The Great 'Cheapest Decent Laptop' Hunt

kittun

Hi!

I'm looking to buy a quick and reliable laptop to last me through 4 years of university and i've been told by friends that the Sony Vaio range is a pretty good one. I have my eye on the Sony Vaio NW11Z/T model which on ebuyer.com is £804.19 but on BT Shop is £780.83. As a newbie, i can't post links but is there something missing from the BT Shop specification to make it this price? Is there somewhere else I could get it cheaper? If you think i'd be better off with a totally different laptop, please let me know as i'm not too techno-savvy! Thanks

weemissy

thanks a lot chili, sorry but really clueless about this, just know the make but does look similar to that one:o.
I looked on the dabs.com website (couldn't get on the other 2 because of my computer - thats another story) and liked the look of the laptops - but still don't have a scooby about which one. We know what we are looking for this laptop to do, but not in IT language
so........
which are good makes?
is it wise to buy a used one?
what software and security does she need to get started? and is this separate?
She already has wireless connection for an old PC she has never used - so would be wanting to use this
Mum is elderly so doesn't really want a really small screen
needing it to email, surf, maybe copy cd, or dvds, and other basic stuff - letters etc
Really sorry about all the questions but don't want to buy a 'pig in a poke'
thanks

chili2001

kittun wrote: »

Hi!

I'm looking to buy a quick and reliable laptop to last me through 4 years of university and i've been told by friends that the Sony Vaio range is a pretty good one. I have my eye on the Sony Vaio NW11Z/T model which on ebuyer.com is £804.19 but on BT Shop is £780.83. As a newbie, i can't post links but is there something missing from the BT Shop specification to make it this price? Is there somewhere else I could get it cheaper? If you think i'd be better off with a totally different laptop, please let me know as i'm not too techno-savvy! Thanks

Hey there,
The Sony does indeed look like a nice laptop but you are paying extra for the name. You have to ask yourself do you really need a blu-ray player? And are you going to use it to play high spec games on? No, then you can do without the posh graphics card. If you do need all that stuff then you can still find a more powerful laptop for less money.
However, if I was you and had £800 to invest in a laptop for uni you could be smart and buy 2 for less!
No, i'm not crazy. Hear me out.

Firstly this one: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/168884 at £449.94 has the same CPU and RAM as the Sony but smaller hard drive (still 250gb so big enough). This is a good powerful "leave at home" laptop to use for typing up work in the evening and watching films, music etc.

Then a nice little light netbook with a good 8 hour battery life to carry around with you to work on (laptops are heavy!), on a daily basis: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150183 Samsung NC10 at £288.86(shop around for cheaper) (MS Office works fine on it) and you can keep your work on it synced with your main laptop using the brilliant (and free) dropbox @ www.getdropbox.com

Lastly a good back up drive will protect all you hard work music, photo's and films: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/140807 at £47.99 (again shop around for best price).

Total cost £786.79. See, two laptops and a back up drive for the same cost as the Sony.

chili2001

weemissy wrote: »

thanks a lot chili, sorry but really clueless about this, just know the make but does look similar to that one:o.
I looked on the dabs.com website (couldn't get on the other 2 because of my computer - thats another story) and liked the look of the laptops - but still don't have a scooby about which one. We know what we are looking for this laptop to do, but not in IT language
so........
which are good makes?
is it wise to buy a used one?
what software and security does she need to get started? and is this separate?
She already has wireless connection for an old PC she has never used - so would be wanting to use this
Mum is elderly so doesn't really want a really small screen
needing it to email, surf, maybe copy cd, or dvds, and other basic stuff - letters etc
Really sorry about all the questions but don't want to buy a 'pig in a poke'
thanks

Hmmm, one persons "good make" is another persons poor one! Personally Any company you have heard of is a good place to start. Acer, HP,Toshiba, Sony, Compaq and Fujitsu Siemens are good in my view. I hate Dell and Advent.
I would stay away from buying a used one if you don't know what your looking for. You could end up getting ripped off!
This one isn't bad and has a 15.4" screen so a good view: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/164844
HP 550 Laptop, Intel Core 2 Duo T5670 1.8GHz, 160GB HDD, 2GB RAM, 15.4" BrightView TFT, DVD±RW Lightscribe Writer, Bluetooth, SD Card Slot, Vista Home Premium, Office Ready (60 day trial or 25 uses)*Free Cloud Wi-Fi* at £349.98

As for software, I would immeadiatly uninstall all the "free trial" software you get on a new laptop. If its only for surfing and emails get a free anvirus program at www.download.com like AVG FREE or AVIRA. If you need word processing software you will need to get Microsoft Office which costs around £50-60 for the basic version or buy a secondhand copy from somewhere (make sure it has a valid licence key). Or again you can get a totally free office software suite at www.openoffice.org If you shop around there is very little software you have to pay for but only download it from a trusted source like download.com.

All new laptops have a wi-fi (wireless) card built into them so that would be fine to use with your existing router.

weemissy

Thanks again chili you have been a great help, do really like the look of some of these on line. Could I just ask one more teeny tiny question - if she wants to shop online will she need to buy one of the security packages they spoke about in PC world?
many thanks again

chili2001

weemissy wrote: »

Thanks again chili you have been a great help, do really like the look of some of these on line. Could I just ask one more teeny tiny question - if she wants to shop online will she need to buy one of the security packages they spoke about in PC world?
many thanks again

Thats the trouble with pc world. they make you feel like you "have" to buy their extra's. Makes me sick. So no you dont have to buy the security packages, I can thouroughy reccomend Ebuyer. You can buy what you want without the hard sell.

weemissy

Thanks chili:beer:

weemissy

chili really sorry to be a pest:o but really like the HP550 and is much cheaper than on the HP site. can't attach a link but would you cast your eye on one for sale on the John Lewis site - eMachines laptop product code 82711127. Completely understand if you don't have time - thanks anyway

Amazon have an emachine hard drive 160, 1GB Ram for a good price - would we be better with the higher spec one?

chili2001

weemissy wrote: »

chili really sorry to be a pest:o but really like the HP550 and is much cheaper than on the HP site. can't attach a link but would you cast your eye on one for sale on the John Lewis site - eMachines laptop product code 82711127. Completely understand if you don't have time - thanks anyway

Amazon have an emachine hard drive 160, 1GB Ram for a good price - would we be better with the higher spec one?

I personally wouldn't reccommend it. It only has a old style Celeron CPU which can run hot. And also only Vista basic the cheapskates! The newer Core 2 duo CPU's like in the HP are much better and are also more energy effecient. As for the Amazon deal I wouldn't go for anything with less than 2gb of RAM as Vista won't run propelly. I also don't know a lot about Emachines, good or bad!
As a rule of thumb, set yourself a spending limit (Say £350-£400) and then look for the best spec you can find for the cash. CPU: Intel core 2 duo T**** (the higher the number, the more powerful the processor).
Then, the amount of RAM. Again the higher the better. Min 2Gb.
Harddrive space would vary depending how generous the manufacturer is usually ranges from 120gb to 500gb for that sort of cost.
Everything else comes as pretty much standard. Usually Windows Vista Home Premium operating system. A DVD/CD recorder, Webcam, Wi-fi and memory card reader. Anything else on top of this see as a bonus.
You also have to be careful with the model numbers as the makers will release different spec laptops under the same model code so make sure the details match up. If a deal looks to good to be true, it usually is!

weemissy

Thanks chili :beer: