Couple fo questions Laptop Shopping..

NEH

Helping mum to buy her first laptop. Her budget is around £400 and she'll need it for internet, word and viewing photographs and burning photographs to cd...

We like the look of this one for her

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.206-9915.aspx

I personally have never had Celeron Processors what are they like?

The other thing is when the trial version ends of Office 2007 how much will it cost to upgrade it to the full version?

asininity

You'll probably find that for a little cheaper on laptopsdirect.co.uk, or a better specc'd one for around the same price. The processors ok and its dual core. And why bother with Office 2007 when for what shell need it for openoffice is free.

NEH

asininity wrote: »

You'll probably find that for a little cheaper on laptopsdirect.co.uk, or a better specc'd one for around the same price. The processors ok and its dual core. And why bother with Office 2007 when for what shell need it for openoffice is free.

Laptops Direct didn't have this one on their site and the nearest I can get is this for under £400

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5536_-643G25Mn_Laptop_LX.PAV0Y.006/version.asp

This one is better but it would take me over £400 and If I have to buy Office on top of that it'll push it nearer the £500 mark...

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5536_Laptop_LX.PAW0X.074/version.asp

As my mum is planning on doing more courses she'll need Microsoft Office Word I presume Open Office isn't Microsoft and won't be compatible....?

Jakg

OpenOffice is compatible. Sort of.

It's free but imo you get what you pay for, it's really not that good imo.

You can get Office quite cheap through software4students or the ultimate steal.

totalsolutions

Weight is moving around a requirement and there is no web cam on the OP find (and its an Acer..doh) I will check my mags and please look at the mags in WH Smiths read up on in store and online - "PcPro"

asininity

Well its up to you if you want an AMD processor or Intel. If you can't afford the second one either go for the tescos one or the first one. Openoffice is compatible with ms, I never had a problem whilst doing courses you just need to save to the .doc format. And theres nout wrong with either openoffice or acer, dont be put off.

NEH

Jakg wrote: »

OpenOffice is compatible. Sort of.

It's free but imo you get what you pay for, it's really not that good imo.

You can get Office quite cheap through software4students or the ultimate steal.

I am a student myself at a training college but my college isn't covered by the software4students unfortunately.

totalsolutions wrote: »

Weight is moving around a requirement and there is no web cam on the OP find (and its an Acer..doh) I will check my mags and please look at the mags in WH Smiths read up on in store and online - "PcPro"

My mum will need to be able to move it around the house easily but that is about all...I've read up a fair bit but some magazines like What Laptop which I used to help me buy mine tend to concentrate on the md and higher end of the market.

asininity wrote: »

Well its up to you if you want an AMD processor or Intel. If you can't afford the second one either go for the tescos one or the first one. Openoffice is compatible with ms, I never had a problem whilst doing courses you just need to save to the .doc format. And theres nout wrong with either openoffice or acer, dont be put off.

I think that is the problem with Open Office, I don't want my mum having anymore complications than necessary and I think this would be asking for it as she may not know what a .doc is in the beginning.

balloo_2

NEH wrote: »

Helping mum to buy her first laptop. Her budget is around £400 and she'll need it for internet, word and viewing photographs and burning photographs to cd...

We like the look of this one for her

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.206-9915.aspx

I personally have never had Celeron Processors what are they like?

The other thing is when the trial version ends of Office 2007 how much will it cost to upgrade it to the full version?

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/167514/bundles#

NEH

balloo wrote: »

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/167514/bundles#

Thanks, think though as it's for my mum we'd prefer to ger her one with an operating system...

johnmc

Don't be afraid of OpenOffice. You can set the default "Save As" to .DOC for Writer (equivalent of Word), .XLS for Calc (equivalent of Excel for spreadsheets) etc. Only needs a couple of minutes setting up.

The Ebuyer with no OS is perhaps a bit OTT for a new comer. Why not take a look at www.currys.co.uk and select refurbished laptops? These are returns with, perhaps, minor blemishes which have been thoroughly checked and any faults repaired. Some any here will baulk at this BUT they are a "local" shop for peace of mind.

We're also coming up to a Bank Holiday so watch out for the BH specials.

Think I'll have another look at Ebuyer, though ...........

NEH

johnmc wrote: »

Don't be afraid of OpenOffice. You can set the default "Save As" to .DOC for Writer (equivalent of Word), .XLS for Calc (equivalent of Excel for spreadsheets) etc. Only needs a couple of minutes setting up.

The Ebuyer with no OS is perhaps a bit OTT for a new comer. Why not take a look at www.currys.co.uk and select refurbished laptops? These are returns with, perhaps, minor blemishes which have been thoroughly checked and any faults repaired. Some any here will baulk at this BUT they are a "local" shop for peace of mind.

We're also coming up to a Bank Holiday so watch out for the BH specials.

Think I'll have another look at Ebuyer, though ...........

No bank holiday here in Scotland so local shops won't be doing deals but online they may be doing some...Plus mum would like to get up and running in the next 2 weeks. I've started a new thread as we have decided that we will buy mum Office 2007 for an early birthday present.

This is the one we are now looking at:

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5536_Laptop_LX.PAW0X.074/version.asp?PID=