Laptops

[mathare]

The missus and I are looking for a laptop to replace her ageing desktop. We're after a 15" to 17" screen and are planning to mainly use it for e-mail and web surfing. It must have Windows on it as I will use it on occasion for playing poker and MS Office work so I don't want to hear anything about Linux netbooks. We don't want to pay too much for it but do want a decent spec for the money. Portability isn't a huge issue, as long as it isn't a massive heavy brick we'll be OK as it'll mainly be used at home rather than on the move. With that in mind battery life isn't massively crucial either as most of the time we will be able to plug it in.

Any suggestions?

I'll start off by asking if this is any good: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149335

[peza2605]

as it happens im selling one.

[counterfeit]

I just got my wife one of those 3GB Acer things advertised on the PC World advert. It's bloody fantastic for web surfing and playing music and playing poker.

We don't really need it for much else as our desktop does all the labour intensive things. It's my 3rd Acer laptop and I love them. My wife has always had Dell or Toshiba but I do think half the time you are paying the badge as much as what the laptop gives you.

[mathare]

Cheers for that. I had looked at those PC World ones and wondered about them as we don't need it to do anything too fancy.

For about the same price the HP I linked to above has an extra GB of RAM, a bigger HDD but a slightly smaller screen. It also has Vista Home Premium as opposed to Home Basic, not that I am sure any of that really makes any difference for what we want from it.

[counterfeit]

I hate places like PC World on prinicple but the after sales service is very good (at least it is in Leeds).

[mathare]

The only thing putting me off that Acer at the mo is the separate numeric keypad on the right hand side as that will cramp up the rest of the keyboard layout. I'd have to go into PC World and try it though

[counterfeit]

You see - I like that. To me it's an important feature.

[bigcumba]

I've just gone from a laptop with a separate numeric keypad to a 'normal' one, and it's the one thing I miss most - makes life so much easier for inputting any numbers.

Current laptop I have is a 'freebie' Toshiba which came with a mobile broadband package at £35 a month for 18 months. Being skint it was the only way I could afford a desperately needed new machine at the time but it does most things I need nicely - it's a dual core 1.73 GHz with 2Gb RAM, 100Gb HDD, 15" screen, only thing it lacks oomph on is graphics - the likes of Doom3 runs poorly on it due to the Intel graphics on board. Since I rarely play big action games like that these days it's not a problem - much rather stick to footie management games and emulation - MAME, Nintendo emulation and that sort of thing. Apart from that I'd recommend it as a cheap option if you wanted to buy it outright - probably around £300 in the shops on it's own.

[Win2Win]

Most places that you 'DIY' a laptop are either gone, or bought out by Dell now.

I get 4hrs battery on the Dell I just bought, and it's very high spec, I will say that the 3 year warranty is good value, and you only pay for 2, and that is cheap compared to the High Street charges.

[lowe1]

Mat

Have you tried Aldi they have laptops every other month and normally have on in the shops in the run up for xmas, they are outstanding laptops for the price the last sale was in Aug but if you can hold one till the next sale it will be worth it

here is the specs

Medion® Akoya® MD96850 Widescreen Notebook
only £449.99 *

Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core processor T2390
(1.86 GHz, 1 MB L2 Cache, 533 MHz FSB)
Phenomenal performance for digital entertainment and increased productivity. With a Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core processor T2390 your computer can carry out more than one task at a time. For example, surf the web, listen to music, burn a CD and have anti-virus software running in the background, all at the same time!

Huge 250GB hard disk
for storing up to 45,000 photos or 45,000 music tracks*

Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
great performance with lower power consumption.

Massive 3GB RAM

15.4" TFT WXGA Widescreen Display

8× Multi-Standard DVD/CD Writer
with DVD-RAM and Dual-Layer support.

High Speed Wireless LAN 802.11n Draft
with up to 300 MBit/s. 802.11 b/g compatible**

eSATA connection

High performance 9 cell battery
providing extra long battery life – up to an amazing 4½ hours

Numerous ports

* 1× Multi-cardreader (SD, MMC, MS & MS PRO)
* 3× USB 2.0
* 1× Express Card Slot 54
* 1× eSATA/USB 2.0
* 1× VGA out
* 1× TV out
* 1× RJ-45 LAN
* 1× RJ-11 modem
* 1× microphone
* 1× Line in
* 1× Line out
* 1× 6 channel Audio out (analogue + S/P-DIF)

Huge Software Package
(OEM Versions)

* Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium (incl. SP1)
* Microsoft® Office Trial (60 days test version)
* LIFE Software Package (WindDVD 8, Media One, PaintShop Pro, DVD MovieFactory 5.5)
* Microsoft® Works 9.0
* Nero Burning ROM 8 Essentials incl. Nero Recode S2
* Ulead PhotoImpact 12 SE
* BullGuard Internet Security (incl. 90 days internet update)

For further details of this fantastic laptop offer please visit http://www.medion.de/ms/aldi/md96850/uk.

All the support you need

36 month manufacturer’s warranty. Medion offer a telephone support hotline charged at National Rates and a return to manufacturer service for repair.

you could always phone them and ask when the next sale is on

[bigcumba]

I've seen those sort of deals at Aldi, and they do look pretty good.

[mathare]

The missus is very particular about keyboards and I'm sure would prefer the keyboard to be more spread out rather than have the numeric keypad. I use a laptop at work with a normal keyboard (without the separate numeric keypad) and have no problems with it but as it will be mainly the missus using it I guess she needs to be happy with the keyboard layout.

[lowe1]

i went to get one last time they were sold out on the first day by 9am !!!

[TheOldhamWhisper]

The HP in your first link is probably the best VFM. I paid top dollar for my Dell but it has all the whistles, bells and flutes. Not that it makes a ha'porth of difference when trying to get Vista Ultimate to do what YOU want it to do rather than what Billy G thinks you need! :laugh

[counterfeit]

My mate got one of these the other day from work -

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Panasonic_Toughbook_19_Tablet_PC_version_CF-19FDGAXVE/version.asp

It's effing brilliant but for that sort of money I would want it to drive my car for me, make my meals and do the housework.

[bigcumba]

That's a serious bit of kit. Looks similar to the one they tried to destroy using various methods on the last series of the Gadget Show... you certainly get something pretty close to indestructible.

[counterfeit]

He's an on site engineer for Yorkshire Water. It really is bombproof. It's an amazing thing but what an incredible amount of money!

[TheOldhamWhisper]

.... It really is bombproof...

A goodly sized gnat fart will probably trash the hard-drive the day you forget to back it up :ooo

[jonahjones]

I purchased an E-System 4315 for £299 from Currys on Grand National day earlier this year and I would highly recommend it.

It has decent spec and is well worth the money.

I think it is made especially for Currys but I can't find a link for it anywhere.

Perhaps it has been superseded.

[lowe1]

there is a sale on at currys

http://www.currys.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/952250

and you can use this code for free delivery

AWSPRDEL

[samantha1303]

Laptops Direct sometimes have good bargains.

[John]

Don't buy an Acer! I'm sure CF's is very good. :D But I recommended one to my parents, really good spec at the time, and it's appalling. They bundle it with so much pre-installed crap you have to spend ages getting rid of, and it takes an age to boot up or open anything.

Don't buy an Acer...

Toshiba, Dell and Compaq make very good laptops.

[Street cry]

i have a compaq presario and it is very good very fast for trading etc and touch wood it has had no problems

[Win2Win]

....and touch wood it has had no problems
Vegy's head within arm length was it? :D