New Laptop

[DSA]

Hi,

 

I am trying to locate a new laptop for Uni work mainly.....there are so many!!

 

Budget around £700-£800, or something like that.

 

What do people think of the Widescreens? Does it make much difference?

 

Inbuilt Wifi would be an advantage, preferably 802.11g, and I am thinking 512Mb RAM and 60GB HDD. This would not be primarily a gaming machine, so Grapics is not that important (but definately an advantage). I don't really understand all the different processors... I was under the impression that the faster the clock speed the better. However I think I am wrong...

 

Clearly I am looking for the best deal for my money!

 

Here are a few I have been looking at:

 

Lowestonweb (i.e. Cheepo Evesham) (but no Wifi, or DVD Writer, or graphics)

Tiny (but nobble you with £40 delivery... and I am not too sure of the build quality)

Acer from eBuyer (not sure on the manufacturer, i.e. if any problems etc)

 

Any more suggestions/comments? This is my first laptop... Any cheeper is always better!

 

Thanks for any help in this minefield!

 

Best Wishes,

David

 

P.S. I am getting the impression that it is worth paying a little bit more for a better machine...would I be right?

[the kid]

http://www.blue-room.org.uk/index.php?showtopic=2687&hl=

 

I chose in the end a re conditioned compaq for £990 insted of £1500/£2000.

[Andrew C]

Acer = :) :( :o ;) :) then new HP/Compaq!

 

I have had REALLY difficult times with Acer's Hell Desk, and have been repairing MoBos after 40+ desktops failed in identical mode after 2 1/2 - 3 years (ie just out of warranty)

 

But then who's to say any of the other manufactures care once they've got your money?

[computer]

I have a Dell Laptop. Very good. Support (was) good, not used since it was outsourced.

[DSA]

I have just had a look at the Dell Outlet selection, and they are still seem quite expensive for what you get - taking into account that the price does not include Delivery. I do wonder about that Tiny model.

 

David

[the kid]

I found that too, there ment to be cheeper but with delivery and insurance it comes to only about £100 under what it is normaly

[gareth]

Dell are the mutt's nuts. I'm currently on my second Dell laptop, an Inspiron 8600. Spec-wise, it's almost exactly what you've described in your first post - Centrino 1.5GHz ; 512Mb RAM ; 60Gb HDD ; 15.4" WSXGA widescreen (luvverly!!) ; GeForce FX5650 graphics ; built-in 802.11g ; DVD re-writer. It's a fantastic piece of kit - you really do get what you pay for (this one cost me about £850 as a Dell refurb).

 

I've had this one for about 4 months, and never had a moment's trouble with it. My last one (an old Inspiron 7000 P2-333) lasted me for about 4 years as a "second" computer, and the only problems I had with that were of my own making! ;)

 

Keep going back to the Dell Outlet - the stock on there varies wildly. You might find nothing suitable one day, then the next day there'll be a whole load of new systems on there - the good ones of which will sell within 24-48 hours - their stock turnover is very high.

[PoppaDom]

I'd steer well clear of tiny and all their associates! Nothing but a bunch of cowboys!

 

I currently use a HP Pavillion that I bought from www.morgancomputers.co.uk for 600 in the form of a refurb machine which was still selling at 1400 new in the high street retailers shops. A lot of my friends have now purchased from this retailer and we have never had a problem.

 

The stock they have is a bit hit and miss but they usually have a good selection of toshiba, hp and similar for between 500 and 1000.

 

Hope This Is Usefull

 

Poppadom

[Freddie]

Like Poppadom said: Avoid Time/Tiny like the plague!!

My uncle bought a desktop from them, had nothing but trouble since, he's finally got it working after sending it back twice (they wipe the hard drive as a matter of policy.) Also unless you ring their premium rate India helpdesk for about 3 hours, every time you go on the net it tries to sign you up to Supanet (an ISP thought to be run by Time/Tiny). They also trade on the high street as The Computer Shop.

[Modge]

WWW.novatech.co.uk have always done me proud

[Pete McCrea]

Personally I'm a Mac person. Pretty much any of their machines will allow you to run the likes of MS office for Mac (which is much nicer on the Mac than PC. It orriginally was developed for the Mac too....). Being a Student you'll qualify for 10% discount. from Here- click on the top one if your on a uni network, or bottom if your not

 

Try an iBook for £943.76inc VAT and delivery. 1.2GHz G4 chip, Wireless, Bluetooth, 14" screen, etc. Nice machine

 

or a sexy fast PowerBook;

 

12" PowerBook here.

 

I run the 15" Superdrive version and not a single compliant. You can run versions of most software, but you may struggle if you have to run any specific engineering apps (LUSAS finite element analysis type things), but there's the option of running virtual PC and then the apps within this.

 

Why buy Mac?

1) Rock solid, virus and spyware free/proof Operating System,

2)Once your used to the OS, it's easier to use, easier to maintain, faster, and more stable.

3)Run MS office on a nice operating system!

4)They look damn sexy. I've yet to see a Windows laptop that matches an iBook or PowerBook for sheer style.

5)Wireless is a dream.

6)Save to PDF easilly- it's built in as a base level system setting. Every program has the ability to print or save as a PDF document.

7)It'll ship with all the software you need for day to day work. Appleworks for documents, presentations, spreadsheets etc. iLife for everything else. The OS has good mail, calendar, address book programs too. MSN for Mac to.

8)Because I said so.....

 

 

Just my 2p's worth. Plus you weren't specific to a windows box......

[Chris_R]

I'd steer well clear of tiny and all their associates! Nothing but a bunch of cowboys!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I haven't ever bought a Tiny, but from repairing friends' machines and from what ive heard their OK if their running ok...if it goes wrong, you might as well bin it and buy a new one!

I've always used Ebuyer: www.ebuyer.co.uk and have personally never had any problems with them.

Chris

[colinmonk]

I would reccomend the Dell Laptops also, as gareth says, they are the mutts nuts ( and as always heard you get what you pay for )

 

Im on an inspiron also, P4 with widescreen screen, and its lovely!

Dell Machines last and dont mind being travelled around the world!

[bruce]

I've recently been involved in evaluation of laptops for a national framework agreement for Higher Eduacation - ie identifying a range of machines, and an appropriate pricing framework, which represent good value for money and which individual Universities and Colleges can sign up to for staff and student purchase.

 

I can't publically comment on the outcome of this yet. But I can say some of the things we looked at...

 

To be honest, performance was probably our lowest priority. Most laptops these days have adequate processing power, and under the skin many of them are identical. We did spend a lot of time looking at display quality.

 

Robustness is important in a student environment. Look at the hinges. Are they plastic or metal?

 

We also did various other tests - like bending and dropping them - but I wouldn't recommend doing that in a high-street store :-)

 

Look at battery life. Look at weight. You'll be carrying the thing around in a bag....

 

Is the CD/DVD/etc built in, or connected via USB, or on a docking station? Having it built-in is very convenient, but it adds significantly to the weight and bulkiness. I've got an external CD on the laptop that I'm using at the moment - it's not really a hassle cos I only use it occasionally.

 

Built in wi-fi is convenient - I see that you are in Bristol; I know that University of Bristol has an extensive wireless deployment. But lack of built-in wifi isn't a showstopper - you can get a pcmcia card....

 

Also look at manufacturers warranties. We found that some manufacturers would only offer 1-year warranties, and others would offer an (extra-cost) 4 year option. If a manufacturer isn't prepared to offer an extended warranty, does this tell you something about the quality of the product?

 

 

Finally, ask the IT people at your University for recommendations. I don't know what the situation is at your institution, but at ours we have a purchasing agreement in place with IBM, which allows students to buy a "customised" laptop, with low rate finance, lots of site-licensed software pre-installed, and up to 4 years onsite maintenance - in fact, our IT helpdesk carry spares - if your machine breaks, and can't be fixed within half an hour, we'll lend you a replacement until your original is sorted out.

 

Bruce.

[DSA]

To be honest, Pete, I hadn't even considered a Mac until you mentioned it...!

 

However, I can't see any real reason why not. Does anyone have any major problems with theirs? With the 10% disc. the price seems quite resonable. I like the iBook most - no graphics card or DVD-RW...but I guess I could add those in the future if needed (DVD-RW's seem to be getting cheaper and cheaper by the day!).

 

With regards to Bristol's purchase scheme, have a look here. I was not too impressed with the ones on offer - especially as the last update was in November. The 3rd one is a bit over my intended budget.

 

Bristol does indeed have very good Wifi deployment, especially in the Faculty of Engineering. This is why I would like an included adaptor - but as you say it is not the end of the world if it does not!

 

Thanks for the replies so far.

 

David

 

EDIT: Looking at the iBook now it says a '1.33GHz PowerPC G4' chip. Has that changed?? Would I want the Bluetooth module? Oh and I see that it includes the 10% discount.