The Great 'Cheapest Decent Laptop' Hunt

racer256

Hi can someone point me in the direction to a guide which explains what all the jargon means when you buy a laptop?

chili2001

racer256 wrote: »

Hi can someone point me in the direction to a guide which explains what all the jargon means when you buy a laptop?

You can never go wrong with the dummies guides!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Laptops-Dummies-Dan-Gookin/dp/0764575554

TaBunny

flossy_splodge wrote: »

Ah well, you might want to take a look at ebuyer website. They've got a load of HP 550's with different specs and it appears you get a years free WiFi through Cloud if you buy an HP 550 through them.:p
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/164845

I have been looking at these on ebuyer as want to get my daughter her first laptop for xmas, but I don't know if they have a built in wifi capability ready to go without signing up for this free cloud thing. I don't want or need the cloud thing as she will have use of our internet through router at home and same at school. Can I use these laptops for wifi with home router without the cloud or will they only work with cloud?

TaBunny

I am interested in buying THIS refurbished laptop for £199.
But as it's a refurb it only comes with a 90 day waranty, as this would be an xmas gift I am worried what if it doesn't work when they unwrap it or goes wrong within a few months. Anyone know if it would be worth thaking the risk.

wayne1_3

Some great deals in here

TaBunny

TaBunny wrote: »

I am interested in buying THIS refurbished laptop for £199.
But as it's a refurb it only comes with a 90 day waranty, as this would be an xmas gift I am worried what if it doesn't work when they unwrap it or goes wrong within a few months. Anyone know if it would be worth thaking the risk.

Anyone had a chance to check out the refurbs on here and let me know if they think they would be a good deal even with only a 90 day warranty

flossy_splodge

TaBunny wrote: »

I have been looking at these on ebuyer as want to get my daughter her first laptop for xmas, but I don't know if they have a built in wifi capability ready to go without signing up for this free cloud thing. I don't want or need the cloud thing as she will have use of our internet through router at home and same at school. Can I use these laptops for wifi with home router without the cloud or will they only work with cloud?

The free wifi through cloud is a facility you do not have to use. So the answer to your question is YES they do have a built in WIFi capability and just ignore 'cloud' if you don't want to use it. It is mainly of use if out and about and wanting free WiFi.:p

WilliC

Tongue wrote: »

Also with Windows 7 around the corner I'd hang fire on buying any laptop at present.

If you have a legit Windows Vista Premium/business/ultimate on your computer M$ are going to give you a free upgrade to windows 7 when it is released.
I would post the link, but as a new user i can't

weemissy

Looking for some advice please. Have read thru' some of the thread and getting more confused. Went to curry's and PC world today to look at laptops with my mum. We are both pretty clueless but the assistants seemed to be quite good. Mum is looking to surf the net, emails, and other basic stuff. There was a packard bell which was reduced to 299 and the software package brought it up to just under 400, it seems to be everything she would need. Is this a reasonable deal?
PS what is vista? - heard it mentioned on here
thanks

chili2001

weemissy wrote: »

Looking for some advice please. Have read thru' some of the thread and getting more confused. Went to curry's and PC world today to look at laptops with my mum. We are both pretty clueless but the assistants seemed to be quite good. Mum is looking to surf the net, emails, and other basic stuff. There was a packard bell which was reduced to 299 and the software package brought it up to just under 400, it seems to be everything she would need. Is this a reasonable deal?
PS what is vista? - heard it mentioned on here
thanks

Hi, you didn't mention the model or spec of the laptop currys recommended but if its this one: http://www.currys.co.uk/martprd/store/cur_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0617046529.1250864297@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccladeidgdejedcflgceggdhhmdgmj.0&page=Product&fm=2&sm=0&tm=0&sku=291082&category_oid=-34014

Its a piece of crap for the price. I would stay away from currys and pc world, they tend to only reccomend things that make them the most commission and pc world tend to get aggressive if you refuse the "optional" software (that you won't need) or extended guarentee.
I would buy from one of the better pc online retailers.

This is a good buy for a laptop : http://www.ebuyer.com/product/164844

But if you only really need it for web surfing and emails then I would go for a netbook (scaled down laptop) like a samsung NC10.
Try shopping around at Ebuyer above, and there are other good sites around like www.laptopsdirect.co.uk and www.dabs.com
Vista is the soon to be replaced operating system on the laptop like windows XP before it.
It is changing soon to Windows 7 but some laptop deals give a free upgrade to this when released. I wouldn't worry too much about it, I would give it 6 months to a year for them to iron out the bugs in it first. I have been using an evaluation copy of it and its not that different to vista.