Recommendations for laptop & broadband please

semi_artificial

Hi,

Apologies first for the nature of the post - I want to research the subject but I'm finding it hard to make the time and am under a bit of domestic pressure! We have no home computing or broadband and I am looking for some recommendations. Any advice welcome, whether general or specific, though the more specific the better really.

Our very old home PC blew up a while back, and while I can do a bit of computing and internetting at work, my wife is getting fed up of going round to her sister's when she wants to do things. Also I have a six year old who is starting to wonder why we don't have anything as it's cropping up at school. So, the first thing I need is a PC, well, a laptop. Nothing too fancy - documents, spreadsheets and the internet being the main things. I have long since given up on the idea of using a PC for serious gaming, video editing etc. but I guess I would be looking around for music/video/game downloads. Reliability and ruggedness (eg. the ability to cope with a certain amount of 'child abuse') is more important than high spec. A colleague has just mentioned that I should just buy hardware only as "he can load some software for me" - exactly what I don't know. I guess the hardware changes all the time but recommendations for brands/models/suppliers to choose (or avoid) would be appreciated. I simply don't understand some of the jargon the 'great laptop hunt' thread, but a 'minumum recommended spec' would also be useful.

The second thing is a printer - something that's decent quality but doesn't cost a fortune in consumables.

The third thing is whatever I need to set up a 'wireless network' in the house - I'd like to connect the laptop without wires, and also connect our Nintendo Wii so that I can download games for the 'Virtual Console'. Can this also enable WiFi so that I can connect our Nintendo DS?

The fourth thing is broadband itself. At the moment we just have the basic BT (£10.50) line rental, but I'd like to have a reliable and good value broadband service - replacing the BT line if necessary/cheaper. This is the only thing I've checked out - a few minutes ago on this site - but Martin's recommendations for Talk Talk and Tiscali don't seem to go down well on the couple of threads I've just read here.

We don't have the time to watch satellite/cable so that's not a consideration. My wife just wants me to just buy a laptop she has seen at Tesco and sign up with Tiscali, like her sister, but I'm the sort of person that used to check Which? before buying a toaster so I'd appreciate any help you can offer!

Many Thanks.

paint

Hello,

Regarding laptops, my advice is not to spend a lot of money on them for two reasons.

Firstly they're not very upgradable/future-proof at all and may only have a shelf life of a couple of years.

Secondly, if you spill liquid on it (which may well happen if you have a little 'un) it can very easily get under the keyboard and ruin either the keyboard, or the whole unit.

I speak from experience of spending quite a bit on a Sony - what a mistake that was.

Have just bought one of these Acers:-

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_3694WLMi_LX.AY90Y.253/version-1.asp

And it's excellent. I'd say an additional 1GB of RAM is essential (about £25 from ebuyer and very easy to fit) as it's loaded with Windows Vista which definitely requires more RAM than the 512MB installed. The good news is that the 512MB is installed in a single stick, so by adding a 1GB stick in the spare slot you get 1.5GB; which is perfect.

I'm sure there are other excellent buys in this price bracket - Dell frequently have good offers on.

Regarding broadband - I've got sky and pay £15 per month for sky TV, free evening and weekend phone calls, and broadband; plus the line rental to BT.

semi_artificial

Thanks.
Do you mean you already have Sky and pay £15 extra for the broadband and calls?
Does fitting extra memory invalidate the warranty?

I've managed to do a little bit of research, which at the moment is suggesting:

Laptop.
The world is full of arguments along the lines of "Acer are great" "No, Acer spec is good but build quality is poor, get a Dell" "No, Dell are dodgy too, get a HP" etc.
Plus a ton of contradiction about the spec needed to do some (basic?) things like simple photo editing, mp3 conversion and transferring camcorder footage to DVD.

Wii/DS.
There's a decent chance that a broadband supplier will supply a wireless router when signing up.
I should check it's compatible by going to the Nintendo website, but otherwise that will get my Wii and DS connected OK.

Broadband.
The same sort of arguments as for PCs, concerning Talk Talk, Tiscali or whatever.
The 'best' deals aren't available in our area "at the moment".
I have no idea what my average download will be and hence what level of 'cap' I can cope with, or whether I need unlimited use.

Haven't looked at printers (or routers) yet.

Think I'm going to incur my better half's wrath by pleading for more time to consider. Will try to disguise my ignorance by saying that we should wait for a 'special offer' on a laptop etc.

amcluesent

My recommendations -

Acer Aspire 5101AWLMi
Canon Pixma MP600
USRobotics Wireless Ndx ADSL2+ Gateway

All the ISP are conmen, with bandwidth limiting and/or download caps. If you go to BT, at least they can't do a sloping shoulder and claim problems are due to the ISP messing about in the exchange.

>A colleague has just mentioned that I should just buy hardware only as "he can load some software for me"<

Yep, there's plenty of good open source s/w now, Firefox, Open Office, AVG,...

mountainchrisriver

An Apple Macbook... with Madasafish broadband... sorted !!!

Oh and any decent spec Canon printer!!

paint

semi_artificial wrote: »

Thanks.
Do you mean you already have Sky and pay £15 extra for the broadband and calls?

No - I was new to Sky and pay £15 for TV (2 mixes), free weekend and evening phone calls and broadband. The line rental goes to BT.

They also provide a free wireless modem/router.

The minimum subscription term is 12 months. I've found them to be excellent so far.

semi_artificial wrote: »

Does fitting extra memory invalidate the warranty?

I don't believe so.

I have an Acer and a Dell - both have been absolutely fine.