The Great 'Cheapest Decent Laptop' Hunt

Magenta

Hi all,
I have bought an Inspiron 1525, not the cheapest and probably not the best, but it suits my needs. It was from the Dell Outlet and there was £100 off.
Has anyone else got one of these?:xmassmile

Garetha

Magenta wrote: »

Hi all,
I have bought an Inspiron 1525, not the cheapest and probably not the best, but it suits my needs. It was from the Dell Outlet and there was £100 off.
Has anyone else got one of these?:xmassmile

I have an Inspiron 1520 - had it nearly 12 months now.
What would you like to know?

Magenta

Garetha wrote: »

I have an Inspiron 1520 - had it nearly 12 months now.
What would you like to know?

Hi, just wondering if you have had any major problems with it, and if you have had to buy more memory for it?
Thanks

chipbeck

Saw an advert on tele last night for a Dell Studio 17inch laptop in any colour for just under 400 quid. Did anyone see the ad as I can't remember who it was with?
I'm a little peed off because I thought I'd got a good deal from Dell over the phone for a 15 inch at 400 quid.

chipbeck

chipbeck wrote: »

Saw an advert on tele last night for a Dell Studio 17inch laptop in any colour for just under 400 quid. Did anyone see the ad as I can't remember who it was with?
I'm a little peed off because I thought I'd got a good deal from Dell over the phone for a 15 inch at 400 quid.

Found it currys.

stamford

Tellmenow wrote: »

One thing is getting a laptop another thing is caring for the laptop. If you buy the most expensive laptop in the world and fail to care for it, it will be shortlived.

How do you care for your laptop? I think this is an article every owner of a computer and a laptop should read.

Not wishing to split hairs but article is titled "Care of your computer" - does not make any references in it that are specific to laptops

Garetha

Magenta wrote: »

Hi, just wondering if you have had any major problems with it, and if you have had to buy more memory for it?
Thanks

It came with 2GB RAM & 160GB HD so no need to upgrade.
I had a problem when Windows crashed - so I copied all my photos and documents, etc onto my desktop (the drive was readable)

• I formatted the HD and then tried to re-install Vista, it failed.
• Dell helpdesk assisted me and failed so decided the HD was faulty.
• I am on collect and return - but they sent an engineer with a new HD.
• The key to re-install Vista was to load the drivers before Vista - I'm not sure if it was the SATA drive or Vista that was the problem.

I'm not convinced that the HD was faulty - I'm still using it as an external drive in a caddy (£6 off ebay)

So I did have a problem - but it was probably Vista rather than Dell! Nice laptop to use.

tinker15

I decided to buy the Toshiba L300 1AQ for £349.00 yesterday. Is this a good buy?
I was browsing the Toshiba website as well and read about their extended guarantees but was unsure whether I need to buy the laptop direct to take up the extended warranty, could someone in the know please clarify?

http://uk.computers.toshiba-europe.com/innovation/individual_services_page.jsp?service=UK&isOption=2&ACTION=SHOW_ATTRIBUTES&OPTION_ID=94034

Thanks

Magenta

Garetha wrote: »

It came with 2GB RAM & 160GB HD so no need to upgrade.
I had a problem when Windows crashed - so I copied all my photos and documents, etc onto my desktop (the drive was readable)

• I formatted the HD and then tried to re-install Vista, it failed.
• Dell helpdesk assisted me and failed so decided the HD was faulty.
• I am on collect and return - but they sent an engineer with a new HD.
• The key to re-install Vista was to load the drivers before Vista - I'm not sure if it was the SATA drive or Vista that was the problem.

I'm not convinced that the HD was faulty - I'm still using it as an external drive in a caddy (£6 off ebay)

So I did have a problem - but it was probably Vista rather than Dell! Nice laptop to use.

Oh my God!
You are seriously scaring me!!:eek:

Garetha

Magenta wrote: »

Oh my God!
You are seriously scaring me!!:eek:

Dell re-installed Vista and all the drivers - so for someone not able to do this there would be no worries.
Recovering data is another issue - we should all be doing backups to cover this.:D