is this computer any good?

saving123

i need a new laptop and have vouchers for john lewis so was hoping to buy it there. Is this one any good? - http://www.johnlewis.com/230986934/Product.aspx

Basically i only use it to go on the internet. Will this one be suitable?

thanks

pcombo

Could be doing with abit more memory i would say, But looks decent enough for an average user.

macman

It will get you online (as will any modern laptop) but it's a slow obsolete processor, inadequate RAM, small hard drive. Just clearing old stock I reckon.
The saving grace is that it's cheap, but you could get a lot better spec for another £50 or so.
If you must buy it, at least budget to upgrade the RAM to 2GB.

saving123

i have an external hard drive to put any photos etc on. is that all i need the memory for ? thanks

saving123

since ideally i want to buy from john lewis is there any other ones you would recommend? thanks

macman

saving123 wrote: »

i have an external hard drive to put any photos etc on. is that all i need the memory for ? thanks

.
RAM is working memory, different to hard drive storage capacity, which is what you are referring to,
Think of it as a car. The hard drive is the boot space, the RAM is the horsepower. 1GB RAM is an underpowered system, as is a Celeron.
I would look for something with say a 320GB hard drive, min 2GB RAM, minimum Dual Core processor, Windows 7 Home Premium OS.

macman

saving123 wrote: »

since ideally i want to buy from john lewis is there any other ones you would recommend? thanks

Next one up at JL is approaching £370, which is a typical JL price for that sort of spec-not the cheapest place to buy.
But a RAM upgrade from Crucial on that model up to 2GB would only cost £33.48, although you'd still be stuck with a relatively slow processor.
Edit: and no webcam and a miserly 2 USB ports.

saving123

i think john lewis price match but not with internet companies. not too worried about webcam as never used one but i am worried if its slow

jaydeeuk1

macman wrote: »

It will get you online (as will any modern laptop) but it's a slow obsolete processor, inadequate RAM, small hard drive.

Sounds like the current apple mac range.

Da-dum Cha.

But yeah, for £299 I'd expect something with at least 2gb ram


http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/HP_620_Notebook_PC_999934.html

that would be my choice if £300 was the absolute limit.

Russel245

Raw spec compared to price is a bad way to look at things like that IMO.

I haven't checked the market out, I just looked at a couple of links and the first thing I noticed was that the Toshiba Laptop there comes with a 2 year warranty, that's worth its weight in gold when buying a cheap laptop.

After 2 years I believe on average around half will have had a part fail.

Most the Toshiba laptops on their site are around the same spec for that price, didn't see the 2 year warranty though.

They do have a pretty cool laptop sorting tool though:
http://uk.computers.toshiba-europe.com/innovation/generic/product-selector/

saving123

Is the £380 one a better buy - the packard bell easynote TM01-RB015. The reason i am buying at john lewis is i have £200 vouchers for there and would rather use them to bring down the cost. I agree the 2 year warranty is handy too!

thanks