Laptop recommendations please
I might be buying a laptop sometime soon. I'll have a budget of around ?250 or ?300. Incredible specs/gaming stuff is not anything I care about really (so long as it can comfortably emulated an amiga); important is a good keyboard and hardware that's well supported by linux operating systems.
Post edited by wilsonsamm on
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You can't go far wrong with a Toshiba.
http://www.alltouchtablet.com/touchscreen-tablet-news/lenovo-ideapad-s10-3t-netbook-tablet-696/
I recommended this computer to my mother in law, I think you might like it too.
Agreed, in my experience (which admittedly is not too extensive, as I mostly fix/upgrade desktop PCs) Toshiba laptops are well built and reliable, as are IBM Thinkpads. Dell laptops have their fans, but unless they've improved over the last couple of years then I wouldn't spend my money on one.
Anyway, there are two things you must be aware of when buying a laptop:
1) Since you mostly can't upgrade it's components, and even the few parts that you can upgrade are expensive to change, you have to buy the right machine - it's not a desktop machine where if you buy the wrong one then you can usually nip out and buy a better GFX card or a cheap but fast motherboard and CPU. So make sure you know what you want, you can get a huge variety of specs. for the price you quote, especially if you buy used (though in that case get it from a reputable company, which is always good advice anyway, of course).
For the price you're quoting, you're going to have to choose between things like CPU speed, GFX power, hard drive space, and so on. You say that top of the range gaming isn't important, but unless you're sure you'll never want to run any PC games then you'll want some sort of 3D acceleration, and it fact you'd be hard pushed to find a laptop now that doesn't have a 3D card in it, though their performance varies enormously.
Memory and OS are factors too, especially where compatibility are concerned - lost of laptops now don't have drivers for XP, so it's Vista or Windows 7 (so it's Windows 7 then, unless you want to be miserable) but they aren't exactly resource friendly. Ideally, I'd say get a reconditioned (and guarranteed) laptop that runs XP, and use an external mouse with it when you can, as the laptop's finger-pad or mouse-nub is just no substitute at all.
2) If at all possible, try before you buy. A laptop might have great specs., but a lousy keyboard, which you don't find until you try it. And spending time with an uncomfortable keyboard is not nice at all, and you will regret buying that laptop. The speakers might sound too tinny (although this is far less common now, plus if you're not moving the laptop about much then you might want to buy a pair of cheap external speakers), or the screen might have too narrow a viewing angle. It's been years since I've seen a decent laptop with ghosting problems (where the screen update is so slow that the after-image spoils the illusion of movement) and hopefully that problem has been consigned to history, but check on it anyway (just move the Windows cursor/pointer around quickly and make sure that it moves smoothly and without leaving any trail, however short lived).
Remember, your body is far more important than any laptop, so don't buy a laptop that will cause you eye strain, or sore fingers, or whatever. Sorry I can't give you more precise advice, but I'm not well up on laptops. You can try looking through PC World and other shops and see if you find one you like, then buy the same model from an on-line company, as it will be cheaper than the shops (but use a reputable on-line business, of course), or get in early at a computer fair, before the good stuff gets sold. I've heard that Tesco and Argos sell good machines, but I can't verify that from my own experience.
Failing that, try reading online reviews, and maybe asking for advice on laptop forums, as the users of the machines will be the best people to ask for their experience and views.
(Edit: eh as others said).
I used to sell a lot of used laptops a few years ago on ebay and some people got amazing deals off me...(the bastards).
When you can have a good quality netbook new for ?300 or so, I'd hardly think it's worth the risk.
www.geeks.com
And an example
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=NC6400-C2D183-PB-R&cpc=GFT
Laptops are so cheap nowadays even PC World are dirt cheap. You can get some great deals and a years warranty etc.
I bought a second hand Sony Vaio laptop off ebay a few years back and have had major problems with it. Once it was sold they werent that interested in sorting out any issues they had. Granted it might have been just the one dodgy ebayer but with the prices of laptops from 200-300 quid brand new i wouldnt faff about with a second hand one
I used to work in Compaq returns and re-manufacturing and one of my jobs was internal inspection and 'fixing' customer returns...over 90% of them came back in the first 30days and were down to 'stupid people who didn't know how to use a computer' or something like a bad hard drive that was replaced with a new one.
Effectively 90%+ of our refurbs were pretty much brand new computers...refurbs from a dealer are a good choice..they often come with a decent warranty too...and you get more PC/Laptop for your buck.
Like I say I've bought several and recommended others to buy and never had a bad experience yet with a refurb...the company I linked have a no quibble return policy too....here is another i've used a lot for similar stuff..
http://Tigerdirect.com
Both been going for years and offering great deals/service....I'm sure you have similar over there.
Bit like buying cars...why buy a new one when you can get a 6 month old one for 2/3rd the cost? (and with a warranty)
Yeah good point, i would never buy a new car as its ridiculous how much it loses the second you drive it away from the garage.
But new laptops are so cheap nowadays.
It's relative...
Why get a crappy $300 net book when you can get a fully functioned Laptop with DVD burner and better specs for the same or less and with a warranty..no brainer.
If you are in the store and see a tin of peas for 70p and one for 30p..which are you going to buy?
Its not a crappy netbook, you can get some decent priced laptops for 300 quid or so from PC World - brand new.
Wilsonamm isnt bothered by the fancy specs, its like when some people buy a laptop with some stunning specs but all theyre going to use it for is surfing/facebook. Not worth buying a decent specced one whatever the price.
As for the peas i buy the 70p ones ! Its like buying dirt cheap crisps or chocolate, you can taste the difference big time. Same for cider or vodka, you dont buy the dirt cheap ones as they taste foul.
You'll be chatting up the skanky women in the bar next as theyre happy with some cheap vodka whereas the classy good looking ones want something more expensive ! ;)
It's crappy compared with a full spec laptop for the same price...
Why not if it is the same price as the netbook and warrantied?? Do you buy a car that only goes 70mile an hour because you don't plan on speeding?? the extra features might not be needed right now..but it sure don't hurt to have them on a backburner for if and when you do.
Same brand....one tin is dented...same peas, same taste....not so pretty a tin....would you still buy the 70p peas? :lol:
I got my acer laptop (5740) from tesco, but it's i5 as I use it for music, it's middle ground sorta laptop, not cheap.. but they do have cheaper machines.
I bought my Vaio from a 'decent' company on ebay, had a ton of problems, cost me a fair bit what with sending it back and forth etc for repairs (they wouldnt refund me my postage costs).
So because of that bad experience i would be happy to just get a brand new one from PC World where i can just take it back in person if theres a fault rather than email some guy 200 miles away.
But i still wouldnt get a 'super duper' spec if i dont need to. My wife wanted some fancy laptop recently and all she uses it for is frickin Facebook. Its like when you see these blue rinses in some brand new Porsche and theyre pootling along doing 30mph. Waste.
Beanz, perhaps you are still single as girls come to your house and see all these items in your kitchen (broken loaves with half price stickers, dented tins of dodgy second hand beans, no Heinz at all) and a laptop which might have been ?30 but its not brand new !
You'll be shopping in charity shops next for your clothes. My dads got addicted to that recently, gets all excited if he finds a top which might have cost a fortune in the 90's but now is worthless and is only 99p
Heinz peas for me, you wont change my mind ! ;)
...so what about carrots?
Anyway, aren't DVD burners dead weight these days? I last used my desktop one about six months back and can't say I've ever missed having one on the netbook.
Totally different kettle of fish.
Peas you want top quality Heinz 70p a can ones (or the one off special edition ?3.99 'Eat like royalty' ones)
But carrots i can make do with the Aldi dented nearly out of date tin at 3p a can.
Ok...so buy a same model/brand refurb netbook for 200 instead of 300 :lol:
is that still illegal in texas? i thought obama would have sorted all that out by now. :p
im sure the queeen isn't getting her peas out of a can.
cheeseburgers on the other hand. :razz:
If you're lucky. For the last machine I bought, the difference in price between a new one and and open box or refurbed one is more like ?25.
I'd think that to get ?100 off you'd have to be a bit less choosy about which make and model you wanted.
PSJ...go check your peas and see if it has 'By appointment to her Majesty the Queen' on it.
It might have it on the back
I cant check though as its a rare limited edition (I subscribe to the newsletter for rare tinned food) and its number 3 of a limited 100 special edition run.
Its sealed and i dont want to break it as its a collectors item (and i cant reach it to look as its hanging on the wall). The prices of tins which have been tampered/opened with fall dramatically. I've got it as a buy it now on etin.com
Should be worth about ?20 quid now
I be reluctant to purchase one from supermarket,read stories before of people returning them under warranty,since the supermarket of course doesn't fix them they go back to the manufacturer for the fix where as the pc store could fix it on the spot.
if it's well a warrenty issue, then it'd go back to the company anyway..
2nd one I bought off em , never had an issue.
buying it from a supermarket or pc world.. go pc world ask a tricky question and watch the staff get flustered and clueless. they are box shifters, nothing more.
Thats another part about life,always them sort of people that get jobs that you would like to have.
I always bought mine second hand but lately I haven't been so happy about these -- ever since I got one with keys 1 though 4 and 7 through 0 that don't work and a loud as a ... hard drive. This was from some chap on ebay who was selling maybe half a dozen of identical ones. And it cost ?50 for a 1GHz CPU and 800 megs of RAM, which was cheap I thought, because the PSU didn't come with it (I knew I could use my old one, so I didn't fuss).
Anyway I'm happy to try second hand or refurbished again, I suppose this was only a dodgy one.
and I've noticed that even when I listen to the same MP3 on the same head phones, the sound is much better on my home computer, the desktop. Is that to do with a "skanky" sound card or it being an old computer (more than 10 years by now I should think!)?