Technophobe needing new laptop

lexilex

I posted on here last week I think about my laptop.

Currently have a Toshiba L350-170. Got it for Xmas 08. Since then two USB's have gone, and touch pad mouse doesn't work. Also the plug you insert the power supply into is iffy.

I've been doing okay with it for the past week, trying to make it last as long as possible but now the last remaining USB is slowly dying, once that's gone I have no way of using the laptop.

I've just put all my pictures and work on to cd's and am trying to find a new laptop asap before this one is totally dead.

Thing is, I am clueless. I thought Toshiba was a good make, but I have had nothing but problems with this one. I mainly use the laptop for internet, uni work, and downloading music.

Can anybody tell me what I should be looking for, in simple terms that I can understand :o I was hoping for a bargain but chances of that are looking slim...

Marty_J

You don't mention a budget, but you might consider a Mac. Very good build quality, easy to use, great battery life, beautiful LED-backlit displays, glass multitouch trackpads, and you'll get a discount of around 17% and a three year warranty if you're a university student.

Their cheapest laptop, the MacBook, will cost you around £670 with your discount.

lexilex

Budget is as little as possible! I was hoping £400-£450ish max but I really am desperate. Having to hold the mouse in the usb at the minute as it's the only way it will work :rolleyes:

£$&*"($£&(

For your use you could spend as little as £300. I'd suggest looking for something around the £350 - £380 mark with a Dual Core processor (the latest ones have numbers like T4200 and T4300) or you could get one with the AMD alternative which have numbers like QL64, QL65 and QL66 and at least 2gb of RAM.

Marty_J

lexilex wrote: »

Budget is as little as possible! I was hoping £400-£450ish max but I really am desperate. Having to hold the mouse in the usb at the minute as it's the only way it will work :rolleyes:

It's a pity you can't stretch a bit more for the MacBook. You get a pretty big discount, and at that price you can't even buy a similarly spec'd computer from Dell for less. And that doesn't even factor in the three year warranty.

Your last computer lasted just over a year; isn't it worth spending a bit more for something decent?

davb

You can get some decent deals from the Argos outlet store on Ebay - they are refurbs, and will most likely have Vista rather than Windows 7, but may be worth a look.

lexilex

I'm a bit weary of refurbs, I had a refurbed phone a couple of years ago and it was awful

Marty_J wrote: »

It's a pity you can't stretch a bit more for the MacBook. You get a pretty big discount, and at that price you can't even buy a similarly spec'd computer from Dell for less. And that doesn't even factor in the three year warranty.

Your last computer lasted just over a year; isn't it worth spending a bit more for something decent?

£670 isn't just a bit more though is it :eek: My last Toshiba last nearly 3 years, I think I have just been unlucky with this one.

macman

Assuming that the failures haven't all occured during this month, why didn't you take it back to the retailer for a warranty repair before Christmas '09? You must have had at least a years' warranty on it, maybe longer!

Marty_J

I agree, it's £200 more, which isn't an insignificant sum given you wanted to spend £450 max. But, you get what you pay for.

If Apple wanted to give me a 17% discount on everything and a free three year warranty, I'd bite their hand off.

If you just want something cheap though, pretty much anything you can buy will do the job. They're all much of a muchness.

CO2000

If I was you I'd go for the next level of Toshiba up from yours (500 series) & spend around £450 - £500 I think you have been unlucky from what I've read Toshiba are about the most reliable.

We have just bought this for £450

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.207-4984.aspx

Its very nice.

There is another couple that are good around this price but are out of stock & who know's if they will come back in & when...

lexilex

macman wrote: »

Assuming that the failures haven't all occured during this month, why didn't you take it back to the retailer for a warranty repair before Christmas '09? You must have had at least a years' warranty on it, maybe longer!

Nearly everything that's wrong with it has gone wrong in the last month.

One of the USB's went during the warranty, and I should of got it repaired but as it wasn't affecting me at all I didn't bother.

Everything else has happened in the last month

Tesco's would be a good place to buy from as my OH could get staff discount.