Please help me decide on a laptop

amandathepanda

I have been to PCworld and seen a Packard Bell L4013
pentium M 725A processor 1.60GHZ
400MHz FSB
2Mb cache
512mb RAM
50Gb hard drive
DVD Rewriter
15" diamondview LCD
Windows XP Home edition
64mb Intel 915GM integrated graphics
1year free warranty

It is for my daughter to use upstairs. Downstairs we have a desktop with cable broadband. I know that I need to buy a cable router.
It is £599 in PCworld but i can get it with a £50 promotional discount from Dixons online. Is this a good buy, the guy in PCworld recommended it but I am a complete novice and need some guidance. Thanks very much.

Quasar

Personally, I think it should be a good buy. I bought a Packard Bell 6 years ago and it is STILL working well - and I use it a lot! So top marks for quality as far as I am concerned. The specs you cite seem to describe a good laptop.

However, I am happy to stand corrected by the real techie experts! (and learn something new in the process...)

mjhmjh2

That's not a bad high street price (coming from a prefessional techy of 10 years), you can get some better prices for similar kit (£100 less or so for similar spec). A good website is https://www.savastore.com - certainly been the cheapest place I've been using recently for components.

You may want to consider a wireless broadband router if getting a laptop, they normally have wired ports as well so you can plug directly into your main pc and use wireless for the laptop. If you do make sure you switch on wireless encrpyption (called WEP or WPA) else your neighbours will be able to get into your home setup! Just ask if you need any advice.

Matthew

cheghead

bought a Dell laptop in April. has been used almost none stop ever since and still going strong. only paid £350 so check on latest deals!