WARNING

[st247]

IT NUMPTY IN THE HOUSE !!

SWMBO is in need of a laptop. She's after running MS office, using it for music and surfing the web. Which is where my problem arises. I've no idea what is a reasonable spec to do what she wants. For example bargain basement models appear to only have 256mb of ram and small processor speeds.For example

So could someone give me some advice as to what sort of spec i should be looking for ?

 

[wessie]

For an extra £50 you can get a much better spec with the Dell Inspiron 1300
http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/inspn_1300?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs

They have an offer on at the moment: order by 28/6 and get a memory upgrade to 768Mb. It has a slightly faster processor, a 50% bigger hard disk and a WXGA screen (better for watching DVDs).

It's the extra memory that will make the biggest difference: she will be able to surf the web, listen to music and run Office at the same time. With only 256Mb multitasking will be a PITA. The bigger HDD will mean she can download more music files before having to transfer them to CD or DVD too.

The PCWorld laptop does ship with MSWorks but this is not much use to her if she has a copy of, or intends to buy, MSOffice.

 

[st247]

Problem

Thanks Wessie

However, When I click to customise and buy, the price goes up to £493!! Can't see why. Can you advise?

Thanks

 

[st247]

Duh!!

Is OK Wessie - have sussed it. Advertised price includes no warranty - hmmmm!

 

[Iain Hogg]

Is OK Wessie - have sussed it. Advertised price includes no warranty - hmmmm!

Remember that if they are pushing hard to sell the warranty, they still intend to make a handsome profit. So they must be fairly sure that it won't break

That's the way my mind (wallet) works.

Iaiin

 

[wessie]

There are loads of other places to get a reasonable spec laptop for £400. The Dell spec gives you a base to work from.

If you are in a hurry goto PCWorld but pay the extra to get an upgrade to 512Mb of memory. 256 is just not eniough to run WinXP & a resource hungry application like Office.

If you are not in a hurry, trawl through the pages at http://www.hotukdeals.com/ and keep coming back. One of the forum members monitors the Dell deals and post details. You need to be quick though as they are either time limited or a fixed quantity of units prebuilt to a standard spec. They will also highlight offers at many other retailers e.g. Aria, Ebuyer...

 

[st247]

Thanks for the help guys, at least i've got an idea where i'm splodging now.

 

[centaur]

This isn't bad either, I bought one a few weeks back

http://www.auctions.toshiba.co.uk/

 

[wessie]

just spotted this http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=109813

Read the reviews: seems to be well liked if you get the extra memory. Under £400 inc the extra memory stick which is simple to fit yourself.

Memory part no. 82242 but it is out of stock at the moment: although it is a generic part available from any memory supplier from about £30.

 

[stephinson]

http://www.acernotebooks.co.uk/

even the cheapest laptop will be well fast for office and surfing the net