thinking of buying a laptop but there is that many out there and have no idae which one to get,will not be using it for gaming nor listening to cds nor watching dvds online mainly any ideas and best place to go to get this laptop

guess all laptops are crap then?

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=274751

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/133382

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/133382



that sounds about right and looks ok

Thinking of getting my daughter a laptop for Xmas, I've seen one in John Lewis a Hewlett Packard one at £350. Don't want to spend any more than that but have been told that unless I buy one for about £500 I'd be wasting my money?

It would just be for homework and for us all to wirelessly surt instead of being totally unsociable up here!

Sorry to seem thick but if the Laptop is Vista and this is XP would they need to be on the same software?

Also is it just a case of getting a router to go wireless and if so is this easlily set up?

Thanks in advance! :)

It would just be for homework and for us all to wirelessly surt instead of being totally unsociable up here!

Then don't spend more than £350 or you'll be wasting your money. The only reason to spend more will be if you want to use it to play games, really.

Sorry to seem thick but if the Laptop is Vista and this is XP would they need to be on the same software?

I assume by 'this' you mean 'the computer I am using to write this post' - well it depends what you want them to do. Most of the programs that run on XP will run on Vista, and if you want to network them to share files this can be done also in spite of the operating system - whether that be windows, OSx or some flavour of unix/linux. If you mean they need to be on the same software for some other reason you'll need to elaborate I'm afraid.

Also is it just a case of getting a router to go wireless and if so is this easlily set up?

Well most laptops these days come with wireless built in, so yes, if you get a wireless router that will be all you need. They are easy to set up, and don't need any drivers or anything installing on any PC that connects to them, but you will need to at least read the section of the router's manual corresponding to wireless security if you're going to have a wireless network.

Hope that helps,

Thanks that's helpful.

Having hardly any experience with laptops I didn't want to make an expensive error.

Do you recommend any particular make or are they all pretty much the same? (except for the spec of course!)

For what you're wanting to use it for I'd say most will be fine - IBM Thinkpads are solid, Dell are a good make and I've not heard any horror stories about Acer. In fact most of the big names should be fine. I'd avoid Packard Bell or Advent, and though the Medion ones are impressively specced for the price their driver support can be a bit lacking sometimes.

Hope that helps,

I'm starting to shy away from Acer, as they're starting to get a bit snotty.

There was a recent report on The Reg about how fitting more memory will invalidate your warranty.

I'd go for a HP.

I've never been able to get through to Acer's support! Luckily i've only ever had one hardware issue to deal with on an Acer...

Stick to big brands... Apple, Sony, HP, Toshiba, IBM/Lenovo, etc and you won't go far wrong.

Oh, and i second Orbrey's point - avoid Advent and Packard Bell!


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I am a college student,and recently i want to buy a laptop for myself before Christmas,but the kinds of laptop make me confused!which laptop fit me?
I wish i can buy a brand laptop which is great value for money!
Who can help me ?

Oh, and i second Orbrey's point - avoid Advent and Packard Bell!
.

Avoid Advent - most of Packard Bell's are ok, it depends if you know what to look for, if you dont, then yes, avoid them, but if you know a bit about them, and know whats in them is ok then they are fine...

I have a packard bell, I only got it because A) it was all i could afford and B) it was a decent spec for the money, and does what I needed it to..

Just got one of these: ASUS F3SV AK136G. Very happy with it.
Generally viewpoint around the IT circuit here - ASUS good, ACER bad!

well, i bought a medion laptop and now when i turn it on the light comes on and then the disk tray makes a noise four times then does nowt
please help email me on ryan.jones@chaucer.sheffield.sch.uk

I know nothing about lap tops or computers but I have a Toshiba Satalite for about 6years and have never had any problems with it.