a novel wooden handle ;D
Title: Re: Cheap new laptop - Recomendations ?
Post by: Markie on 20 November 2006, 16:42:04
Jamie - thanks for the input  :y
LSG that acer does have decent spec doesnt it.

We have 3 laptops currently i have a compaq r4000 - never had an issue and love it, Wife has some form of Toshiba and never an issue, mum got a Dell about 3 months ago again no issues.

Think i will go look for a tosh....compaq are a bit dearer  :-/ and take it from there.... ;)
Title: Re: Cheap new laptop - Recomendations ?
Post by: Markie on 20 November 2006, 16:44:53
  :o so what acer is best Bobs ebuyer or LSG`s Comet ?
Title: Re: Cheap new laptop - Recomendations ?
Post by: TheBoy on 20 November 2006, 16:45:16
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Jamie - thanks for the input  :y
LSG that acer does have decent spec doesnt it.

We have 3 laptops currently i have a compaq r4000 - never had an issue and love it, Wife has some form of Toshiba and never an issue, mum got a Dell about 3 months ago again no issues.

Think i will go look for a tosh....compaq are a bit dearer  :-/ and take it from there.... ;)
Remember, Compaq were 'merged' (ie bought out by) HP about 3 or 4 yrs ago.  I've already hinted at how weak HP laptops are - already had a new HDD fitted in my work one, and they've just ordered a new HDD and system board.  About 6 months old. Good spec, but unreliable piece of junk.

Theolodian has a Compaq laptop that is just weird. Can't replace HDD.

So I would avoid Compaq/HP
Title: Re: Cheap new laptop - Recomendations ?
Post by: Del Boy on 20 November 2006, 16:47:18
Just to show u guys the good spec and cheap price this is my laptop
http://www.comet.co.uk/cometbrowse/product.do?sku=325473
Title: Re: Cheap new laptop - Recomendations ?
Post by: bob.dent on 20 November 2006, 16:47:23
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 :o so what acer is best Bobs ebuyer or LSG`s Comet ?

Probably best if I get supermop to answer that as I don't know the spec or price of the Acer from Comet - I'll give him a shout.
Title: Re: Cheap new laptop - Recomendations ?
Post by: TheBoy on 20 November 2006, 16:47:49
http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&oc=N11136a

£379 if you take off extended warranty...


If anyone is thinking of Dell, best place to get prices is
http://www.dmxdimension.co.uk

Title: Re: Cheap new laptop - Recomendations ?
Post by: Markie on 20 November 2006, 16:48:36
Quote
I got an acer 1 m8 and i love it never let me down good spec cheap prices lovely thing it is
http://www.comet.co.uk/cometbrowse/product.do?sku=362972
DVD RW 60GB hard rive 1 GB of ram really nice just in your price range aswell


this `un  ;)
Title: Re: Cheap new laptop - Recomendations ?
Post by: Del Boy on 20 November 2006, 16:51:34
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 :o so what acer is best Bobs ebuyer or LSG`s Comet ?

Both media center XP bob's 2GHZ processor mine 1.6GHZ processor bobs 512MB of ram mine 1024MB of ram both 60GB hardrive bobs 14.1" screen mine 15.4" screen
Title: Re: Cheap new laptop - Recomendations ?
Post by: supermop on 20 November 2006, 16:51:55
Eww, wouldn't buy from Dell (myself personally).

The Acer notebook from Comet is the slightly better spec machine for the money. Has more RAM, and a bigger screen. The CPU i sn't quite as good, but the difference is very marginal.

I like how they knock a whole £4 off the in store price, so they can whack it back on for delivery!
Title: Re: Cheap new laptop - Recomendations ?
Post by: Del Boy on 20 November 2006, 16:53:49
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Eww, wouldn't buy from Dell.

The Acer notebook from Comet is the slightly better spec machine for the money. Has more RAM, and a bigger screen. The CPU i sn't quite as good, but the difference is very marginal.

I like how they knock a whole £4 off the in store price, so they can whack it back on for delivery!

Thats what i said to my bro whats the point in 4 quid i went and got it for him :)
Title: Re: Cheap new laptop - Recomendations ?
Post by: Markie on 20 November 2006, 16:56:27
So for the limited use and for the spec and the fact its from a high street retailer ( should anything go wrong - he can go back to them) i might be as well going for the one in Comet?

Saves me waiting in all day for a delivery as well ( had to wait in all day for wifes new Nokia from my own company today  >:()

ANyone think this is a baaaaaaad idea?

by the way the Dell she saw was the inspirion 1501 60gb, sempron 3500 256 mb dram
Title: Re: Cheap new laptop - Recomendations ?
Post by: TheBoy on 20 November 2006, 16:56:59
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Eww, wouldn't buy from Dell.

The Acer notebook from Comet is the slightly better spec machine for the money. Has more RAM, and a bigger screen. The CPU i sn't quite as good, but the difference is very marginal.

I like how they knock a whole £4 off the in store price, so they can whack it back on for delivery!
I have 4 Dell laptops here. One has packed up, just gotta strip it for spares before binning. 8 yrs old.  Got another with a noisy HDD otherwise excellent, about 6yrs old - still use this one for Tech2 stuff. Got a LS400, works fine, some of the plastics are broken - its been 'heavily used', batteries shot but otherwise fine, about 4yrs old. Lastly, a 2.2Ghz P4 one, used by Mrs TheBoy, excellent.

I would recommend Dell, certainly over Acer/Packard Bell/Compaq/Hp etc.

Personally, my main (home) laptop is a Tosh...
Title: Re: Cheap new laptop - Recomendations ?
Post by: Markie on 20 November 2006, 16:59:14
 ;D confused .....you should be  ;)

so the acer in comet or this dell....

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&oc=N11155
Title: Re: Cheap new laptop - Recomendations ?
Post by: supermop on 20 November 2006, 17:01:03
Tosh eh... never heard of em :p

We use DELL at work, bloody things break all the time! Having said that, some of them have lasted a bloody long time. Main thing that gets me is their desktops.
Title: Re: Cheap new laptop - Recomendations ?
Post by: Del Boy on 20 November 2006, 17:01:18
Have to say i do agree with supermop on this 1 i like DELL but do prefer acer and i wouldn't buy a DELL with my own money markiec though m8 it is your choice but i would go for the comet one i picked out cos my brother has 1 and it is really nice m8 :y
Title: Re: Cheap new laptop - Recomendations ?
Post by: TheBoy on 20 November 2006, 17:02:27
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;D confused .....you should be  ;)

so the acer in comet or this dell....

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&oc=N11155
256Mb ain't enough to run XP now...

Inspiron 1300 is one in your price range - the one I said earlier. Bit chunky though...
Title: Re: Cheap new laptop - Recomendations ?
Post by: TheBoy on 20 November 2006, 17:07:46
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Tosh eh... never heard of em :p

We use DELL at work, bloody things break all the time! Having said that, some of them have lasted a bloody long time. Main thing that gets me is their desktops.
We've found Dell to be some of the most reliable desktops and laptops out there. Servers aren't so reliable as HP/Compaq Proliant.

Certainly not seen many hardware failures with Optiplex desktops (odd drive problem), and problems with laptops seem to be due to heavy handling (ie, smashed screens, failed HDDs etc) usually given away by general state of laptop.
Title: Re: Cheap new laptop - Recomendations ?
Post by: Markjay on 20 November 2006, 17:14:21
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....The Dell ones are strong (unlike HP ones  :-[) ...

Tsss tsss tsss.... I am an HP reseller you know...  >:(

 ;D
Title: Re: Cheap new laptop - Recomendations ?
Post by: bob.dent on 20 November 2006, 17:18:01
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Quote
Tosh eh... never heard of em :p

We use DELL at work, bloody things break all the time! Having said that, some of them have lasted a bloody long time. Main thing that gets me is their desktops.
We've found Dell to be some of the most reliable desktops and laptops out there. Servers aren't so reliable as HP/Compaq Proliant.

Certainly not seen many hardware failures with Optiplex desktops (odd drive problem), and problems with laptops seem to be due to heavy handling (ie, smashed screens, failed HDDs etc) usually given away by general state of laptop.

As supermop said, all our work PC's (desktops and laptops) are mostly Dell and in my experience with my desktop, it's been reliable but I do know we've had problems with some of them. However, the only thing I'll say about Dell is that their after sales service is bloody pitiful and you get never get hold of the right person to speak to when you try and phone them. We call them "Dell Boy" computers in the office :D
Title: Re: Cheap new laptop - Recomendations ?
Post by: TheBoy on 20 November 2006, 17:26:20
Quote
Quote
Quote
Tosh eh... never heard of em :p

We use DELL at work, bloody things break all the time! Having said that, some of them have lasted a bloody long time. Main thing that gets me is their desktops.
We've found Dell to be some of the most reliable desktops and laptops out there. Servers aren't so reliable as HP/Compaq Proliant.

Certainly not seen many hardware failures with Optiplex desktops (odd drive problem), and problems with laptops seem to be due to heavy handling (ie, smashed screens, failed HDDs etc) usually given away by general state of laptop.

As supermop said, all our work PC's (desktops and laptops) are mostly Dell and in my experience with my desktop, it's been reliable but I do know we've had problems with some of them. However, the only thing I'll say about Dell is that their after sales service is bloody pitiful and you get never get hold of the right person to speak to when you try and phone them. We call them "Dell Boy" computers in the office :D
I have had to use their tech support on several occasions, and know their scripts well.   Like the time I smashed one to bits (fair play to it, it took a lot of hits before it went).  The 2 mouse buttons were hanging off. "Can you start it in Safe Mode?", which I duely did. "Is the fault still present?"  "Yes, I replied, the mouse buttons are still hanging off" I replied. "OK, we'll send and engr"...

However, I still think their tech support is one of the best out there.
Title: Re: Cheap new laptop - Recomendations ?
Post by: nixoro on 20 November 2006, 17:27:20
Having worked for a company who are a dell service partner I had the role of installations engineer and to be honest over the four years I worked for them the dell systems had there faults but nothing major that couldn't be fixed. I never really came in contact with other makes so cant really compare.

And yes the after sales support isn't the best, but they always seemed ok for me once you got through to someone.

Just my tuppence worth :)
Title: Re: Cheap new laptop - Recomendations ?
Post by: TheBoy on 20 November 2006, 17:32:17
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Having worked for a company who are a dell service partner I had the role of installations engineer and to be honest over the four years I worked for them the dell systems had there faults but nothing major that couldn't be fixed. I never really came in contact with other makes so cant really compare.

And yes the after sales support isn't the best, but they always seemed ok for me once you got through to someone.

Just my tuppence worth :)
Too be honest, if you are computer literate, you want purely hardware support.  If you're not computer literate, do you really think the spotty kid in Comet is going to help you with problems with your Acer?

Other problem with Comet/DSG etc is that they tend to refer you to manufacturer for support.  Then all of a sudden, you realise that Dell's support is one of the better ones...  :o
Title: Re: Cheap new laptop - Recomendations ?
Post by: TheBoy on 20 November 2006, 17:32:53
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Quote
....The Dell ones are strong (unlike HP ones  :-[) ...

Tsss tsss tsss.... I am an HP reseller you know...  >:(

 ;D
Poor sod....
Title: Re: Cheap new laptop - Recomendations ?
Post by: Taxi_Driver on 20 November 2006, 18:23:44
Must admit i like Dell...... :y

Ive got a Dell L400 laptop......never gone wrong....prolly 4/5 years old....hard disk occassionly goes 'ping' .....another reason to bung in a bigger disk  ;)
Also got a Dell Precision Workstation......thats quite a few years old now....its got dual 800Mhz procs in it......that was a beast in its day.....and never gone wrong either  :y