off topic: buying a new laptop

dandantheweatherman · Post by **dandantheweatherman** » 24 Jul 2007, 09:05

Hello,

Sorry to abuse the forum like this...I need to get a new laptop and wondered if anyone here had recent experience of buying one as to be honest I find all the options rather confusing.

My current laptop seems to be slowing up and the memory is pretty full so I thought I get one with more memory. I presume the bigger the numbers the better really, but is there any particular brand anyone would recommend?

Cheers, Dan

TerribleTerry · Post by **TerribleTerry** » 24 Jul 2007, 09:23

No idea really mate.

My company use Compaq laptops and they seem good enough to me

*que hoards of IT geeks - yes I am thinking of you Goz

- to tell me how rubbish they are!*

In terms of desk units dell seem good (and cheap) to me and I know a few people who have used dabs.com to buy stuff like this.

There will be plenty of people on here with better advice for you then what I can offer though mate!

Phenomenal-Nutrition · Post by **Phenomenal-Nutrition** » 24 Jul 2007, 09:27

Ideally try to only use 25-40% of your hard disc max. If you've gone over that copy any other large files to a external hard disc drive - you canb uy them for £20-£50 and they will store 20-200gigs of data - it can be accessed nearly as quickly as a standard hard disc and can be used on any PC quickly

Your laptop should then be fine and be as fast as it was before - if it was fast enough before it will be fast enough now unless you have new more demanding applications.

If you do get a new laptop look for a Core2Duo, 1gug of RAM, 300gig hard disc a larger screen maybe 17inch.

PCWorld seem to have the best prices typically

MPG · Post by **MPG** » 24 Jul 2007, 10:23

Just bought myself a laptop from pc world:

Packard bell
pentium dual core(2 processors means less lagging)
1 gig of ram (more then enough for laptop's)
80 gb hard drive (next version up was 240 gb)
256 radeon graphics card(very good for laptop)
Wireless
15'' screen

This cost me 750 euro's which would be about 600 quid in uk.You would get the same laptop with a higher hard disk for a little less money from dell.

Phenomenal-Nutrition · Post by **Phenomenal-Nutrition** » 24 Jul 2007, 10:24

Remember Core2Duos are much faster than Dual Cores

Coco · Post by **Coco** » 24 Jul 2007, 11:01

I bought an Acer a few months back and it is brilliant, got it from an Ebay on line shop 450 quid, 1GB, wireless, built in cam

TerribleTerry · Post by **TerribleTerry** » 24 Jul 2007, 11:27

Coco wrote: built in cam

eewwww. *Shudders at the thought of what it might be used for*

steve689 · Post by **steve689** » 24 Jul 2007, 12:04

Curry's are avertising a Fujitsu for £150 at the moment...any use?

Coco · Post by **Coco** » 24 Jul 2007, 12:09

TerribleTerry wrote:
Coco wrote: built in cam
eewwww. *Shudders at the thought of what it might be used for*

lol

Autobarn · Post by **Autobarn** » 24 Jul 2007, 13:00

I hear that when you've had some real use out of a laptop, the lid mechanism breaks and it's so expensive to get 'em mended that you end up buying another. some consumer program said about them being designed flimsy for re-selling purposes.

I just use a clunky PC. So I can't take it on the train with me ok, but SFW?

TerribleTerry · Post by **TerribleTerry** » 24 Jul 2007, 15:35

Autobarn wrote: I just use a clunky PC. So I can't take it on the train with me ok, but SFW?

It depends on your requirements at the end of the day.
Some people need the mobility a laptop offers.

Having said that you get a lot more machine for your money if you can make do with a desktop, so its worth considering..

jeej · Post by **jeej** » 24 Jul 2007, 16:29

Autobarn wrote:I hear that when you've had some real use out of a laptop, the lid mechanism breaks and it's so expensive to get 'em mended that you end up buying another. some consumer program said about them being designed flimsy for re-selling purposes.

I just use a clunky PC. So I can't take it on the train with me ok, but SFW?

The Apple latptops use a magnetic latch to avoid that problem. Obviously you pay a bit more for an Apple, but they are good.

m1kee50 · Post by **m1kee50** » 24 Jul 2007, 16:53

dandantheweatherman wrote:Hello,

Sorry to abuse the forum like this...I need to get a new laptop and wondered if anyone here had recent experience of buying one as to be honest I find all the options rather confusing.

My current laptop seems to be slowing up and the memory is pretty full so I thought I get one with more memory. I presume the bigger the numbers the better really, but is there any particular brand anyone would recommend?

Cheers, Dan

I assume that being where you are, you cant wander down to PC world?

Albert · Post by **Albert** » 24 Jul 2007, 17:33

steve689 wrote:Curry's are avertising a Fujitsu for £150 at the moment...any use?

I was wondering that?

Does it have wireless connection and all that?

Wales · Post by **Wales** » 25 Jul 2007, 06:32

If you get Orange broadband ~(£14.99 per month) you get a free laptop, you can even sign up and pay, say, £20 and upgrade the free laptop. Orange broadband on an 18 month contract btw... free laptop though

Mukel · Post by **Mukel** » 25 Jul 2007, 06:59

Wales wrote:If you get Orange broadband ~(£14.99 per month) you get a free laptop, you can even sign up and pay, say, £20 and upgrade the free laptop. Orange broadband on an 18 month contract btw... free laptop though

its 24 month contract, and from what ive heard from some of my customers orange for broadband are sh*t

Wales · Post by **Wales** » 25 Jul 2007, 07:05

Worse than AOL.... impossible?

Fair comment. Im with BT and to be fair I find them very good.

steve689 · Post by **steve689** » 25 Jul 2007, 07:38

AOL are crap i agree, we are on Tiscali now after plenty of wrangling trying to get out of AOL.

As for the Fujitsu laptop i imagine for £150 it aint going to be that good but might do the trick for basic uses. My wife brough a Compaq for her nursing work and it was £350, must admit it does the job perfectly.

nickd · Post by **nickd** » 25 Jul 2007, 07:42

Sky Broadband is excellent for those of you who have Sky and in the coverage area I would recommend it. Its 10 quid a month for a fast 16mb connection which is very reliable no problems with it yet at all and had it months.

Wales · Post by **Wales** » 25 Jul 2007, 08:16

Still waiting for the offer to become available in North Wales. Once available I think I'll go with Sky for everything. Phone,tv and broadband is the offer, isnt it?

nickd · Post by **nickd** » 25 Jul 2007, 08:18

I actually don't have the phone on Sky been meaning to switch it for a while as it would cost much less than paying now. Must get onto that later!

dandantheweatherman · Post by **dandantheweatherman** » 26 Jul 2007, 18:15

Thanks for the suggestions. Forgot it ays I'm on the Falklands on here...there's no PC World there, but I'm sort of at home in Devon for a few months and they have PC Worlds there!!

I have BT broadband, simply because everyone else I tried said the signal was too weak. Something to do with alledgedly living in the sticks. I still fail to see how living within 8 miles of Exeter can be called within the sticks, but there you go....

Cheers again, Dan

m1kee50 · Post by **m1kee50** » 26 Jul 2007, 19:03

dandantheweatherman wrote:Thanks for the suggestions. Forgot it ays I'm on the Falklands on here...there's no PC World there, but I'm sort of at home in Devon for a few months and they have PC Worlds there!!

I have BT broadband, simply because everyone else I tried said the signal was too weak. Something to do with alledgedly living in the sticks. I still fail to see how living within 8 miles of Exeter can be called within the sticks, but there you go....

Cheers again, Dan

outside the M25 = the sticks, lol

Goz · Post by **Goz** » 26 Jul 2007, 19:43

Nothing wrong with Compaq laptops Terry!

Also have a butchers hook at the Dell website, you can custom design your own spec on there so you can prioritise what's important to you, what features you want etc....

Hagler2002 · Post by **Hagler2002** » 27 Jul 2007, 03:22

Wales wrote:If you get Orange broadband ~(£14.99 per month) you get a free laptop, you can even sign up and pay, say, £20 and upgrade the free laptop. Orange broadband on an 18 month contract btw... free laptop though

Orange is officially the worst ISP in the UK and that deal they have on with PC world looks good at first but when you read into your tied up for a 24 month contract at a max speed of UP TO 2mb and a max 2gb monthly download it brings the whole deal back down to earth with a bump.

Anyway back to the original question, I have a ACER and have had no problems at all with it, middle of the road machine at a competitive price.

off topic: buying a new laptop

off topic: buying a new laptop

Re: off topic: buying a new laptop