Recommend a laptop?

sali_mali

Hello everyone,

I have a sneaky suspicion that I am cursed when it comes to laptops. They break after about a year of owning them (although my record is 3 months). I don't download anything I shouldn't, I don't spill stuff on them, I don't use them excessively and I don't drop them, they just hate me! This could be because I've been getting the cheapest ones possible, knowing they'll break soon anyway, so I thought I should get some advice on which one might last!

So what do you guys think? I only really use them for the internet and watching DVDs so don't need a fancy one, just one that will last (this is the last time I'll have money available to buy one for at least 3 years, it definitely needs to last!)

Any advice greatly appreciated, thanks in advance

MX5huggy

Buy cheep and you buy twice!

What breaks on all these laptops?

You need to give us some type of budget. You can buy a £1000 laptop that is "cheep" or a £300 that is "quality"

macman

If it has to last 3 years, buy a Dell for £400 up depending on your budget, and then add an extended warranty/service package to cover the extra 2 years. But as previous poster asks, what sort of 'breaks' are you suffering? Extended warranty won't cover accidental damage, only component failure.

sali_mali

Thanks for the answers.

The breakages vary. My laptop of the moment's disk drive broke a few months ago and then the bottom fell off for no reason (the srews just disappeared!) and now it won't stop typing the letter C whih is pretty annoying. My laptop before kept freezing on startup so wouldn't turn on. It's all stuff like that.

My budget's pretty flexible. I'd say probably max of £700, and that's really strething it. I'm a student so get a disount in most stores. What are your thoughts on Apple laptops? do they tend to be a bit sturdier?

Thanks for any help!

Rowan126

I'd recommend a Sony Vaio FW. I've had one for about 5 months so far and cannot flaw it Very good price as well depending on which model you want.

creditisevil

My advice is never buy cheap computers of any kind!! There is so much pressure to cut costs on computer hardware that a lot of kit is simply rubbish.

Specifically to laptops, they need to be designed carefully using quality components to prevent them from overheating - this is the root cause of a whole load of other problems laptops can have. Buy quality!

Personally, I built my own desktop PC. I recomend this for anyone who liked mechano as a kid and has a bit of spare time and wants to learn something new. You'll end up with a super-reliable fast PC that will have cost you less than a bargain basement laptop!

m_13

I bought a Dell Studio 1537 Dual Core laptop in November 2008 from the Dell Outlet. You don't get cashback from places like Quidco for purchases but we paid around 60% of the standard price and got a lovely machine.

Deals don't stay long on the Dell Outlet - I've seen things go within minutes of being listed - but if you price up what you want from the normal site (and include Quidco cashback off the price) then you'll know what the full price is.

This is what we did and then filtered out all the machines that did not have the spec we wanted and left in all the others.

There are currently quite a few machines on the Outlet at below £400 and you can still add the extra warranty. I love Dells and have had no problems with them.

MX5huggy

sali_mali wrote: »

My budget's pretty flexible. I'd say probably max of £700, and that's really strething it. I'm a student so get a disount in most stores. What are your thoughts on Apple laptops? do they tend to be a bit sturdier?

Thanks for any help!

Mac's are good just be aware that they are not PC's so there are some things that may not run it, but so far you have only said you want to surf and watch DVD's and maybe you will want to write the odd essay so it will be fine. Apple have a student store with some worth while discounts, but they are expensive to start with.

chunter

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5080702.htm
Sony Laptop £350

GunJack

If you want durability, get an IBM Thinkpad refurb from here:-

http://www.bigpockets.co.uk/cat.php?search=laptops&lang=

for around £170, bank the £530 for another one in 3-4 yrs time, and surf away.....Thinkpads are notoriously durable and well built...I got my kids one each for xmas....

m_13

IBM Thinkpads used to be very good but be careful you don't get a Lenovo which are pants. The hard disks fail at the drop of a hat and the motherboards like to go on the blink too.