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laptops.. how to compare?

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By *uckscouple2007 OP   Couple
over a year ago

Bucks

our current one is no more.. been perusing the main retailers web sites au work and.. looking in the upto £300 bracket see many all with similar main spec 2gb ram / 250gb hard drive .. but apart from brand (suggesting reliability) what other fine detail separates the wheat from the chaff?

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"Which" do regular reports.

What do you want it for...?

Chose a laptop very carefully...they cant be modified like a desktop...

Would you be better with a top end mobile phone...

Good luck...

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I got an Acer Aspire last year and it's been a great laptop, never had any problems with it, it runs fast, no conflicts, never crashed.

You can get decent Acers from tesco.com for around £425 (you get 800 club points with the purchase too), but the ones I looked at had pretty much everything you need a modern laptop to do but it didn't have Bluetooth, which I find is an essential for me personally but you might not see a need for it.

The one on tesco has:

Built in webcam

Multicard Reader (takes camera SD cards etc)

320Gb Hard Disk

3 USB ports

Windows 7

Intel Celeron 2.1Ghz processor

15.6" screen

McAfee installed

Wireless built in

The Aspire series are feature rich when it comes to graphics so if that's important to you then you could do a lot worse than get one of them.

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By *uckscouple2007 OP   Couple
over a year ago

Bucks


"I got an Acer Aspire last year and it's been a great laptop, never had any problems with it, it runs fast, no conflicts, never crashed.

You can get decent Acers from tesco.com for around £425

"

cheers wishy.. have been drawn to that make/model as seems reasonably priced (have got a widget from the pound shop for bluetooth for current lappy lol) but wasn't sure how reliable they were..

so now its whether to stick to 2gb/250drive spec as we now have .or. for prob same amount we paid 2yrs ago go for a 3gb ram machine? .. its only for general home use (i.e. 90% of time on fab lol)

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By *uckscouple2007 OP   Couple
over a year ago

Bucks


""Which" do regular reports.

Would you be better with a top end mobile phone...

Good luck... "

thanks.. already have a smart phone which is useful but they can't do everything - and Sarah bless her can't get to grips with a rolling mouse let alone a touch screen lol

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By *umpkinMan
over a year ago

near the sounds of the wimborne quarter jack!

Currently posting on a refurbished HP Compac bought a couple of years ago from PC World`s website. A good way of getting something a bit more powerfull for less beer tokens! First one was faulty but it was changed without question!

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago


""Which" do regular reports.

Would you be better with a top end mobile phone...

Good luck...

thanks.. already have a smart phone which is useful but they can't do everything - and Sarah bless her can't get to grips with a rolling mouse let alone a touch screen lol"

Ah...but whilst your lappy is down... Perhaps this would be an ideal time for Sara to be practising her manual dexterity...

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By *omnlynneCouple
over a year ago

milton keynes

since having got a macbook pro for my birthday just after xmas wont ever go back to a windows based lappy again.......but had an acer aspire 8280 and 2 other acers in the house too never had a prob in over 4 years with them apart from after 4 years the 8280 hd died but 85 quid new drive installed all back up and running again so wouldnt knock it

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By *pple16Man
over a year ago

Macclesfield

get a mac, less viruses and more reliable

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By *plpxp2Couple
over a year ago

Middlesbrough


"get a mac, less viruses and more reliable"

At least double the price for macbooks, but seriously sexy bits of kit that just work.

If your looking for something just to surf then there's the Ipad as well.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago


"I got an Acer Aspire last year and it's been a great laptop, never had any problems with it, it runs fast, no conflicts, never crashed.

You can get decent Acers from tesco.com for around £425

cheers wishy.. have been drawn to that make/model as seems reasonably priced (have got a widget from the pound shop for bluetooth for current lappy lol) but wasn't sure how reliable they were..

so now its whether to stick to 2gb/250drive spec as we now have .or. for prob same amount we paid 2yrs ago go for a 3gb ram machine? .. its only for general home use (i.e. 90% of time on fab lol)"

For that kind of usage you don't need the all-singing all-dancing variety. 2GB Ram and a decent sized hard drive should do you just fine. Opt for RAM over hard disk space as it's the RAM you'll need more.

Make sure it's got wireless which is pretty much standard these days and you're prety much good to go.

I have a Signature account with Yorkshire Bank and it comes with insurance on unlimited specified electronic goods (mobiles, cameras, pc's and laptops etc) among other things for £10/month so it may be worth checking if your bank offers a similar product as that will save on an extended warranty for your new machine.

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By *eighleedsMan
over a year ago

leeds


"I got an Acer Aspire last year and it's been a great laptop, never had any problems with it, it runs fast, no conflicts, never crashed.

You can get decent Acers from tesco.com for around £425

cheers wishy.. have been drawn to that make/model as seems reasonably priced (have got a widget from the pound shop for bluetooth for current lappy lol) but wasn't sure how reliable they were..

so now its whether to stick to 2gb/250drive spec as we now have .or. for prob same amount we paid 2yrs ago go for a 3gb ram machine? .. its only for general home use (i.e. 90% of time on fab lol)"

I have one of those poundshop Bluetooth Dongles (Widget) as do quite a few friends of mine, all had them for at least a year and never had a problem with one yet

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

For that kind of usage you don't need the all-singing all-dancing variety. 2GB Ram and a decent sized hard drive should do you just fine. Opt for RAM over hard disk space as it's the RAM you'll need more, especially if your running windows Vista or 7

Make sure it's got wireless which is pretty much standard these days and you're pretty much good to go.

You could always try running Linux on your machine, try Ubuntu, its free to download and run check out their web site.

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By *eighleedsMan
over a year ago

leeds


"For that kind of usage you don't need the all-singing all-dancing variety. 2GB Ram and a decent sized hard drive should do you just fine. Opt for RAM over hard disk space as it's the RAM you'll need more, especially if your running windows Vista or 7

Make sure it's got wireless which is pretty much standard these days and you're pretty much good to go.

You could always try running Linux on your machine, try Ubuntu, its free to download and run check out their web site. "

but when it come to RAM do not go over 4GB, UNless the OS (usually windows) is 64 bit, you are paying for something you cannot use otherwise

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Might sound silly but check out qvc this weekend technology weekend and they have some great tsv or ideal world. Got mine from qvc and got so much more in package.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

If its quality your after and the best after sales service on the planet it's got to be Dell .....

Maybe a smidge more than your price range but probably well worth the extra few quid in the long run

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

see if you can find a secondhand Mac for sensible money. they last at least 3 times the life of a pc and wow o wow run smoother and faster. once you have a Mac you dont go back!!

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By *uckscouple2007 OP   Couple
over a year ago

Bucks

when first looking I added as bookmarks the websites for PC World/Currys, Comet, Argos, Best Buy and Staples ... was expecting to go downtown today and get the best spec machine I could for £300 or less from one of those ...

but thanks to Wishy mentioning Tesco's wont be getting a new lappy today, will have to wait til Monday now as have ordered a Compaq (4GB Ram, 500GB Hard Drive, Bluetooth & Wireless, upto 7 hrs battery life) and even got to use a few pounds worth of clubcard vouchers from a few years back that had never exchanged in store...

cheers wishy

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

i got mine from Aldi! 350 notes. HD screen, dual core processor, 3gb ram and a whopping 3 year warranty included in price.

We used to sell the same German manufacturer back when I worked for staples and I have one of their desktop pcs that is more than 8yrs old and still going strong!

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By *omnlynneCouple
over a year ago

milton keynes

once you go mac....you'll never go back

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By *uckscouple2007 OP   Couple
over a year ago

Bucks


"once you go mac....you'll never go back

"

so we hear, but the entry level is very expensive

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By *eighleedsMan
over a year ago

leeds


"i got mine from Aldi! 350 notes. HD screen, dual core processor, 3gb ram and a whopping 3 year warranty included in price.

We used to sell the same German manufacturer back when I worked for staples and I have one of their desktop pcs that is more than 8yrs old and still going strong!"

Depending on the model that Aldi laptop me be a rebadged ASUS, that brand do that a lot, comes in handy when looking for drivers

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago


"when first looking I added as bookmarks the websites for PC World/Currys, Comet, Argos, Best Buy and Staples ... was expecting to go downtown today and get the best spec machine I could for £300 or less from one of those ...

but thanks to Wishy mentioning Tesco's wont be getting a new lappy today, will have to wait til Monday now as have ordered a Compaq (4GB Ram, 500GB Hard Drive, Bluetooth & Wireless, upto 7 hrs battery life) and even got to use a few pounds worth of clubcard vouchers from a few years back that had never exchanged in store...

cheers wishy "

Glad to have been of assistance.

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