Laptop for Daughter ????

wii_man1

pgilc1 wrote: »

They are 'ok' if you're doing very little on the machine, add in word, itunes, a couple of explorer windows open, antivirus running, firewall running, and it just runs unreasonably slowly.

you obviously never heard of the capacitors exploding on the gx240 dells then. ?

i worked for a very big airline that had about 40,000 units. dell win on price nothing else , their servers are laughable.

wakandem

Does a ten year old really need a laptop?

motorguy

wii_man1 wrote: »

you obviously never heard of the capacitors exploding on the gx240 dells then. ?

i worked for a very big airline that had about 40,000 units. dell win on price nothing else , their servers are laughable.

And did dell not replace all the motherboards of the machines affected?

If you're running gx240s these days you probably deserve what you get.

Any of the blue chip companies i've worked for have had dell kit amongst others.

Not getting into the 'my company was bigger than your company' as a basis for who knows more about dells debate, just to save you and me time -

'I think Dell machines are good'
'oh no they're not'
'oh yes they are'
'oh no they're not'
.... repeat until you're bored.:rolleyes:

cowbutt

wii_man1 wrote: »

you obviously never heard of the capacitors exploding on the gx240 dells then. ?

There have been problems with electrolytic capacitors right across the electronics and computer industries for several years now (reportedly since the theft of an incorrect electrolyte solution sometime before 1999 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague ). All sorts of devices have been affected, from manufacturers at all quality levels and the problem is nothing to do with the CPU being an Intel Celeron.

dounome

wilt44 wrote: »

thanks all. just a quick question dounome. What operating syse did it come with ??? Just that i have read on the web that they have put basic instead of premium. I am really not sure which one to go for now the dell or the acer aspire ??????

Hi
Its got windows vista basic in the aspire.
My older son has a dell precision also with a celeron processor and winxp, hes had it for years and ive had no complaints from him, he uses it from when he gets in till he goes to bed.
I use a dell desktop and would definately buy from dell again, only reason i got the aspire was at the time there was no deals from dell for the same price..

motorguy

You can spec the Dell with Vista home premium - cheapest way is via www.dmxdimension.com

Bamber19

nej wrote: »

Ignore the people saying "avoid Celerons". A few years ago, they were fairly bad. These days they are fine for what she needs it for.

A few years ago they were competing with Pentium 4's which themselves have quite a bad reputation, now they're competing with pentium D dual core, core duo, and core 2 duo's. They were poor in the past and for the most part all that's changed is that the competing chips are better.

That said i think the reason most people say not to get one is that they are old technology and don't represent good value as some companies are selling laptops with 2-3 year old technology for £50-100 less than a much more modern and better specc'd machine.

Strepsy

Could anyone give me an opinion on this please. The Advent K200 http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/index.cfm?reviewid=1256

I'm thinking of it for my 12 yr old.

motorguy

Strepsy wrote: »

Could anyone give me an opinion on this please. The Advent K200 http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/index.cfm?reviewid=1256

I'm thinking of it for my 12 yr old.

Sounds like a fair swap! I'd swap my two golden retrievers for a laptop if anyone is interested, but you have to provide your own wellie boots.

Sorry, on a serious note, it depends how much your daughter wants a pink laptop. I used to sell laptops and if a girl wants a pink laptop thats going to be more important to her than a grey machine being 10% more powerful for 10% less money. I had people come in to me and say 'I want a pink laptop please', but if thats whats wanted...

Spec sounds pretty good. I'd check around online for the most competitive price though.

motorguy

wakandem wrote: »

Does a ten year old really need a laptop?

With entry level laptops pretty much the same price as entry level pcs, people are buying laptops for a variety of reasons.

(a) they dont need a dedicated room / space in a house for it
(b) they can be used at the kitchen table for homeworks, in the living room, or in a bedroom
(c) they can appear less daunting and more fun to a child than a pc system

I think laptops outsold PC systems 10 to 1 last year when we had the retail unit.