Buying a Laptop

J

joey54

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I'm hoping to buy a mid-range laptop soon. Just wondering are there any in particular which are good and what I should be looking for. It's mainly just for personnal use. What brand should I go for and what should I avoid? What price should I be expecting to pay out! Cheers!
 
Hi Joey. DO NOT buy an Iqon anyway. They claim to be one of Irelands biggest makers. My brother bought one from a major retail store and after 15 months of good care, the screen malfunctioned. After a few calls to an operator in their facility in Dundalk, he was given an 1890 number to the technical dept. He rang it and they told him they would only talk to him if he rang them on a premium rate number...no bull, honest! He asked who would he be talking to and the reply was "us"!!!!
 
we've just bought an acer aspire 5101AWLMi from nowafflecomputers.com cost €700 has a € key! and other good stuff, 15.4" screen, AMD turion 64 mobile technology, 256 ram, 120gb hdd, dvd rw and Igb DDR2 whatever that means.
 
500-700 is reasonable for a laptop these days. You should look for Minimum 1GB RAM, 15.4 (1280x800) screen, 80GB HD or bigger, DVDRW (DVD burner) and a dual core CPU (AMD or Intel). They all have Wifi but BlueTooth is extra.

Check out the laptops in the shops and see if you like glossy or non glossy screen, and what screen size and resolution you want. 12", 15.4", 17" etc. Bigger screens fit more onscreen but are bigger, heavier and shorter battery life. Consider a warranty to cover the economic life of the machine. For example a €600 laptop I only get a 1yr warranty but for one €1000+ I'd look for a 2yr etc.

Dell and Apple both have online outlet stores where occasionally you get a better deal. Keep an eye out for frequent Dell money off discounts promotions. As that can make the outlet machines very cheap, they are not running one at them moment. Compare the prices across different websites and different shops. Sometime the shops have better prices than the web. So it pays to shop around.

I've used Dell and Sony, and haven't really had too much problems with either.
 
Thanks All,
I was looking at this one only prob is it only has 512mb RAM, should I avoid it? Also are there any other good online stores out there for buying laptops? I'm reluctent to use Dell as I've had terrible problems with them before.
 
Problem with that machine is that it is an Acer, (lots of reports of poor support), its not a dual core (its a semperon) and its only 512mb. I wouldn't buy it myself.
 
Thanks aircobra19, I'm not very good at the technical side of things with computers! I've also been to some of the larger shops and didn't find them very helpful!
 
aldi have some pretty good deals. lidl too i think. none of the main brands use inferior components so you should decide a budget to stick to and then compare all available deals at the same price level .

i d look for either a Dell , hp, Toshiba or aldi/lidl
 
aircobra19 said:
XP is fine IMO.
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I've a high-end Acer myself for 15 months, no problems so far.

Sony do some nice, reasonably priced laptops, but I know one person got a model (here in Ireland) with no '/' key. Very annoying when you realise how much it's used.

But with a lot of manufacturers, be aware that different ranges come from different factories or are made under contract. For example, HP consumer laptops are not of the same quality as their more robust business machines.

XP vs Vista - I say demand XP, there are too many incompatibilities & issues with Vista. It's a CPU and memory hog.
 
Technologist said:
Sony do some nice, reasonably priced laptops, but I know one person got a model (here in Ireland) with no '/' key. Very annoying when you realise how much it's used.
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I was always of the impression that sony were among the most expensive high end and least good value laptops of all.

Sony develops and make each component themselves they have a 'from concept to product philosophy' unlike other manufacturers who buy generic motherboards , components, developed their own memory stick standard etc and this makes everything priced at a premium. Its like paying for the brand .

Ill admit they are fantastic but I wouldnt recommend Sony to a price conscious buyer.
 
if you are going to the states get it there. I got my HP there for half of the price it is here. Circuit City will send you a box with postage paid for it if you need to send it back to them. Great value and it works fine
 
I would stay away from iqon's and sony laptops. My brother used to sell them pieces of crap he said!

I have a hp laptop, top of the range one its great. I had a dell before and it broke after 2years.

If your going to be using the laptop a good bit I would say invest in a decent one that will last. :)
 
Aldi will be selling this shortly.

[broken link removed]

The specifications and price aren't posted yet on the Irish site. What does anyone think?
 
I bought a MacBook recently, after years of swearing I'd never join the Apple cult. However, a year of incredible frustration with my Dell PC forced me to change. I have to say, I really am delighted with it. Unlike my PC, it really is plug and play - any device I've hooked up to it is automatically recognised and does exactly what it is supposed to first time (I know people will post back saying their PC is true plug and play too, but I've more often than not had to do some fiddling around when connecting devices to PCs).

Out of the box, it took me about an hour to get online with my PC, including frustrating calls to the Dell 'helpcentre'. I was literally on the web within 10 mins of unpacking my MacBook and wireless router.

It took a couple of hours to get used to the slightly different way the Mac does things, but now I feel incredibly awkward and weird using a Windows based machine. There is tonnes of software out there - I love FrontRow, which allows you to control all the music, picture, movie etc. software via a small remote control and your TV. I use NeoOffice, the Apple version of OpenOffice, and find it great.

Basically, I'm not a techie, have zero interest in becoming one, and just want my bloody devices to work when I need them to, which the PC could never guarantee. I highly recommend the MacBook.
 
Sherman said:
...I'm not a techie, have zero interest in becoming one, and just want my bloody devices to work when I need them to, which the PC could never guarantee. I highly recommend the MacBook.
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This is one of the reason I would always advise people to buy Apple Mac instead of a PC. I can't for the life of me understand why PC's sell so well. They are so frustrating to use it's mind boggling how people keep going back for more!

Check out the Apple Refurb Store to find good deals on laptops.
 
yeah the apple macbooks are briliant - if even for the fact you don't have to keep running nortons and spyware programs on them!
 
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