Is this laptop a good buy.

toejumper

DDs netbook broke at the weeekend, and shes going to secondary school in september so will probably need a decent laptop for home work ect, does this laptop have good speck and is it a good price. will there be everything she needs through out her school life.

ttp://www.ebuyer.com/product/251894

NeverAgain_2

Acer and ebuyer both have fairly good reputations so the answers to your questions are probably 'yes' and 'yes'.

Does daughter need such a big screen?

Although I think smaller screens can be more expensive because there's less space under the keyboard to pack everything in.

toejumper

I dont think the screen size realy matters, but her netbook was only 10 inch which she did moan about.

grumpycrab

Acer laptops have mixed reviews for reliability. Spend £30 and get a 3 year warranty (including accidental damage). http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130533991522

EDIT: a cheaper Acers @Ebuyer
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/250961
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/251180

Esqui

Seems pretty good for the price.

Only downsides I can think of.... the 5742s are very plasticky, so it would feel like a cheap laptop. Also, it has a single speaker, so it's pretty rubbish for listening to music on.

I'd probably go for the first one that grumpycrap posted (the 5552)

MarkBargain

toejumper wrote: »

DDs netbook broke at the weeekend, and shes going to secondary school in september so will probably need a decent laptop for home work ect, does this laptop have good speck and is it a good price. will there be everything she needs through out her school life.

ttp://www.ebuyer.com/product/251894

It will be fine, although if you are patient you might get it cheaper from http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Ebuyer-Express-Shop I got the 3GB version for only £230 a month ago.

MarkBargain

Esqui wrote: »

Seems pretty good for the price.

Only downsides I can think of.... the 5742s are very plasticky, so it would feel like a cheap laptop. Also, it has a single speaker, so it's pretty rubbish for listening to music on.

I'd probably go for the first one that grumpycrap posted (the 5552)

You could argue the 5742 is plasticky, but then again that makes it pretty lightweight compared to some other laptops.

I agree the 5552 looks the best deal at the moment. I don't know how good the ATI Radeon graphics are, but I guess they could help playing iPlayer HD etc?

toejumper

Thanks for all all information, i would think she will need it for youtube and playing games on, still not sure which one to buy though, shes not just getting it willy nilly will be for her birthday or christmas present. just want to make sure it will have everything she needs to last her a good few years.

grumpycrab

toejumper wrote: »

...i would think she will need it for youtube and playing games on, still not sure which one to buy though,...needs to last her a good few years.

And another cheap Acer. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Acer-Aspire-5336-Laptop-Intel-Dual-Core-T3500-2-1GHz-/280703025633?pt=UK_Computing_Laptops_EH&hash=item415b3441e1
(again with a single speaker). A 3 year warranty is a must with these Acers.

When you say "games" I assume you mean web-based games?

davidshads

grumpycrab wrote: »

And another cheap Acer. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Acer-Aspire-5336-Laptop-Intel-Dual-Core-T3500-2-1GHz-/280703025633?pt=UK_Computing_Laptops_EH&hash=item415b3441e1
(again with a single speaker). A 3 year warranty is a must with these Acers.

When you say "games" I assume you mean web-based games?

I am looking at one of these acers and a bit concerned when you say a 3 year warranty is a must. Are they really that un reliable?

Was also looking at a Toshiba would this be a better option?
Thanks

toskdc

Personally, I would buy the cheapest laptop you can find. The specifications of the cheapest new laptop are more than enough for most applications (Word, Excel, etc). Unless she's doing lots of 3D work, sound engineering or other course that would require a piece of high-end professional software you're safer just buying the cheapest laptop with the size screen you want. Anything else would be overkill.

I'd also agree with grumpycrab's first ebuyer suggestion.