Laptop purchase advice needed

whiskeygalore

Hi all

I am looking for advice on the purchase of a new Laptop for my wife,her old Dell battery has completely died and I have been told that it is not worth the expence of buying a new one. I would like a good value for money laptop just for surfing the internet and wordpad not for these hi-tec games etc ,I have looked on various sites but the jargon just baffles me. could someone please assist.

caz2703

You may want to post on the Techie board (http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=29) but there's a few of us here I'm sure can help.

I just got a Dell Inspiron from Tesco which is more than I currently need. It cost £400 and has wi-fi, good disk space, good RAM (memory) and a lovely shiny screen and choice of 3 lid colours! There are cheaper deals to be had but it depends on how much you're willing to spend. My laptop is for surfing, watching the odd video on YouTube and some basic word processing but no gaming (that's what the xbox is for).

The model I got is pretty much this one: http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.210-7095.aspx

Mine has a smaller disk and 1GB less RAM but no biggie in my book as I won't utilise it all anyway.

drew2k9

Why not try a netbook? You can get some half decent ones for around £200 sometimes even less.

D.A.

Or why not even go for an iPad? OK, they're a lot more expensive than you're probably looking for, but much better than a laptop or netbook in some situations (and worse in others).

drew2k9

Not good for typing though, and the OP said it has to have Word as well.

Although i would love an ipad just to play games all day!

i still think a netbook is the way forward, my self and my OH got one each in december, i got my own she got hers for christmas, and they are both great! great if you have wireless internet, but can have cable internet too, we can use them for skype video calls, playing online games, basic ones i mean, for general surfing and youtube etc and typing also!

D.A.

All of which you can also do on the iPad. ;-)

And if you need to type a lot, buy a cheapo bluetooth keyboard for it.

drew2k9

yeah but its not got microsoft software on it, and also i assumed that being on a money saving site they wanted a cheap option that fulfills their needs. but don't get me wrong, im not knocking the ipad, i so desperately want one! but at the moment i just can't justify buying it! but they are outstanding!

absoluteutopia

Tesco have/had a Compaq instore that will do your job just fine for £279

moonpie

whiskeygalore wrote: »

Hi all

I am looking for advice on the purchase of a new Laptop for my wife,her old Dell battery has completely died and I have been told that it is not worth the expence of buying a new one. I would like a good value for money laptop just for surfing the internet and wordpad not for these hi-tec games etc ,I have looked on various sites but the jargon just baffles me. could someone please assist.

Given your level of knowledge and requirements an Ipad seems to be the best choice. Apples user interface is second to none and can be used quite easily by all experience levels. I'll probably offend someone by saying Apple are for people who don't want to know how things work they just want them to work.

drew2k9

moonpie wrote: »

Given your level of knowledge and requirements an Ipad seems to be the best choice. Apples user interface is second to none and can be used quite easily by all experience levels. I'll probably offend someone by saying Apple are for people who don't want to know how things work they just want them to work.

i still think that is also very wrong.

its not what they asked for, they asked for a laptop, not a tablet pc. two completely different things with different users in mind wanting different results.

D.A.

I disagree. Look at the requirements:

I would like a good value for money laptop just for surfing the internet and wordpad not for these hi-tec games etc

Surfing the internet - can be done on an iPad, and in many ways, is actually better on an iPad (and in some ways, worse);
Wordpad - just because it isn't called Wordpad (or isn't made by Microsoft) doesn't mean there aren't alternatives. Pages on the iPad could most likely do everything the poster requires it to do.

Therefore, 'laptop' is a red herring - the poster should choose whatever is best for their requirements. And if their main requirement is value for money, then obviously a netbook is the way to go. If it's ease of use, quick startup, form factor, etc., then that puts the iPad firmly in the running.