New Laptop with cashback deal

follyfoot

Hi I am looking for a new laptop with a cashback deal. I dont want to pay more than £300. Where is the best place to look? I saw a deal, i think on HUKD, for a Lenovo G580 but that seems to have gone now. Should I be looking at getting a laptop with Windows 7 or 8? Are Windows 7 and 8 compatible with Office 2007? If not, is it possible to buy a laptop with Office already installed? I really need the laptop for email, internet shopping and uploading photos.

jaydeeuk1

follyfoot wrote: »

Hi I am looking for a new laptop with a cashback deal. I dont want to pay more than £300. Where is the best place to look? I saw a deal, i think on HUKD, for a Lenovo G580 but that seems to have gone now. Should I be looking at getting a laptop with Windows 7 or 8? Are Windows 7 and 8 compatible with Office 2007? If not, is it possible to buy a laptop with Office already installed? I really need the laptop for email, internet shopping and uploading photos.

There are various models of the g580 ranging from i7 to a celeron, what spec was the one you were looking at?

Do you need a DVD drive? If not...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B009RGBI7W


Can always get a USB DVD for £15 or so.

grumpycrab

HP laptop £246 (or less) and extra 2 year warranty for £35 (mitigates the fact its an HP).
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/dont-forget-claim-your-cashback-next-week-price-dropped-free-code-hp-650-core-i3-1502772

HP claim page for this laptop is
https://www.hppromotions.co.uk/Claim.aspx?Promo=HP600FEB13AR

Office 2007 should be fine with Windows 7 or 8 but you may have to activate by phone. A Microsoft alternative is "Office 2010 Starter" which you may still be able to find online (Word and Excel).
EDIT: re. 7 versus 8. If you're used to a traditional Windows "desktop" environment and you think you'd dislike change there are a couple of easy workarounds in 8:-
1. adding a start button is easy and can be free. e.g. classic shell
2. the fullscreen horribleness of 8's Apps can be counteracted with ModernMix (try for 30days $5 to buy).
You don't have to get ModernMix. Its reasonably easy to avoid Apps but you have to ensure that your data is associated with traditional programs (rather than the new Apps).
However, I have encouraged my clients to try the new Apps and ModernMix is a good way to do this.

follyfoot

jaydeeuk1 wrote: »

There are various models of the g580 ranging from i7 to a celeron, what spec was the one you were looking at?

Do you need a DVD drive? If not...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B009RGBI7W


Can always get a USB DVD for £15 or so.

Hi Jaydeeuk
I would like a DVD drive but it is not compulsory. This is the G580 I saw: http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/lenovo-g580-core-i5-3210m-6gb-ram-500gb-hdd-dvdrw-15-6-windows-8-bronze-379-99-with-1484939

What is your opinion on this make and spec?

follyfoot

grumpycrab wrote: »

HP laptop £246 (or less) and extra 2 year warranty for £35 (mitigates the fact its an HP).
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/dont-forget-claim-your-cashback-next-week-price-dropped-free-code-hp-650-core-i3-1502772

HP claim page for this laptop is
https://www.hppromotions.co.uk/Claim.aspx?Promo=HP600FEB13AR

Office 2007 should be fine with Windows 7 or 8 but you may have to activate by phone. A Microsoft alternative is "Office 2010 Starter" which you may still be able to find online (Word and Excel).

Hi Grumpycrab I thought HP machines were reliable - well the guy in pc world said they were? i have had Toshiba and Dell and they all seem to last two years if I am lucky. Not prepared to spend much on a laptop anymore.

grumpycrab

follyfoot wrote: »

I thought HP machines were reliable - well the guy in pc world said they were?

I assume you're joking. If not, he's just trying to get a sale.

follyfoot wrote: »

i have had Toshiba and Dell and they all seem to last two years if I am lucky. Not prepared to spend much on a laptop anymore.

A modern laptop should last more than 2 years unless misused. However, they're not built like they used to be, especially at the value end of the market. If your budget is limited then the HP with 3 year warranty seems like a reasonable compromise.

follyfoot

grumpycrab wrote: »

I assume you're joking. If not, he's just trying to get a sale.

A modern laptop should last more than 2 years unless misused. However, they're not built like they used to be, especially at the value end of the market. If your budget is limited then the HP with 3 year warranty seems like a reasonable compromise.

Nope, he was serious and also mentioned Sony, Lenovo and Acer. Isnt Which promoting HP laptops with their £15 voucher?

What do you mean "misused"?

grumpycrab

follyfoot wrote: »

Nope, he was serious and also mentioned Sony, Lenovo and Acer. Isnt Which promoting HP laptops with their £15 voucher?

What do you mean "misused"?

Sorry, I wondered if you were being serious. Yes, you can get another £15 off via Which. "misuse" could be anything other than using a laptop on a fixed, flat, surface; e.g. in the bath, on bed, on lap etc. etc.

Lifeforms

What's been wrong with the last ones? Generally they fill up with !!!! and slow down, both of which can be cheaply solved. Cleaning up the PC, and if needed, adding extra memory, both of which can give you back a much better laptop. Even removing dust from outlets helps.

Unless you drop, bang, hit them, drop stuff on them, have cat's jump down from 3 times the height, denting the frame, wet them accidentally, slam down the lid, and yank out peripherals... Then you do have a laptop that doesn't even last two years!

follyfoot

Lifeforms wrote: »

What's been wrong with the last ones? Generally they fill up with !!!! and slow down, both of which can be cheaply solved. Cleaning up the PC, and if needed, adding extra memory, both of which can give you back a much better laptop. Even removing dust from outlets helps.

Unless you drop, bang, hit them, drop stuff on them, have cat's jump down from 3 times the height, denting the frame, wet them accidentally, slam down the lid, and yank out peripherals... Then you do have a laptop that doesn't even last two years!

I have a Dell xps M1530 bought in 2008 and keep getting the following message:

windows failed to load because the system registry file is missing or corrupt. Status 0xc0000225. I dont want to reformat the hard drive.

MandyAW92

If your just looking for a laptop with cashback then try Save On Laptops as they have a wide range of different laptops all with cashback