Please advise on these laptops

Lady_K

I will have to come to a decision soon anyway but I appreciate what you say about the sonys being overpriced and I do like to feel as though I have my moneys worth so I am looking at others now as if I think I can get more laptop for the money I'd rather have that or I'll always feel I have missed out.

Problem is I have mobility problems and cannot get into store to test these out which is a real problem especially with the build, keyboard and screen size so I'm going by the internet alone, what people say here and the ones we have had before

Glad you mentioned the bluetooth only being £2 to instal I was wondering if I needed to get that so wont need to think about that now

I did look at a hp one that another member mentioned http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/12096955/Hewlett-Packard-Pavilion-DV6-2030SA-AMD-Turion-II-Dual-Core-Mobile-M520-2-3GHz-4GB-320GB-DVD-SM-15-6-Windows-7-Home-Premium-64Bit/Product.html but have noticed that is only 1.5 hour battery life which is not that good these days but other than that the reviews seem ok. Thing is I think if your going to have a laptop it needs to be decent battery life because thats the whole point of having a portable computer, at the very least 2.5 hours but preferably about 4

patman99

Samsung make superb laptops, and thier customer service is one of the best I've come across. My son broke the keyboard on his R20, it took Samsung 3 days to collect, repair and return it. They are also highly rated on the Gadget Show.

jennikitten

Lady_K, for what it's worth, I think the first Vaio you listed looks pretty good. I know other people have said you've just paying for the Sony name, but you're paying for great quality components and a great finish too. My Sony Vaio laptop has lasted me 6 years, and I'd say that's good value for money (to me at least).

Was that the cheapest price anywhere? It's definitely worth going to a small independent retailer and seeing what they can offer. If you're willing to remain seemingly unconvinced, they will often lower the price or throw some free things in. Just make sure they're a certified Sony reseller. They often provide better customer aftercare as well because they need to keep a good reputation and don't have to spread themselves as thinly as the big companies.

If your only issue is that it comes with Windows Vista, just buy the Windows 7 upgrade disc from Amazon and do it yourself. Easy and cheap enough to do.

If you have enough time you may even want to see if you can get any education or student discounts on it as you're buying it for a student (might be more likely if you know someone at university though).

Donnie wrote: »

As for Bluetooth, it costs £2 to install. Don't waste time and money looking for a laptop with Bluetooth installed.

That really depends on the laptop in question, and dongles are far more unreliable than integrated Bluetooth. Have you even looked at all the reviews for that product, like the ones which mention incompatibility, trials and limits?

Millionaire

Hi Lady K,

The first Sony you have listed is a different model in Design to the other 2 you have listed. It is a NS series, the other 2 are NW series.

The NW is a newer design than the NS (has been out longer), though both are up to date models.(not discontinued)

The ideal situation is to go and have a look at them in person at a retailer (that's what I always do to get a hands on look).

They are both nice models, I purchased a previous NS model for my nephew last year. Luckily a brand new one discounted to £350 on Christmas day.:D

Me personally the NW looks like a nicer, sleeker model than the NS so if I had the choice I would opt for that.

Spec wise, other Laptops with similiar spec would cost you roughly around £380-£420ish although they won't look as nice as the Sony NW.:D

If you bear that in mind but still prefer the Sony, I would get one of the Sony's NW's. There's no point getting something cheaper if you don't like it. I think the second choice NW (White/Cream) will go down well, it is better spec than the NS.

Donnie

jennikitten wrote: »

Lady_K, for what it's worth, I think the first Vaio you listed looks pretty good. I know other people have said you've just paying for the Sony name, but you're paying for great quality components and a great finish too. My Sony Vaio laptop has lasted me 6 years, and I'd say that's good value for money (to me at least).

Was that the cheapest price anywhere? It's definitely worth going to a small independent retailer and seeing what they can offer. If you're willing to remain seemingly unconvinced, they will often lower the price or throw some free things in. Just make sure they're a certified Sony reseller. They often provide better customer aftercare as well because they need to keep a good reputation and don't have to spread themselves as thinly as the big companies.

If your only issue is that it comes with Windows Vista, just buy the Windows 7 upgrade disc from Amazon and do it yourself. Easy and cheap enough to do.

If you have enough time you may even want to see if you can get any education or student discounts on it as you're buying it for a student (might be more likely if you know someone at university though).



That really depends on the laptop in question, and dongles are far more unreliable than integrated Bluetooth. Have you even looked at all the reviews for that product, like the ones which mention incompatibility, trials and limits?

Components? Which components are different from any other laptop? What you may not know is that most laptops are made by generic manufacturers according to the specification of the brand name holder.

My Fujitsu Siemens laptop lasted for eight to nine years.

I don't need to look at the reviews for the Bluetooth dongle. I already have six of the units on different machines. If people try to download the Blue Soleil software for free via the Internet, they will come unstuck. It is not free. So they get a trial and then they have to pay.

Vista has a native Bluetooth stack, so plugging the Dongle in will install the correct driver. No need to download paid for software and then complain when the trial runs out. XP dongles come with an OEM version of Blue Soleil software.

Just make sure you purchase the correct one for your OS.

As to reliablity, how do you know?
In addition, when Bluetooth is upgraded to 3.0+ HS, will you be able to upgrade the Bluetooth card within the laptop?

How much is the Windows 7 Upgrade from Amazon??

nicky1312

can anyone reccomend a netbook that would do my man he goes on his local footy site alot and plays games on places like pogo prob is i can only stretch to about the £200 mark
thanks for any help

Donnie wrote: »

I thought that went without saying..... but I'm glad that you said it.

Donnie

Bought my Bluetooth dongles here. Less than £2 each.

I believe in purchasing quality products too...at the lowest price possible.

Donnie

nicky1312 wrote: »

can anyone reccomend a netbook that would do my man he goes on his local footy site alot and plays games on places like pogo prob is i can only stretch to about the £200 mark
thanks for any help

There are quite a few threads running with exactly this information. If you can't find it, it is because others are doing exactly what you are doing; Hijacking someone's else's thread. This is a thread about laptops. Why would you interject with a question about Netbooks?

It distracts the attention from the original question and then makes the subsequent info difficult to find for others.

As a one off...

You can get a Samsung NC10 with a six cell battery from Argos Returns for £224. 12 month warranty. 3 cell version is £208

jennikitten

Donnie wrote: »

Components? Which components are different from any other laptop? What you may not know is that most laptops are made by generic manufacturers according to the specification of the brand name holder.

I don't need to look at the reviews for the Bluetooth dongle. I already have six of the units on different machines. If people try to download the Blue Soleil software for free via the Internet, they will come unstuck. It is not free. So they get a trial and then they have to pay.

Vista has a native Bluetooth stack, so plugging the Dongle in will install the correct driver. No need to download paid for software and then complain when the trial runs out. XP dongles come with an OEM version of Blue Soleil software.

Just make sure you purchase the correct one for your OS.

As to reliablity, how do you know?
In addition, when Bluetooth is upgraded to 3.0+ HS, will you be able to upgrade the Bluetooth card within the laptop?

How much is the Windows 7 Upgrade from Amazon??

Eh, my bad. Didn't realise all laptops today are compatible with the dongles. Bit of a pain taking up a USB port though, especially as my Vaio only has about 2.

I have used dongles and found them to be much more annoying than integrated Bluetooth (or at least the Bluetooth on my Samsung laptop).

Integrated Bluetooth is fast enough for me anyway...if I want faster I'll hardwire it.

Windows upgrade from Amazon starts at about £60.

Donnie

jennikitten wrote: »

Eh, my bad. Didn't realise all laptops today are compatible with the dongles. Bit of a pain taking up a USB port though, especially as my Vaio only has about 2.

I have used dongles and found them to be much more annoying than integrated Bluetooth (or at least the Bluetooth on my Samsung laptop).

Integrated Bluetooth is fast enough for me anyway...if I want faster I'll hardwire it.

Windows upgrade from Amazon starts at about £60.

To be fair, you are not going to be using Bluetooth all of the time, so no need for the tiny dongle to take up a valuable USB port. My cheap Toshiba has three.

In the end it comes down to the premium that you pay for having Bluetooth included.
Of course it's nice if it's built in, but is it worth spending say £50 to have it as an extra? I think, not.

Most laptops sold in the UK don't have it built in, so looking for a laptop that does really narrows your choice. That's my point; if you can find a near perfect laptop, but Bluetooth is all that is missing, don't panic.

I have it built in on an Acer laptop and I have used the tiny dongle to upgrade machines that don't have it built in. Not quite sure where the "annoyance" comes in to it.

It not like needing to utilise an external webcam and microphone, for instance.