What Laptop (again)!

[Daffy]

Sorry about this chaps & Chapesses.

I find myself in a position where I made a commitment to buy a new laptop for my 15 year Stepdaughter if she got an A-C grade in her textiles CGSE (she was really struggling with this one).

So I am looking for a recommendation of a reasonably priced, good, reliable laptop that she can use for schoolwork, storing music and photos and (mainly) surfing and facebook.

I also want to pick the brains of the experts on here on anti-virus software, I have had norton and mcafee on a desktop in the past (not at the same time) and found them very difficult to remove. So what's the best option here, is it one of the free ones (ACG or something else) or have i got it wrong re the Norton's etc.

Sorry to ask these questions again but I couldn't find anything that was very recent and thought that as this technology moves really quickly I would put my head above the parapet.

 

[wessie]

A £200 netbook would do what you want.

I bought an Acer Aspire One from Sainsburys for £220. No longer in stock, but plenty of other sources.

The Acer Aspire One comes in a pretty case. You can buy an identical internal spec. in a plain matt black finish, made by Acer but using their Emachines brand, for £200. All of the DSG brands have it in stock i.e. Currys, PCWorld etc.
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/emachines-em350-06487019-pdt.html and it is reduced by a tenner! I like this machine as it comes with a full version of XP rather than a starter version of Windows 7, which has limited functionality.

As far as anti-virus protection is concerned, get an all in one product that protects against spyware as well. That Emachines netbook will come with a trial version of McAfee. I binned this as they wanted a subscription after 30 days. I have installed Microsoft's free product, Securty Essentials. It works well and updates itself automatically. There's a download link here http://www.filehippo.com/software/antimalware/ Other free products are available: AVG has AV & spyware protection or you could install a separate AV product like Avast and a Spyware product like Spybot.

 

[Daffy]

Thanks Wessie,
I think she wants a bigger screen and a DVD drive so think I am looking at a laptop (unless anyone can tell me otherwise), can anyone recommend a laptop?

The AV advice is as I thought, thanks for the heads up.

 

[wessie]

Thanks Wessie,
I think she wants a bigger screen and a DVD drive so think I am looking at a laptop (unless anyone can tell me otherwise), can anyone recommend a laptop?

The AV advice is as I thought, thanks for the heads up.

Add £100 and buy something from the big box shifters or supermarket. Asda were knocking this out for £275 earlier this month. If they don't have any stock left then keep an eye in the website for any other good deals within your budget.
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/emachines-e525-laptop-275-at-asda/744138

There's no point spending more than £300 on a laptop for a teenager unless he/she is doing a lot of media processing. They are all made in China from very similar components so don't get precious over brands at that price point. If they want a high-end gaming machine then buy a desktop as you'd get better value for money. If he/she is doing a media intensive college course then he/she will demand an Apple anyway...

 

[61nearlybold]

I am not an expert so I asked around and the best was an ACER 5542 which has a 4GB memory and 640GB HDD. Its far better machine than I will ever need but is so fast. One downside battery is only 2hrs because of the high Memory.
I have AVG, Ad-Aware, C Cleaner, Malware and Spy bot. I run these at least very 2 weeks and have had no probs. All downloaded free from from File Hippo.
I think the ACER 5542 is about £425 best price at the moment (and its a 15.4" wide screen).

 

[JohnnyOldBoy]

Why not ask her what she would like ?

If I bought my 17 year old daugther an Asda laptop with XP she would soon tell me where to stick it. They are brand conscious and colour is likely to be important.

I would be surprised if you spent less the £370.

McAfee or Norton are now OK and get good reviews. I just bought 3 licence McAee Internet Security for £23 of Amazon.

15" screen and a DVD are both a good idea.

 

[jonnie comet]

If I bought my 17 year old daugther an Asda laptop with XP she would soon tell me where to stick it. They are brand conscious and colour is likely to be important.

I would be surprised if you spent less the £370.

McAfee or Norton are now OK and get good reviews. I just bought 3 licence McAee Internet Security for £23 of Amazon.

15" screen and a DVD are both a good idea.

If I bought my 17 old daughter an Adsa laptop with XP, she would snap my hand off....

 

[wessie]

If I bought my 17 year old daugther an Asda laptop with XP she would soon tell me where to stick it. They are brand conscious and colour is likely to be important.

I would be surprised if you spent less the £370.

McAfee or Norton are now OK and get good reviews. I just bought 3 licence McAee Internet Security for £23 of Amazon.

15" screen and a DVD are both a good idea.

Haha. You carry on and raise your daughter how you wish.

My son has been raised to appreciate function over form. He's quite happy with an Acer laptop rather than a Sony or Toshiba. He's happy with a pair of £20 trainers from Sports Soccer for kicking about in. He's savvy enough to realise that this translates into a beer stocked fridge or something nicer than the house wine with a restaurant meal.

 

[JohnnyOldBoy]

Haha. You carry on and raise your daughter how you wish.

I will thanks

My son has been raised to appreciate function over form. He's quite happy with an Acer laptop rather than a Sony or Toshiba. He's happy with a pair of £20 trainers from Sports Soccer for kicking about in. He's savvy enough to realise that this translates into a beer stocked fridge or something nicer than the house wine with a restaurant meal.

Must be the difference between boys and girls. Only got girls myself.