Recommended laptop - light, DVD, Vista?

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amgd28

Registered User
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Hi - an acquaintance is looking for advice on a laptop. Only needs it for MS office, ideally DVD player but light enough for travelling. I don't think money is a major issue
Personally I am a big fan of the thinkpad range, and reckoned the new T61 would tick the boxes, but perhaps overspec'd. Don't want my personal preferences colouring my advice, so I'd like to put it out to the floor!

Cheers
 
Due to the fact that my old laptop has recently died and may not be repairable, I bought a HP Pavilion dv6000 which is well suited to multi-media (has a remote control, Nvidia dedicated graphics, widescreen) and weighs in at 3 kg. So far I am happy.

The battery life is around 2.5 hours, which may not suit mobile use.
 
a lot of people seem to be turning their backs on Vista. dell have even had to start offering XP again on some of their systems.

big fan myself od the TP range. will not go far wrong with one of them.
 
I have to say that so far my experience of Vista has been positive. I'm not sure is the demand for XP on new laptops driven by:

(a) reliability issues;
(b) the fact that the resources needed require a relatively high-spec machine; or
(c) a combination of both?
 
check out the Dell web site, laptops are very reasonably priced and you have the option of Vista or XP.

I was thinking of buying a laptop with XP installed on it but everything will be Vista by this time next year and you will get left behind when new software and hardware is released. therefore i am going vista.
 
Get a Dell Latitude D420 with an extended battery, very light and the battery life is up to 5 hours. If you get the extended battery, the CD drive is not integrated.
 
Thanks for the posts, but I'm not wild about Dells. Then again, not my laptop, so it shouldn't matter!
Perhaps it is a misperception, but I tend to equate Dell's with:

  • Reliability issues
  • Very poor technical support from Bangalore
  • Chunky

I've never had an issue with the thinkpads, and I've dropped them lots of times! Are my fears unfounded?
 
Well I picked up a lovely little Dell in the US 6 months ago for less than €600,
It would tick all your friends boxes, I run XP on it because the system runs sooo much faster on it, battery last longer (cpu etc, aren't running as high all the time therefore require less power) it's light but has a great battery life. I bought it with a 6cell and a 9 cell battery, 6 cell lasts 4 to 5 hours and the 9 cell goes over 7, I can comfortably watch a dvd on the 6cell and two on the 9cell (actually I've been able to watch 3 in the past because I ripped them to to the HDD ;) )

It can tick all your friends boxes and I've had a lot of experience with Dell (being an IT head) and in generally they only screw up when people mistreat them or download dumb stuff then wonder why their machine is corrupted.
But seen as I can fix most problems with them I've never needed to ring customer support.
 
Thanks Deimos.
I think I'll recommend a selection to them, and I also think XP is the way to go also.
Cheers
 
Dell Laptop for €482.79 delivered.

Access via Deals & enter product code "N06153" in the search field in the top right of screen.

AMD® Turion™ 64 X2 Mobile Technology TL50
Genuine Windows Vista™ Business - English
15.4" Wide Screen XGA TFT Display: 1280x800
1024MB 533MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x512]
120GB (5400rpm) SATA Hard Drive
256MB ATI ® Radeon® Xpress 1150 HyperMemory™
Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including Software
4 cell Lithium-Ion Battery (29 Whr)
Dell™ Wireless 1390 802.11b/g Mini-PCI Card (for AMD Processors)
No Security/Anti-Virus Protection - English
Microsoft® Works 8.0 - English
65W AC Adapter
56.6k V.92 Capable Internal Modem & Adapter - Ireland/Spain
Internal Keyboard - UK/Irish (QWERTY)
Collect & Return, 90 Days Service only
 
Dell offer a lot of spec for the money just beware that their customer service has been very poor in recent years
 
I agree - if I were going for a budget laptop, I'd probably go for Acer ahead of Dell.
Anyway, I have enough options to give to my friend, so it's their decision now.
Thanks for all the input folks, it was useful.
 
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