Hi

I'm looking to buy a new laptop but I haven't got a clue where to start - can anyone help or does anyone have one for sale? I don't really want an all singing, all dancing one because all I really do is go internet shopping ie Ebay etc.

Sounds like you have minimal requirements and want something simple to use...

I like Macintosh machines...very easy to set up. MacBook at £749 would be OK. See apple.com/uk and click on the Store tab. Price is cheaper (£704) if you can show you are an eductational user (click on the education option). If you are at college, university or school as a student or lecturer you should qualify.

Alternatively
Dell do an 'entry level' machine (Inspiron 1300) for around £349. However by the time you have added what you need to make it useful it comes out at around £520.

Dell have various deals on so you need to check their web site out. dell.co.uk

I assume the batteries on the Dell are less flammable than previously.

- Oracle

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/117840 :thumbsup:

Lenovo, Toshiba, Fujitsu-Siemens all do budget laptops.
A Celeron M processor about 1.5Ghz, 512Meg of memory, 15.4 widescreen display, 40Gig Hard drive, Wireless IEEE 802.11g networking. DVD RW drive.

MacBook at £749 would be OK.

Dell do an 'entry level' machine (Inspiron 1300) for around £349. However by the time you have added what you need to make it useful it comes out at around £520.

I've never read so much tosh. Someone who wants a laptop to "shop on ebay" doesnt need to pay £749 for a Mac. Neither do you need to add £170 of extras to the Dell Inspiron 1300 to make it "useful".

I'm a huge fan of the entry-level Dell Inspiron 1300 (£349 delivered) for a basic, wireless laptop. It does everything that 92.3% (*) of users need it to do (Windows XP, Microsoft Office, basic games, internet).

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/dell <--- go on, make him happy.

(*) plus or minus 12.3%.

Any mods around to merge all these threads? I suppose at least this one can spell laptop.

oh god no, then i'll be able to see how many times i've recommended a dell... :o

I've never read so much tosh. Someone who wants a laptop to "shop on ebay" doesnt need to pay £749 for a Mac. Neither do you need to add £170 of extras to the Dell Inspiron 1300 to make it "useful".

I'm a huge fan of the entry-level Dell Inspiron 1300 (£349 delivered) for a basic, wireless laptop. It does everything that 92.3% (*) of users need it to do (Windows XP, Microsoft Office, basic games, internet).


...but then someone who just wants to shop on e-bay doesn't really need a laptop. A desktop will give higher spec for the price. You probably do need extra RAM if you want to run XP with Office 2003 without persistent disk activity from VM swapping.

The source of your statistics is...? I don't disagree, I just wonder where you got your figures. 92.3% + 12.3% is slightly over 100% though.

-Oracle

...but then someone who just wants to shop on e-bay doesn't really need a laptop.

unless, of course, they want to shop whilst watching trinny and suzanna on the telly in the living room with their husband and children.

The source of your statistics is...? I don't disagree, I just wonder where you got your figures. 92.3% + 12.3% is slightly over 100% though.

the source is my own little comedic mind.

I've just seen this refurbished medion laptop on another forum, only £199

go to https://www.medionshop.co.uk/ scroll down the log in section and enter product code 30006092 in the product search box

THIS (http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/117785) is by far the best 'budget' laptop i've seen recently...


.

THIS (http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/117785) is by far the best 'budget' laptop i've seen recently...


.

Laptops laptops when will we all agree :)

The Dell Insp. 1300 is ok a friend has had one for a few weeks
Don't like the k/b, screen is kind of small and no glass finish.
They had had no prbs with it for general use.

HP NX6325
Someone else i know got one of these a couple of weeks back
Seems ok (had 6 HP's fail in the last 2-3 years) Cheap pretty fast (defo compared to the Dell Insp. 1300)

I think all the lo end laptops are by there very nature cheap Acer, Advent (and all badged versions), HP, Lenovo (not seen any since the chinese bought them from IBM), Dell

And in truth unless someone on the forums works in an enviroment where they roll out/configure/are a buyer for a corporate organisation of maybe 200+ of any of these machines it's hard to really state 1st hand exactly what these machine are like.

Someone else i know got a ACER Aspire 5101AWLMI Turion Mk36 2.0GHz 512MB 60GB DVD Supermulti 15.4"TFT WLAN Windows XP Home
for £399.99 INC

Worked in the industry for over 12 years says he was impressed and so cheap.

I have to say with the SF deal and the % discount the Dell slant looks good from here.

:confused:

I started a thread a while ago on laptops. It depends on why you want a laptop. It is a portable machine, BUT an expensive option compared to a desktop. Even for the portability sake. I would say, look at the entry level laptops, if you want something cheap and cheerful, and can do bits of things. It should be around 300-400 region.

Saying that, if you're not 'as' technie, and you want a trusted brand. It's better to go for good aftercare. I think Dell does a good one, but you need to pay for it. I would always recommend domestic users to have a good aftercare. It saves you the hassle. Saying that, APPLES are more stable, and even though it's at around 700 quid, a lot of people rather pay the price to have a stable machine. So it depends on whether you want the hassle or not of looking after a laptop. If it all goes well, it's great. When it doesn't go as well, then it's stressful to get it sorted out. Unless you have friends who can have a look for you.

I think the lower entry laptops (new ones, not reconditioned ones) will have the "Celeron M" as a CPU. The next grade would be "Pentium M". Have at least 256 RAM, and the hard disk can be lower than 60 Gb. (Sometimes the lower the size, the cheaper the laptop.)