hope this is the right forum..which laptop do I need

treeze

Wow,thanks for all the answers,weren't expecting so much help! The laptop I have now-and I know nothing about computers-is a Toshiba.It's probably roughly 8 or 9 years old,has to be plugged into mains. It's had lots of viruses on it and I take it in,they clean it up and put it back to factory settings-so I'm told-that means little to me. It's ok at the minute although it takes forever to download some sites if it has lots of pictures changing i.e my e mail page and mouse kind of "sticks" some days and wanders all over the page,if I can move it at all.My budget would be around the £200 mark,DVD player would be nice if possible and only the occasional photo being added. Just want something reliable that doesn't need fixing or confuses me with things I don't need. Thanks for all your help.

treeze

oh and it is Windows xp

NiftyDigits

treeze wrote: »

Wow,thanks for all the answers,weren't expecting so much help! The laptop I have now-and I know nothing about computers-is a Toshiba.It's probably roughly 8 or 9 years old,has to be plugged into mains. It's had lots of viruses on it and I take it in,they clean it up and put it back to factory settings-so I'm told-that means little to me. It's ok at the minute although it takes forever to download some sites if it has lots of pictures changing i.e my e mail page and mouse kind of "sticks" some days and wanders all over the page,if I can move it at all.My budget would be around the £200 mark,DVD player would be nice if possible and only the occasional photo being added. Just want something reliable that doesn't need fixing or confuses me with things I don't need. Thanks for all your help.

Look at one of the machines in post #3. The one under the link of £10 cheaper is £203.98 if that is the limit of your budget. Though ideally you should get one with a bit more RAM, but you can fit more yourself(believe it or not) for around £10.

It sounds as if they haven't fitted enough Random Access Memory to your old Toshiba. What is the full model number of your Toshiba? It will be underneath the laptop and will probably look like PS****-********.

macman

Getting a new laptop will not stop you getting viruses. If your old laptop is being regularly given a Factory Restore and then gets reinfected again, then the problem is either your AV program (what are you running?), or the sites you are visiting.
In other words, a user or software issue, not a hardware one.
A Facory Restore will give you a clean system.

treeze

It's an Equium number underneath is PSM57E 002004AV. In response to Macman,yes I'm aware I can still get viruses,wanting to cut down the downloading time-some days are better than others but can take 5 mins to download my mail and gets confused easily! No idea what an AV is I'm afraid. Not aware of looking at any dodgy sites,just ordinary stuff.Can only look at youtube with the top almost closed as that's the only way the volume works now!

NiftyDigits

treeze wrote: »

It's an Equium number underneath is PSM57E 002004AV. In response to Macman,yes I'm aware I can still get viruses,wanting to cut down the downloading time-some days are better than others but can take 5 mins to download my mail and gets confused easily! No idea what an AV is I'm afraid. Not aware of looking at any dodgy sites,just ordinary stuff. Can only look at youtube with the top almost closed as that's the only way the volume works now!

Does it still have the standard RAM of 512MB fitted or has it been upgraded?

Laptop itself has quite a decent spec, once you have fitted adequate RAM of at least 1GB. Not even seven years old yet.

Press and hold the 'Flying Windows' key and whilst holding it down, press the Pause Break key. The amount of RAM installed will be displayed.

ConsumerMatt

There's no such thing as a 'basic' computer these days as the lowest priced brand new computers are well-specced and can do pretty much anything.

The most common screen size is 15.6", which is perfectly adequate for most people and the bottom price ranged laptops in major stores are around £350. You could even get a refurb from somewhere like PC World. It will do everything you need.

All I can say is DO NOT be tempted by an old £150 laptop with Windows XP. XP will no longer be supported/updated by Microsoft after April 2014 so at that point it would be trash and vulnerable to every virus under the sun. Get a low budget brand new laptop from a reputable source, from a major brand like HP, Dell or Lenovo and you will end up with a solid machine that should last you a while and won't have any fancy gizmos that you don't need. Or at least you won't be paying more for anything that is included. That D630 laptop people are mentioning is very old, designed for Windows XP. I work in IT and our company have begun throwing that same model in the bin/giving them to charity as they were good in their day but now not up to the job with Windows 7.

NiftyDigits

ConsumerMatt wrote: »

There's no such thing as a 'basic' computer these days as the lowest priced brand new computers are well-specced and can do pretty much anything.

The most common screen size is 15.6", which is perfectly adequate for most people and the bottom price ranged laptops in major stores are around £350. You could even get a refurb from somewhere like PC World. It will do everything you need.

All I can say is DO NOT be tempted by an old £150 laptop with Windows XP. XP will no longer be supported/updated by Microsoft after April 2014 so at that point it would be trash and vulnerable to every virus under the sun. Get a low budget brand new laptop from a reputable source, from a major brand like HP, Dell or Lenovo and you will end up with a solid machine that should last you a while and won't have any fancy gizmos that you don't need. Or at least you won't be paying more for anything that is included. That D630 laptop people are mentioning is very old, designed for Windows XP. I work in IT and our company have begun throwing that same model in the bin/giving them to charity as they were good in their day but now not up to the job with Windows 7.

We are looking at a budget of around £200. We have it covered.
You lost me at PC World.

But I agree with everything else.

treeze

It says 504 MB of RAM....whatever that means:rotfl:Thanks for all the help,appreciate it.

closed

stick some more ram in it, and follow

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2436849

av is antivirus

anything a shop can do, you can do yourself