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wanted laptop+mobile b/band

jpaine
jpaine Posts: 70 Forumite
can anyone help?

my parents (who are not tech minded at all) have decided to get with the rest of the world and buy a small laptop, they also want internet acess but dont want to subscibe to anything, they will only use it for internet if they can get that far lol

ive heard there is mobile broadband but is that to do with yr mobile phone or is that just the name, ( i think i inherit there techy genes)

so basically whats the cheapest way of getting fast internet without a contract, and is there any cheap small laptop offers around.

thanks
What goes around - comes around
give lots and you will always recieve lots

Comments

  • Bowling_4_Gold
    Bowling_4_Gold Posts: 1,771 Forumite
    Yep, you can now get mobile broadband on PAYG (Pay As You Go) and you can see the various offers here. Basically, you buy a USB stick which has a standard SIM card in it and it connects to the 3G phone network of your choice so you can browse the internet anywhere you can normally get a 3G mobile signal (hence 'Mobile Internet').

    If your parents are after a basic laptop which is not very powerful but does the job, I suggest an Asus Eee PC or an Acer Aspire One with Windows XP on. You could buy them a USB keyboard becuse the ones built in are a bit small. If the screen size is an issue, you could get them a normal laptop, such as an Acer Aspire 5050 (which i'm on a.t.m) which will be easier to use than a netbook.
    The quickest way to become a millionaire is start off as a billionaire and go into the airline business.
    Richard Branson
  • jpaine
    jpaine Posts: 70 Forumite
    thankyou so can you tell when you have used the amount of money you have topped up has gone, or will it just not work, or does it let you go on the internet and the next time you top up it takes it off the balance.?

    they have arthritis so need a small and light laptop to sit on there knee.

    thankyou for yr help.
    What goes around - comes around
    give lots and you will always recieve lots
  • Bowling_4_Gold
    Bowling_4_Gold Posts: 1,771 Forumite
    Well, you pay £x amount (say, £15) and you get a download limit (say, 3gb) which once exceeded, will stop your service but average email, web surfing etc should be well within this. The £15 is valid for a month so its basically the same as a subscription but you decide which months you want to pay, and which ones you don't. You pay direct to the supplier (Vodafone, 3, T-Mobile etc) at one day in the month so, unlike a subscription, you are not financially committed and once the £15 is paid, you pay no more for that month. Once that month is finished, you decide whether you want another month, in which case you pay the £15 again, or if you don't want another month, in which case you just don't do anthing.
    The quickest way to become a millionaire is start off as a billionaire and go into the airline business.
    Richard Branson
  • Marty_J
    Marty_J Posts: 6,594 Forumite
    Regular broadband is a lot cheaper than mobile broadband, and not all ISPs lock you into a long contract. IDNet are an excellent ISP, and they have one month contracts. They have a Home Lite package which gets you 5 GB of downloads for £17.61 a month.
  • totalsolutions
    totalsolutions Posts: 3,110 Forumite
    Good idea for them but also not a good idea. You have posted 60 times in 5yrs and if as you say you have their genes will they use it to take full advantage of a pc ???
    PC are difficult to grasp and all manner of things will go wrong IYKWIM !

    Try a Macbook first have they used a PC for a while, what are they going to use it for.
  • jpaine
    jpaine Posts: 70 Forumite
    they would only use it for a bit of searching on internet and maybe a few emails, if they grasp it burn a cd, but thats a long way off they will spend half there time looking at the screen wondering what to do nxt, oh im so mean but there adament what can in say. so wouldnt use it much at all i think they just want it there incase they need it.

    would a 1 gb memory be enoughj for this, or will this be really slow.
    What goes around - comes around
    give lots and you will always recieve lots
  • You mean would 1GB of memory be enough to run XP and e-mails etc? That's plenty for a laptop, however you can get a computer shop to add more in later if you want.
    Northern Ireland club member No 382 :j
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