Packard Bell Laptop - any good?

consultant31

Sorry for repeating myself, but I've put this question in other places and it seems to have been the wrong place - hope this is the right one!

Have been looking for a laptop and found a Packard Bell at Curry's.

I hate Curry's with a passion, but if this is a good deal I'm willing to lower myself to deal with them, lol.

PACKARD BELL S4996 INTEL PENTIUM M 740 PROCESSOR 1.73GHz LAPTOP, selling at £449, but there's a discount taking it to £405 with free delivery.

Opinions requested from those in the know please!!!

startrekker

Played with a Packard Bell the other night, it was nice and solid, great clarity onscreen and beat my desktop on start-up, i have a decent set up. The build is good and the only downside was Norton, and I took that off.
I will stick my neck out and give it a thumbs up

albertross_2

256meg with 128 shared will run like a dog with XP...

==

More memory, bigger hard disk, dvd writer, better graphics, dirt cheap vista upgrade (when it comes out), and cheaper..

http://www.dmxdimension.com/blogcategory/dell_uk_inspiron_1501.html

Mobile AMD Sempron 3500+ XP Home 15.4" WXGA 512MB 60GB 256MB ATI Radeon® Xpress 1150 8x DVD / 24x CD-RW £399 N12155 CLICK HERE

consultant31

Oh dear, there I was, chuffed at the reply from Startrekker, and all ready to click the button and buy, when along came albertross, and now I'm as confused as ever!!!

I admit to being scared of Dell as it seems so complicated to buy from them. You really need to know what you're doing.....and I'm afraid I don't!!

Help!!!

Bambers

i saw this advertised on tv today, looks good. the processor is slightly slower than the one you chose, buyt there is 1024 mb ram which is ideal for xp.

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/143042

albertross_2

Sorry,, the lack of a DVD writer would put me off your original choice, it's not something you could add later really on a laptop. Memory and disks can be changed, but getting a DVD writer to fit is more difficult, and often impossible. You may not have a use for a writer, but they are very handy for backups.

If you plump for Dell, The web shop is just like any other, just make sure you get the cheapest warranty option, and use any evalue codes from dmxdimension, or call them up and speak to a human.

PC world do have bargains sometimes, but more often than not, they are trying to offload old kit when you see discounted stock.

You could always wait for the sales, Xmas is not far away.., and vista is due in a couple of months, just to throw another spanner in the works.

startrekker

consultant31 wrote:

I'm as confused as ever!!!

I admit to being scared of Dell as it seems so complicated to buy from them. You really need to know what you're doing.....and I'm afraid I don't!!

Help!!!

Welcome to the electronic age, everyone has an opinion... what exactly do you want to do with it anyway, give a bit more info and we will point you in the right direction...I like albertross, top poster, :beer:

albertross_2

very kind of you to say so, I like you too..:beer:

The problem is that there is so much choice nowadays, difficult to know where to start.. Any laptop will do the routine tasks, word processing, web surfing, music etc, if that's all you need then a £300 laptop with openoffice will do the job. For £400 I would expect a dvd writer.

consultant31

startrekker wrote:

Welcome to the electronic age, everyone has an opinion... what exactly do you want to do with it anyway, give a bit more info and we will point you in the right direction...I like albertross, top poster, :beer:

It's for my daughter and she wants to do her invoices, letters etc and surf the web and that's about all. She wouldn't want to play games.

Maximum spend is £400.

Bambers

i would honesly say, pc world currys etc, they are getting cheaper to try to compete with internet prices. have a look at dell also

payless

packard bell- check running temp & battery life