Best place to buy new laptop

maguim

Hi there. Anyone bought or searched for new laptop recently. Looking for something for general home use but with decent storage capacity as son wants to store photos etc and use for schoolwork (he's just about to go to "big" school). Needs to be capable of decent internet connection speed also.Budget is up to around £350 if I can get away with it. Many thanks in anticipation of your assistance..

Indo77

You can get a Dell inspiron in Tesco's for around the £300 mark - 2GB RAM, Intel duel core processor, Vista Home etc. Curries offer similar deals. I would go personnally for the 3GB of RAM.

slippyg

3GB of RAM is nice but not really needed unless you're gaming or running high end applications. 2GB RAM @ tescos is a great deal and a machine to last you a long time.

Personally, I would wipe off vista and install XPpro on it, would run like a dream then.

jenny-wren

I bought my laptop online from the Dell Outlet store. I saved over £100 on the list price. The stock is usually cancelled orders of new machines although they may be described as refurbished. I've ordered a few computers from them over the years and they've always been brand new.

If you have specific things you want, say a 160GB hard drive or built in wireless connectivity, you can narrow your search. If you don't find exactly what you want you can customise another laptop.

Be sure to have a good look through the lists of laptops as sometimes the same model will vary in price. I managed to get one with built-in bluetooth and a wireless card for the same price as ones that didn't have the extras.

iluvfreebies

Hi Have you considered buying a 2nd user one? This guy sells really reasonable 2nd user ones which are great spec and super condition. He is called Michael and can be contacted on 07846177695. He runs a mobile computer service called MCS and is available 7 days a week. Would def recommend him he knows his stuff

motorguy

iluvfreebies wrote: »

Hi Have you considered buying a 2nd user one? This guy sells really reasonable 2nd user ones which are great spec and super condition. He is called Michael and can be contacted on 07846177695. He runs a mobile computer service called MCS and is available 7 days a week. Would def recommend him he knows his stuff

With new laptops now at just £300 i dont see the merit in buying used anymore, particularly when someone else is getting their profit margin on the used unit in the middle.

To the O/P - heres a decent machine for £348.99

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&oc=N0054502&dgc=AF&cid=5212&lid=122756&acd=a32642544f5ca5c042ce9dab13dd4018

Or for £50 more, this one with a much stronger processor, more RAM and an upgraded screen...

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&oc=N0054504&dgc=AF&cid=5212&lid=122756&acd=a32642544f5ca5c042ce9dab13dd4018

I personally wouldnt 'downgrade' to XP - Vista is grand and any new Dell now comes with a free upgrade option to Windows 7.

Also, dont be conned into buying antivirus software, etc, as you can download free versions from here - https://www.filehippo.com.

x12yhp

For what you want, almost anything will do the job. Probably the keys are that you would get 2Gb RAM (or more, but dont pay extra for more), more than 100Gb memory and ensure you don't have any warranty problems. I would probably suggest to get from the likes of tesco/pcworld where you can get your hands on it there and then and have somewhere to return to.

XP will be better for your purpose. The reason is simple. Vista is quite intensive on its own and there is a very good chance that your son will end up downloading a whole load of useless crap to make it endlessly worse. So go for XP is it is an option but do not worry too much if Vista is what you get - it will still do the job.

Probably the last thing is that bigger will be better for you if this will be the primary machine your son will use (you dont want him staring at a small screen and straining his eyes). So you should be able to get a 15.4 inch screen. Assuming you have no (unmentioned) need to transport the machine, the added weight and bulk wont be a problem.

Indo77

Have to agree with being anti-Vista although most laptops will force you to go with it due to the licensing agreement. Windows 7 or XP Pro is the Operating System to go for although I am seriously considering installing ubuntu as a second OS.

D.A.

x12yhp wrote: »

I would probably suggest to get from the likes of tesco/pcworld

Oh good lord, no! No-one in their right mind buys from PC World! :-)

x12yhp

D.A. wrote: »

Oh good lord, no! No-one in their right mind buys from PC World! :-)

If you don't know what you are buying then you are better with the limited PCW knowledge than nothing! Even if you do know what you are at, there are often some good deals if you care to do some work to find them!

Jon_C

Here's a Toshiba 15.4in one with 2gb of ram (plenty to run Vista) and 250gb hard drive (plenty for your son's needs) for £298 from Tesco online (free delivery to a store):
http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.206-2983.aspx