ACER 5749 core i3

grumpycrab

Susan1942 wrote: »

Now I am getting confused don't know what to do. Thanks for all the options but still confused!

What will you use the laptop for?

Myser

Toshiba I5 machine here for £400. Not in store though.

That is a first generation i5 laptop - nevertheless, still a good spec.

Susan1942 - I would suggest that you go to a few shops and try out a few laptops. Then you will have a feel for what you may want.

Susan1942

Thanks again for all your advice. The graph you show is very impressive. I am going to go to Comet this pm as they have the ASUS in stock and I could perhaps look at other Acer in another model They don't have the one I have been looking at.
My Son has just sent me a text saying that the asus is very good for the price. Toshiba I will look at also

Susan1942

Help!! My son has now thrown another spanner in the works by suggesting HP Pavilion G6/1240/SA at £399 looks a good buy but it comes out worst in the Graph you have kindly printed out for me. Now I am even more confused! Have decided to go and look but the HP is at PC World and the other one at Comet. Argos has the Acer but then I won't see what it looks like! Anyone who can give me some advice in the next 30 -45 minutes I would appreciate. I don't drive so it will be taxi or the bus for me! Thanks again much appreciated I will be reaching another milestone in my life in 2 months age wise but still I want to progess.
Use the computer for ordering goods and groceries on line booking holidays making comparisons etc with hotels.
Photo's Facebook email and generally surfing finding out information. Don't do games but do look at iplayer etc

grumpycrab

You don't need a flash laptop for surfing and email. In general, avoid hp and acer. Toshiba and Asus are better. A £300 laptop will do what you want. Having said that get the best processor you can afford (you cannot upgrade that but you can upgrade most of the other things).

SO processor-wise look for something like i3-2310 (the 4-digits indicates that it is the most recent).

Is reliability important? Laptops are generally unreliable. That is why the Toshiba 2 year warratny is quite good. IF YOU BUY ACER here is a cheap 3 year warranty for £30 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130623945226

Lastly, if you might connect to a TV (e.g. to play DVDs) you should get a laptop with an HDMI connector. (Most have this but not Toshiba).

If getting one today I'd get the £350 Asus. Very good value.

Susan1942

Thanks for that you have helped clarify things for me and I am very grateful.
Comet have the Asus for £349 which is a great price. I will go armed with the information and not be talked into buying something I don't want or need.

Will let you know how I get on! It will be a taxi as we have heavy rain at the moment.

Susan1942

I did go to Comet and they had the ASUS I was looking for. I have come home without buying anything. The computer looked very dull and I know that this should not come into it but we women! What are we like. They had an ASUS that I did like the look of but it had a lot less memory I think 350 and my son says this is not enough. I called him and he has told me to leave it today. I felt that I was confused and although common sense told me that I should buy the ASUS but I only started thinking about this yesterday and as I have a desk top don't need to make a rash decision. Thanks to all of you who offered me advice. I am going to sleep on it. Thanks again

Myser

If you mean hard-drive (HDD) space, 350GB would be fine for what you want to do.

Maybe not for a youngster who who has lots of music/movies.

Memory (RAM) is different to the hard-drive space. RAM is a temporary memory store which is used when you are working and using applications. Either 3 or 4GB is fine.

At least you have a better idea of what you want and weren't pushed into buying something. The sales people at these large stores are very pushy and good at making you part with your cash. Be wary, they may recommend that you buy additional anti-virus or firewall software too.

There are plenty of good (free) alternatives available.

Also, don't buy a netbook (the really small laptops). They are a waste of money.

Susan1942

Thanks a lot for your advice. Today I felt the sales man was more interested in selling me the Office and Norton package than in the actual Computer. Firstly he said that they didn't have the one I was interested in. When I told him I had called and been told they did have it in stock. It was actually on display so I didn't have a lot of confidence in him. My Son called me after I had sent him a text and he said just walk away for now which I did.
I have a Chap who does Computer repairs etc who is excellent and fair with price etc. I had free software but had a few problems with virus etc and now I have Kaspersky Internet Security which he sold me for £20 and he puts it on for me etc. Do I need the Office with this computer as when I got my first and current it came with Microsoft Works which does everything I need. This chap today says there is nothing like this on Windows 7. Is this correct?
Once again many many thanks for your advice. I have had a computer since 2004 but was a very late starter but just love my computer and would be lost without it. My desktop is working away fine but I am sitting in a room with the table inside a cupboard so the laptop would allow me more flexibility in that I could use it wherever I wanted to. Will sleep on it!!

Sue

Myser

Kaspersky is very good however, there are many free anti-virus and firewall programs that are just as good.

If you don't ensure your virus definitions are kept up-to-date (set to auto-update), no anti-virus program whether free or paid will be of any use. This is the mistake people often make. Laptops come with a free trial of something like McAfee or Norton. When the trial runs out, people don't install another anti-virus program and the trial version no longer updates.

Your new laptop won't have Works. What it probably will have is Office Starter which is a cut down version of Word and Excel. Good enough to open/create basic documents, letters and spreadsheets.

Do you use PowerPoint or any other Office programs such as Outlook?