Aldi's Laptop - thoughts please!

thamesmatt

i have had a medion pc for about 4 years. had only a bit of trouble with it up to yesterday but it seems to have just died! however i've been v happy with it becayuse it was a fantastic spec for the proce and is still fast enough today! (or it was)

however my actual point is that you can get a samsung R20 with a better spec and less of those polarised views that medion gets for £475 if you look on monet supermarket or kelkoo.

Havent got the link here but its dead easy to fiind on there

peterbaker

Well folks, I bought one of the Aldi laptops yesterday and I must say that I am pretty happy with it. I have seen better graphics but I am not disappointed.

It doesn't seem to have built in Bluetooth (only use it occasionally anyway) but the card reader surprised me because it read my Fuji xD card and I had thought xD wasn't in the spec!

My son has been using Flight Simulator X on it and that runs quite smoothly with scenery set to Medium Low/Medium. Some of the graphics stutter a bit at higher settings, but hey, this is not much money to have paid.

In Windows Vista I notice Microsoft have introduced a new standard Windows Comparison measurement of the whole system which is presented in the General Tab of Control Panel/System. This laptop gets an overall 3.0 out of a maximum 6 I think.

We have had it continuously connected to WiFi and connected to a widescreen tv and at the default power saving setting of "Balanced", the first charge of the battery lasted 3 hours and the second charge lasted about 2 1/2 hours using FSX (Flight Simulator) continuously.

At my local Aldi, I think they sold 6/10 at 0900 - I always reckon if they sell out at 0900 then it's a dead cert and anything less raises a question or two about value for money!

I have no major worries about Medion and their guarantees. They have been branding pc's DVD players and other electronics for Aldi across Western Europe for at least 7 years and other retailers like Toys-R-Us for almost as long. They are probably past their peak in good customer service, but they are still a major player. If I need to speak to them I am still confident I will be able to move and shake as necessary, although as with many companies, for the most pro-active service, that might require a call to Head Office (Germany I think for Medion?).

Aiadi

peterbaker wrote: »

Well folks, I bought one of the Aldi laptops yesterday and I must say that I am pretty happy with it.

Just give it a couple of months and see.:eek:

peterbaker

Aiadi wrote: »

Just give it a couple of months and see.:eek:

Why?? Does it self-destruct?

HoofeHearted

For anyone thinking of buying or already bought an Aldi/Medion PC, Satnav etc, have a look at this medion support site http://www.medionsupport.com/phpbb2/portal.php

Lots of useful advice/info

frund

Bought one for partner, I'm not really a laptop user, but, after trying it for a hour or so, I am impressed. Only 10 in the Shrewsbury store and I had the last one at 9.06am. Quite reasonable connectivity. I think it was good value.

peterbaker

Well my son has been using Flight Simulator X on mine almost non-stop since last Thursday morning it seems! No complaints at all, apart from a gripe about Windows Vista ... I've already found Windows Explorer too damned complicated by half compared to all previous versions up to XP. Copy and Paste is now a flipping game of hide and seek! And there is no immediately obvious Start/Run anymore! Darned silly of them if you ask me!

The Copying and Pasting, and Unzipping/Extracting we wanted to do was of Third Party additional aircraft for the flight simulator but Windows Vista is, it seems, overprotective of the Program Files and insists on double-checking every move or even denying it completely or possibly pasting what you copied into some weird and wonderful "Virtual" folder of its own making...like most people, I don't think I have time for that nonsense. We used a bit of brute force and circumvented it!

Oh and I got fed up with the Trial Bullguard Antivirus popup so knocked it on the head after downloading AVG Free Edition instead.

And finally Microsoft Office 2007 looks like some kid fresh out of design school has completely re-ordered the Menu and buttons so that's something else that I might have to dump and revert to a previous version! I haven't even been able to find the Help/About screen to see exactly what version of Office it thinks it is!

Otherwise still smiling ... just hope Aiadi hasn't jinxed it!

pollyy_2

I see that Aldi are offering the same package on 7th October (even the linked page http://www.medion.de/md96290/uk/flash.html has the old date on it 9th august)
The only difference is that the price has gone UP £20 to £479.99

There must be a better deal now

Red_Rose_Exile

You don't buy a lappie from Aldi expecting great customer service, you buy it for the price.

In this house of 3 pcs and a lappie, one of them is a PC bought from Aldi, and it possibly the one that has had the fewest technical issues.

Buy one from Dell, Mesh, ebuyer, HP or indeed any big manufacturer, and all you can expect is expensive help desks manned by poorly trained individuals huddled over a computer screen following a script. Why else is there a burgeoning number of computer help forums out here in cyber space?

The hardware itself will be fine, the software will be fine ( as long as you keep things updated)

As long as they are prepared to replace it if the hardware goes faulty, go for it.

Tip: When buying one of these deals, go first thing in the morning at opening time, and go straight to the checkout and ask for the thing, don't go wandering around the store looking for it

shown73

Do be aware, however, that Aldi has changed its policy re returns. You've only got a month now to return it to the shop, not a year. After that, its up to you to get in touch with Medion, Tevion, or whoever, and arrange your own return for repair. No more no-quibble refunds, after 30 days your stuck with it. Whether this complies with the sale-of-goods act or not, I don't know, but that is their policy. I think it stinks, and I won't be buying any more electronics from them while it lasts, so even if it seems a bargain, perhaps prospective buyers should look more closely at other retailers as, in the end, it may not be such a bargain after all.