Laptop- what to buy? VFM

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footsteps

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I am hoping to purchase a lap top for home use in the next week but I am completely at loss at to what to buy.

Can any one recommend one to me?

I will be using it for internet, email, saving & editing photos mainly with some admin work (work, pub)

Thanks.

PS Does anyone know somewhere that gives discount if buying 3 similar laptops?
 
Go for Dell. They are cheap and reliable.

My advice would be to buy one of the cheaper ones - you don't need so much power for internet, e-mail, saving and admin work.
 
Be carefull what operating system you get. If you get Vista, you should get 2Gigs Ram, or with XP, 1Gig is plenty. Vista is very hungry. Again if getting Vista, dont get the slowest processor either, they can be right old dogs.
 
WOuld be very familar with XP so would probably go with that,
Thanks for advice, will go search the dell pages now!
 
use this code at dell:
N0810003

change the service to 1yr. €554
Vostro 1000

AMD TK53
2GB Ram
120 GB Hard Drive
TI Radeon Xpress 1150 Graphics
8X DVD+/-RW
4 Cell Battery
56k Modem
15.4" Widescreen
Vista Business or WinXP Pro



If you phone dell and haggle they might give you a 6cell battery and vista premium.
 
I would not go near Dell for laptops either. Things may have changed recently, but my sister and I both had Dell laptops (hers was budget, mine was high spec) and they were both disasters. The main problems were overheating, noise and speed. I sent mine back twice under warranty but it did no good. When it started giving major trouble after 2 years, I found out that model was a write-off by Dell and after lengthy litigation they had to offer anyone in the States who bought one compensation. That's just bad luck I know, but my sister's model was not much better.

I am not a Dell basher. I have had several desktop PCs from Dell without issue but I would not touch them for laptops. Whenever I used to google I saw I was far from alone!

I have heard very good things about Acer too but all I can recommend personally are Sony Vaio ones (not the cheapest I know!). We both got different models last December and everything is great so far - fast, quiet and light laptops! The screens on them are lovely and bright. Acer have good screens too. I was using mine about 18 hours a day on and off for the first few months, mainly for web dev and graphics apps, so they stand up to a lot.

I got mine from the laptop shop, stephens green. The guy there told me that for reliability, sony, acer and toshiba are the only brands you can really count on - but that was just the sales guy! :)
 
I can second the Sony Vaio recommendation.

I have a Dell laptop supplied by work and my husband has the Vaio VGN-TX3XP. Mine NEVER leaves the office, it's my second Dell and pretty basic but find that if you go cheaper they get outdated pretty quick.

Vaio is expensive but tiny, very light, has an 8 hour battery (vs approx 2 for Dell) handy if travelling or using to watch dvd's on a flight etc.

Reckon it could last 5 years or so cause it's so spec'd.

He bought it from www.dabs.ie - think it was about Eur 2100

If you can get wireless broadband do - it's the business....

We got ours from Chorus as part of the TV deal which works out very reasonable and you don't need the phoneline,

Good luck,
S
 
fizzy said:
I got mine from the laptop shop, stephens green. The guy there told me that for reliability, sony, acer and toshiba are the only brands you can really count on - but that was just the sales guy! :)
Click to expand...
That was just the sales guy who doesn't sell Dell because they only sell direct - Do you really expect an honest opinion?

fizzy said:
Vaio is expensive but tiny, very light, has an 8 hour battery (vs approx 2 for Dell) handy if travelling or using to watch dvd's on a flight etc.
Click to expand...
Your claim of '2 hours for Dell' is an inaccurate generalisation. My work laptop is Dell and I would regularly get more than 2 hours out of the battery. If you are buying a new Dell, you can choose from 4-cell, 6-cell or 9-cell batteries, all with different strengths. It would be foolish to base any decision on such generalisations. For the record, my home laptop is a 3-year old Sony Vaio, and I get about 15 minutes from the battery.
fizzy said:
He bought it from www.dabs.ie - think it was about Eur 2100
Click to expand...
For €2,100 I'd expect a Rolls Royce machine, or 3 decent Dells - If you check those Boards.ie threads, you can pick up a Dell with 2GB RAM and 120 GB hard disk for €700
 
I got labtop from Aldi -great spec for 649. I 'm not mad about Vista-doesn't like some of the software that XP has no trouble with!
 
roxymusic said:
I got labtop from Aldi -great spec for 649. I 'm not mad about Vista-doesn't like some of the software that XP has no trouble with!
Click to expand...

I have a Dell and a Sony and find both excellent. I prefer the Sony because it's slicker but the Dell's a good machine.
I only use XP and know very few people using XP...indeed those of those who went for Vista most are reverting to XP.
I'm surprised MS aren't reporting disastrous sales figures because anecdotely all I hear is negative.
 
RainyDay said:
That was just the sales guy who doesn't sell Dell because they only sell direct - Do you really expect an honest opinion?
Click to expand...

I was just passing on what he said for what it's worth. Obviously his interests are vested. However, I should clarify that Dell was not mentioned in our conversations and he was talking about how he would only rate sony, toshiba and acer for reliability out of the brands he sells in the shop - they stock several other brands.

The new Dell vostro lines in particular look very tempting, and if the poster is just looking for something for light home use, he can't go too far wrong anyway. I was just pointing out that from my experience, they are nothing as reliable for laptops as they are for desktops, and I'm not alone in that view.

As it happens, while I was always first to rush to Dell for desktops, a recent purchase for my Mum has even put me off those. We spent quite a bit of money, about 1500 I think, and went for quite high end specs, and got this slow monster with a rubbish fuzzy looking 19" flat screen monitor that you would not even put up with for playing solitaire on. We had to send it back, even though we were offered 70 euro back if we would keep it....

But hey, they sell so much stuff and they are generally solid, and they take things back without much hassle. Given the poster's needs, and that I have now read that Boards thread, I'd say a Dell bargain like that is the way to go...
 
Salesmen will generally recommend the product yielding the highest commission to themselves...this should always be in the back of your mind.
Having said that Sony wouldn't fall into that category so he sounds pretty genuine!
 
Silvergirl said:
...
Vaio is expensive but tiny, very light, has an 8 hour battery (vs approx 2 for Dell) handy if travelling or using to watch dvd's on a flight etc.
...
Click to expand...

It has a long battery life because its an ultra light laptop and its an expensive one. Its also has an 11.1" screen which is very small. The Dell is probably far cheaper and not an ultra light. I had a Dell with 14" screen and 9 cell battery that lasted 7~8hrs but it wasn't as small or as light as that Sony. Mind you it was about a third the price.

I've since switched to 17" laptop as I don't move around that much and I find the bigger screen much more useful.

I find screen quality varies a lot even on the same model of the same brand. So try before you buy, or at least check out what the return policy is if you are not happy. Most laptops brands don't make the parts, so they share a lot of the same parts. Screens, DVD drives etc. Look at reviews and see which ones get the most favorable comments. I wouldn't trust salesmen they have a vested interest.

You'll get good info somewhere like http://www.notebookforums.com
 
Have a look on here also. Some reasonable prices for laptops. I bought a fujitsu amilo Xi last december from them with no problems to date. The Fujitsu Siemens have proven to be surprisingly good machines in my experience.
 
Just check you are happy with the screen and can read the text ok, and are happy with the weight/battery life. If buying on the web, check a similar model in a shop first.

I reckon most laptops are much the same qualitywise unless you get a high end one. Only then do you start to see major differences. If you do a search for any brand and "laptop problems" you'll find a load of issues. Thats simply because they are machines and machines break. If you are selling hundreds of thousands of them, and less than 1% have problems that still a lot of complaints on the web. Most important is how the company treats you when you do a have a problem. Good aftersales is a good sign.
 
Try Dell. Greta Products and greta prices. I suggest you should always look in the Dell Factory Outlet to get the best Value for machines that were not bought but ordered. I hear microsoft VISTA is still not without its problems. Stick with MS XP.
 
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