Buy computer now or wait till uni??

yasmin2

Hi,

I am starting university in september and was going to buy myself a fairly cheapish laptop. However, I was told that it might be worth holding on until I start as I may be eligible for a discount once I get to uni. Is this true and how much might the discount be? Also, is there anywhere that will allow me to purchase one with my letter from UCAS - it shows that I have an unconditional offer?

Just thought I would try and get organised?

Thanks in advance

talksalot81

I certainly failed to find better deals under the university umbrella. Yes you can get machines that way, but often you find the deals offered through the university are artificial and do not reflect the home market. I would just go for it were I you keeping in mind that the market often strengthens later in the summer as 'mummy and daddy' buy lovable little johnny a machine for going away....

CrispyUK

Exception is if you're in the market for an Apple MacBook or MacBook Pro as the discounts are at least £100 (or more depending on model).

alared

Dell often have a push on laptops just before the term starts.
They have been as low as £279.

At the mo both Tesco and Woolworth have one on offer,search the boards for info.

melancholly

i know there's a 10% student discount at maplins, but even then i think the offers you can get at dell are usually the best value.

lellie

the student discounts aren't usually any better.. except maybe with apple..

but yeah you'd be best looking for a good dell deal or similar..

Lord_Chris

if you're at uni DONT buy a laptopm from tescos or woolworths. They are cheap makes which often have a series of faults and problems... and that the last thing you want when your studying.

Best bet is to wait nearer the time as laptops could well go down. As alared said, Dell often reduce laptops shortly before september, so your best off waiting.

YOU WOULDN'T BUY BREAD AND MILK FROM DELL SO DONT BUY LAPTOPS FROM TESCOS OR WOOLWORTHS.

MercilessKiller

My adivce is use the Dell UK Factory outlet (google it)

Tihs is where people buy dell products then return them due to either being a wrong product or something similar. THey still work perfectly, they still come with 3 months warranty but they are DIRT cheap.

Look through a few models.. pick out specs you'd need.

If you want a very decent long lasting model i'd say 1024DDR, 2.6ghz Processor, and 60GB min hard drive space.

IF you want a mid to low range lappy to do the job, 512 ddr, 1.5ghz and 40gb would do the job but dont expect the next version of windows next year to run on it! Though it would be a lot cheaper.

You should be able to get the good range laptops for as little as £200... Those prices dont go down much as they're not involved in dell's normal promotion.

If you want to buy from official place, i would recommend Dell's online retail outlet as they have very good deals on Inspiron low range laptops for as little as £200 with 1 year warranty.

Post on the teccy board specs and what you want to use it for and they can tell you if its a good deal or not

bnoc

Lets approach this from a different angle, a bit of 'blue sky' thinking is required here. Ask yourself a simple question: "Do I need a laptop/computer?"

You're answer will most likely be one of the following:

"No because the university with have a plethora of top spec PCs all around campus which will be perfectly adequate"

or

"I don't know because I haven't started my course yet and until I do it will be difficult to guage how much I woud utilise such an item".

My vote would be for hold your horses and wait until you're at university to see if you really need a laptop/computer.

Good luck at university and don't drink the flouresant green drink they serve up in a pint glass

Skyhigh

At least wait until the start of August.

Why?
Wellll Intel are releasing a new processor and shaking down their processor market.
This means a bit of a price drop generally.

AMD will drop their prices to compete.

= price war.

= eventually, cheaper PC's, especially if you mention to sales staff that you are "aware" of this predicted price war.


My University (Hull) offers a deal whereby we can get cheap Toshiba laptops, with about 1/3 knocked off the retail price.

Aside from that, theres the Apple educational discount.

Aaaand you can always try it on for the student or NUS discount at places, its always worth asking.


The best way to get a good deal on a PC or laptop is to go out and get a load of quotes, pick a system you like and find somewhere that does a comparative specification (processor, ram, hard drive) cheaper.

Go to the expensive place, tell them you're interested, but its cheaper at X place. Simple, just say it, don't !!!!!foot about.
They should offer to match it, or futher drop below it.

Go to cheap place...highlight place Y has dropped theirs, but you'd prefer to buy from place X, so...they should drop theirs.

I got a good £3k worth of server for £2k from Dell by doing this

:!:

yasmin2

alared wrote:

Dell often have a push on laptops just before the term starts.
They have been as low as £279.

At the mo both Tesco and Woolworth have one on offer,search the boards for info.

Which boards? Sorry if I am asking a really obvious question.