LATEST DELL DEAL Great Laptop £292 Delivered !

bigtel_2

Nice one, thanks.

simonne15_2

All the comments about laptops being ready-installed with an operating system we concur with. We've done everything according to the instructions about upgrading to the promised vista but that's been an almighty headache even for someone who knows what he's doing with computers.
What I want to know is how do we apply the Sale of Goods act to this situation when the retailer claims not to have responsibility for the software problems. We had to pay for extra memory because the software already installed used up so much of the advertised memory; that seems like verging on sales misrepresentation to me. Do we need a concerted campaign?

geoffcham

Thanks for this MikeT and everybody. Having read through the whole thread I think I'm going for either the Vostro with dual core processor (at the last minute), or the Inspiron 6400 which someone on the HotDealsUK thread specified.

I need it mainly for simple home office use 24/7, plus also for my son to play games on every now and then - either online or game DVD's. My assumption was that the 6400 might be better for the games.

As a non-techie, is there anyone out there who could please answer:
1. What is wrong with Vista, either Home or Business, and has it been established whether or not XP can be bought as an option on either machine? And is it true Microsoft will stop supporting XP soon?
2. Is the graphics card good enough for the games use, in either machine? If not, what do you think the minimum I need is (say for 90% of games, irregular use), without going north of £400 or 450?
3. I can't see that 80GB or 100GB drive makes much difference to me. But what about 5400rpm vs 7200rpm? Will faster drive speed help gaming?

Any help gratefully received, thanks

Ruthie5

Thanks for the tip, and found the subsequent discussions useful. I'm a non-techie and a fairly basic pc user. Bit the bullet and ordered a Vostro today. Am now looking to give away my Dell desktop - free to a good home. Anyone interested in the Denbigh area?

porridge

How very kind and generous of you !!, I just wish there were more people around like you.

miss_not_alotofmoneypenny

geoffcham wrote: »

Thanks for this MikeT and everybody. Having read through the whole thread I think I'm going for either the Vostro with dual core processor (at the last minute), or the Inspiron 6400 which someone on the HotDealsUK thread specified.

I need it mainly for simple home office use 24/7, plus also for my son to play games on every now and then - either online or game DVD's. My assumption was that the 6400 might be better for the games.

As a non-techie, is there anyone out there who could please answer:
1. What is wrong with Vista, either Home or Business, and has it been established whether or not XP can be bought as an option on either machine? And is it true Microsoft will stop supporting XP soon?
2. Is the graphics card good enough for the games use, in either machine? If not, what do you think the minimum I need is (say for 90% of games, irregular use), without going north of £400 or 450?
3. I can't see that 80GB or 100GB drive makes much difference to me. But what about 5400rpm vs 7200rpm? Will faster drive speed help gaming?

Any help gratefully received, thanks

1. Nothing wrong with vista so to speak. In a nut shell just seems to take longer doing a lot of tasks and use's twice the memory xp did. I didn't like it at first but once you get used to it, shouldn't have any problems. If your going to be using any kind of old hardware check to make sure there are vista drivers available first though. Xp will continue to be supported for a long time yet(Not something i would worry about at the moment). The Vista-Xp issue to try and sum it all up in a few words, i'd compare XP to standard car and Vista to a armour plated car with a few nice gadgets inside. They both function as a car but the later is heavier therefore goes slower but has a few nice features inside to play with and looks cool.

2. Both those laptops are not capable of playing recent games atall, might play a couple of games from a few years ago, but will struggle, You need to be looking at least a laptop with a geforce go 7400(Anything that has "Nvidia" and "7400" or a number above where it lists graphics spec(or ati equivalent) to play them at a resonable level.

3. Even the Top of the range 1000£ + laptops use 5400rpm drive's.

If your buying from dell your looking at least a Inspiron 1520 for 599£ to do the things you asked. Really for that budget and requirement you need to be looking at a refurbished laptop(This would have suited you perfectly for 50£ over your 450 max http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0037459617.1185054947@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccdiaddlhkfhdfjcflgceggdhhmdgml.0&category_oid=-28487&sku=804558&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null but take at look at the spec on this one and thats what you need to be looking at. Cut the gaming from the requirements and both those laptops would be ok at present.

miss_not_alotofmoneypenny

Just come across this for 329£ http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/168347 it has a nvidia GeForce Go 6150 and a AMD dual-core processor, You would be compromising on processor. I would add i have no personal contact with nvidia's 6000 laptop series but found this quite good review http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3591 He does a good graphics test but i don't agree with what he says about the processor's Intel cut prices for its superior performing Core duo's since this review, but still i think its quite good. For your requirements this may be sutible, but you have to decide. I don't know the compaq's quality,build,screen, or what other features it has. But this is really good buy for 329£ with Graphics capabilty. I think that review is quite helpfull to overall. This will probaly sell out soon like most good deals on pc world but if it does look around other major retailers for refurbished.

EDIT: Would just add looking at the spec for the laptop linked above , it appears it dosn't have build in wireless capability.

silverfoxuk

miss_not_alotofmoneypenny wrote: »

Just come across this for 329£ http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/168347 it has a nvidia GeForce Go 6150 and a AMD dual-core processor, You would be compromising on processor. I would add i have no personal contact with nvidia's 6000 laptop series but found this quite good review http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3591 He does a good graphics test but i don't agree with what he says about the processor's Intel cut prices for its superior performing Core duo's since this review, but still i think its quite good. For your requirements this may be sutible, but you have to decide. I don't know the compaq's quality,build,screen, or what other features it has. But this is really good buy for 329£ with Graphics capabilty. I think that review is quite helpfull to overall. This will probaly sell out soon like most good deals on pc world but if it does look around other major retailers for refurbished.

EDIT: Would just add looking at the spec for the laptop linked above , it appears it dosn't have build in wireless capability.

Would the Vostro still be a good deal by adding dual core (£35), 2Gig RAM (£100) and 6 cell battery (£11) making the total approx £450 for a dual core 2 GiG laptop?

miss_not_alotofmoneypenny

silverfoxuk wrote: »

Would the Vostro still be a good deal by adding dual core (£35), 2Gig RAM (£100) and 6 cell battery (£11) making the total approx £450 for a dual core 2 GiG laptop?

I suppose if you minds set on buying the Vostro, The upgrades you mention above are good but i would not get the memory upgrade from dell because its so expensive and i would also get the screen upgrade for 11£ makes a lot of difference.

silverfoxuk

Thanks for the advice on the RAM miss_not_alotofmoneypenny.

Checked on Crucial and they're selling 2 sticks 1GB RAM for Vostro 1000, for £56.39 incl. VAT

Guaranteed compatible memory upgrades for your Dell Vostro 1000 Laptop/Notebook.http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/listparts.aspx?model=Vostro+1000

.....then sell the x2 512mb sticks on ebay that come as standard with the Vostro on ebay? Think I'll go for the Vostro 1000 with the upgrades to x2 dual processor £35, battery upgrade £11, and screen upgrade £11.
Still makes the deal a good'un at £350 all in, (plus £56 for the 2gig ram), so just a kick over £400.

Unless someone can find something wrong with that.........?