laptop for music + photos

T

tups7

Registered User
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Need a little help. Friend needs to buy a laptop. It will be used for music downlaods and storing/editing photos.

She is also in the hunt for an ipod/mp3 player to be used in conjunction with the laptop to provide her with music while out walking and also while driving in the car.

What is a good "laptop - music player" combo. Budget is €1500.

Any advice?
 
Personal experience - don't pay top dollar. It's a fact of life that it will eventually go AWOL.

I currently have a Sony Vaio, which cost €1600, and 80Gb iPod video. I could have saved myself €900 by buying a Dell or Acer or HP, and had no fewer issues.

I even see some Dell's now for Eur500, new, so personally, that's where my money would go - the 500-600 region, and buy the most comprehensive warranty you can. If it does go AWOL you'll be covered in either event, have enough left over to buy your MP3 AND go on hols to Spain !
 
I'd go with a cheap one from Dell, 500~700 no more. Don't bother with the extended warranty on something that cheap. They have a 1yr warranty anyway. Alternatively consider a Mac. Avoid Vista if you can.
 
I went for a EUR500 Dell laptop in December. I use it every day for approx 3hrs mostly for surfing the web, music/mp3, photos. I didn't go for the extra warrenty or the microsoft office package or any other extras.
The only upgrade I would recommend to a similar user would be the longer lasting battery.
I downloaded AVG anti virus software, ad-aware, zone alarm and spybot and haven't had any security problems.
I use gmail which has excellent word processing capabilities and google doc's has decent spreadsheet software too.

In summary, if you are a similar user (web surf, photos, music/mp3, DVD's) then I really wouldn't bother with a more expensive option.
I also picked up a laptop carry case in Tesco for EUR 8 Good times!
 
elefantfresh said:
How can you avoid Vista from Dell? I think all their machines come with it installed already?
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They still sell machines with XP installed. Definitely from their www.dell.ie/outlet store. Probably also on their business site. I'm not 100% sure but I think you can call them before (or after?) finalising your order and ask them to switch from Vista to XP. Can't see Ubuntu as an option on their Irish site yet though...
 
30gb Ipod (enough for most people): €269
[broken link removed]

Dension ice link plus car kit for iPod: €150
[broken link removed]
Check here for what version you need for your car:
[broken link removed]

Note: You were able to get all the different versions of the Ice Link Plus from the Apple.ie site but they only seem to have the BMW one at the moment.

This leaves your mate with €1081 for a laptop - which would get you a very good Dell laptop.
 
I should add that I have Vista on my laptop, and everything works ok. Its just a lot slower and I can't see any advantages in it at all. If I was doing it over I would be getting a Mac laptop. Bit more fun. As a basic machine a low end Dell is fine.
 
aircobra19 said:
I should add that I have Vista on my laptop, and everything works ok. Its just a lot slower and I can't see any advantages in it at all. If I was doing it over I would be getting a Mac laptop. Bit more fun. As a basic machine a low end Dell is fine.
Click to expand...

You can choose XP or Vista from Dell.

However, I have Vista on my Dell laptop and am happy with it.

I would personally spend a little more - say, a grand - to upgrade hard drive, memory, CPU etc. You might think you are going to only surf the net and do up the odd CV, but before you know it, you've bought a camcorder or a digital camera and are trying to do video editing or Photoshopping and your laptop lacks ooomph.

Just my personal opinion.
 
keep an eye out here - it's the dell outlet store on ebay.ie

it's fully ok - and the item will ship from limerick.

I got a 1150e laptop for 510e the other day

Just check the specs - core 2 duo is better, 120gb hd, and at least 1gb of ram.
and then xp/vista - what ever you decide.

K
 
ClubMan said:
What's the difference between the Dell's eBay outlet store their website based outlet store? Something that I never understood...
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I think it's just another way of the public getting their products.
No major difference that I can see.

My laptop -- dell.ie 1150 / outlet 600 / ebay 510 !!!

They list certain laptops/pcs on the ebay store even though you can get them directly thru the outlet - but cheaper. And both cheaper than thru dell.ie

If folks think they are getting a bargain - they'll grab them - even though dell are still prob making a profit.
 
ClubMan said:
What's the difference between the Dell's eBay outlet store their website based outlet store? Something that I never understood...
Click to expand...

Seems to me that...

The ebay one seems to have products with minor defects, all graded with how minor they are. Missing media, minor scratches etc. They have ones which are perfect aswell. Basically they are returns, which are tested and repackaged.

Whereas the ones on the website are all as new with everything included. Perhaps they were orders that were cancelled? or old stock they want rid of. They often have weird specs. They have a full years warranty as apposed to the 90 day on some models on the main retail site too. Which is handy.
 
Well that only my assumption.

Another interesting point is that under the distance selling if you are not happy with the product, and don't open the media disks you can return it. I did this with one I got because the screen was very poor quality, but not faulty. The next one I got was fine. I could have got them to replace the screen but I didn't want the hassle of that.

As a general point. LCD and laptop screen can vary a lot in quality in my experience, and I'm fussy. So its handy to have the distance selling return thingy.
 
factor in a couple of hundred quid for an external HD too or a Media Centre so that you can keep movies/music on it without clogging up the inbuilt HD and also have everything backed up in case of a disaster with the lappy...
 
Pique318 said:
factor in a couple of hundred quid for an external HD too or a Media Centre so that you can keep movies/music on it without clogging up the inbuilt HD and also have everything backed up in case of a disaster with the lappy...
Click to expand...

Very good point.

USB 2.5" externals don't need AC power, just USB ports which is handy for a laptop. Mind you they use the laptops power.
 
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