The Great 'Cheapest Decent Laptop' Hunt

Tharweb

Chippy_Minton wrote:

hex2, see post #708 for the identical machine, £11 cheaper and with free Acer carry case (good quality) and optical mouse.

Edit: it appears the bundle deal is now discontinued on the Insight link in post 708! However, the computer can be ordered upon request at http://uk.insight.com/apps/productpresentation/index.php?product_id=ARRYA40621. £388.90 in total.

I was keeping an eye on the Insight deal for a mate. There were 51 available yesterday lunchtime and only 4 last night! Not surprised as it was a cracking deal! My mate lost out :doh:

griff.

I am a bit amazed here...there are a number of recommendations for laptops that fall short of having at least 512 ram. No-one who is serious about getting a desktop would settle for less than 1024mb. Why accept less from a laptop ?

Lord_Chris

bloodnok wrote:

I've posted before on this laptop hunt board but I'm still looking for a good laptop for my daughter who's going to university in September.
The NEC shown above seems to be something like I'm looking for, but not being computer savvy, I'd appreciate any comments regarding the make NEC and the spec and the value for money.
I've also not heard of "Think4" and how customers rate them.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

1) NEC are crap, always have been always will as are IBM, Packard Bell etc.

2) cheap laptop = crap laptop

The best bet for Uni student would be a Dell (altough i personally dislike them) and if you can streth the extra money get a SONY VAIO. Mine cost around £750 from Comet late last year, but the best thing about them, apart from the fatc that they are great laptops, is that their warantee service is excellent - december 23rd last year my dvd writer broke.. sony collected it christmas eve, and has it back to me december 28th. Now thats good service, and for Uni student thats important, if something does go wrong you want it sorted asap.

ohh, and one last thing:

NEVER buy a computer or laptop from Tescos or Woolworths. You wouldnt buy a loaf of bread from PC World so don't buy a computer or laptop from Tescos.

Best bet is to take a look at the laptops on display at Dixons or Currys, the displays provide a lot of info, and it makes it easier to pick with them in front of you (buy em online once you've picked though :P )

Lord_Chris

Griff, 512mb is standard on laptops, and honestly, having 1024 on a laptop is pointless... ram only works as well as the processor.. and since most laptops are under 2ghz, 512 works best. 256 your right tho is unaccepatable.

Lord_Chris

think4, using a forum for advertising.. wow thats desperate.

think 4 arent particularly cheap, either way most of the models on the think4 site are available cheaper from well known companies such as Comet.

It pains me to say it, but Comet are the absolute best for good quality laptops (entry level and mid range anyway) at good prices.... never thought id say that about a high street store i feel dirty, time for a shower

Tharweb

Lord_Chris wrote:

think4, using a forum for advertising.. wow thats desperate.

think 4 arent particularly cheap, either way most of the models on the think4 site are available cheaper from well known companies such as Comet.

It pains me to say it, but Comet are the absolute best for good quality laptops (entry level and mid range anyway) at good prices.... never thought id say that about a high street store i feel dirty, time for a shower

This isn't the only board Think4 has been advertising on :rolleyes:

Comet...mmm...not sure I agree. For example the cheapest Centrino they have is £70 dearer than elsewhere.

Tesco were doing 20% discount off all laptops earlier this year. My mate got a Centrino for £383, great spec with a DVD burner, nowhere could beat it. What's the difference between buying from Tesco and Comet? My PC came from ALDI...

griff - I upgraded my laptop RAM to 512 very easily and cheaply shortly after purchase. I agree they should have 512 at least but I think 1024 for laptop is overkill.

Lord_Chris

ok, the problem with buying computers or laptops from tescos, woolworths, aldis or anywhere else, isnt actually buying them from them, its the makes. I worked in a computer shop until recently (local not chain) and in 2 weeks we had more than 10 tesco and aldi computers bought in for repairs, most were less than 2 weeks old.

The problem is also with the warantee - tescos, woolworths and aldi arent the people who deal with the warantees, so if something goes wrong you end up waiting at leats 3 to 4 weeks for tescos to send it, get it checked out, then they argue with the manufacturer, then they finally repair it, and you get it back several months later usually.

The fact of the matter is, with computers and more notably, laptops, you get what you pay for.

You wouldn't go to PC world for bread and milk, so dont go to a supermarket for computers.

espresso

:question:

Lord_Chris wrote:

1. having 1024 on a laptop is pointless...
2. ram only works as well as the processor.. and since most laptops are under 2ghz, 512 works best.

:wall:

Would you care to fully explain these two statements that you have made:question:

:doh:

Lord_Chris

espresso wrote:

Would you care to fully explain these two statements that you have made?

Your processor and your RAM work with each other, if you have crap RAM and a decent processor, you will lose out on your processors potential and this applies t'other way around too. Laptops with 1024 RAM have very little performance difference compared to those with 512, so why pay more for something you dont need?

espresso

1. having 1024 on a laptop is pointless...

:rotfl:

That is a ridiculous thing to say, because it depends on what applications are being run i.e. an application like PhotoShop which you have claimed to know all about, will run much better with 1Gb of RAM.

2. ram only works as well as the processor.. and since most laptops are under 2ghz, 512 works best.

:rotfl:

This statement makes no sense at all and you haven't explained your statement regarding "most laptops are under 2ghz, 512 works best"

"if you have crap RAM and a decent processor, you will lose out on your processors potential and this applies t'other way around too."

:rotfl:

More meaningless waffle! First you talk about quantity and then about quality!

satisfied dumbass?



Yes totally satisfied now, that you do not know what you are talking about and give incorrect advice which may actually be believed by some less knowledgeable forum members!

:rolleyes: