PDA

View Full Version : Laptop advice please



Icey
29th-August-2005, 06:57 PM
Evening Peeps,

My parents have decided to buy me a laptop to assist my studies and I haven't the faintest idea of what I should be looking to have included as part of a package.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
ICEY x

Robin
29th-August-2005, 07:13 PM
Evening Peeps,

My parents have decided to buy me a laptop to assist my studies and I haven't the faintest idea of what I should be looking to have included as part of a package.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
ICEY x

absolutely nothing - you can buy software at students rates - ie ms office proffesional for £99 if my memory serves . Get a canon printer - ie pixma range as you can pick up consumables dirt cheap ( am currently buying a full set of 5 cartridges for 4.95 + postage)

As for the laptop, it really depends what you want to spend and whether you'll be carting it around - you need to decide on portability vs battery vs weight etc.

Just got a new laptop myself - its a bit of a desktop replacement though - 17" widescreen !!! - *awesome* and quick

ducasi
29th-August-2005, 07:41 PM
My parents have decided to buy me a laptop to assist my studies and I haven't the faintest idea of what I should be looking to have included as part of a package. What will you use it for and where will you use it?

As Robin says, you can get some software cheap if you're a student, though it's sometimes not much of a difference against the better bundled deals.

Be wary of bundles that throw in lots of things you don't need. Bigger bundles usually means this is the stuff they couldn't shift on its own.

Make sure to get a good make – a big name is really worth the difference.

If I were looking for a Windows Laptop, I'd probably start with Toshiba, Dell, HP and Sony.

Perhaps you could also consider an Apple laptop... The iBooks are rather nice and come with software that'll do pretty much everything you need. If you do particularly need full MS Office compatibility, there's Office for Mac 2004, which has a similar low-price student edition.

HTH :flower:

Dreadful Scathe
29th-August-2005, 10:05 PM
If its your first laptop you should start here (http://www.student-laptops.co.uk/) as laptops start at £79. £200 will probably do you for general use with Operating System and Microsoft Office : extra software you would want to use is probably available freeware.

DavidY
30th-August-2005, 12:03 AM
One thing I would suggest is making sure you have something with an appropriate backup device to save your files.

Many people don't think about how much they would lose if their computer either failed to start one day or if all data on it was lost.

Having a laptop that can write CDs is one way to do it (although there are other approaches).

frodo
30th-August-2005, 01:04 AM
Evening Peeps,

My parents have decided to buy me a laptop to assist my studies and I haven't the faintest idea of what I should be looking to have included as part of a package.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
ICEY x
For comparison it may be useful to look at the basic Dell Laptops, even though you may not go for one.

The cheapest advertised over this long weekend is £349.00 incl VAT and delivery, which gets you a basic new laptop with DVD reader and CD writer.




Things that might be important to you depending on what you're intending to do with it are:-

Screen - size / visibility.
Weight - usually from 1.5 - 3.0 kg.
Optical driver - cd reader, dvd reader, cd writer, dvd writer.
Battery life,
Software - Operating System such as Windows 95 / 98 / XP ect.
Software - Application Software - Office etc.
Keyboard quality
Robustness.
Disk space.


Your average new cheap laptop is going to weigh a little under 3 kg, have a battery life around 2 hrs, have a cd writer, and dvd reader, come with Windows XP Home, and have a screen resolution of 1024 * 768. Pretty much all vendors do one like this.



Most of these are more of a consideration if you go for a second hand laptop.

The only unconditional recommendation I have is if going for a second hand laptop you get one with Windows XP (or alreast Windows 2000). Anything less is just a whole lot of hassle, and the most modern software won't work with it.



One reason to go for a second hand laptop is if you want a more portable laptop. For example there is a Dell laptop (C400 ?) which can be had on Ebay for about £200.00 with Windows XP and comes in at not much more than half the weight of the standard ~3kg laptop. ( It doesn't have a built in CD though ).



You may find you don't need Microsoft Office depending on what you do. While the Student Teacher version of Microsoft Office can be had for around £100.00, you can only use it while you're a student. The latest Open Office, a heavyweight free office, may meet your needs.

ducasi
30th-August-2005, 07:34 AM
... While the Student Teacher version of Microsoft Office can be had for around £100.00, you can only use it while you're a student. ... :yeah: :whistle: :innocent: :wink:

Icey
30th-August-2005, 08:26 AM
Unfortunately I'm not technically a student as I work full time. I'm studying for chartered accountancy and will be using the laptop for all my work and also for home computing, internet etc etc. At the moment I use my work or my parents PC which has limitations of either time spent at the office or having to go over to my parents house several times a week which eats into my study time.

My dad bought their current PC which is a DELL and he wants to get me a DELL laptop - obviously fine by me as I'm over the moon that they want to help me out.

What I don't know about is all the stuff about RAM, Ghz, processors, Mhz etc etc. Haven't got a clue :(

What are the bog standard things that I should be looking at?

Thanks

Dreadful Scathe
30th-August-2005, 09:35 AM
Unfortunately I'm not technically a student as I work full time. I'm studying for chartered accountancy and will be using the laptop for all my work and also for home computing, internet etc etc. At the moment I use my work or my parents PC which has limitations of either time spent at the office or having to go over to my parents house several times a week which eats into my study time.

My dad bought their current PC which is a DELL and he wants to get me a DELL laptop - obviously fine by me as I'm over the moon that they want to help me out.

What I don't know about is all the stuff about RAM, Ghz, processors, Mhz etc etc. Haven't got a clue :(

What are the bog standard things that I should be looking at?

Thanks
Ignore the hobbit ;) I wouldnt worry about XP if you are going for a 2nd hand laptop - the link I gave before will provide you with a laptop for £200 that includes windows 98 and ms office which is probably the bulk of what you need. The biggest slowdown with any PC is caused by installing lots of programs you don't need and spyware you install by accident. Tips: use firefox or opera as a web browser and dont use Outlook express for email. Then install ad-aware, AVG anti-virus and Zone Alarm.


A cpu faster than 300mhz i would say is perfectly usable for office/study use. If you can get at least 256mb of memory, all the better. If you want to play modern games, you'd find you would have to spend about £1000 for a laptop with a decent gfx card built in, in which case, get a desktop for half the price (a mini case in fact). So dont spend money just for the sake of it.

El Salsero Gringo
30th-August-2005, 09:45 AM
Here's my thought: I'd rather have a second-hand but well-built laptop than a new but built-down-to-a-price one. I have an ageing IBM laptop that's been going for nearly five years and is still fast enough for all general purpose tasks that I do.

So without having used the company before, I'd look closely at this page

http://www.student-laptops.co.uk/acatalog/Laptops_with_DVD.html

especially the IBM T21/22/23 models because I know they're built well.

David Bailey
30th-August-2005, 10:36 AM
My dad bought their current PC which is a DELL and he wants to get me a DELL laptop - obviously fine by me as I'm over the moon that they want to help me out.
Can I just say, if you're not using your Dad, can I have him please :)


What I don't know about is all the stuff about RAM, Ghz, processors, Mhz etc etc. Haven't got a clue :(
Don't worry about it.

Basically, all these specs tell you is how powerful (fast) the PC is, how much memory it has etc. Think of it as the equivalent of engine size / mpg / etc for cars. These measures used to be important, but I'd imagine any new laptop you get will have enough oomph for your purposes. Same applies to the operating system; from your point-of-view it's not important.
I'm sure I'll be geek-flamed for saying that...


What are the bog standard things that I should be looking at?
I'd say the main things to consider in any "package" are:
- software (e.g. Microsoft Office / accountancy / learning software)
- accessories (e.g. printers, DVD players / writers etc.)

I'd also say: shop around. PC World has some good packages, but so do a lot of other vendors online, and it's worth doing the research to save you time and money in the long term.

ducasi
30th-August-2005, 10:43 AM
... My dad bought their current PC which is a DELL and he wants to get me a DELL laptop - obviously fine by me as I'm over the moon that they want to help me out.

What I don't know about is all the stuff about RAM, Ghz, processors, Mhz etc etc. Haven't got a clue :(

What are the bog standard things that I should be looking at? Dell is a good choice.

Go on to their web site (http://www.dell.co.uk), have a look around... Make sure and check out the "Dell Outlet" area for some good bargains.

Don't worry too much about the processor or GHz, though "Intel Centrino" is a good thing to look for. Watch out for the weight and battery life. Avoid things that say "desktop replacement". You'll want wireless networking (maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but some day...) Don't get any less memory than 256MB – consider even 512MB.

Then go for the one you like the look of. :wink:

If you find something that you do like and want our opinions, post a URL. :flower:

Icey
30th-August-2005, 10:56 AM
Can I just say, if you're not using your Dad, can I have him please :)

He says that he's doing this for me now so that I can earn a better salary so that I'll keep it in mind when he needs putting into a "nice" home later on :rofl:

I work for a company that builds and runs retirement communities and he keeps angling for a cheap, discounted, "my daughters is staff" rate :wink:

Icey
30th-August-2005, 02:33 PM
Here's one I've found:

Toshiba Tecra A2
512MB Ram, 400 Mhz Data speed, Intel Celeron M 340 1.5Ghz Processor, 40Gb Hard drive, CD-RW/DVD-Rom combo drive, Microsoft Windows XP Professional OS. £500 inc vat.

Is this a fair price or should I be looking elsewhere for something better?

Thank you very much so far for all your help!
Icey

Dreadful Scathe
30th-August-2005, 02:48 PM
Here's one I've found:

Toshiba Tecra A2
512MB Ram, 400 Mhz Data speed, Intel Celeron M 340 1.5Ghz Processor, 40Gb Hard drive, CD-RW/DVD-Rom combo drive, Microsoft Windows XP Professional OS. £500 inc vat.

Is this a fair price or should I be looking elsewhere for something better?

Thank you very much so far for all your help!
Icey
Seems not too bad BUT you can get better than that.

I would pop out to WH Smith and buy MircoMart for £1.90. You'll get loads of sellers you can check with for better deals. Well worth it.

Donna
30th-August-2005, 02:49 PM
Here's one I've found:

Toshiba Tecra A2
512MB Ram, 400 Mhz Data speed, Intel Celeron M 340 1.5Ghz Processor, 40Gb Hard drive, CD-RW/DVD-Rom combo drive, Microsoft Windows XP Professional OS. £500 inc vat.

Is this a fair price or should I be looking elsewhere for something better?

Thank you very much so far for all your help!
Icey

Hey Icey,
You might find this address handy. Hope this helps :flower:

www.studentcomputers.co.uk (http://www.studentcomputers.co.uk)

Franck
30th-August-2005, 02:58 PM
Here's one I've found:

Toshiba Tecra A2
512MB Ram, 400 Mhz Data speed, Intel Celeron M 340 1.5Ghz Processor, 40Gb Hard drive, CD-RW/DVD-Rom combo drive, Microsoft Windows XP Professional OS. £500 inc vat.

Is this a fair price or should I be looking elsewhere for something better?The price seems ok, but if I were you I would look to upgrade the Hard drive to a larger capacity. It is easy to upgrade a desktop, but tougher with laptops and you will probably run out of space quickly (especially if you store music on it :wink: ).
As Ducasi mentioned, you will soon want WiFi (wireless networking) it allows you to connect without wires to any wireless network (at uni or in Starbucks) and access the internet with no fuss.

I would recommend you look at the Apple store (education pages: http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObjects/uk_Ind.woa/ ). They offer the ibook for £656.83 (incl. VAT with free shipping) and it has the following:

Free Shipping
1.33GHz PowerPC G4 Despite lower Hz, this will be faster than the Celeron and offer better battery life.
512K L2 cache (at 1.33GHz)
512MB memory (DDR333 SDRAM)
12.1-inch TFT Display
1024x768 resolution
ATI Mobility Radeon 9550
32MB DDR video memory
40GB Ultra ATA hard drive (this can be upgraded to 60GB for £28, or 80GB for £65 - and well worth doing)
Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
Built-in AirPort Extreme (This is your Wi-Fi wireless card)
Built-in Bluetooth 2.0+EDR (allows you to connect your mobile phone wirelessly and synchronize all your contacts and diaries. It also allows you to receive / send SMS messages from your keyboard.
Scrolling Trackpad
Sudden Motion Sensor (protects the hard-drive if dropped)

Each ibook also comes with a complete suite of software that will allow you to use it immediately and without buying any other software.

Do More with iLife ’05
The iBook G4 comes bundled with Apple’s award-winning iLife ’05 suite, featuring the latest versions of iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie HD, iDVD and GarageBand. Create custom mix CDs, design a coffee-table book, make a home movie, or compose your own songs. iLife ’05 does all that and more.

Lasts Up to 6 Hours
Thanks to your iBook’s built-in energy-saving features, you’ll get up to 6 hours of battery life — perfect for long nights at the library or plane trips home.

I hope this helps!

killingtime
30th-August-2005, 03:18 PM
The price seems ok, but if I were you I would look to upgrade the Hard drive to a larger capacity. It is easy to upgrade a desktop, but tougher with laptops and you will probably run out of space quickly (especially if you store music on it :wink: ).

Each ibook also comes with a complete suite of software that will allow you to use it immediately and without buying any other software.

Ah the Mac fans speak. Of course being a Mac fan myself I'm not going to disagree :D. I've got a slightly older model 12" iBook which I love. The screen can be quite small (no surprise) but it's light to carry around and if you do have a bigger monitor or a TV (though TVs tend to have poor resolutions) then you can hook it up to that while you are at home or wherever.

The software that comes with the Mac is great though you might need Microsoft Office but if it is just Word Processing you might be able to just use something like AbiWord (which is also on the PC).

I'd be a little cautious about buying second hand as laptops do tend to start to have problems after a few years but maybe I'm just being paranoid.

David Franklin
30th-August-2005, 03:24 PM
1.33GHz PowerPC G4 Despite lower Hz, this will be faster than the Celeron and offer better battery life.Source? Skimming through the first 30 hits I found on google, the Celeron comes out from slightly faster (at equal Mhz) than a G4 on Photoshop to 2x faster on Cinebench to 3 x faster on some games. Personal experience would agree that P-M beats G4 clock-for-clock.

Note that the fastest chip you can get right now (if you don't need heavy FPU) for many operations is an Intel mobile chip running on a desktop machine and overclocked to hell and back. (They are designed to run at low power with poor cooling, so feed them properly, and... :grin: )

Advocacy aside, what is seriously worth finding out is what the "standard" setup is at your college. If they are mainly Mac, get a Mac, otherwise get a PC. You'll be a bit annoyed if you find your course uses a piece of software you can't run on your laptop.

P.S. 12 inch screen is too small in this day and age... :devil:

Dreadful Scathe
30th-August-2005, 03:33 PM
I'd be a little cautious about buying second hand as laptops do tend to start to have problems after a few years but maybe I'm just being paranoid.

Ive never had a laptop that didnt have a problem "after a few years" :) At the very least the battery holds less of a charge. As El Salsa said earlier, IBMs are likely to last much better you can drop them from a height and they still work (dont try it though..just in case :)

I wouldnt get hung up on supposed CPU speed either, MACs and PCs do not compare on a like for like basis. I personally find MACs much nicer and more user friendly but am a sadist so have PC laptops :) PCs are cheaper too of course :)

Icey
30th-August-2005, 03:41 PM
:eek: Now I'm really lost!

I'll be using said laptop at home for general studying stuff - writing notes, assignments, general household accounting etc etc. Your everyday knows-zilch-about-computers usage.

I'm not looking for an all-singing-and-all-dancing-top-hat-and-tails number just something that will allow me to go online and do the usual web pages (ebay, amazon, ceroc scotland forum to name a few), use excel and word as these are what I currently know and use and get my work done. I don't play games as I don't have the hand-eye coordination and I'm just crap at them anyway (I'd rather read a book, even an accountancy text book :rofl: ) so I don't need some super-dooper game card thingie with extra clever sounding effects.

The problem is I simply wouldn't know what is good and fair even if it jumped out and bit me! :blush:

David Franklin
30th-August-2005, 03:56 PM
:eek: Now I'm really lost!

I'll be using said laptop at home for general studying stuff - writing notes, assignments, general household accounting etc etc. Your everyday knows-zilch-about-computers usage.Even so, it really is worth asking your college. They may have special deals available (especially for software). And they may have specific reasons for recommendations that none of us would guess. (e.g. they have a specific networking system that only works on machines that take a specific adaptor). [This is probably less common than when I went to Uni, but it was pretty much the norm then].

Icey
30th-August-2005, 04:09 PM
I'm not actually studying at a college or universiry but a private academy that is running the ACCA course. So there won't be any special offers or recomomendations about technical things like that. I won't be running any specialised accounting software or anything other than the usual word, excel, outlook, internet, solitaire, blah blah blah stuff.

My parents have made the laptop offer so that I can make the most of my non working time for studying. Previously I was staying late at work to use my desktop and then going over the their place to use their PC. I think I may also have outstayed my welcome on the "what's that you're cooking for dinner? Is there enough for me?" front :rofl:

So, I think what I'm asking is: The detailed laptop below (Toshiba something) is it suitable for my needs? And if so is it a fair price or can I find the same thing much cheaper elsewhere?

Icey (aka "The-knows-bugger-all-about-computers-icicle")

Franck
30th-August-2005, 04:39 PM
So, I think what I'm asking is: The detailed laptop below (Toshiba something) is it suitable for my needs? And if so is it a fair price or can I find the same thing much cheaper elsewhere?

Icey (aka "The-knows-bugger-all-about-computers-icicle")Hey Icey, sorry about adding to the confusion, but before jumping onto the Toshiba I would read this review: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1777933,00.asp

The bottom line is they say that despite low weight and good battery performance, they don't like it.

The interesting fact is they quote 3 hours as good battery performance (compared to 6 hours on the ibook).

The last factor, and it is a very important one, is that you'll have to be very careful with virus infections if you use your laptop for email / web browsing (another bonus for Apple software, no virus).

Make sure you get a larger hard-drive though.

Now that I realise you're studying accountancy, then you might be better off with a standard Windows laptop, most of the serious accounting software (Sage etc... ) only works on Windows.
I recently bought 5 Dell laptops for £350 and while not very fast, they are fine for general use. With Dell though, make sure you remove their useless extended guarantee, and if you can get free delivery as it is very expensive (over £50).

philsmove
30th-August-2005, 04:47 PM
I have a IBM think pad .Its Very reliable and I would buy another, Its more expensive than Dell but much tougher

I would go for something like this


http://uk.insight.com/apps/productpresentation/index.php?product_id=IBYA0420L

But upgrade to at least 500 thingamajigs of RAM

An equivalent dell will be about £500

If you are going to store photos and music on it you need at least 40 GB of what not
Cant recommend second hand unless its less than a year old
Don’t forget to include an anti virus program e.g. Norton

Dreadful Scathe
30th-August-2005, 04:47 PM
The interesting fact is they quote 3 hours as good battery performance (compared to 6 hours on the ibook).

Yup battery life on most PC laptops is shocking :(


I recently bought 5 Dell laptops for £350 and ..

er...each I assume ? :) or are they a really bad spec and very cheap from an auction or something ? :)

Franck
30th-August-2005, 04:59 PM
Yup battery life on most PC laptops is shocking :( :eek: indeed!

er...each I assume ? :) or are they a really bad spec and very cheap from an auction or something ? :)Yeah :D each, including vat and Delivery though...


P.S. 12 inch screen is too small in this day and age..Only if you're old and your eyesight isn't what it used to be :wink:
I find that my 12 inch ibook is brilliant, and more often than not, you'll be struggling for space and if your laptop sticks out on the table, more chances of being knocked off... :really:

ducasi
30th-August-2005, 05:04 PM
I have a IBM think pad ... Do the ThinkPads still not have a "Windows" key? What do you do instead?

(This is one of the reasons I'd recommend a Dell over an IBM. The other reason is a friend swears by his ThinkPads, but still has needed to send each one back to IBM at least once due to some fault or other... YMMV)

killingtime
30th-August-2005, 05:16 PM
Do the ThinkPads still not have a "Windows" key? What do you do instead?

Ctrl-Esc like the good old days (what am I talking about I still use that).

ducasi
30th-August-2005, 05:21 PM
Ctrl-Esc like the good old days (what am I talking about I still use that). And Windows-R, and friends???

frodo
30th-August-2005, 05:56 PM
Here's one I've found:
Toshiba Tecra A2
512MB Ram, 400 Mhz Data speed, Intel Celeron M 340 1.5Ghz Processor, 40Gb Hard drive, CD-RW/DVD-Rom combo drive, Microsoft Windows XP Professional OS. £500 inc vat.

Is this a fair price or should I be looking elsewhere for something better?

Thank you very much so far for all your help!
Icey
Thats is certainly a fair price ( Note the machine you've found has more memory than the one in the review ).

I think providing you haven't got thousands of mp3 tracks you want to keep on it I would have thought the hard drive size would be fine. It is not impossible to upgrade it later, and more space on a cheaper external hard drive may suit your purposes.

One nice thing about Toshiba laptops is they usually come with Microsoft OneNote, which is a fairly decent note taking application you may find useful.

While you might get something slightly better for the price, it looks attractive, and is probably not worth the trouble to look for something marginally better.

The main reasons I can think for looking for something else around this price range or a little above, would be if you were looking for something lighter or with a bigger screen ( for example wide screen ), or a DVD writer.

Robin
30th-August-2005, 06:01 PM
This is all getting far too technical methinks. Lets try and boil it down for you.

1. Whats the budget - you need to know how much to "set the stage"
2. Are you going to be moving it around a lot?
3. Are you going to use it on battery
4. You've answered this already - what will you be doing - aka how fast
5. You've answered this already too - not a gamer

To be honest with you, if you aren't going to move it around a lot and its never running on batteries than you can look at the more "desktop replacement" style - bigger, heavier, less battery life but generally more ooomph for your money

Personally, I don't move mine around very much anymore and rarely use it on batteries and now play the odd game, so the spec on my new laptop was very different from my old one.

Icey
5th-September-2005, 05:31 PM
The favouirte so far is:

Dell Inspiron 6000

Intel Celeron M360 processor (1.40Ghz, L2 cache, 400Mhz whatever that means), Microsoft XP Home OS, 512Mb RAM, 40Gb Hard Drive, Intel Media Accelerator 900 graphics video card (???), DVD/CD Combi drive,

£511

Any opinions?

Dreadful Scathe
5th-September-2005, 06:46 PM
seems reasonable - but did you buy Micro Mart like I said ? :)

frodo
5th-September-2005, 10:53 PM
The favouirte so far is:

Dell Inspiron 6000

Intel Celeron M360 processor (1.40Ghz, L2 cache, 400Mhz whatever that means), Microsoft XP Home OS, 512Mb RAM, 40Gb Hard Drive, Intel Media Accelerator 900 graphics video card (???), DVD/CD Combi drive,

£511

Any opinions?

The current newspapers (and Dell web site) have it as above but with a DVD writer for I think £514. I think the £3.00 is worth it for the DVD writer.

Essentially the £514 version has the DVD writer over the CD writer/DVD reader on the Toshiba.

The operating system being XP Home is not as good as XP Pro on the Toshiba, but it may well not matter for your purposes.

The screen is widescreen at 1280 * 768 rather than 1024 * 768 which is worth having.

The Dell has more USB ports and a firewire port and an SD card memory port ( which doesn't support MMC cards though ).

The internals of the Dell are more up to date than the Toshiba, so the performance should be a little better.




My current laptop is a Dell Inspiron 6000 so these are my impressions:-




I suspect the keyboard may be better on the Toshiba, though the keyboard is OK.

I'm less than impressed with the touchpad - sometimes I just cannot control the mouse pointer at all with it.

I cannot directly comment on the screen as I bought a higher resolution one. The one I have could be brighter and is not completely even but has no dead pixels.

I'm perfectly happy with the integrated graphics video card speed ( I don't play 3d games though ).

The Dell is very sensitive to power supply noise - I've two power supply adapters and using both the screen sometimes goes bright and dim, until I switch to battery power.

I'm do get memory errors sometimes when I start the machine. When I took a look at the memory card it wasn't properly seated ( though seating it correctly didn't solve the intermittent memory problem ).

Navigating the Dell Web Site and doing the order was a real pain, and took alot of time.

I spoke to a Dell sales representative and he said the higher resolution screen at 1680 * 1080 was brighter. At £35.00 extra or so the extra screen space is probably worth having (I've got the really high resolution one).
Excepting the spare battery and the screen upgrades, most options are ridiculously overpriced and best avoided.

Battery life is OK - probably not quite as good as the toshiba but you can buy an extended battery which fits in exactly the same space if necessary.

The hard disk is really easy to remove for safekeeping or to replace with a new one, or swap between two - it stays in even without the two screws ( which is a good thing since Dell forgot to put the screws on ).

The Dell is fairly quiet - not silent - the fan is always going how fast depends what you're doing - but quite acceptable - this is important for me.





Dell's customer service seems less than good.


Apart from missing the screws, there were 3 or 4 other minor things wrong with my system, including the anti-virus software I paid for being missing. I don't recommend going for the anti-virus software they sell as I cannot see how you can reinstall it when you reinstall the operating system - better to buy from PC World when they have an offer on.

Though I got a reference number about 2 months ago for my queries they haven't responded - I understand this is pretty typical of Dell - I'll have to go and chase them up.

It is worth taking a look at Dell Outlet and comparing, but sometimes the Outlet is more expensive than new (????). My purchase was from the outlet so you may have better luck with a non outlet purchase - it doesn't include VAT making it more difficult to compare and do a good job of hiding the money off offers.

The Outlet do seem to have good offers on flat screen monitors if you buy them at the same time.


Despite the problems I haven't seen the price I paid bettered anywhere, and overall I'm still happy I made the purchase, ( I would have been very happy without all the problems ).

Dreadful Scathe
6th-September-2005, 09:25 AM
Is that all you could manage Frodo - a 15 page thesis ? :)

I wouldnt worry about the flash card reader - you can get a 13 in 1 flash card reader from ebuyer.co.uk for £5 including postage.

Icey
6th-September-2005, 11:59 AM
Wow Frodo! What a post! Thanks for the opinions and feedback on your laptop.

We ordered it last night as per my description below (DELL) and the final price came to £650 ish including Windows and AV software. It's going to take a week or so to arrive and our family friend who is going to set it all up for me reckons it was a fair price for what's there.

The budget was the biggest limiting factor of the whole exercise so I had to balance the build vs the price.

Huge thanks to you all for your replies :flower: - I have actually learnt some interesting stuff about what's what on these things now.

I'm sure I'll be coming back to you shortly with other queries as I have a "Information Systems" module on my accountancy course starting this weekend :whistle:

Thank you again x

frodo
6th-September-2005, 11:24 PM
Is that all you could manage Frodo - a 15 page thesis ? :)

I wouldnt worry about the flash card reader - you can get a 13 in 1 flash card reader from ebuyer.co.uk for £5 including postage.
Half a page on my screen :confused: :)

Icey
15th-September-2005, 06:34 PM
Well, here I am with my lovey new and very shiny laptop. All I can say is that it is beyoooutiful!

I am at home and I'm on the internet, will wonders ever cease?

Thank you to you all for your help, it's very much appreciated.