Buying a Laptop

[Katy]

I am thinking of buying a Laptop, just a basic one for like work and things. Any ideas on what i should be looking for, or any Laptops that you think are worth buying. I dont have a price range yet as im just saving until i see one i like.

bit of an idiot when it comes to technology.

[alan45]

Personall I would recomend DELL. Like all computers buy the best you can affor at the time because of the way technology is going it will be out of date in a months time. Dell let you order online and make your on specification. I dont work for Dell but have found their service excellent. PC world have some bargains but they will always try to sting you for an extended warranty.

[Katy]

I might try Dell as i have used there computers before, i like what you say about buy what you can afford as it will be out of date. I did look in PC world and didnt see anyting i fancied so i left. Is Dell the one you can only buy online.

[Bryan]

Theres an offer on at PC WORLD at the moment. A new VISTA laptop, top functions for 499.99. My mom brought it yesterday and it's very good. There's better ones out there, but it can do the basics and more. It is a bargain, the latest operating system and a great laptop for 500! Snap it up whilst you can.

[Jojo]

You can order Dell by phone aswell Katy and the customer service people are great, very helpful and make sure your order is sorted swiftly

[Meh]

Give me your rough price range and what you are going to be using it for. There are good deals out there.

[Katy]

erm basically just to do college work on like and maybe connect to the internet. Id probably take it away for Uni as well. I was thinking £600 as a limit.

[Kylie]

i bought mine for £350 from comet - it is top of its range and was on offer, my dad works with computers and he said it was an amazing deal. I saw many different ones, what you really need to think about is what exactly you need it for, so then you will know what spec laptop to get. . There are some notebooks (low spec) laptops on sale for about £250 at the mo.

My laptop is an ACER one and they seem relatively good. Dell laptops are good but they invariably do not include much with their lower deals and they are not compatible with a lot of repairs, so if your laptop broke and was out of warranty you have to buy dell parts whereas many other brands you can use generic parts - i had a dell and the hard drive went on it tried putting a toshiba one in but it didnt work properly.
Dell are a good brand but they are not necessarily the best.
Toshiba are also a good reliable brand, and are also quite well known. They are pretty good laptops too - have had one of these too.
The more well known the brand the more money they can cost.

My advice really is to look out for a good deal on a laptop that does exactly what you want it to.
Dont forget that most systems only come with Windows XP installed on them, if you want any other programmes (eg Microsoft Office) you will have to install them on after so take that cost into consideration when buying

[Abigail]

I've got a Dell laptop. I paid less than £600 for windows pro, 80gb hd, 1gb ram, speakers, mouse, lots of pre-installed software, extra battery, carry case, 6 months insurance and loads of other things.
Their customer service is good but everybody we spoke to was indian and most were difficult to understand.
When I got my order, they sent the wrong mouse and speakers with an EU plug on. They gave me a refund for the mouse and said I could keep it. I got a refund for the speakers, got to keep them and they sent me a replacement pair.

My sister went to PC World for a laptop and they basically said, "our laptops aren't very good, go to comet." She got a PB from Comet for £400 and its more or less the same spec as mine but it takes ages to load up, hasn't got much software and didn't come with any microsoft bits and bobs like word and excel. They said it would cost £100 to install it but the guy said to go online and get open office for free. She also didn't get the mouse, speakers, battery or insurance.

[di marco]

i got an acer laptop, it was either £399 or £499 i cant remember which one i went for in the end lol! i got it in september in comets so it was in an offer, got a printer, mouse, antivirus, case and an extended warranty thing where if it broke they would give me one to use and try and mend mine/give me a new one within a day or 2. it didnt come with microsoft office but i managed to by the software for about £30 i think