The Great 'Cheapest Decent Laptop' Hunt

alikat_3

lesley2004 wrote:

hi

I am looking for a lap top for general internet use, and to play games such as rome total war/simsunivesity/age of mythology.

I have up to £500 to spend. Any advice would be appreciated

This website has some bargains, http://www.redcracker.com/ the HP NX6512 then with the ram boosted & an external hard drive for files, which would keep your PC freeish for running games should work out at about £500, I believe P&P is £5.

-1-

I've just gone for a Sony FS515b laptop, not cheap i know.

Anyone got one or know if their any good ?.

nej

-1- wrote:

I've just gone for a Sony FS515b laptop, not cheap i know.

Anyone got one or know if their any good ?.

That's usually the sort of question you ask before you order!

-1-

nej wrote:

That's usually the sort of question you ask before you order!

True, but i always have 7 days to return it anyway.

I think it has a decent spec, i was just wondering if anyone else had one or one similar.

r-ingram

nej wrote:

That's usually the sort of question you ask before you order!

I have a Sony laptop (VGN-S series, List price £1800, ebuyer, £1600). Its fab, except it has been back for repairs 4 times in 18 months. They go to France for repairs. DHL bring a box and take it away, fly it to France, gets there next day. Usually back in about 8 days. The system works fairly well, I dare say as well as a UK repair site. However on the first occasion they took 4 weeks waiting for a part. Whilst it was away I realised I would need an extended warranty pack (extra 2 years)so I bought one for £150 (searched online - saved £25 getting it, it is a Sony "accessory" but can be bought cheaper from vendors other than Sony).

I complained about the 4 week delay and they offered me a free warranty pack, but as I just bought one they offered me a choice of 3 Sony gadgets - I chose a £180 MP3 player, so was sort of happy. I didn't have to make loads of fuss to get recompense, so that was a good point.

In all other respects the repair service is good (good online tracking and messaging, they phone to confirm satisfaction etc), just it went wrong once for me.

But the moral of the story is that they do go wrong and repairs are on a menu at 3 levels from £90 (trivial) to £480 (things like screen, motherboard) so I reckon an extended warranty is essential. I have had 2 motherboards, 2 DVD drives, 1 HD Drive and 1 Screen!

In comparison, I bought my son a £500 Acer, plus £70 extended warranty. It isn't so small, light or slick, but has been totally reliable.

I would buy Sony again because I am a sucker for design and ergonomics, but I accept that after the 3 years, if a significant fault occurs it may effectively be beyond economic repair.

Because of these failures I have bought Acronis True Image and make a regular backup of theentire hard disk, which has saved my bacon!

r-ingram

_-1- wrote:

I've just gone for a Sony FS515b laptop, not cheap i know.Anyone got one or know if their any good?

Not this model, but on Sony Laptops in general:

I have a Sony laptop (VGN-S series, List price £1800, ebuyer, £1600). Its fab, except it has been back for repairs 4 times in 18 months :rolleyes: . They go to France for repairs. DHL bring a box and take it away, fly it to France, gets there next day. Usually back in about 8 days. The system works fairly well, I dare say as well as a UK repair site. However on the first occasion they took 4 weeks waiting for a part. Whilst it was away I realised I would need an extended warranty pack (extra 2 years)so I bought one for £150 (searched online - saved £25 getting it, it is a Sony "accessory" but can be bought cheaper from vendors other than Sony).

I complained about the 4 week delay and they offered me a free warranty pack, but as I just bought one they offered me a choice of 3 Sony gadgets - I chose a £180 MP3 player, so was sort of happy. I didn't have to make loads of fuss to get recompense, so that was a good point.:T

In all other respects the repair service is good (good online tracking and messaging, they phone to confirm satisfaction etc), just it went wrong once for me.

But the moral of the story is that they do go wrong and repairs are on a menu at 3 levels from £90 (trivial) to £480 :eek: (things like screen, motherboard) so I reckon an extended warranty is essential. I have had 2 motherboards, 2 DVD drives, 1 HD Drive and 1 Screen!

In comparison, I bought my son a £500 Acer, plus £70 extended warranty. It isn't so small, light or slick, but has been totally reliable.

I would buy Sony again because I am a sucker for design and ergonomics, but I accept that after the 3 years, if a significant fault occurs it may effectively be beyond economic repair.

Because of these failures I have bought Acronis True Image and make a regular backup of the entire hard disk, which has saved my bacon! Its very simple to use and has been 100% reliable, highly recommended software!

r-ingram

lesley2004 wrote:

hi

I am looking for a lap top for general internet use, and to play games such as rome total war/simsunivesity/age of mythology.

I have up to £500 to spend. Any advice would be appreciated

I am impressed with the Acer I bought my son - good value for spec, screens are very good (Acer known for this) and the extended warranties are cheap. £450 ish should get you one with a decent HD size and 512mb memory. I find ebuyer often are good value, and delivery is very cheap, reliable and you have a lot of flexibility over delivery day (with varying discounts or surcharges).

alikat_3

-1- wrote:

I've just gone for a Sony FS515b laptop, not cheap i know.

Anyone got one or know if their any good ?.

Sony's are great machines, I'm an IBM/Lanovo fan, I don't know the model but, I don't think you will be disappointed with a Sony.

I am impressed with the Acer I bought my son - good value for spec, screens are very good (Acer known for this) and the extended warranties are cheap. £450 ish should get you one with a decent HD size and 512mb memory. I find ebuyer often are good value, and delivery is very cheap, reliable and you have a lot of flexibility over delivery day (with varying discounts or surcharges).

Yesterday 11:57 PM

I must say, I said I would never touch a Dell or an Acer but bought hubby a £299 Acer at Tesco & it's great for the price & his needs, personally if I was spending £450, I myself yould not go for an Acer, I'd be looking at Lenovo/IBM, HP, Toshiba etc & if I wanted games I'd be looking at Athlon & their equivilent rather than Intel M or Celeron M.

lesley2004

hi alikat


Could you point me towards a laptop that will play games such as rome total war/sims 2. There are so many to choose from I dont know where to start. I did hope to only spend £500, but will spend more if neccessary

dudeboy

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