quote:

Originally posted by ~hoochie~:

quote:

Originally posted by RENTON:
I was told DELL customer service was rotten

My son has a Dell PC and we've found their customer service to be outstanding - I'd definitely buy another from them

Dell have always been good in my expereince - though I'm talking from business customer experience, not home user. Possibly treated differently!

thought i might see you in here Olly

Right just spoke to him and apparently he doesnt need it for gaming....I thought he did. He says he occasionally has a go on 'endless online' but its mostly for downloading and watching youtube vids. - and MSbluddyN of course.

Does that help my price stay down? *insert hopeful smiley here*

And he needs loads of memory for his school work he says.....pah, according to his last school report he doesnt do that much anyway!

I found another one that has ok looking specs - work wise but its over budget

http://www.thelaptopcentre.co....ptops/Dell_D810.html

quote:

Originally posted by SazBomb:
thought i might see you in here Olly

ello you

and Yes Mo, if he doesn't need super duper graphics that will keep the cost down a lot..

I'd say your main thing to concentrate on is ensure that there is enough RAM (memory) to run the Operating system (Windows etc)

as has been said at least 2G for Vista and up to 1G for XP should do it..

Then next is the Hard Drive (storage space), go for 80G and above if you can as that means you have a good while to go before it fills up and you need extra storage.. you should be able to find one with at least that much space if you are looking for second hand..

Also check the lappy includes wireless too or you'll have to fork out for a separate dongle or wifi card on top

quote:

Originally posted by SazBomb:
I found another one that has ok looking specs - work wise but its over budget

http://www.thelaptopcentre.co....ptops/Dell_D810.html

that looks a good un Saz.. and it has a nice big screen too

I can still call myself a geek then?

I posted a couple of others somewhere, but I think the ThinkPad only had 40Gb disk

yes Saz The Geek, you can still call yourself a geek

I think Mo's done a runner

quote:

Originally posted by MoFo:
How much hard-drive is good
how much ram is good

Look for a minimum 80GB hard drive and min. 1GB of RAM. Processor speed, 1.7GHz or more.

Make sure it has an operating system,e.g. Windows XP or Vista, pre-loaded.

Anti-virus and firewall software not important as you can get these free online, or if you are with Virgin, from them for free.

Don't look for MS Office - it accounts for a lot of the price where it is included. Open Office is free to download and fine for home use.

Oh, and for games, on-board memory on the graphics card is good, the higher the MB, the better.

quote:

Originally posted by Mount Olympus:
yes Saz The Geek, you can still call yourself a geek

I think Mo's done a runner

HaHAAH nah, just frazzling my brain on ebay! The 80gb and 2gb thingys are all over budget....are you SURE 40gb and 1gb wont do? I'm such a tightwad!

quote:

Originally posted by Mount Olympus:
I think Mo's done a runner

all the nerdy talk scared her off

quote:

Originally posted by Hypermnesia:
Don't look for MS Office - it accounts for a lot of the price where it is included. Open Office is free to download and fine for home use.

I have open office on what I'm using now and I frigging HATE it....I cant fill in forms or edit my cv or anything people send me!

don't know if it's much help but I went to a nerdy laptop shop. I used to have a Vaio but it died and was gonna cost a FORTUNE to repair, I went to the nerdy laptop repair shop and ended up buying a cheap as chips ACER (cheap as chips compared to a VAIO anyway) which has a much better spec. I would go to one of those local type nerdy laptop shops as I reckon they will tell you the truth, and may even sell some reconditioned ones as they do repairs and all that. I wouldn't touch PC world as they know eff alll they are just there to shift units innit?

Mo, on my lappy [bit old now] I am only running on 500MB of memory and have only 40G of storage space.. it's a pain and a bit slow at times but it does the job. . [acer aspire 3630 series) but I use my desktop PC for storage as 40G can fill up pretty quickly especially if you are downloading a lot of stuff. .

it's a case of adding up what you can spend now and what you may have to spend later, when performance goes downhill, or to make up for lack of space or memory. . an extra, say £50, may make a world of difference to the lifespan of the lappy you buy now

try for at least 80 G storage and 1G of memory. . you should be ok with that if tis an XP Operating system not Vista tho..

quote:

Originally posted by SazBomb:

quote:

Originally posted by Mount Olympus:
I think Mo's done a runner

all the nerdy talk scared her off

she baaaaaaaack quick hide

quote:

Originally posted by Mount Olympus:

quote:

Originally posted by SazBomb:

quote:

Originally posted by Mount Olympus:
I think Mo's done a runner

all the nerdy talk scared her off

she baaaaaaaack quick hide

Hello Olly
Long time no speak

Heya Moonie

quote:

Originally posted by Mount Olympus:
Heya Moonie

Olly
Still got ya "grumpy" sig too I see?
You int ever been grumpy with me

I'm going to have to stop looking for now.....my poor little head needs a rest. Cheers you lot, I'll come back to this later.

*wanders off in search of headache tablets....strong ones!!!

I got 2.4GHz wireless LAN on my lappy - is that good?

quote:

Originally posted by RENTON:
I got 2.4GHz wireless LAN on my lappy - is that good?

I've ordered a few laptops from this site and have never had a problem. Choice of Compaqs or Toshibas for £250. http://www.telephonesonline.co...p?prodID=2872&title=
Under no circumstances go to PC World.

that's a pretty neat one for the price Dex . what's the catch

quote:

Originally posted by Dex:
I've ordered a few laptops from this site and have never had a problem. Choice of Compaqs or Toshibas for £250. http://www.telephonesonline.co...p?prodID=2872&title=
Under no circumstances go to PC World.

Thank you for that link. We are looking to buy a cheap but fab laptop for daughter for when she goes away to 6th form in Sept.

We bought our son (age 11) a laptop last year... and after what felt like weeks of umming and ahhhing we ended up just going to PCWorld and getting him an Acer that was on offer. Its ok, it does MOST of what he wants.... but the other night I had to use his laptop and it did feel like I was on a SPeak n SPell... (mind you he does have a billion applications running on startup!)

Mofo.... could you let us know how you get on... where you end up getting it from etc?

quote:

Originally posted by Mount Olympus:
that's a pretty neat one for the price Dex . what's the catch

The laptops are refurbs but you'd never know. I've had 5 from there now (for myself, the kids and my parents) and all have been brilliant. They also come with 12 months warranty but I've never had cause to use it.

cheers Dex. .

I googled for reviews and the one in the link (Compaq one) wasn't so well received even brand new, but am sure some of the others are fine.. .Toshiba laptops are pretty good from what I've seen and are priced well on that site

oooh nice one for starting this thread Mo, because I'm in exactly the same situation with exactly the same budget

I have made notes

I have some of my own twatty questions for the geeks:

1)Can I get a cheap one without much storage space and use a memory stick instead?

2) I only really want it for the internet, but it'll do my head in if it's a slow connection (especially if youtube buffers ) how fast should it be?

3) What's a dongle?

A dongle is what you have to plug in to get wifi if your lappy isnt wifi enabled.

WOOOHOOOO I KNEW A TECHY ANSWER!!!

quote:

Originally posted by MoFo:
A dongle is what you have to plug in to get wifi if your lappy isnt wifi enabled.

WOOOHOOOO I KNEW A TECHY ANSWER!!!

I'm pretty sure I'm right anyway....if WiFi means wireless thingy then I think I am!

If I were you Mofo I would try to hang on at least until the end of October 2009. Windows 7 will be launched so there should be quite a few bargains around for computers/laptops running Windows XP or Vista.

quote:

Originally posted by MoFo:
A dongle is what you have to plug in to get wifi if your lappy isnt wifi enabled.

WOOOHOOOO I KNEW A TECHY ANSWER!!!

I cant...but maybe vodka jellyfish can!!

quote:

Originally posted by MoFo:
A dongle is what you have to plug in to get wifi if your lappy isnt wifi enabled.

WOOOHOOOO I KNEW A TECHY ANSWER!!!

woohoo! thank you

the first time my boss asked if I'd seen his dongle I considered taking him to a tribunal

have you picked one out yet?

quote:

Originally posted by JacksonB:
have you picked one out yet?

Nah I'm gonna have another look when the kids have gone to bed.

quote:

Originally posted by MoFo:

quote:

Originally posted by JacksonB:
have you picked one out yet?

Nah I'm gonna have another look when the kids have gone to bed.

when i was looking for one for a mate on ebay, i worked how much big numbers i could get for the money he had and made a short list.
then narrowed it down with the cpu quality.
then what software was loaded.

i was just browing on ebay and i saw this deal listed its on budget and i think it ticks all the box,s for what your after.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FAST-DEL...0.m14#ht_3792wt_1163
its refurbished but comes with a warranty and a free laptop bag.
its only got a 40 gb hard drive but to be honest thats plenty unless you are looking at storing a lot of movies,music
its got 1gb ram which is enough.
and comes with anti virus and firewall software.
for £199 it looks a good all round laptop to me
i hope this helps.
edit:the guy selling them has more than ten to sell if anybody else is after one.
looks a good deal to me (its not my ebay listing if you were wondering lol it just looks a bargain)

Ta bobnot but I want one with microsoft office already installed if possible.



Ooooh mind you, I should go and see how much I can buy that seperately for rather than it being a deal-breaker shouldnt I....

*trudges back to ebay*

quote:

Originally posted by MoFo:
Ta bobnot but I want one with microsoft office already installed if possible.



Ooooh mind you, I should go and see how much I can buy that seperately for rather than it being a deal-breaker shouldnt I....

*trudges back to ebay*

Anyone who has a child at school or college can buy A Student licence Microsoft offic suite for around £35.00 from here.
http://www.software4students.c...y5ipwCFV8B4wodgGU2ZA