The Great 'Cheapest Decent Laptop' Hunt

waterman3

Hello

I'm new to this site and a technophobe so I apologise in advance for daft questions.

In the weekly email, Martin mentions the Sony Vaio NR32 at play.com for £399. Just wondered if anyone knew if that came with any sort of anti virus packages as you can get what looks like the same laptop in pc world for £429 but you get half price Norton 360.

Also, on play.com, the laptop is called Sony Vaio nr 32 M/S and on PC world its Sony Vaio nr L/S and the specifications are slightly different. I take it they're different laptops - anybody know?

I don't really know enough about anti virus software to search out and download free software and would feel more secure just buying something like Norton.

Thanks for any help.

hansi

Don't waste your money on buying anti virus software! There are loads of freebies out there. I use AntVir. Brilliant!

Ice_2

your new laptop may come with a trial of 3 months norton which you can then just buy straight from them when the trial is over...that should be enough time for you to get to know norton and see if you like it or not..not alot of people do...but don't buy any anti-virus you can get it free from...
www.download.com
I recommend threatfire...which is free and owned by the same company as norton...

http://www.threatfire.com/?gclid=CN3Po9Wv2ZUCFRJFxwodUQg7Ww

Woodyrocks

My Mom wants to buy a laptop for her niece in Africa. Can anyone provide a link to that cheap laptop that is priced at £199. I remember seeing a post a while ago but can't remember key words. Also is there one that can run on solarpower or something like that (lots of powercuts where her niece lives)?

Any other recommendations for laptops under £250 would be greatly received :beer:

Ice_2

Woodyrocks wrote: »

My Mom wants to buy a laptop for her niece in Africa. Can anyone provide a link to that cheap laptop that is priced at £199. I remember seeing a post a while ago but can't remember key words. Also is there one that can run on solarpower or something like that (lots of powercuts where her niece lives)?

Any other recommendations for laptops under £250 would be greatly received :beer:

I know which ones you mean...
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/personal_tech/article3374812.ece
is this the one your on about...
or you couls search click at bbc.co.uk as they mentioned the ones that you wind up...
Hi I am back again is this the One you mean...

http://www.elonexone.co.uk/shop.html

or there is the fizzbook...

http://www.fizzbook.org.uk/

here we go...

http://laptop.org/

d123

Woodyrocks wrote: »

My Mom wants to buy a laptop for her niece in Africa. Can anyone provide a link to that cheap laptop that is priced at £199. I remember seeing a post a while ago but can't remember key words. Also is there one that can run on solarpower or something like that (lots of powercuts where her niece lives)?

Any other recommendations for laptops under £250 would be greatly received :beer:

PC World, Currys or ToysRus have the older EeePC range for £179-£199 or the Aspire One for £199. They all run Linux (and are upgradeable to Windows if needs be) and the EeePC range is now proven as good reliable well built machines.

trojjer

There probably aren't many people who, once they have used a Linux distribution that is well suited to them and as long as they're not "gamers", would class installing Windows on an "webbook" PC as an upgrade.

I was impressed by the OpenOffice loading time on a webbook that I was playing with at Carphone Warehouse, but their "Free laptop after paying £25 for 18 months" deal is a bit absurd, I think. Like the "free iPhone" contract that locks you in to paying £45/month for 18 months, to a total of £810! Free indeed...

Not to mention that the latest in "ultra mobile" laptops seem to be missing some basic ergonomic enhancements like comfortable keyboard layouts... Try before you buy, online or otherwise!

Ice_2

I know what you mean a friend of mine encouraged me to take out a contract on a mobile phone the Nokia N95 costing me £31 a month over 18 months is £558 if I'd seen this price in the shop I wouldn't have bought it...although I cannot complain about the phone it's great as it serves as a camera as well...but had I thought about it at the time I wouldn't have gone for it...I prefere to save up the money and set an amount for what I think is worth a good mobile phone...and with the credit crunch the phone is gonna be one of the things to go...I have wanted a laptop for a while now...infact I went down to London just to get a laptop in the summer months as I knew I could get a decent gaming alienware laptop for £1000 for my son which I did...at an event its worth twice that...but for myself I saved up £600 and thought right that's all I want to spend and it needs to be 20.1 inch with all the mod cons...well I did get one for just under £600 with 3 yrs extra warranty so not bad really...I believe that if you want something so bad you'll save up for it...and when you get it ...its great cos you know you paid cash for it...and you can just enjoy it instead of worrying how your gonna afford the monthly payments...what's the point in getting something if you can't afford it...

down with the monthly contract they are just a rip off and up with the piggy bank and save for that Luxury item you always wanted...whatever it is...:D

sdavis1970

Tesco have got a great deal on the Acer Aspire 5720 at the moment, both in store and online here - http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.204-6256.aspx

Here's the spec:

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7500 (2.2GHz) processor
2gb Ram (memory)
160gb hard drive
CrystalBrite TFT LCD screen

All that for just £349 - down from £449.

Go get it!



Simon

boobbby

sdavis1970 wrote: »

Tesco have got a great deal on the Acer Aspire 5720 at the moment, both in store and online here - http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.204-6256.aspx

Here's the spec:

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7500 (2.2GHz) processor
2gb Ram (memory)
160gb hard drive
CrystalBrite TFT LCD screen

All that for just £349 - down from £449.

Go get it!



Simon

What gets me about the Acer Aspire collection is that it is hard to get a like for like price using just the model number

i.e. the 5720 could be fitted with an AMD or Intel processer, have an 80GB or 160 hard drive or even have 1GB or 2GB of RAM. Then they try to confuse further by swapping the model numbers around i.e. the 7520 has a 17" screen